Replaced OEM speakers with Poly-Planar Speakers

[Tail_gunner]

I scratched off another item on my 'to-do' list of mods today.

I never liked the cheap sounding factory speakers on my 2013 Eagle 284BHS.


After a bit of looking around, I found something in a rather flush mounted speaker that didn't look like it would protrude all the way through the wall.


After removing the cheapo factory speakers, I probed to the sides of the speaker locations with a wire coat hanger. The only problem I found was a frame member about 6" to the rear of the aft speaker. Which was about 1" to 2" too far away from being an issue. When I cut the hole for the speaker magnet, I only cut the outer surface of the wall. I sliced the styrofoam insulation around the circumference of the hole and chipped it out flush with the inner wall suface. I measured the depth of the hole I made to accomodate the speaker. And there was about 1/8" of extra clearance between the inside surface of the wall and the speaker magnet.
I used the same putty tape used for sealing windows, roof vents and other fixtures for sealing the newly mounted speakers. I also used some Dicor self-leveling sealant around the edges as an extra sealing measure.

The front speaker is very close to the outlet fixture for the range's exhaust fan. The placement of the new speakers was limited by needing to cover the holes for the old speakers. The front speaker is mounted about as far forward as it can go while still concealing the old holes. The rear speaker I mounted likewise, but as far as the the rear as I could.

As for sound, I have to say the improvement is very noticeable. The bass isn't real intense, but better than the originals.

[OurJayco]

Nice work Kent!
I am interested in replacing my outdoor speakers as well.

[Tail_gunner]

Thanks. As much time as I spend under the awning listening to music, crappy speakers just ain't gonna cut it.

[Tail_gunner]

One more thing to add, the grilles for the Poly - planner speakers are supposed to snap on. I did that, but they still didn't seem very secure. I took some white bath tub adhesive/sealer and filled the groove in the speaker the grill snaps in to. I snapped the grilles back on and secured them with masking tape until the adhesive cures. That should keep me from losing a grille while going down the road. And the white adhesive/sealant cannot be seen (unless your face is a foot or so from it) .

[fastercat]

so what exactly was behind the old speakers, I want to put my poly planars in this weekend?

[Tail_gunner]

Originally Posted by fastercat

so what exactly was behind the old speakers, I want to put my poly planars in this weekend?

PM sent.

[fastercat]

put mine in last weekend, and took me about 2 hrs, I used a rotozip with a guide point bit and followed my circles from the template, needless to say, both speakers had an electrical wire behind them and I had to cut the plastic tracks that were there to protect the wires, but they sound much nicer and look a whole lot better.

[Tail_gunner]

Footnote: When I was installing my speakers, I found it odd that the wires with the black stripe were connected to the (+) terminal of the factory speakers. Having installed a few stereos over my many years, normally black stripped wires are the (-) negative lead. Thinking they were backwards, I hooked the wires up to my new speakers with the black stripped wires to the (-) speaker terminal.

Later I looked up the wiring chart in the owner's manual for the Jensen stereo. Sure enough, it stated that the wires with the black stripes are the negative. So I decided to pull the stereo and see how the pigtail harness was connected to the wires going to the speaker locations at the Jayco factory. Sure enough, the worker at the plant connected the (-) pigtail connection at the stereo to the non-striped (+) wires going to the speakers. Those wires were again connected backwards to the OEM speakers backwards with the non-striped (+) wires connected to the (-) negative terminal of the speakers. Since the connections were reversed in two places, it was a case of "two wrongs do make a right". But since I connected the (+) and (-) wires to the correct terminals on my new speakers, they were in effect backwards do to the fact they were still wrong at the stereo pigtail.

Once I found the how everything was connected "ass-backwards", I corrected the polarity of the wires at the wiring pigtail. Now everything is (+) to (+) to (+) and (-) to (-) to (-).