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Thread: VW Monsoon Speaker Install in e39 Rear Deck Speakers

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    VW Monsoon Speaker Install in e39 Rear Deck Speakers

    This is a simple upgrade to the Nokia speakers in the rear deck of the e39 sedan. Yes, you can do all types of upgrades, even the M5 mod, but this upgrade will cost you less than $30 total and about 5 hrs or work.

    I came up with this idea since quite a few of us on the e38 side of the house ripped out our rear deck speakers and replaced them with VW Monsoons and got an amazing and inexpensive upgrade. To be honest, this will not satisfy the audiophile, but for the 90% of the rest of us, this is a great way to increase the thump in the car without a big bump in the wallet.

    To get the Monsoons, go to your local JY and look for mid-2000s Jettas and Passats. The Monsoons are installed in the front doors. They are normally riveted in, so either bring a cordless drill with a 3/8 bit to drill them out or just break them out. They sell for about $5 each at any JY. I also highly recommend you find a JY e39 and take the rear speaker boxes. I was charged $5.46 for both boxes, but your price will vary. The reason I recommend the JY boxes is that you can use them to do all the work and then only have to remove the rear deck panel and swap out your boxes with the moded ones. Additionally, if you screw up something, you just messed up JY parts, not yours.

    So lets get going on this small project. You will need a DREMEL or similar tool. I don't know how to do this without the DREMEL.

    Start with two JY boxes:



    And several JY Monsoon speakers. I recommend you get at least three, if not four. In case you mess one or two up, you have extras, and if one does not work, you have extras, instead of going back to the JY and wasting time. The Monsoons have a blue label, they are 4 ohm, and they have a sticker with the letter G on the driver. The letter G is also on the blue label on the side of the speaker.



    The Monsoon is wider than the OE Nokia speakers, but is shallower. The Nokia speakers are 4.5" class while the Monsoon is a 5.25" class sub-woofer. This will require some modification of the speaker box, and the Monsoon casing needs to be cut off and be prepared for install. Monsoon on the left.



    The Monsoon shown here has the casing removed. Monsoon on the right.



    Sitting on top of the speaker box, you can see the Monsoon needs more space to sit into the e39 box...

    Last edited by kouks; 09-01-2018 at 01:36 AM.

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    STEP ONE: TRIM THE MONSOON SPEAKER

    With the DREMEL, use a cutting tool and take the casing off by cutting all the way around. You are working with plastic so it will melt and may bind. SAFETY TIPS: Always make sure the DREMEL tool is cutting and rotating away from you, wear eye protection, wear crappy old clothes. Like all cutting tools, they can grab, and when a DREMEL grabs, things happen fast!



    Then use a griding tool to make the cut surface level, grinding away leftover plastic from the casing.



    Finally, remove the lip that exists on the top end of the Monsoon. We do not remove this in the e38, but the e39 has a tighter fitting rear deck cover. Use a fast cutting tool for this job. You could you the large cutting tool like when you took off the case, but see how close the speaker rubber is, that large cutting tool can easily get away and rip it apart. The small diameter of the fast cutting tool will keep you steady.



    Now use the large cutting tool to free the wire leads from the plastic case, which may also require pliers or a screwdriver to snap the receptacle open, and finally back to the grinder to remove any burrs. Throughout this process, be very careful not to damage the speaker, since this is the whole reason we are doing all this work.

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    SECOND STEP: PREPARE THE E39 SPEAKER BOX

    Remove the foam surrounding the speaker on the box. Slowly pry it up to keep it as one piece, use both hands and all fingers together to keep from stretching and breaking it. There are two items that need to be trimmed on the box: the size of the speaker hole, and a redius in the box to allow for the wider Monsoon driver magnet.

    To widen the speaker hole, use the grinder tool and just create an approximate 45 deg bevel cut from the lip in the original hole. You do not need to go all the way to the edge of the lower lip, but you will get close.



    Then, set the Monsoon in the hole as level as possible. It will not go all the way in because the magnet driver will rub inside the box. Press down a bit and rotate to the spekaer back and forth to scratch a radius inside the box. This scratch will be your guide to grind away some of the box interior to fit the magnet. You do not need to grind until the box has another hole in it, I did not have to go that far and the Monsoon fit just fine. Take small cuts and test fit as you go.



    Test fit the Monsoon until it fits flush...and watch the battle scars, a DREMEL can do damage fast. Thick gloves may be a good idea.



    We are now done with the DREMEL, except for doing the second speaker and speaker box.

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    THIRD STEP: INSTALLING THE MONSOON IN THE SPEAKER BOX

    Make sure the box does not have any loose plastic bits in it that will rattle later on.

    At a hardware store, get some foam window tape, also known as gasket tape. This will act as a cushion for the Monsoon so you don't get unwanted vibrations during higher volumes. Stick the tape partly on the bevel cut you made and partly on the top lip of the hole, favoring the top lip. I got the 1/4 inch thick and about 3/4 inch wide. It should not be a hard to compress foam, it should have some substance, but compress well.





    Next connect the speaker leads to the Monsoon leads. They are the perfect size. In some of my Monsoons, the leads were loose wires after I removed them from the casing, in others, they are hard mounted on the speaker. In this one they were loose wires, so I taped one with electrical tape to avoid shorts. Right is + and left is -.



    Now, slowly insert the Monsoon into the hole, being careful not to suck in the foam. If the foam falls in, reset so that there is a layer of foam between the Monsoon and the upper hole lip. Once in, you'll have to drill your own holes for the screws. I recommend nudging the Monsoon slightly aft in the hole before you drill your screw hole. That way the magnet will have some more clearance from the plastic box inside that you recently ground to avoid any impact with the driver. Insert the first screw t keep the Monsoon in place, and then drill and screw in the other three.



    The Monsoon now stands about 1/4 higher than the OE Nokia speakers. On this posting, I have yet to fit the box into the car, that's for tomorrow. Also, the foam surrounds you carefully removed prior to removing the OE Nokia speakers, need to be trimmed about 1/8 of an inch all the way around to allow for the wider Monsoons.

    Tomorrow I'll do fitment and testing so I'll report on that.
    Last edited by kouks; 09-01-2018 at 02:41 AM.

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    Way to go Kouks! Very nice write up!



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    Bookmarking this thread for future reference. Nicely done, thanks!
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    Very interesting, so you’re replacing the speakers that fit into the top of the deck and not the Nokia sub box that sits under the deck which is what I thought you were going to do.


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    Quote Originally Posted by BarryM View Post
    Very interesting, so you’re replacing the speakers that fit into the top of the deck and not the Nokia sub box that sits under the deck which is what I thought you were going to do.


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    Im not done experimenting yet. My concern is that the e39 does not have rear door speakers, like the e38, and I may lose some mid range, however the Monsoons are a great mid-range speaker so hoping they will compensate without adding too much bass. In the e38 I had to adjust the bass freq down in the DSP since the Monsoons added so much deep sound.
    Last edited by kouks; 09-01-2018 at 12:32 PM.

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    VW Monsoon Speaker Install in e39 Rear Deck Speakers

    I cut out the holes in the deck and installed 10” Rockford Fosgate subs and had to back off the bass. Quite a job cutting the metal deck so anything that’s a simple swap over has to be a good move. If you can improve the top parcel shelf speakers I might have a go.


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    Last edited by BarryM; 09-01-2018 at 03:57 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by BarryM View Post
    Very interesting, so you’re replacing the speakers that fit into the top of the deck and not the Nokia sub box that sits under the deck which is what I thought you were going to do.
    Agreed this is a totally different project than I thought was advertised.

    The factory amps crossovers built in so putting these in the deck spot vs those in the sub bin are 2 radically different things.

    Not saying this isn't a good cheapy upgrade idea, BTW, just saying its a very different idea than the sub thing. This will result in a change to the mid-lows but not the beef of sub-freqs ,while the sub of course would be the opposite. One vs the other is very different.

    Now, my take on the Monsoons is that they are "infinite baffle" aka "open air" drivers... The factory Nokias depend on a finely tuned acoustic suspension in those plastic boxes, but I think the Monsoons probably don't need or want that... so...

    If you want to do this job (vs the actual sub job) it might be well worth looking into dispensing with all the plastic choppery, and instead make a quick couple of MDF adapter plates that replaced the factory plastic box, that let you just mount the raw Monsoons (with their little cannister boxes around them) up in the holes.
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    Installed, I'll post photos and audio files soon, just busy today.

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    OK, fully installed and running very well. The Monsoons have definitely been an upgrade to the sound and bass, my sone even called his sisters down and had them sit in the car to hear the new sound. But there were a few hickups along the way.

    One issue was that the Monsoons are 4 ohm, as were to sound boxes and speakers I took from the JY e39. But when I removed mine, they were 8 ohm speakers. I felt that this would reduce the power requirements on the amp, so not a problem, and that the Monsoons may operate at the higher volume that the other speakers. That did not happen, they seem to drive at roughly the same volume commensurate with the rest of the car speakers.

    When I first installed the Monsoons, they did not provide the upgraded sound as I was expecting, such as the change in the e38. But then geargrinder made a good point:

    Now, my take on the Monsoons is that they are "infinite baffle" aka "open air" drivers... The factory Nokias depend on a finely tuned acoustic suspension in those plastic boxes, but I think the Monsoons probably don't need or want that..

    In the e38, to get the Monsoons to fit, the inboard ones needed us to cut out a 3 in diameter hole so the magnet could fit. This changed the enclosed box to a vented box. The Nokia boxes in the e39 are also completely enclosed. This created a pressure chamber that did not allow the Monsoons to move freely. Thus I vented the boxes by drilling a 1/2 hole on the side.



    This allowed the Monsoons to breath. Also, I trimmed the foam baffle that dgoes around the speakers by about 1/8" all around as to not interfere with the Monsoons movement.



    With these mods, the Monsoons started to deliver. No, this is not bone crushing bass, but it turns the standard e39 into a respectable sound machine. My son played some bass heavy stuff on Bluetooth and the back of the car started vibrating. Nothing was loose, but you could feel the back shelf resonate. I feel the only negative to this upgrade is that he will soon blow out the other Nokias in the front doors by playing the audio at higher volumes.

    I made some recordings, but the iPhone 10 does not do well at low freq, and mostly records mid levels, but still you can get an idea. I feel the Monsoons have upgraded low-mid frequencies by about 30%.

    Before any mods, the standard e39 sound package (sub box, DSP amp)



    And here's the same audio after install and the holes were drilled. Volume level is nearly the same as the first clip. The iPhone really can't capture the real life thump though.



    This is a bass heavy tune my son played on Bluetooth, but again the iPhone failed to capture the deep sounds. The rear deck started resonating with this tune. I should probably do what dville did in the e38, filmed a glass of water resonating in the center console, maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

    And here's the water test. The resonance is your brain on high volume bass...



    Overall, this is a great cheap upgrade to your standard e39 sound. Again, this is not for audiophiles, you will be disappointed if you expect a massive change in audio range, but if you want great bass and mid range response when your favorite song comes on, then go ahead and turn it up with the Monsoons, cause they wont disappoint you as the volume goes up. All I can tell you is my son is grinning ear to ear. Exactly the way I felt when I modded the e38 and felt the thumping they did to that sound system. The only danger is, if your door speakers are starting to fail, you will definitely trash them with this mod cause you'll be turning it up quite often.
    Last edited by kouks; 09-03-2018 at 05:55 PM.

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    Cool. I think it'd prob be even better if you really did an open-mounting like I said, either via an MDF type of mount or cutting the plastic box open even more.

    Re: the results, yeah sounds good. Probably there's a sneaky benefit in doing the deck-mids and not the subs... this way you've bolstered a little bit of the audible bass, but you've prevented the chance of real super-sub-slamming-at-traffic-light obnoxiousness by your son when unsupervised.
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    Filmed the water glass test and the resonance can easily be seen and felt. Thanks to dville on the e38 forum who originally came up with this idea, and geargrinder here for helping me realize how to make the Monsoons thump better in the e39. BTW, if you have a e38, dville will send you a modified rear sound box ready to install, for a charge.
    Last edited by kouks; 09-03-2018 at 06:32 PM.

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    Bout time some one did this for e39. Saw it done for e38 and immediately thought about the e39 speaker box's.

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    Curious, I assume this project was done with the DSP sub box and rear door tweets still in-place? I’m looking to upgrade the bass in my non DSP and unfortunately one of the rear tweeters is blown. Was planning to replace the rear deck with coaxials and do some free air subs below the parcel shelf. I like the idea of this project on a budget, but it would leave only the front speakers with with upper range. Is there a specific depth limit to 5.25” coaxials in those shelf mounts without modifying the housings?

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    Is there a specific depth limit to 5.25” coaxials in those shelf mounts without modifying the housings?

    The deck boxes are made for a 4.5" class speaker, if you go to a 5.25" class, you will at least have to modify the speaker opening on the boxes. The Monsoons are not deep speakers, but in the e38, the stock speakers (I think they were HK) were shorter and fit in that box fine. When we installed the Monsoons (both speakers were 5.25") we had to cut the bottom of the box to fit them. So, yes, there are speakers out there that are shorter than the Monsoons.

    The Monsoons, trimmed, from the bottom of the magnet to the base of the speaker mount are 1 7/8" tall. To fit in the box without any interference, I'm guessing something close to a 1.5" (magnet to base) or maybe 1.75" total height would be best. Probably hard to find something that short.
    Last edited by kouks; 09-14-2018 at 05:15 PM.

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    Tried searching the e38 forum but didnt find or receive an answer. Are you guys also using those monsoons in the doors? My door speakers on the e38 are shot and I’d like to do them with the rear shelf subs.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Tried searching the e38 forum but didnt find or receive an answer. Are you guys also using those monsoons in the doors? My door speakers on the e38 are shot and I’d like to do them with the rear shelf subs.

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    Here’s the thread, and yes Monsoons have been installed in the doors, although I have not done that

    https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...peaker-upgrade

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    I just ordered 8 monsoons this morning. Dville responded to me on another thread to confirm it could be done. Cant wait to have them delivered and installed!

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    Been searching threads to find out of the monsoon speakers fit e38 doors.. while I’m at it I’ll post a link the the eBay seller offering NOS monsoon 4ohm speakers for $15 each!


    Can anyone confirm the monsoons fit in the doors of e38 or e39 models? And I’m I playing with fire loading/overheating the stock amp with 8 four ohm speakers??

    And thanks for the diy!

    https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F371781450723

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    A month ago, I bought a pair of Monsoons off the above Ebay link

    Today, I gabbed two rear speaker boxes from a junkyard car

    ( I was there to pull an OEM X5 (E53) trailer hitch - have you seen prices for used OEM X5 trailer hitches with harness? - Yikes!)

    Later this Spring/Summer, I will pull the rear shelf to re-paint it black. I think that is E39 project # 72 for me. When I do, I will try the Monsoon upgrade and report back.

    By modifying a spare set of rear speaker boxes for the open air Monsoons, I can switch back to the stock Nokia's if I want to.

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