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96 1500SE Replaced my rear speakers

703 Views 12 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  satan, 
J
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I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and after poking around here looking for ideas, I decided to go with the Polk DB401 in back and 501's up front. The 501's arrived first so I took them outside to see how they sounded. As the rears are easy to get to, I dug in and powered one up. Day and night difference over stock. I dry fitted the bigger 501's into the mounting, and with just a bit of modding, they slid right in; great fit. I baffled the cavity and buttoned it up. The improvement is awesome. No distortion at all. Now I have to retun the 401's for another set of 501's for my fronts. I have pictures of the work, but can't load more than one per post. How do I get multiple pix into one post? Thanks.

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jpelmer
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You can upload multiple pics to your picture gallery then click on the G in the tool bar to add additional pics to a message.

I'd love to see what you did to fit the 501's into the rear. I updated last month to 501 front and 401 rear. Very happy with everything.

Pat
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J
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jpelmer wrote:
You can upload multiple pics to your picture gallery then click on the G in the tool bar to add additional pics to a message.

I'd love to see what you did to fit the 501's into the rear. I updated last month to 501 front and 401 rear. Very happy with everything.

Pat

Thanks for the picture tip. The ONLY mod I had to make was grinding the bottom mounting flange on the 501. Never touched the mount housing in any way; just re-assembled. I baffeled the cavity with a bit on insulation as well. Easy Peasy.
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jpelmer
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Interesting ... the housing is slightly different on your 96 vs. my 91. The 401's drop right in and needed no mod to the speaker, but I had to do a bit of grinding on the housing to get the mags enough depth for everything to fit flush. No real trouble, just a bit of hassle.

Glad it's working good for you.

The 501's work well in the front with just a snip of the mount holes on the speaker and I used a washer on each screw for more head coverage. The challange of course is getting into the dash ... a pain but do-able.

Pat
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vtxcandyred
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I guess my question is. Does any one have any concern over the fact that the bikes system is three ohm and all the rest of these are four or eight ohm. OR are the Polks three ohm also?????? I'd hate to spend sixty to one hundred bucks to find out I'm losing audio. Am I peeing up a rope?????
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MarioC
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I checked the Polk and they are 4ohms.
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AZwngr
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Just curious where can you purchase the 501s ?
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Mohawk
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Do a Google Search for Polk DB501 and check out the multiple places to buy them.

I see Crutchfield has them for $99.99 a pair

And Amazon has them for $65.00 a Pair

But a lot of places have them for $59.95 a Pair and with FREE Shipping.

Good Luck and Enjoy

Mohawk
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newday777
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So jwald
Those 501s are what you ended up using in the rear speaker location?
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jpelmer
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Azwngr

I got my 501's from onlinecarstereo.com - $59 a pair. $49 for the 401's.

Pat
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J
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newday777 wrote:
So jwald
Those 501s are what you ended up using in the rear speaker location?
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Yes. Ibought 501s for thr front and401s for the rears, but the 501s got here first and I found it obvious that they would fit the rear mounts. The 401s are going back for another set of 501s for the front.
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J
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vtxcandyred wrote:
I guess my question is. Does any one have any concern over the fact that the bikes system is three ohm and all the rest of these are four or eight ohm. OR are the Polks three ohm also?????? I'd hate to spend sixty to one hundred bucks to find out I'm losing audio. Am I peeing up a rope?????
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The Polks are 4ohm and sound so much better than the stocks, that I think the power loss from the amp working less is a non issue. YMMV
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satan
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FWIW... I run the 4-ohm polks in parallel (front/back) giving 2-ohms... the OEM wire is crappy enough to 'finish' the match out to the radio at or damned near 3-ohms.

For my bit, your fader is prolly dropping more than the current reduction to 4-ohms.
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