My rear speakers make muffled noises nothing intelligible coming out of either. This first one I got out does not look busted. Is there a way to test them before I buy new ones to find out its not the speakers at all maybe the amplifier? Thank you!! Also does the rear seat have to come out to fully remove the speaker panel?

 

A common problem with old speakers is that the foam surrounds that attach the cones to the frame have deteriorated to dust, but the one in your photo looks to be in fairly good shape. Check your foam surrounds carefully and if they have indeed deteriorated or detached, you can order new ones from www.simplyspeakers.com for a very reasonable price. The new foam surrounds kit comes with the proper glue as well as a great set of instructions. Anyone can do this job with a minimum of tools, a steady hand, and plenty of patience....

 

The original configuration has the rear speakers being (sub)woofers. So, turn everything up to max volume, fade all the way to the rear, and you will hear muffled noises by design. A number of people have changed the rear speaker to a woofer and liked the result.

On the other hand, I tried this and did not like the result (too much woof to the rear with the available speakers without turning everything to the front, thereby ironically replicating the original configuration). So, I put it back to the original. I have also seen no degradation in any of the speakers, but I did blow the right midrange once while 'testing'.

 

I am familiar with Bass and sub woofers but these are not making any kind of musical sounds lol. I think I'm going to replace and make sure first. Ty

 

1. Removal of rear seat is super easy.
2. Lets test the driver. Wire plug disconnected
- ohm meter. Measure: probe on one terminal, other probe other terminal. Reading? 3 to 9 = pass. (Yes I used loose #s intentionally here)
3. No meter? Thats ok. Find a 9volt battery. Briefly touch (quick make then break connection)the battery terminals to speaker terminals. Pop? Yes = good. Speaker cone moves? Yes is good.

Sidebar: we can discuss polarity in depth some other time, but some folks don't realize that + terminal on battery to + terminal on speaker = speaker moves forward towards you. This can help you untangle polarity issues someday.

Now we know there is continuity through circuit terminal to terminal.

The woofer in my convertible is not a subwoofer, gosh I thought only coupes had subs in the back. Woofer means it plays a wider range of frequency not just lowest octaves like a subwoofer.

Friend it looks like you have the speaker, called a driver, out. Did you know that you can connect it to any amplified music source for a bit to listen for quality?

Some ideas:
Got a stereo at home with external speakers? Hook that speaker cable to this driver and listen.

IMO a Walkman will not have enough power to test the driver.

As i recall the "squakers" (Jaguars term),in the dash are easy to access. You could use alligator clip jumper cables to send that signal to your test driver just to see if the test speaker works!

Gosh, no reason I can think of preventing you from walking into a stereo (especially car stereo) store and asking them to hook up the driver for a test.

Once we prove the driver's are defective or are ok, we can head to next steps. Questions, concerns, thoughts, let us know.

John

 

Well frankly, I specialize in Bass. My whole family does...

 

I'll post it again.

 

So the convertible speakers are not pure sub's they are single woofers, ok. Well yes I have component stereo. I was a Littke scared because the car speaker is only 2 ohms. I'll test it tomorrow from the stereo. I had someone tell me about taking out the lower seat so thsts next too. Thank you. I'll let you know.
mark

 

So I hooked the one drivers side rear speaker directly to my component stereo. It works fine. I mean it doesnt sound too great (compared to my Onkyo system didnt expect it to) but it sure sounds fine, clear doesnt seem like much of a woofer, but it looks new and sounds fine. I dont think I like that because it seems like that is pointing to the amplifier. Or am i getting ahead of the testing process? Thank you so much, so far.
mark

 

Now that speaker is unmounted try it with amp connection. Wouldn't be the 1st time something impeded cone movement.

Does rear tweeter work ok?

Wish there was a way to swap front rear inputs. You don't know if its radio rear channel or amp rear channel. Likely amp, I'm probably too cautious here.

John

 

There is no rear tweeter, only the 6.5 supposed woofer. There seems to be a white connector for one (or something above the speaker box, but no tweeter. Am I supposed to have a tweeter there? It's an Alpine system.
I plugged that drivers rear speaker back into the harness and almost nothing after it played well connected to my home stereo. I went back and forth l to r rear. Slightly more noise rumbling muddy mess from the right but could have been the track on the radio. Pretty clear its not the speakers, or not that one anyway. Thoughts?
Oddly enough, the passenger rear does have a tweeter, connected and the tiny screen faces front. But driver side still did not work connected back to the car amp.
mark

 

There is no rear tweeter in the 2000 mod with Alpine system. The amp has a DSP built in, and the convertible rear woofers use the same channels on the amp as the subwoofer on the coupe.
The amp has 8 channels, but only 6 are used in the convertible. The last two speaker wires ends in a connector under the arm rest. This are those that are used for the rear speakers in the coupe.

 

Mine is 2001 ragtop. Interesting that the passenger rear speaker does have the tweeter connected it comes out with a tiny screen facing front. So 1 with and 1 without. Seems odd.
mark

 

I found out the tiny speaker facing forward in the back inside quarter panel is a Air Bag sensor not a tweeter.

 

So John,
I got both speakers out, tested both on my stereo and both work fine. Put them both back connected in the car, same muddy garbled nothing sound.
What do you suggest I check next? I also removed all the back seats and speaker quarter panel coverings.
thank you
Mark

 

Mark, thinking out loud. I can't think of a reason to even ask you to acknowledge that this distortion is present on all inputs (AM FM CD). It has to be.

The radio (head unit) uses the same circuitry for the volume, bass, and treble signal in each (left / right) channel. This all occurs before balance or fader section of the signal path. Distortion is same in both channels.

That leaves the question: could the fader circuitry go bad for rear channel only? I really doubt it.

Its late at night friend, I will look up schematics for you tomorrow, in the mean time:

Anyone remember if the cable from the head unit to the amp contains Left & Right signal; or:
Front Left, Front right, Rear left, Rear right leads? Given the complexity of the active crossover in the amp, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that it manages Fade too.

If, yes: fade is controlled in the amp - you've got a bad amp.

Like I said I will follow up later today. Too bad there's no way to swap connections into the amp. Its beginning to sound like a bad amp IMO.

Thoughts Anyone?

Ttytt,

John

 

John, thank you so much. I'll look forward to your response.
Mark.

 

Attached is what it sounds like in my 2001 premium system. First centered, then faded all the way to the rear, then centered, then faded. The audio is not fully represented in the iphone fully to the rear (the mic appears to have quite a bit of rolloff down below ~50 Hz), but gives a good idea since that lower frequency content you cannot record on the iphone does not make the rear 'clearer', just ''muddier' and fuller'.

Bottom line, I don't think you should expect midrangeish output from the rear speakers as designed regardless of whether you can hear midrange if hooked to another input. As always, you can change this by changing the speakers (or the system) if that is better for y'all.

 

Very interesting. My rear convertible speakers are not subs. As you fade your losing from the front, then nothing is coming out the back. Mine is similar but more muddy distorted sounding. Is yours a convertible? How do I tell if I have a premium? All I know is its 2001 Alpine, 2 rear non subwoofer speakers and no rear tweeters.
In home systems with a sub box, it does not fade to nothing as in these vehicles. Something just seems all wrong with this. Thanks for that.
mark

 

I've used quite a few of their kits on 6", 10" and 12" speakers and they work very well. Take your time to do it right and you'll do fine. Believe it or not, the most popular glue for speaker repair is "Aleene's tacky glue", it's a simple craft glue, about $2 at Walmart!