This is a post that is transfer from a person website which no longer being hosted. I made this post for posterity sake.
In 2004 the factory door speakers were replaced by a pair of MB-Quart 2-way speakers with passive crossovers. Designed and manufactured in Germany. The woofers are 4". Given the size the woofer does not produce low frequency bass. The door mount speakers are intended to fill in the mid-range and high-range when used with the rear channels.
I had lived with the uninspiring factory door speakers up until this time because of not wanting to butcher into the door trim panels.
The installation was very involving. The two passive crossovers are very large but fortunately the Vanagon doors have a cavity near the foot well to accommodate it. The speakers are very well design and provides 3 mounting methods a) low profile mount with supplied grills b) high profile (low depth) mount with supplied grills c) very low profile mount without the supplied grills. Initially it appear I was stuck with option-C as there are insufficient clearance between the door and the end of the dash to accommodate the speaker with the grill and trim ring. However upon very careful measurement with the caliper I was quite certain the low profile mounting method-A will fit. Since I have to cut the door trim panel I re-checked the measurements many time just to be sure. Because the clearance is so tight there is no room for mistakes. Although by shifting the speaker location towards the back give minute clearance to the dash I refrained from going too far in order to maintain good clearance to the window crank swing radius. I shifted it only about 1/2".
the speakers are 2 way which the tweeter and the mid/low driver shares the same housing but electrically isolated
one of the two way passive crossover shown - i really like the understated German aesthetics
if memory serves the tweeters has a -3dB tap should one find the tweeters too "bright"
the factory speakers were smaller but I didn't note what size - they were just a cheap paper cone that cost $2 or less
the tape keep the screws from getting lost
always very careful when removing the vapour barrier so not to tear it - i was able to reuse the pressure sensitive adhesive later
the most import thing is to triple-check for potential interference and there is sufficient depth to accommodate the new speaker; this including putting the window through its fully closed to open action range
I had to extend the length of the factory speaker wires so they will reach the crossover which would be mounted just below the speaker
the door cards and the installation cutting template
I checked for clearance to the window crank and identify the position of the new speaker
as it turned out no offsetting of the new larger and deeper speaker is required; I proceed to cut out the vinyl skin before trimming the pressboard panel with a jigsaw
the speaker is protected from the elements by the vapour barrier
here you can see the 4 wires
it has the appearance Westfalia and Vanagon Schönedesignpolizei would approve
this photo better shows the clearance from the window regulator crank
With about 5 hours of labor the result is excellent. The MB Quarts fits perfectly into the factory speaker cavities. The supplied grills and trim rings are very clean in keeping with the Vanagon interior.
Well how does it sound? Knowing due to the limited size of the mid range/woofer the speakers will be very bright with the very good tweeters I set the crossover such that the tweeters are down 3dB so I don't have to take the door panel out again to change it. This turned out to be a good call. The 2-way speakers lacks the low end due to the 4" drivers. However it works very well with the 3-way MB Quarts I have in the cabin which the 6.5" woofers have no lack of bass. In all the 2-way door speakers fills in the previous incomplete aspect of the audio system in the vehicle. The fader control of the head amp also turned out very well balanced. I can set it for 0-bias between the front and the back channels and it is not lopsided.
Here are the 3-way component speaker system in the cabin:
3-way passive crossover
tweeter and 4 inch mid range
all 8 speakers are driven by this Alpine entry model and I cannot be happier
The power consumption of the entire audio system playing as loud as I care to listen to for no more than just playing the new toy is extremely miserly. As with class AB analog amplifier the power consumption is highly dependent of the energy density of the music content. This measurement is difficult to quantify and variable.
these are taken playing jazz with significant bass string and percussion passages; with the volume set to ~20 with front and rear channels more the less equal
the current reading fluctuates a lot due to the nature of class AB amplifiers
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