[MightGetDirty]

I had a quick search and couldn't seem to find anyone mentioning this little mod before here. The trick looks well known in street Suzuki communities but less so in 4wd/Jimny circles, so decided to share for folks in the future.

AFAIK, older zooks like Sierras, Vitaras and 1st/2nd Gen GV are relatively easy to replace/upgrade speakers in that they are pretty much plug and play - the old speakers screw out directly from the mounts in the door/dash and a new one fits in the exact same place without any fuss. Newer zooks however (released after say 2000s) changed to an integrated speaker-and-mount style typical of modern car design. What this means is that aftermarket speakers will not be in the same position as the OEMs, unless you find and buy additional adapter specific to your vehicle.

Instead of spending $40+ on what's essentially plastic rings, you can instead cut out the cone and driver from the OEM speaker to use the remaining housing as a spacer. The only downside is that it's a little fiddly and this mod might limit you from using really deep cone speakers, due to the way the OEM speaker housing tapers in... but considering that in some models the window rail sits uncomfortably close to the back of the speaker driver, that might not be such a bad thing as it becomes an interference check.. of sorts.

Zooks that I know this mod is applicable to:

• JB/JT/GV3/WhateverFlavourYouWantToCallIt Grand Vitara (2005-2018)
• JB74 Jimny (2018-)
• RS/ZC and newer Swift (2005-)
• MF Ignis (2016-)
• GY/EY/RW and newer SX4 (2006-)
• LY Vitara (2015-)
• WB and newer Baleno (2015-)

NOTE: When doing this mod, you will still be limited by the size of your original speakers i.e. if you have a car with OEM 6-1/2" (125mm) dia. speakers, you can only upgrade to better speakers of the same size you started with. This is particularly important for some models like the JB74 Jimny, which has 4" (100mm) speakers as standard but also has factory/aftermarket options to upsize to 5-1/4" (130mm). If you originally have 4" speakers and do this mod, you will still be stuck with 4" unless you pay for the kit or make your own custom adapter rings. Kudos to Fordem for pointing this out!

What you want to do is cut off the top flange holding the paper cone, as well as on the tree supports on the back supporting the speaker driver. This can be easiest done with a dremel, but I've watched videos of people using a multi-tool or (barbarically) a reciprocating saw to passable effect also.

Attachment:

SpeakerFront.jpg

Attachment:

SpeakerBack.jpg

Discard the old speaker guts, clean up any leftover protrusions with a file and you are left with the ring below:

Attachment:

ModifiedRing.jpeg

Pop your new speaker in - You can pad the edge of the housing or the underside flange of your aftermarket speaker to protect from any unwanted damage or vibrations with your handiwork. Line up the holes of your new speaker with the ones in the lower housing flange to install back in the door.

Attachment:

InDoor.jpeg

Done!

[fordem]

It also limits you to pretty much whatever the stock speaker size is/was - for example the JB74/JC74 comes fitted with a 100mm diameter cone, the opening in the sheet metal will accommodate a 130, but the modified original won't. Suzuki sell an upgrade that's a 130mm and I've heard of people going as high as 150.

[MightGetDirty]

fordem wrote:

It also limits you to pretty much whatever the stock speaker size is/was - for example the JB74/JC74 comes fitted with a 100mm diameter cone, the opening in the sheet metal will accommodate a 130, but the modified original won't. Suzuki sell an upgrade that's a 130mm and I've heard of people going as high as 150.

Oh I didn't know that. From those I've talked to, the Jimny OEM 4" (100mm) speakers are constructed similarly to the GV's 6-1/2" so they can be 'modified' the same way for an upgrade. There are some good 4" speakers out there, but their capability will always be limited simply due to being smaller.

I just had a quick search around and the main problem with the 130mm kit is that there aren't many aftermarket speaker options for that size, so it does make some sense for people to simply jump up to 6" (150mm) and deal with the fitment and making their own mounting solution.

[fordem]

MightGetDirty wrote:

Oh I didn't know that. From those I've talked to, the Jimny OEM 4" (100mm) speakers are constructed similarly to the GV's 6-1/2" so they can be 'modified' the same way for an upgrade.

The OEM Jimny speakers are constructed similarly to the GV's 6½" and they can be modified for an upgrade, but the size of the upgrade will still be limited to 100mm, 130mm are not as common as 150mm, but they are not difficult to find, they will require a larger ring that can be made from the OEM 100mm, 150mm are plentiful, but you'll have to pay attention to mounting depth, and again, larger rings will need to be fitted.

[MightGetDirty]

fordem wrote:

The OEM Jimny speakers are constructed similarly to the GV's 6½" and they can be modified for an upgrade, but the size of the upgrade will still be limited to 100mm

Ah yes.. I was replying as if that would be obvious, but it went over my head that others might think you can put larger/smaller sizes with the mod. I'll update my first post slightly to make clear this point. Thanks!

[GRPABT1]

That's getto AF lol, it's not like an adapter ring is expensive or hard to make.

[MightGetDirty]

Haha I wouldn't go so far as to call it ghetto myself (that's reserved for ziptie levels of fugly or the monster that used a recip saw for this on youtube!) but I would say the stock mounting solution isn't ideal with the plastic clips these mounts screw into. That said, for about 15mins of dremel cutting and filing up rough edges, this is "good enough" in that the speaker is in the correct place, there's no vibrations when volumes cranked up, etc.

Sure you could buy proper rings or make your own adapter and it'd be a lot more solid, but I was time poor and didn't want to wait 2-3weeks more with my door cards out for 5c worth of plastic to be shipped over from China and pay $40 for the privilege. I also don't have a new jigsaw yet (I just came back last year from working overseas) so didn't have confidence in making something out of MDF that's better than what's already there.

I'm sure somebody else will get caught out and this works, so I shared.