Step by Step Installation of JBL Component Speaker in Mazda CX-5

[etulio]

Intro

I've been reading this forum for some time, and now it is time to start my first thread about a step by step tutorial to install JBL Component Speakers in a Mazda CX-5.

Let's start from the beginning with some theory. Below you can see the wiring diagram of the radio (LCD Radio without Bose Amplifier) and speakers.

In the diagram we can see that Dashboard Speakers and Front Door Speakers are connected in parallel to the same radio output, this is important and we will remind it later

I am going to install the following speakers:

Front: JBL GTO 609C (Woofer in Front Door and Tweeter in dash side)

• Woofer 6-1/2" (165 mm) and Tweeter.
• Passive LC filter with dimensions 100 x 120mm.
• Maximum Peak Power: 270W
• RMS Power: 75W RMS
• Nominal Impedance: 3 ohms
• Sensitivity (2.83V/1m): 92dB

Rear Door: JBL GTO 629

• Coaxial: 6-1/2" (165 mm)
• Maximum Peak Power: 180W
• RMS Power: 60W RMS
• Nominal Impedance: 3 ohms
• Sensitivity (2.83V/1m): 93dB

To remove the door panel clips (Christmas Tree clips) I used the following Fork-Screwdriver from Amazon, by using it is less likely to break the clips:

Now, after the theory, lets start with the hands on installation of the speakers, I'll explain how to install:

• Tweeter in Dashboard
• Pasive Filter in Dashboard
• Woofer in Front Doors
• Coaxial Speaker in Rear Doors.

 

[etulio]

JBL GTO609C Component Speakers Part 2: Tweeter and Filter in Dash

JBL GTO609C Component Speakers: Tweeter and Filter in Dash
We remove the speaker dash grill by using a flat screwdriver, factory dash speaker is a 3.5" Tweeter while JBL GTO609C Tweeter is only 47 mm (1 7/8"), so we need an adapter to fit this small speaker smaller. To make the adapter:

• I used the speaker cover under dash center grill as a template.
• I made this adapter using good quality 2mm plywood (Model Plane Plywood)
• Painted it black

Tweeter Passive Filter
JBL GTO609C include a 6.5" Woofer, 1 7/8" Tweeter and a passive filter to block powerful low frequencies from going to tweeter and damaging it. This filter is quite big and difficult to fit anywhere in the car, so let's take a closer look and analyze it, filter has the following components under the hood:

By checking the connections we can draw an schematic with the components and their connections:

and extract the following conclusions:

• The 3.3 Ohm resistors has a push switch in parallel that short circuit it, increasing high frequencies by 3dB, as I prefer flat response, I will leave the resistor in the circuit and will not include the switch.
• Filter circuit for Woofer is just a pass-through, woofer is connected directly to filter input.
• Filter circuit for Tweeter is a High Pass second order filter
• We saw in the CX-5 Wiring Diagram that speakers in dash and front door are connected in parallel, this means that we can place this filter under Tweeter and Woofer will be connected by car wiring.

As passive filter size is too large to fit under Tweeter, we will unsolder the components from PCB, and solder them again to a custom made PCB 80mm diameter, sized to fit in dash under tweeter, connections are made in PCB bottom side soldering 1.5mm copper wire

Now we assembly Tweeter in our wood adapter, and attach the filter underneath by using 20mm M3 spacers, and connect Tweeter to PCB filter output using wires and faston connectors:

To plug the CX-5 cable harness to our PCB, we solder to Filter PCB bottom a 2 Pin connector header 100mil (2.54mm).
We are done now, we just install or Tweeter assembly in dash plug the CX-5 Harness (Be careful with polarity), I do not have pictures of this because it was lunch time and I was in a hurry

 

[etulio]

Part 3: Installing Woofer JBL GTO609C in Front Door

Installing Woofer JBL GTO609C in Front Door

To remove door panel we use the diagrams in CX-5 Workshop Manual and we use the fork screwdriver to remove the panel clips.
The factory speaker is part of a plastic spacer, speaker suspension is glued to plastic and speaker magnet is embedded in the plastic spacer. I removed the speaker spacer from door, and this is it.

I will destroy the factory speaker and rework the plastic spacer to fit the JBL Woofer. With a sharp knife I cut the speaker suspension in front side, and using a Dremel I cut the plastic in rear side:

Now in rear side:

• I fill in with epoxi resin the areas where the speaker screw will be attached, this way there will be a thick wall for the screw threads.
• Solder wires and faston connector to the factory connector in speaker

In front side, in order to fit the screws it is required to make minor cuts to the bezel around the speaker. Finally it looks like this:

And now it is ready to be assembled in the Front Door and connect it using the original CX-5 Harness.

 

[etulio]

Part 4: Installing Coaxial Speaker JBL GTO6029 in Rear Door

Installing Coaxial Speaker JBL GTO6029 in Rear Door
Now we have become experts removing Door Panels and using the Dremel to rework speaker spacers, so Rear Door speaker installation will be piece of cake.
Rear Door Factory Speaker and spacer is this:

I will destroy the factory speaker and rework the plastic spacer to fit the JBL Speaker. With a sharp knife I cut the speaker suspension in front side, and using a Dremel I cut the plastic in rear side, but be careful to leave the plastic deflector that will protect speaker rear from rain getting through the window glass above:

Now in rear side:

• I fill in with epoxi resin the areas where the speaker screw will be attached, this way there will be a thick wall for the screw threads.
• Solder wires and faston connector to the factory connector in speaker

In front side, in order to fit the screws it is required to make minor cuts to the bezel around the speaker. Finally it looks like this:

And now it is ready to be assembled in the Front Door and connect it using the original CX-5 Harness.

 

[cohocarl]

Great write-up/how-to!! I am a big fan of "how-to's" on these forums. It is very valuable information for others to tackle the mod, even if it is not done 100% exactly the same way.

THANK YOU!!

 

[tibimakai]

Nice job!
Why did you use, lower wattage speakers in the back?

 

[Snacks]

excellent job.......

only gripe is I wish people would utilize pic hosting links like photobucket so we don't have to click links.

 

[RedBaron]

Please edit your original posts to put [ img] and [/ img] tags (without the spaces) around your photo links. Then they'll show up in-line.

Example:
[ img]http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=209998&d=1423413521[/ img]

Becomes:

 

[etulio]

Please edit your original posts to put [ img] and [/ img] tags (without the spaces) around your photo links. Then they'll show up in-line.

Done. Thank You, it looks nicer now.

 

[Skorpio]

Well done!

 

[duffsurly]

i have a question. I have the GX Sport model and only had 4 speakers but the grills are still there to put in a 6 speaker system which i want to do. there doesn't seem to be wires at the dash grills though so would i need to find out what wires are going to the door speakers in order to split the signal for the passive filter?

anybody know what wires they are and how to access them?

there seems to be plenty of room to run the wires from the speaker grill to firewall on drivers side.

 

[GoFrogs]

subscribed for reference to be used later.

excellent documentation and good pictures