2 - Just baffling

The first step of the entire construction process involves the creation of the baffles and the cutting back of the original trims to accommodate these baffles. The back plate of the baffle must be strong enough not only to hold the weight of the speakers(s) but also to resist against the cone movement and protect against potential risk from damage should the speaker or it's grille get accidentally kicked.

In the case of the door trims, the back plate for the midbass driver was made from 12mm MDF while the kick panel back plate for the 4" & 1" were made from 9mm. This may sound a little thin but when one considers that sheer amount of fibre glass and other strengthening around the baffles once complete, you'll need little excess MDF. Space is also a consideration. You don't want the door trim sitting where you should be. Once the outer ring (which will eventually hold the fibre glass) is created, it is mounted using a spacer over the baffle (you need to allow for the speaker cone travel) and radiused to eradicate sharp corners.

The actual cutting of the original trims is also carefully thought through as one cannot just go slicing everything, everywhere because there are certain key points on the original panels that secure and align them to the car. The original panels have just enough material removed to allow the entire baffle to sit at the right angles. At this point we also begin trial fitting the trims with the baffles. They're literally glued to the original door trims and kick panels. This allows us to trial opening and closing the door, making sure the kick panel baffle doesn't to close to feet when in motion. It also allows us to get the off axis angles correct in order for aural perfection.

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