Following on from my thread asking about the rear speakers on an Aero Plus 8 today I removed the circular rear cover on the back of the Mog so that I could find out how the speakers are fitted.
I found something to make Dave W’s heart plummet.
This mess.
Bits of carpet trimmings, sawdust, leaves, etc.
A lot of cleaning to do….just because no one can see it doesn’t mean it is allowed to be dirty. Also the way everything is set out water come in through the louvres and keeps all the electrical stuff nice and wet. Add a poultice of sawdust and road grime and it is a recipe for trouble in years to come.
I then looked at the rear panel behind the seats. This is held by 3 screws along the top rail under the hood and by 3 more accessible only with the circular cover removed. Well actually 2 screws, one missing and all lose.
To get at the nuts that held the speaker in place it was essential to move the back panel a bit. The back panel can be semi-detached: it would be nice to remove it but it has a large “Computer Box” fixed to it that I wasn’t about to disconnect, and also a metal can that looks as if it is part of the emission control system and didn’t look as though disconnecting it would be wise. The can has 3 pipes connected, plus one with a cap over it. The cap was cracked and fell off when I touched it. So I relaced it with a manifold vac cap from a Triumph Bonneville. As I couldn't remove the can or electronics box I had only limited movement, but it was enough.
This photo shows the complexity of the wiring, plus the bits fixed to the rear bulkhead.
This photo shows a speaker in position: it also shows the fuel filler pipe, which is quite small but doesn't explain why the tank is so slow to fill.
Looking at the speaker fitting it seemed that the nice grill was secured with 4 screws that didn’t line up with the nuts holding the speaker in place. So it proved to be.
The speaker fitting bolts seem be sandwiched between a wood spacer and the aluminium back panel. All of them were lose enough to remove with fingers. Speakers must be firmly fixed to their baffel board.
This photo shows the speaker fitting with the riv nuts and speaker retaining bolts clearly shown.
The near side had three bolts one size, one smaller. The off side one had bolts all of the same size. WHY? Because it is a Morgan….
So I removed one of the 2 speakers, surprised to find that although it is labelled Alpine SPR 69 it had a plastic chassis and a very small magnet as this photo shows:
My friendly Car Audio Specialist told me that this is an OEM speaker, normally found under the rear parcel shelf of a modern Mini and costs about £15.00 a pair. Retail speakers are rather different.
So, the plan is to replace them both with pair of Pioneer TS-A6923i 400W 6 x 9inch 3-way Coaxial Speakers, all of £50.00 the pair. As the power output from the head unit is only 4 x 50w I do not need rear speakers capable of taking more than about 200w peak power.
More on this when the new speakers are in place.
