Y2KWDPTL

Hi all,

For those of you interested in upgrading your stock Bose speakers to SOUTHBOUND's recommended POLK DX6's, I have included a photo of my speaker mods which include the tweeter rolloff mods and terminator mods. The install was fairly easy and definately an improvment of the stock speakers. Much cleaner and balanced sound for this inexpensive upgrade. Cheers!

egilsrud

Very nice work, Y2KWDPTL!

Can we add your picture to the upcoming how-to on Polk DX6 installation?

Did you replace all 4 doors with DX6s?

Y2KWDPTL

Egilstrud...
Please by all means.. glad I am able to contribute..
I did replace all doors but I am rethinking removing the extra tweeter rolloff caps from the rear speakers.. I thiink my highs are getting a little buried in the seat backs and carpeting.. Did you leave the extra caps off of the rear speakers?

Southbound

Y2K,
GREAT WORK! GREAT DESCRIPTIONS!

I happened to mount my 5watt resistor where you have the rolloff cap and the Cap where you have the 5W resistor. BUT hey, it doesn't matter which way you go. You have a VERY CLEAN install there, with all leads insulated. PLUS A VERY NICELY DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE TERMINALS, THE COMPONENTS, AND THE DEFINITION OF THE MODS. I also see that you have CUT OFF that pesky side positive terminal and resoldered the factory crossover cap to the center of the terminal to prevent possible shorts of that side terminal to the door frame. You have the other terminals BENT UP as well. FANTASTIC WORK! You have followed my recommendations precisely. Your nice and clean work is how I like to see things done... YES, I WOULD DEFINITELY SIGN OFF ON THIS AS THE OFFICIAL WAY TO GO... and it would be nice to see it posted in the sticky to follow. I assume that you glued the 5W resistor and rolloff cap to the metal basket and magnet with RTV? That is the only other thing that I would add to the description... (nit picking here) The way you have them installed, nothing is going to move anywhere, but the RTV just keeps things from possibly buzzing or rattling, etc. And again, to others, it doesn't matter if you physically mount the resistor to the magnet edge, and the cap to the basket... either way that is easiest for you to personally solder is just fine.

As far as your question about the additional rolloff cap on the rear speakers... I didn't quite understand what you meant by "re-thinking" removing your rear rolloff caps? Does that mean that you DID install them on the rears? If so, I do recommend taking them off. You even accurately state in your description, that the rolloff cap is optional for the rears (and possibly to some people for the fronts) I personally don't recommend attaching the extra rolloff caps on the rears. As I have stated, and you have noticed, the rear highs do get reduced by the rear of the seat backs... therefore, the extra rolloff isn't neccesary unless you have lots of rear passengers that might think things are too bright back there... Plus it makes the mod work go easier and faster. Plenty of room for just the resistor, even for a novice solderer. BEFORE BEGINNING THE SOLDER WORK... Just be sure to stick something underneath the terminal strip to protect the speaker cone from solder blobs falling down and burning through the cone material. A simple piece of folded over paper will suffice work just fine. BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY. IT also keeps the flux pebbles from accumulating on the back of the cone material.

AGAIN FANTASTIC WORK! THANKS SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS! I should have taken photos of mine from the beginning, but didn't realize how much the upgrade would catch on. A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS! And this photo with it's thorough detailed labeling will answer a thousand questions!

Thanks again Y2K! Thanks also, egilsrud for your continued efforts to help pass this info on to others who are looking for a good quick and easy inexpensive upgrade.

I owe you guys!
Southbound

magiviper

definately going in the sticky.. hows that coming southbound? or anybody thats working on it?

egilsrud

Uuuhhh...I'm working on it....just not fast enough

Y2K, I didn't use rolloff caps on the rear speakers. You might try removing them and see if it brightens up your sound a bit.

Y2KWDPTL

Southbound,

You're the man! If it wasn't for all of your trial and error and footwork to design this very easy and affordable upgrade, I wouldn't have a clue what to do.. Thank you sir for your ingenuityand the kudos as well. I tend to be a detail guy and for the sake of a good photo, I wanted it all to look symmetrical. Hey, I just followed your excellent instructions as well as Egilsrud's checklist and it all came together for me. If you guys want me to add or change anything on the photo so you can use it for the "how-to" I am open to any comments or changes that will work better and make the changes and repost the picutre. Onto the RTV, yes, I did use the RTV on the 5W resistor. I went to a nearby auto parts store and got some Permatex (red) with the highest temperature resistance. I think the tube was about 3 bucks.. As others have done, I also affixed rubber bands around the resistor and magnet and let dry overnight. They are tight as a drum. On the rolloff caps.. I did install them on all four speakers.. guess I was in a soldering mad moment.... and found as you advise that its best to leave them off of the rear speakers.. Thats a quick fix though so I will hopefully rearrange that soon. What I am so absolutely blown away about too is how amazing the terminator mods work. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! They absolutely cut out any noise you would get from the amp between tracks or on a quiet track.. its almost like muting. I am impressed! During the surgery on the speakers.. I remembered that little trick and cut up a business card and wedged it in there. Great suggestion! I also used the for squares of Dynamat and went anal on the speaker connections and made short connector wires from the speaker wire that came with the DX6s. I made them about 2 inches long and crimped the .187 spade connectors on the ends.. inserted the spades into the Acura connector and wound electrical tape around them.. I also followed your speaker color codes to keep things in line. After I cut the baskets I added another piece of foam weather strip to the back perimiter of the speaker frame and pressed them onto the spacers for just a little added sealing. When I connected the speaker to the wires, I took some wire ties and tied the Acura connector as close to the
harness mounting clip.. This shortened the legnth on the factory connector more efficiently and I was able to attach the two 2" wire adapters I made with no excess wire dangling in the door. Very tight fit. I also bent down the wires from the speakers so they go straight down in to the door frame instead of out to interfere with the window with the three layers of duct tape on the bottom of the speaker hole to prevent a short. All four doors turned out perfectly and all four speakers worked on the first try.. In any case, I am a happy camper and very glad I took on this very worthwhile project..

Egilsrud,
Yea, I am going to get those rear caps off. Its the best way to go.. I guess while I was soldering, I figured, what the heck.. its all here in front of me I might as well do em all and I could always change em later.. Onto Plan B! I also want to thank you for the checklist you posted.. That was a highly valuable resource.

You guys really started a fire here that I think will be around for awhile!!

Cheers!

Southbound

Y2K,
Thanks for the compliments! Glad you are happy with both mods... I have maintained all along that this is one of the easiest and most cost effective mods that can be done to the stock ACURA/BLOSE system. Nice to have another confirmation of that fact. It sounds like you are a very able and handy person, so the mods came very easy to you. I can tell by your photo and your description of work, that you are detail oriented like me. GOOD WORK! During my evaluations of this mod to come up with the best compromise components... I drove around with the resistor attached by clip leads and the volume at 25clicks for over an hour. The resistor just barely got warm to the touch of the little finger. Since power and volume SPL are logarithmic, the stock headunit doesn't have enough power to heat up the 5watt resistor. If a continuous sinewave were turned up full volume, then perhaps it would heat up, but with the spurious high frequency audio... it barely gets warm. Using an aftermarket amp with a LOT more power could change that... but as a stock upgrade, it is a suitable way to deal with the EQ beast. Therefore, for others yet to do the mod, while using the red auto parts store super tmep RTV certainly doesn't hurt anything, ordinary household clear RTV sealant that you can buy at drugstores and Home Depot, etc. would work just fine as well because there really isn't any substantial heat involved at this stock power level.

Again thanks for the vote of confidence and for the photo! I've been trying to think of anything that might be added to it... but you've covered just about everything possible. The ONLY other things to maybe mention, would be where you point to the factory 4.7uf cap... would be to put in parenthesis that it's the "crossover" cap. Also finding a place to mention to use RTV underneath the 5watt resistor and the rolloff cap might be helpful to make sure everybody gets it right. But that's getting VERY thorough.

The extra weather stripping that you put underneath the speaker so that it would seal against the plastic spacer has also been recommended in all of my posts... Glad to hear that you took the time to add that as well. It will make a tighter sound when EVERYTHING is mounted air tight against a sound dampening material like the dynamat.

NICE JOB! You'll gain a tiny bit of volume back also when you remove the rear rolloff caps.

Southbound

kent_99TL

I have a question about the 4.7uF/50V non-polarized cap can I use 4.7uf/100v instead otherwise I need to wait 8-12 weeks for the re-stock from a local shop.

Thanks,

James

egilsrud

No problem using a higher voltage cap - the extra voltage gives you more margin for peak voltage, although it really isn't necessary for this application. However, it will be physically larger than a 35V or 50V cap, but you should be able to fit it just fine. Go ahead and buy them!

Southbound

Thanks Egilsrud!
SB

kent_99TL

I see. Thank you very much.

James

Y2KWDPTL

This photo adds a few more description captions suggested by Southbound...

Added Descriptions include:

1. Factory 4.7uF/50v cap as "Crossover cap"

2. description depicting "shrink tubing" to insulate
all bare wires.. IMPORTANT!!

3. RTV Silicone used to mount either the 3.9ohm/5w
resistor or the 4.7uF/50V non-polarized rolloff cap to the
speaker basket under the magnet.. Whichever you
prefer to mount in that space, it is important that the
component is mounted securely to prevent vibration
and from touching the bottom of the speaker cutout where
the speaker will mount. As Southbound mentioned in an
earlier post, ordinary household silicone sealant will work
well.

Cheers!

Y2KWDPTL

This photo adds a few more description captions suggested by Southbound...

Added Descriptions include:

1. Factory 4.7uF/50v cap as "Crossover cap"

2. description depicting "shrink tubing" to insulate
all bare wires.. IMPORTANT!!

3. RTV Silicone used to mount either the 3.9ohm/5w
resistor or the 4.7uF/50V non-polarized rolloff cap to the
speaker basket under the magnet.. Whichever you
prefer to mount in that space, it is important that the
component is mounted securely to prevent vibration
and from touching the bottom of the speaker cutout where
the speaker will mount. As Southbound mentioned in an
earlier post, ordinary household silicone sealant will work
well.

Cheers!

Y2KWDPTL

OOPS! Sorry about the double post.. Also, I keep forgetting to mention that the best way to print this photo is in landscape mode on your printer..