DB9 (MY08) Front Speaker upgrade Guide

[danieldenham]

The Front speakers (all three) in an MY08 DB9 (with Premium Audio) are 4-inch (100 mm) paper units.

These can be directly replaced in an hour or so with any 100mm speaker but that didn't give the audio upgrade I was looking for.

From an old youtube video, I found that 5.25-inch (130mm) speakers will fit with a small amount of work (work not shown on youtube so I had to make it up, hence this guide!). I timed myself and it was 3hrs for each door and 10 minutes for the centre.

Step 1:
Remove door card (search for guide!)

Step 2:
Cut away one piece of plastic with dremel:



Step 3:
Remove old speaker and metal mount from door.

Step 4:
Mark up new speaker diameter and 'adjust' with angle-grinder:



Step 5:
Mount new speaker in metal frame and align on the door, mark the hole needed for the magnet (ignore the dynamat):


Step 6:
Drill pilot hole CAREFULLY. The glass is ~3cm behind the metal, so use something to stop the drill once hole is cut (I used fuel pipe):


Step 7:
Get 85mm hole cutter and cut! (it was getting late and the cutter was noisy so I pilot holed the circumstance after marking with hole cutter, hence the serrated edge on this door)



Step 8:
Solder original connector onto new speaker.

Step 9:
Refit speaker and door card, then move onto centre speaker.

Step 10:
Centre speaker is just a drop in replacement 4-inch (100mm) as it's not worth the effort to up size (you will need a stubby pozidrive screwdriver).

Step 11 (yet to do):
Replace standard rear 100mm paper units with new 100mm units (the original youtube video says there's no room to house a deeper magnet).

Speakers used (I like JL Audio but any will be a marked improvement and now I can fit 130mm, I may upgrade to C5 components):
JL Audio Evolution C2-525x
JL Audio Evolution C2-400x


Good Luck

Daniel

ps I will have a spare 100mm C2-400x if anyone is interested as two rears and one centre leaves one spare.




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