Rear speaker replacement

[vain]

Hi,

Does anyone know the easiest way to change the rear speakers in my TF?
Is it a big job to get to them and has anyone put larger round speakers in instead of the standard 4x6.
Im only asking as ive just put a better stereo in it and the rears are a bit lacking also ive a pair of fantastic sounding 6" mac audios in my wardrobe doing nothing. I would be tempted to put them in the front but they are the ones with built in grille and are also 2 way coaxial.

Cheers Martin.

[Bandit]

Removing the T-bar is straightforward, the 3 poppers where the tonneau attaches need to be unscrewed, IIRC two screws in the cubby storage, then it's held at each end by two trim clips which will pull out with a sharp tug. Under the T-bar you'll find the speaker enclosure, and then you'll see why 6x4 is the limit if you want to still use that enclosure. Ditching the speaker enclosure and attaching a speaker to the back of the T-bar has been tried, but not particularly succesfully due to the T-bar being relatively soft & flexible - hardly ideal to attach a speaker to. In most of the installations of larger speakers that I have seen, a custom speaker box had been constructed and in some cases the T-bar had been replaced with a custom-made version with more space around the speaker locations.

The OE speakers are not bad, but there are better speakers available in the same size, I installed some Clarion 6x4s and lined the back of the plastic enclosure box with sound deadening material and was pleased with the improvement.

[Rob Bell]

This relates to the Mk1 T-bar <clicky>, but I am pretty sure it is pretty much the same for the MY2000 item you have. The speakers are bolted as Bandit says to the cross beam across the seat belt upper mounts. Not a huge amount of space. You can mount speakers in the T-bar itself, but owing to the curvature, it is very difficult to get a decent cosmetic end result. The picture below is with a 10cm diameter speaker:



Funnily enough, I've been meaning to finish this job off for 10 years, but never really got around to it - but then, these speakers are hidden pretty effectively behind the seats, so it isn't too irritating...