Success & Observations, NC Damp Garbled speaker "fix" by mx5mia

There is a foam shroud over the top of the speaker, but it is not totally along the top. it is angled front. This shroud touches the window slide in the door, So the water runs down the inside of the door along the window slide, onto the foam, and the foam channels it right into the speaker! This is how the water gets to the bottom edge of the speaker mount. (IMHO)

I wish I would have taken pictures when the speaker was out. but Here is a crude e-drawing of how the speaker sits. the holes are horizontal across.

L ........R

+------+

|

| ......*

+........+

The plus signs are the 4 screw mounts, and the asterisk is where the wires hook into the speaker (for example). the dotted lines simulate how the shroud is at an angle. (The dots between the plus signs, etc, are there just to space the asterisk and the bottom right plus sign.) You will see this when you remove the speaker.

Instead of the shroud covering the top half, level with the ground, it is angled for example from the top right to the bottom left. The speaker sticks out past the mounting screw holes, so the shroud guides the water from the window slide right down onto the speaker cone. (again, IMHO)

2 "Fixes".........

#1. I took the speaker out of the door and with a new sharp exacto knife scraped along the metal speaker and carefully removed the foam shroud in one piece. Then I used a water based clear urethane (more Flexible when dry) and put 3 coats on the paper cone, plus the flat diaphragm which faces the outside of the door. I used a small 1/4" round paint brush, as that is what I had. This did not build up a thick layer, but I could see it sealed the paper cone. I put the shroud back in place and installed the speaker.

Today after a good rain the driver's door speaker sounds every bit as good as the other one. (Ok, no knocking Bose right now). I feel that sealing the paper cone to keep the water from soaking in has solved the problem. Before I did this, after a rain like today it would have sounded horrible.

#2,.... Possible solution to try before sealing the cone.

After you have carefully removed the shroud, I suggest changing the position it is mounted. Instead of aligning the holes of the speaker shroud with the holes in the speaker, rotate the shroud so it is more horizontal. This would put the holes of the shroud in between the holes of the speaker. In this way any water than gets on it from the window slide will run down away from the speaker instead of into it.

Here is my second crude e-drawing with shroud rotated more horizontal..

L....v....R

+------+

|..........|

........*

+........+

Again. The plus signs simulate the mounting screw holes, the dotted lines simulate the rotated shroud, and the asterisk simulates the wire plug. Instead of the shroud mounting screw holes being in the 4 corners, the top one would be between the "L" and the "R" along the top of the drawing above (where I put the lower case "v").(The dots between the plus signs, etc, are there just to space the asterisk and the bottom right plus sign.)

My suggestion is to first rotate the shroud and see if that by itself is enough. Or while the shroud is off, just clear coat the speaker cone to be safe..

I feel I have found out why the problem, and how to fix it. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who tries this if it helped them or not. It is working for me, and I am happy not to have to spend $$$$$$ for a new speaker!

I say no, as the window slide is just about 2" back from where the speaker is attached. You would have to cut the back off to fit it in the speaker spot.

Good idea if there was room.

** Right now the speaker shroud only covers about the front 2/3 of the speaker, The back 1/3 is open for water to come down on it. Ir you rotate the top of the shroud back about 45 degrees, it will then cover the whole top. it looks like the speaker was designed to be mounter differently, but Mazda used it anyway.

** The shroud is only attached to the speaker by 2 sided tape. I used a sharp exacto knife and just slid it along the metal speaker body, and that easily separated the tape from the metal speaker. I used a little black silicone sealant to glue it back on, and that came off just as easy when I took it off to seal the cone.

** How does the speaker sound? Honestly it seems to now sound better than it did before. My area can be humid in the winter or summer, and by sealing the cone as I did I actually think it sounds better. If not better, it sure sounds good!

I didn't rotate the shroud the last time I had it apart, as I hadn't realized that was the real problem until I saw the water go down the opening by the window slider the other night. I want to take the speaker out this weekend and rotate the slider. I'll take pictures when I do it this weekend.

Maybe someday I'll get ambitious and check out the other door speaker. I am curious as to why that one doesn't also have this problem!

Have a happy Thanksgiving to all! 

11-25-2010

Maybe I "spoke" too soon?

OK,....... Maybe I spoke too soon???

The rain that we had the other day would have been enough to garble the speaker before I sealed it, but it did not. I thought I had it fixed......

We had an all day soaking rain. It is 6:00 pm and we just got home from the Thanksgiving dinner. We helped with a dinner that was free to all local fire, police and ambulance people who were on duty today. We appreciate what they do.

The bad news is that the all day rain effected the speaker. 

I just had to go to my car when I got home and turn on the radio. I wanted to hear if the rain effected it.

It was still garbled. I don't believe it is as garbled as it was before, but it is definitely not "fixed". 

Sorry if I mislead you, but I "thought" I had it fixed. There I go "thinking" again,....... 

It is still to be raining tomorrow, but clear off Saturday. So I will take it out on Saturday and rotate the shroud. I still think that is what channels the water onto the speaker.

I'll report back after I rotate the shroud and we get the next rain.

Sorry......... Stay tuned....

11-26-2010

Drizzling, but Speaker OK today!

The Saga continues!

I did a little Black Friday shopping this morning (Bought a Harbor Freight Aluminum lightweight racing jack with a coupon for my Miata!). It was drizzling and damp all last night and this morning. As soon as the drizzle stopped I decided to pull the speaker out of my driver's door and see if it was wet.

First I turned on the radio, and the speaker was fine! No garble at all! As damp as it was outside and it had been lightly raining all morning, I was sure it would be garbled. So I decided to rotate the shroud anyway and take pictures.

I have attached to this post the picture of the speaker in the door. The top screws are not quite as "level" as I previously wrote. The last picture is of a water drop on the foam, and how it was running down along the edge. I am holding the speaker lined up with the camera about how it is in the door. The drop in the middle is where the water was dripping onto it, and the water to the left is showing where it ran and then into the speaker.

The second picture is of the shroud removed from the speaker and held in place in the door. The picture shows the speaker about in it's normal position. You can see how it is angled more front. Note I don't have the left side held up all of the way to the screw hole. If I did it would be angled front even more. You can see because of the angle the water drips and runs right down into the speaker itself.

The 3rd picture is of the bottom of the mount with water laying in it. And I was also wrong about the shroud touching the window slide, it is close but does not touch it.

Attached are the last pictures I took.

I held the shroud roughly in place in the door and found if I rotated the shroud 2-1/8" to 2-1/4" the back of the shroud came out more level to the ground. The 1st picture below shows how by rotating the shroud the water has a better chance of not dripping into the speaker. Even though the speaker was not wet today, somehow water was getting to it.

The 2nd picture is showing how I measured the amount I rotated the speaker. I would not go less than 2-1/8", but a little over is OK.

The 3rd picture is of the shroud now close to the metal tab of the speaker wire. I figured if that metal tab touched the foam, water would run down onto it and maybe cause a problem. So trim a little off of the foam to clear the metal speaker wire tab.

Then I put a little Silicone sealant on the speaker rim and glued the shroud in place.

I put the door all back together and it sounds good. We aren't to get any rain until next Tuesday, so stay tuned for what I find the next time it rains.

Wish me luck! 

12-1-2010

99% Success after rain! :)

After rotating the shroud last weekend, I have come to think that doing this is the most important thing to do.

It rained all last night. The speaker was fine all the way to work this morning. I was happy to hear music from the speaker during a rain. It was still raining all the way to work. So I took this as a good sign. 

It rained hard until about noon today, I left work at 5:00 and the first thing I did was to turn up the radio.

The Driver's speaker sounded slightly garbled, only with the lowest base notes, and only for about a minute. By the time I got out of the parking lot the speaker sounded fine. It was good the whole way home.

So This looks to me like a workable solution. The shroud comes off easily with a razor blade or exacto knife. Rotate it as I showed in the previous post, and put it back in the car. If you want to seal the speaker cone with something while it is out, go for it. Or just try rotating the shroud first.

If you try this, post back here so we can all learn if this worked for you too.

Thanks for your patience as I worked thru this, and Good Luck!

12-3-2010

It looks to me like Mazda used a speaker they already had and just mounted it in the door. It works, but not too well for some of us. Using an already designed and made speaker, or any part for example, can save lots of tooling or start-up costs for a new car.

I am not worried about the shroud moving out of place. The material is too flimsy for the holes to have done much anyway. I put a thin bead of Silicone on the back of the metal speaker and then put the shroud into place.

Silicone sealant is a wonderful adhesive for just about anything. It will glue vinyl, metal, glass, rubber, leather paper, etc. I have used it to repair 2 holes put in the tarp on the back of my pick-up truck. I used it as a glue to hold a patch in place on the backside of the tarp. After several years it is still holding. (Actually fixed 2 holes this way in the truck tarp).

I cut off the top 3 tabs from the shroud just for looks, and fastened the speaker into place. By tightening the 4 mounting screws, they act like clamps to hold the shroud tight between the door and the speaker. I left the bottom tab on just on case If ever take the shroud off again, that way I have that hole to measure from to position it.

The speaker sounds great, and I can't see how the speaker touching the plastic speaker frame mount will hurt.

12-4-2010

No Pictures, but the water leaks down right around the upright window slide. Where the side window joins up against the little "wing window".

Look at the rubber molding along the top edge of the door, and you will see the molding does not fit tight against the black 1"+ wide window slide.

When we get some warmer weather, I am going to put a little black silicone sealant around the slide on my Miata to fill in the gap and help keep more water out.

12-7-2010

I finally got to be at my car during some daylight, so here is a picture of where the water runs down into the door frame. You can see where I put silicone sealant in the gaps on each side of the window slide post to help keep out as much water as I can. The largest gap was to the front of the car.

12-13-2010

I thought I would do one last follow-up on the results of sealing the gaps in my post above.

The reason I thought this was important is because all of the water from the side window runs down into this rubber "channel" and then it all ran forward to the gaps around the window guide/slide.

We had 24 hours of rain, so I went out to the car after about 20 hours of it and turned on the radio. The sounds were good, and not garbled at all like before.

So if you have this problem I suggest to seal the speaker cone with an exterior urethane varnish, rotate the shroud so it is above the whole speaker, and then seal these gaps around the side window slide.

I am sure it will help, and it is a lot cheaper than buying a speaker that lists for over $200.00. 

Good Luck!