Water resistance of Polk Car Speakers (SRxxxx)?

polkfaneurope

Hi,

As some of you may know from the other thread, I am currently installing my SR6500 set in my BMW E46 front doors.

When installing my replacement tweeter yesterday, I also removed the MID from the door to re-adjust the terminals and was little shocked when I saw some water drops on the backside of the speaker (on top of the magnet/coil enclosure).

I measured the depth of the selfmade adapter, and the loudspeaker chassis will not totally be covered by the wooden rings.

My concern here is, what happens if the membran of the speaker is exposed to some water drops in case of heavy rain/car wash etc, where water can enter thorugh the door/window gap ?

Should I better try to cover the speaker backside from dripping water ?

Or can the membran of the SRxxxx withstand some small amounts of water ?

Covering the backside seems to be a problem, as I cannot simply put some palstic foil around, which would start vibrating when speaker is active :mad:

TakeTheTime

Good question - I've been wondering this myself, but haven't thought about just asking the forum here.
I was shocked too, when I took out SR5250-midwoofer and found water on the same place you described...



^ It was mounted like this, very "open" and unprotected from rain.
But I guess it's not an issue since nothing has happened to the woofers.
I clean my car 1-2 times a week and I know a lot of water goes into the door,
so these speakers handles some rough weather, I've made a roof over them though.

polkfaneurope

there should be and are drain holes at bottom at the door...

I do not expect that the doors get filled with water like a bottle :-), but when water is dripping down from the top (where the windows comes out of the door), it could "hit" the membran of the speakers from the back... just like the picture from TakeTheTime...

hmm... any further ideas on that?

arun1963

Maybe, check the beading to see if there's any damage there?

polkfaneurope

the speakers are not damaged ....yet!.... I am just wondering what happens if they are exposed to condensing or dripping water.

exalted512

Doors leak. Fact of life. Those speakers will handle water, just not a ton. If you're really worried about it, you can buy some of these:
http://www.crutchfield.com/app/product/search/searchresults.aspx?SearchTab=Shop&us=2&search=foam+baffles&x=0&y=0

Having said that, if you use those cut them out to where it just shields the top of the speaker. Foam baffles make terrible enclosures and if you dont cut it up, it will make your sound worse. I have 8's in my doors that are meant for home audio, not car audio...therefore not designed to get wet at all...problem is chevy truck doors leak like niagra falls under heavy rain. So i got those baffles, cut out the bottom and most of the back, no problems at all.

BTW, if those baffles are made out of MDF, the speaker getting wet is going to be the last of your problems. I highly recommend either sealing them with a really good wood sealer or even better, make them out of plywood...and then seal them with wood sealer.

MDF and water dont get a long...at all...and your speakers will have a very real possibility of just falling down when the wood fails...and if its untreated MDF, it WILL fail.
-Cody

polkfaneurope

hi ...

thanks for the hint. my wooden spacer in my front doors are not MDF, but made out of plywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plywood). Plywood is claimed to withstand water/humidity much better than MDF.... or?

exalted512

Yea, plywood is the way to go.
-Cody

catch22atplay

I used the same pair, db3065's i believe, in my doors in 3 vehicles. Water damage was not a problem and they got wet a lot over the years. They're not paper, so no worries.

dorokusai

Over time I think it could be a problem. What about the simple foam cups that Crutchfield used to sell? They don't effect SQ enough to matter and provide some rear protection.

John or Cody? You have some thoughts on this?

exalted512

exalted512 wrote: »

Doors leak. Fact of life. Those speakers will handle water, just not a ton. If you're really worried about it, you can buy some of these:
http://www.crutchfield.com/app/product/search/searchresults.aspx?SearchTab=Shop&us=2&search=foam+baffles&x=0&y=0

Having said that, if you use those cut them out to where it just shields the top of the speaker. Foam baffles make terrible enclosures and if you dont cut it up, it will make your sound worse. I have 8's in my doors that are meant for home audio, not car audio...therefore not designed to get wet at all...problem is chevy truck doors leak like niagra falls under heavy rain. So i got those baffles, cut out the bottom and most of the back, no problems at all.

BTW, if those baffles are made out of MDF, the speaker getting wet is going to be the last of your problems. I highly recommend either sealing them with a really good wood sealer or even better, make them out of plywood...and then seal them with wood sealer.

MDF and water dont get a long...at all...and your speakers will have a very real possibility of just falling down when the wood fails...and if its untreated MDF, it WILL fail.
-Cody

dorokusai wrote: »

Over time I think it could be a problem. What about the simple foam cups that Crutchfield used to sell? They don't effect SQ enough to matter and provide some rear protection.

John or Cody? You have some thoughts on this?

:p:p:p

catch22atplay

I'd seriously worry about the baffles effecting sound quality. Won't see me using them. Please read the reviews at crutchfield. If you do decide to buy them cut a 2 inch hole towards the bottom of the baffle.