More on Outside Speakers

avvidclif

Well-known member
Under the heading of "What were they thinking?". My outside speakers on my less than a year old Cyclone sounded terrible so I decided to replace them with decent speakers. I removed one speaker and "What were they thinking"? There is a beautiful round hole in the side 5" in diameter (Pic 2). The bolt circle of the speakers is 5 1/2". That doesn't leave much room for error when mounting the speaker. So there are 2 screws in the bottom into the sidewall and two that touched the top of the hole. Caulking(black circle in Pic 2) glued it in and kept it from falling out. I bought a new set of 6 1/2" speakers, marine grade, and now have to enlarge the hole to 5 1/2". Any ideas other than a sabre saw and patience??

Second thing. Look at the picture of the other speaker still installed(Pic 1). See the white petals of the "tulip" in there? There is no solid cone to keep water out. You can look at the front of the speaker and see daylight around the "tulip"(Pic 3). The grey areas visible on the removed speaker are the tabletop it was sitting on. The thread on water intrusion thru the speaker and the damage it caused makes this a "HEADS UP". Look at your speakers. If you have terrible sound it could be because of a blown speaker which could let water in. My stock speakers sounded terrible and had pre-installed holes for the water!!!
 

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sjs731

Well-known member
I used a jig saw and taped off around the hole to eliminate scratches. Wasn't too difficult. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1445869809.691428.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1445869843.723908.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1445869866.118727.jpg


Steve
 

sjs731

Well-known member
Just a regular wood blade. Not a fast cut. I just used a standard length blade.


Steve
 
Dremel tool with sanding drum, quick. Mark siding with a circle using a Sharpie first. Even used the dremel to knock back a little of the insulation to make room. Then used that RV tape caulk to seal and hold in place. Very easy. One speaker blew in first season, no loud music either.
 

JohnD

Moved on to the next thing...
Both of the center cones fell off on our old Trail Runner . . . they never did sound good from the day we bought it!

Was that way still when we traded it in.

JensenSpeaker-P5220764.jpg

I think when I go to upgrade the speakers on our Prowler (probably sometime this winter) I'll just buy better speakers that are the same size so I don't have to cut out the holes.
 

Cjackg

Well-known member
I have looked at those speakers on our Cyclone many times and shake my head. If I wanted music outside there are many great options now with Bluetooth hi on the list. why would l want holes cut in the side of my trailer?
If I ever special order another one no holes will be a required feature!
 

avvidclif

Well-known member
I installed the new speakers yesterday. I marked off the hole size I needed, masked with painters tape, and fired up the sabre saw. My biggest concern was the outer wall splitting. It cut beautifully using a regular 10t blade. I bought the longest I could get and it was still short of the wall thickness by abt 1/16th". The wall is 2" thick BTW. All went real well and it sounds great now. I ran out of daylight so will do the caulking today.

Just proves what I always thought. It's easy to overthink a job, just do it.
 

JohnD

Moved on to the next thing...
I installed the new speakers yesterday. I marked off the hole size I needed, masked with painters tape, and fired up the sabre saw. My biggest concern was the outer wall splitting. It cut beautifully using a regular 10t blade. I bought the longest I could get and it was still short of the wall thickness by abt 1/16th". The wall is 2" thick BTW. All went real well and it sounds great now. I ran out of daylight so will do the caulking today.

Just proves what I always thought. It's easy to overthink a job, just do it.

Photos or it didn't happen! :cool:

I just had a thought a few minutes ago (uh-ohh . . . lost a couple more brain cells :p ) . . .

Too bad there wasn't some kind of snap-on covers or hinged doors for these outside speakers so when not in use they could be covered up from the elements!
 
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