OK so here's the deal - I bought some new Infinity 62.9i speakers for the front doors of my 1st gen TL. I ran in to the problem that they are deeper than the plastic basket that held the stock speakers. I cut the rear out so the magnet would fit through. Problem #2 - the holes of the speakers didn't align with the ones on the basket. So what I did was screw in a metal bracket (circular type of thing) onto the plastic basket and tada. Finally I plug everything in (I installed the drivers side speaker and left the stock one) and screw in the speakers only to notice that the two fronts completely don't work! So I take out the Infinity try it again and everything works. Then I figured that I should try the speaker without screwing it in - works! So I screw it in once again and both speakers stop working!

The weirdest thing is that the speaker works when I put it in the basket and hold it in place with my hands but as soon as I put a screw or two in both fronts stop working. I'm baffled as the screws are really short and cannot possibly touch the door. The only metal parts that are in contact are the speaker and the circular metal bracket thingy that sits on top of the plastic basket.

What could possibly be the problem?! Any help will be greatly appreciated!

P.S. There is some sort of metal beam running inside the door that is maybe 1/2 inch from the magnet - could that impact anything? Before there were a few mm of plastic from the basket that kept the magnet apart from the beam where as now the gap is narrower and there is no plastic.

 

Your + and - terminals are touching either the door or the plate (which is touching the door) when you screw the speaker to the metal to the door. Confused? Your basically closing your circuit when your two speaker terminals are connected together.

A. Properly set it up by making MDF spacers
B. You need some sort of seperation between your metal bracket (thats nonconductive), the speaker, and the door. Perhaps some electrical tape would do the trick

 

Thanks for the reply wong05tsx.

My + and - are tied together with those things that you turn onto both cables. I believe that they are not touching. When I hold the speaker in my hand it works just fine, but when I put it in the hole and hold it up against the plate I hear some sort of interference sounds, and when it's screwed in, then both speakers stop working.

So basically it's layered like this:

Door (metal)
basket (plastic)
metal plate thingy (metal)
Speaker (metal)

I'll try to cover the metal plate in tape and see what happens. In the meanwhile I'm open to any help!

 

I covered the metal plate with electrical tape and it didn't do anything... I'm seriously lost.

 

You have a short somewhere.

How and what did you use to connect the speakers to the stock harness?

 

Well I changed out the stock speakers a few years ago with some cheap 5.25 pioneers that fit in perfectly. If I remember correctly it was a connector which I cut off and the just connected the +/-. Everything worked perfectly however I did not need to cut the plastic basket and everything aligned perfectly on the basket itself.

I understand that there is a short somewhere but I don't understand how. I'm not too savvy with this stuff so please forgive my noobness. Could the circular metal plate be causing a short? If so how is it possible?

 

Well the connections work when you hold it correct? Try moving the speaker in your hand and see if it still works.

Then if that works, then try moving the speaker to its final destination. The goal would be to have it sit in its correct spot and be working. Place one screw in at a time and if it shuts off then, you have found your problem.

 

^I did try that. Basically it works in my hand perfectly. SO I put it in the hole and start hearing a sound which I cannot explain too well. It's kind of if you would want to listen to 95.9FM but put 95.8 instead - sort of a static/crackling type of thing. when I start screwing the screws the sound gets a little louder. After all the four screws are in it still works along with the weird sound. So then I take the key out of the ignition - put it back on which in turn powers on the radio and... SILENCE. Crazy... I know! So it works - badly - if I do the whole process without shutting the musing off but as soon as I turn it off and back on the sound is gone in ALL front speakers the only ones that work are the 6x9's in the back.

If I start unscrewing the speakers the sound comes back on as I'm doing the unscrewing! So It must be the screws that are messing up but how!? They are REALLY short. I'd say maybe 1/4 inch long so they are definitely not touching the door or even the plastic basket. Also these are the screws that came with the speakers.

I made this rubbish diagram of how it's all connected:


I never thought that it would be this difficult to replace speakers...

 

What if you don't use the metal plate?

 

PROBLEM SOLVED

The damn speaker was defective and somehow kept shorting everything out. I was baffled for a good reason as the whole thing didn't make any sense, but I never thought that it could be the speaker that was at fault. Thanks for the help everyone!

 

There is always one bad apple in every batch.