Speakers -- Vanagon

[Tim Hannink]

The stock speaker is glued into the front part of the housing. If you push in on the grill gently around the circumference you can break the bond of the glue and the speaker will come out. Take it slowly and make sure the speaker housing is warm to avoid cracking it.

A 3-1/2" inch speaker is the proper size. They usually have mounting ears that you can bend over. Use a good glue on the face of the mounting ring then place it in the housing and clamp. I replaced all four of mine 4-years ago with Infinity Reference series speakers and they still sound great. I also added a 10" subwoofer and amp to fill out the bottom of the sound.

Good luck,

[tm_Heady]

Hey all, i have a 1991 VW Vanagon GL (not a westy but has a very nice unfoldable double bed!) and im looking to replace the speakers. I believe htey are blaupunkt, but ive had a hard time finding some speakers. What would be some recommendations. Should i just replace speakers based on size etc...? how can i find out the exact speaker Volkswagen used in the 1991 Vanagon? Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, -Tim.

[Capt. Mike]

Yes, the OE speakers were Blaupunkt and not all that great. They had trouble handling the Bass and volume of even the factory radio/cassette. Especially at the volumes a noisy Westy often requires. Unless needing to stay OE for originality reasons, I'd go with a good replacement based on size and ability to fit without any permanent modifications to the (very expensive) door panels. Cruthfield Electronics has good experience with replacement sound systems and may offer some good advice. However, do remember speakers consume amplifier power so stay matched to your radio. The way stereo watt generation works, the larger the speaker, the more the radio attempts to put out to feed it. This can cause amplifier overload, damaging the radio.

[icarus]

Look into the infinity 4" speakers I speak about above. Also you will find that the speaker wire is very undersized for any modern head unit. After doing new speakers and a new head unit the distortion was very bad until I replace the wires. (see the post elsewhere)

Icarus

[jerepowers]

1984 Vanagon Westfalia

As every Westy owner knows, your options for the front speakers are very limited. Based on some advice from this site, I installed a set of Boston Acoustic S35 3-1/2 speakers into the original front speaker grills. I removed the door panels, removed the speaker units. Using advice from above, I pried out the old speakers with a large screwdriver. Then I bent back the screw tabs on the new speakers, slid them into the original grills and pushed them in as far as they will go. The S35 are two-way speakers and they have a piece of plastic protecting the tweater. So I just pushed plastic until it met plastic. Then I used the "other" handyman's secret weapon and glued the new ones in with DAP adhesive caulk from behind. They aren't going anywhere. They stick out the back of the original grills 13/16ths of an inch, but they do install and fit into the original plastic door seal. The speakers handle 30 watts RMS, the most of any of the 3-1/2 speakers I found.

[cpc1103]

Thank you great advise for the speaker installation. I too want to keep the integrity of the speakers and will get the BA S35. But how do you get into the speakers in the back of the AC housing. I have an 85 westy. If this was covered before. I dont want to have to take out the whole air conditioning unit but would like to remove the speakers..The front ones seem much eaiser to come out then the back ones.

[jerepowers]

The rears are more trouble -- especially if the speakers have not been rewired. (Read other posts -- the stock wiring on many Westies was with a common ground; no good.) The AC vent (the part the air comes out of) is easily removable on my 1984. The screws are covered with plastic heads. Use a small blade screwdriver or dull knife to remove them to expose the regular Philips screw heads. You may be able to reach in to unscrew the backs of speaker holders. (As mentioned before, they're like jar lids.) If you have to remove the AC cabinet, it's not as bad as you may think. There are six bolts. Two brown carriage bolts in from the front (nuts accessed through the AC vent), two large Philips screws from the back and two bolts that come in from the upright clothes cabinet. The toughtest part is removing the AC drainage tray and the drainage tubes, so if you can drop the cabinet just a bit to get a little more leverage, that may be all you need.

[tsombrero]

I just finished installing a pair of Boston Acoustics SX60's to go along with the spanky new Alpine CDA-9856. I'm pretty stoked that I can actually hear music on the freeway...

6" speakers will just barely fit in the doors at the stock location. Oddly, these speakers don't come with any grille covering. That actually is a good thing for a Westy-- you can mount them to the rear of the door panel and there are no handcrank clearance issues. I am looking for a source for some flush-mount grilles but if I can't find any it's no big deal.

This speaker has separate tweeters. I drilled a couple of 1-1/2" holes in the dash and plopped them right in, easy as pie.

[sfrost]

Has anyone tried the kenwood 4" speakers kfc-1062S from crutchfield they sell for $49.95 a pair and are a 3 way speaker.Crutchfield says they will fit in the door...