Took the speaker back to shop and they exchanged it. No problem and they said this was the first issue they've had. I agreed that it was probably just bad luck. Here's some pics of what I did:
The setup:
1. Hertz 5x7 for the rear doors. These are real nice speakers. I love that the tweeter can be rotated to point towards occupants. I find that this allowed for improved sound for those riding in the back seats...or when I'm back there with my wife - now she can really hear Marvin Gaye whispering in her ear... lol
2. Pioneer 3.5 inch for the front center dash and rear center shelf. They dropped right in without any mods. I find that the tweeter helps with staging and takes out a lot of the muddiness. I'm glad I didn't skip this addition/change like some had recommended.
3. BLAM 5x7 components for the front doors. Just like their sister Focal speakers, these are beautiful and well made (ignore the fact that I had ****** luck with one of the woofers). They sound amazing..full and rich. The tweets perform wonderfully. Crisp and smooth.
4. Scosche amp kit. Nothing special....8 ga power wire, etc. Ignore the "Blueskin" sound deadener...I returned it. It was tar based. More on this later.
5. The star of the setup...a Scosche 10" powered sub. lol. It's good enough for now. I may replace it at some point, but I gotta say, it sounds fantastic compared to just the 6x9's the SHO came with. I left the 6x9's hooked up and think of them as a a regular woofer. This sub has good deep bass without being obnoxious. For me, it's perfect.
First thing I tackled were the center channels:
Super easy to replace the front. Just unclip. The rear was another story and I found that was the hardest part of the job. This is the factory speaker
And the new Pioneer installed. Again...super easy. No trimming and no wizardry.
Next up...ugh...the rear center. Lots of acrobatics to get this one in. At the end, I didn;t even completely remove the rear shelf. I just pushed up on it to get at the screws holding the speaker in.
Next up was the rear doors. Following the Youtube videos, these doors are easily removed. The only caution here is the clips. They CAN break. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have some replacements on hand. I was fortunate and only broke one of all four doors. as you can see I rotated the tweeter so that it faced the occupants. IA nice feature on these quality speakers. I lined the inside of the door with XMat. It's a fraction of the cost of Dynamat.
Next up..the front doors:
Again, Youtube is your friend. Very easy to remove the door panels. Just use proper trim tools (plastic). I got mine from Harbor Freight for cheap.
Here are the tweeters installed in the C pillars. The BLAM tweets fit like a glove. They literally popped right into the existing recess of the pillar. To ensure they stayed secure, I simply zip tied them in place. I installed the BLAM crossovers right next to them with 3M double-sided tape (where the harness plug was before I snipped it off).
The C pillar panel removes easily. They're mounted with clips at the top and ,iddle and then tabs at the base of the windshield. Once the clips are popped, you just firmly pull up and away.
Here's a comparison of the old and new speakers:
The woofers are butyl rubber and even the magnets are coated in rubber. The tweeter parts were all coated in rubber as well. Even the mounting parts. Beautiful craftsmanship through out.
Lastly, the sub. I ran the power from the battery down the firewall. I could'nt find an existing grommet and wasn't prepared to drill a hole, especially with how toight it is under the dash. Soo I ran the wire down against the firewall (outside), and the drilled a hole in the sill plate and ran the wire through a grommet. Then, ran it along the sill plates to the trunk:
And here is the sub mounted in my trunk:
I had many options here. I decided to mount it with some L brackets I painted black holding it up underneath (drilled into the metal of the car frame). Remote wire I ran alongside the power cable to a T Tap in a wire under the dash.
All in, it took me about 6 hours. It was actually fairly enjoyable..even with this 58 year old body doing contorsions I haven't done since I was in the military. LOL. Am I sore today? Oh yes. Yes I am. But I've got Marvin Gaye to lull me into a comfy nap in the back seat....
