Hey all,

I just recently finished installing a pioneer f90bt hu in the jk, along with two sets of polk audio db6501s speakers. Everything is working perfectly (surprisingly enough after a self-install by a electrically challenged individual) except the sound bar buzzes and vibrates like CRAZY. I've heard people mention poly-fil, dynamat, and a few other things. I don't really know what I need to use in order to solve this problem. Can someone tell me what my best solution is to deaden the sound bar? and where I can find it?

Thanks

 

I dont think theres anything you can do, I have the same speakers but they are slims and are water proof. One of them used to buzz like crazy but i added a bunch of foam inbetween the speakers and the plastic and it worked like a charm. I dont have an amp though so you might have more power thus more buzz.

 

The speakers you claim you have and the one's I installed are the same. Mine are slim and marine certified. It's not the speakers that are buzzing. it's the entire sound bar, if I put a hand on it while driving the buzzing stops. Anyone have an idea?

 

If thats the case, theres not much you can do since its one giant piece of plastic. Do you have the hardtop? Is it vibrating against it? You could always put some foam on top of the soundbar, since you can't see it anyway - or maybe the fuzzy side of a velcro strip..something to keep it from making hard surface contact.

 

I used small rubber washers between the speakers and the plastic of the box when I installed mine. I dont have the same speakers you do, but I did have a bit of rattling or vibrating when I first put them in.

 

you can do something about it. I have some crossfire 6.5" up there and it used to hum and buzz everytime it got a note lower than a high-hat. ok, not that bad... but even some human voices made it buzz. I put some Dynomat Xtreme in the soundbar and the buzzing is gone. I experimented with a tiny bit of polyfill also after the dynomat, but I noticed no difference.

The dynomat "xtreme" does an amazing job of killing buzzes rattles and hums. I have a P3 fosgate 8" in my factory sub enclosure and put some dynomat in it to kill buzzes... now nothing but clean sound. you can visably see that 8" moving that plastic enclosure, and it doesn't buzz a bit. I say get a small sheet and try it.

 

Yeah, im currently working on the same thing, I have a lot of experience with car stereos. I would definitely put dynamat or something similar in to deaden the enclosure. If you want to go a cheaper way but use the same thing as dynamat, go to home depot and get a roll of roofing asphalt with the plastic backing, not the sandpaperish backing. In principle this is the same as dynamat, its not as thick, but layer it up and it works nice. I have a competition stereo in an FJ cruiser and I used about 350 squarefeet of this stuff and it worked wonders, no rattles in an entirely plastic vehicle!

As far as polyfil, that wouldnt deaden the sound at all. Polyfil is used to make the enclosure size act as though it is larger than it is. It all comes down to thermodynamics. Polyfil will change the density of the air inside the enclosure, the soundwave vibration creates friction in the polyfil which heats up the air in the enclosure. Thus, giving the driver (sub) the illusion that it is in a bigger enclosure.

Can you notice a difference in sound with the polyfil? Well, personally I think so. With subs I can notice a difference if its in a sealed enclosure. It makes the tonal quality even out and you get smoother deeper more responsive notes.

-Rich-

 

Dynomat is expensive, but it's expensive because it works. Some guys use it all over the place, but I've had equal success by laying it where the speaker mounts... basically stopping the 'buzzing' or 'rattling' at it's source.

For those who don't want to spend the money on Dynomat... I've also seen success with the right width of double sided tape. Something quality like 3M can make all the difference in the world.

Either way, Jeeps have always had the most ill placed, brutally imaged sound systems out there. If you can increase the sound quality in your JK (or any Jeep for that matter) then I say you're ahead of the game.

Any time I get sick of the JK's factory sound system or decide it's pathetic, I go sit in my friend's TJ and all of a sudden I feel better about the whole thing.

 

I replaced all 4 main speakers with Polk DB651S. They rattled like crazy. I stuffed the front boxes and the soundbar with polyfil and that cured it. It took almost a whole bag to do it and cost less than $5 at Wal Mart.

 

I used packing foam from work, the pink stuff that is made from egg crate material. I used very stiff foam over the dome light to seperate the speakers,(think packing from around a new TV or something) and then packed the egg crate material in very tight behind the speakers, and instantly the rattle completely disappeared. Cost next to nothing, and took maybe an hour because I actually took the speaker bar out to do it. Truly a ghetto fabulous fix, but the aftermarket Infinity's sound great now.