Rear speaker install

[tired comet]

I thought I would share a few thoughts on the speaker install for others.
I did the front speakers a few weeks ago with Infinity reference from Crutchfield. That worked out great, much better sound. Also did the front doors with Siless mat which is essentially a variation on Dynamat but much cheaper.

Finally got around to doing the rear speakers this morning. That didn't go so well.
I watched a couple of the panel removal videos that others did. Those were helpful. The bottom panel pulls up and out very easy, no problem. The middle panel is way more difficult to get out. Takes some patience and a long screwdriver to help wiggle out the anchors.
After removing the screw at the bottom of the white panel, if you push up on the 2 anchors at the top inside of the white panel with a long screw driver, the panel pops right out pretty easy. One of the videos a guy did showed him using a screwdriver to push up on the anchors. Great advice by him.
I read a few posts where people don't want to tackle the rear speakers because of the panel removal difficulty. I am NOT good at plastic panel removal so I feel ok saying its really not that bad.

Now to the audio portion. I am not an audiophile. Would like to be but can't afford that lifestyle.
As mentioned, I put the Infinity reference in the front. For the rear I ordered the Polk Audio DB402 from Crutchfield. I've had other Polk speakers and generally like them.
However, these DB402 are a waste of time and money. Do not buy them. Do not think about installing them. They aren't any better than the factory speakers and may even be worse.

Whenever I do speaker replacements I replace one and then play with the balance / fade to check the new versus the old to see what I'm getting on improved sound. The factory speaker may be a bit better than these Polk speakers.

A few others have noted installing 6x9 speakers at the rear pillars. I didn't do that because I was worried about space. Obviously I haven't installed 6x9's yet but having opened up the cavity, there is a lot of space there. Installing 6x9's or 5" shouldn't be a problem.

If anyone has a recommendation on 6x9's, 5" or even 6" round for the rear pillar I would appreciate it.
Hope this is helpful.

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[Darnon]

Not sure if 6x9" or 6" round would fit. Maybe 5".

You might be thinking of some owners having installed 4x6 speakers and I can attest those do fit relatively easily.

 

[Snowbird]

I have been reading a lot about speaker replacement.

If I do replace the rear speakers I am going to use Infinity Reference REF-6432 CFX 4x6 two way.
This is based on recommendations of others. Crutchfields site says they do not fit but others have installed them. I will use REF-6532 IX or EX for the fronts.

 

[Dmthomp32]

I’ve been thinking about these infinity speakers as well. For the price they sound like an awesome deal. I’m just wondering if it’s worth installing the rears versus the two door speakers. It sounds like installing the rear speakers is more difficult with less return.

 

[Lane]

For the rear I ordered the Polk Audio DB402 from Crutchfield. I've had other Polk speakers and generally like them.
However, these DB402 are a waste of time and money. Do not buy them. Do not think about installing them. They aren't any better than the factory speakers and may even be worse.

Whenever I do speaker replacements I replace one and then play with the balance / fade to check the new versus the old to see what I'm getting on improved sound. The factory speaker may be a bit better than these Polk speakers.

Thanks for doing a comparison. "Better" is subjective. What were you looking to hear that you didn't? If you're running them off of the stock radio without adding an amplifier - I could see how they could be judged as not being worth the cost and effort. Especially reading about how the stock system has its own equalization & rear limited frequency range. If in the future you choose to add an amplifier, that's when you'd definitely hear what they offer over stock.

I've used Polk Audio components in cars since 1993 (30 years), and I look forward to putting them in my '24 Maverick that's on order which I'll still be waiting for for quite some time.

 

[Scupking]

Why can't manufacturers make it easy and just have a pop off cover over the speakers....

 

[Snowbird]

https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/f...my-new-velocity-blue-maverick-xl.5064/page-14

This member has been very helpful and is who convinced me to lean towards the Infinity speakers.

Page 14 of his post has some information about the speakers.

 

[rallyshark]

One thing about the rear speakers that doesn't get mentioned much, is there is a on open gap on the panel where the speaker attaches. That is horrible for keeping the front sound waves separated from the rear sound waves. The front/back waves will cancel each other out and make for very weak/bad sound quality. Stuff that gap with foam or sound deadening as a patch.. As others mentioned, you probably won't hear much improvement with the rear speakers, until they are being powered by an aftermarket amplifier with full signal. Well, mostly full. They still aren't going to be useful for frequencies under 100hz.

 

[rlhdweman]

I thought I would share a few thoughts on the speaker install for others.
I did the front speakers a few weeks ago with Infinity reference from Crutchfield. That worked out great, much better sound. Also did the front doors with Siless mat which is essentially a variation on Dynamat but much cheaper.

Finally got around to doing the rear speakers this morning. That didn't go so well.
I watched a couple of the panel removal videos that others did. Those were helpful. The bottom panel pulls up and out very easy, no problem. The middle panel is way more difficult to get out. Takes some patience and a long screwdriver to help wiggle out the anchors.
After removing the screw at the bottom of the white panel, if you push up on the 2 anchors at the top inside of the white panel with a long screw driver, the panel pops right out pretty easy. One of the videos a guy did showed him using a screwdriver to push up on the anchors. Great advice by him.
I read a few posts where people don't want to tackle the rear speakers because of the panel removal difficulty. I am NOT good at plastic panel removal so I feel ok saying its really not that bad.

Now to the audio portion. I am not an audiophile. Would like to be but can't afford that lifestyle.
As mentioned, I put the Infinity reference in the front. For the rear I ordered the Polk Audio DB402 from Crutchfield. I've had other Polk speakers and generally like them.
However, these DB402 are a waste of time and money. Do not buy them. Do not think about installing them. They aren't any better than the factory speakers and may even be worse.

Whenever I do speaker replacements I replace one and then play with the balance / fade to check the new versus the old to see what I'm getting on improved sound. The factory speaker may be a bit better than these Polk speakers.

A few others have noted installing 6x9 speakers at the rear pillars. I didn't do that because I was worried about space. Obviously I haven't installed 6x9's yet but having opened up the cavity, there is a lot of space there. Installing 6x9's or 5" shouldn't be a problem.

If anyone has a recommendation on 6x9's, 5" or even 6" round for the rear pillar I would appreciate it.
Hope this is helpful.

Glad I read this post, I have a set of DB402 in a box I was going to put in the rear when I got time, I will not waste my time now, until someone verifies a better speaker with the factory radio for this position.

 

[colinl]

One thing about the rear speakers that doesn't get mentioned much, is there is a on open gap on the panel where the speaker attaches. That is horrible for keeping the front sound waves separated from the rear sound waves. The front/back waves will cancel each other out and make for very weak/bad sound quality. Stuff that gap with foam or sound deadening as a patch.. As others mentioned, you probably won't hear much improvement with the rear speakers, until they are being powered by an aftermarket amplifier with full signal. Well, mostly full. They still aren't going to be useful for frequencies under 100hz.

I don't know that I have ever seen anyone else mention that concern. If you filled the gap on your truck did you take any pics or video?

BTW, my rear speakers are still stock. I adjusted the fader so that they're tolerable in the rear seat at high volume, then set the gain on my sub which gets signal from the B&O 6x9 'sub' that I removed.

The rear seat passengers are mostly hearing the front speakers, as God intended.

 

[rallyshark]

I don't know that I have ever seen anyone else mention that concern. If you filled the gap on your truck did you take any pics or video?

BTW, my rear speakers are still stock. I adjusted the fader so that they're tolerable in the rear seat at high volume, then set the gain on my sub which gets signal from the B&O 6x9 'sub' that I removed.

The rear seat passengers are mostly hearing the front speakers, as God intended.

Rear seat passengers, what are those? The parts from work or other stuff that usually ends up back there won't mind, but a little airy rear fill ain't a bad thing, haha. I saw that gap in pictures from other posts doing the rear speakers. I should be doing mine this weekend, if all goes as planned. I've been short on time to start putting in all the goodies waiting for my truck, but I have every intention of getting started Saturday. I will do my best to take pictures when I do. I have lots of stuff, so I may have to do a little at a time.

 

[mikeheel]

This thread was helpful. I came here looking to learn how to remove the rear speaker panels b/c my wife's Maverick has a weird clicking/knocking sound inside the rear driver side speaker panel. My hope was that I could figure out what it was by removing the panel. It makes the noise when you go over any sort of bump or imperfection in the road. We found today that we can also replicate by simply applying light pressure on the speaker cover. Every time you press lightly, it clicks.

But now you guys have got me thinking of swapping out the speakers if I have to take it off, anyway. LOL. I've always been a fan of Kicker speakers, so I"ll think about it. Right now, I only need to take off one side, so we'll see how lazy (and how cheap) I feel when I get around to this.

 

[Aaron F]

I ended up ordering the Morel Maximo 4" from Crutchfield for my rears. They don't list them as fitting. The installer said it was tight, but they fit. I think the biggest issue is getting the pillar panel back in place with the bigger magnet there to line up with the opening behind the pillar. Anyhow, the stock speakers with the B&O sounded horrible. Mine were switched immediately to amp power, so I don't know if they would have sounded better than stock off the headunit. They are essentially rear fill now, and no longer sound horrid like the stock did when you faded to just the back.

 

[Stradbash]

I'm going to have to disagree with the observation that the Polk DB402 are a waste of time and money. I purchased mine before I had the truck or had read many of the how to posts and would likely install different and larger speakers if I had to do it again, but they certainly have better sound and wider frequency response than the original non B&O speakers that were in my truck. I did some slight modifications to the mount to get them to fit better.

 

[Toddman45]

I've saw a video on YouTube where someone installed 4x6 speakers in the rear. They did fit the OEM location using 2 screws in diaganol locations.

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