Rattle from amplified front speakers (E36)

[Xcel 7]

I had a serious problem with a loud rattle produced at mid bass frequencies (100-250hz) after I replaced my stock speakers with some aftermarket speakers on an amplifier. At first I thought I had blown the speakers during testing but the rattle persisted after I put in the old speaker again while still connected to the amplifier. I was convinced that it must have been something within the chassis of the car which was vibrating because I couldn't find anything under the dash that was causing it. The only way to get rid of it was the equalize out all of that mid bass but then I would end up with a gap in level between the midrange frequencies and sub bass. I did however manage to remove the rattle and this is what I did:

Removed the speaker and foam speaker enclosure then taped some foam to a plastic tube I found that ran up into the A pillar. This should reduce any vibrations against the chassis of the car. Apparently this tube is to drain water from the sunroof.


Reinstalled the foam speaker enclosure and filled it with some polyfill that I had found in the rear speaker boxes. This step is probably not necessary but in theory it can make the enclosure appear larger to the speaker.

Applied sealing foam around the speaker. I thought this step would be unnecessary too since it's already resting on a foam enclosure but it worked.


Reinstalled the speaker, it's from the JBL GTO 509C component set which I can highly recommend because the woofer bolts right into the standard 5.25" speaker location and sounds pretty good. You might need to get creative with installing the tweeters into standard door panels though.


Overall I'm quite happy with how it sounds now, it goes loud enough to hurt my ears without distortion. I'm running them off a Lanzar Vibe 410 75w x 4 amplifier mounted under the parcel tray.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Xcel

[atlantiskiwi 73]

Haha, I have just installed some today and had the exact same issue...... hence why im on here at 12am searching. I was going to cut the foam out altogether as I thought it was that causing the issue. But ill give your idea a go.

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