[mnestrud]

I completed the speaker upgrade and sound deadening project... this post is for anyone who is interested in the same for their car, as well as anyone who is interested how the car is put together. I found out some interesting stuff along the way. This is a 2017 Touring.

To start, I subscribed to the Honda Service Express and downloaded everything possible on trim removal and the audio system. Crutchfield shipped a decent guide as well but the Honda instructions were better. I wanted to retain the stock amplifier and stock sub (for ANC) for this project, so I figured I'd do everything possible to make the car sound amazing with the stock amplifier (45x4) to new components. This is why I chose the infinity kappas over higher end, because they are lower ohms and have very high sensitivity. Better speakers (JL, Morel, etc.) would need an amp upgrade to sound decent which I am not interested in doing at this time.

The main process involved:

• Replace mids and tweeters in all 4 doors
• Add sound deadening to front doors
• Add sound deadening to rear quarter panels and cargo floor
• Add sound deadening to cargo door

Audio / Speaker Materials:

• Infinity Kappa 60.11cs components in all 4 doors
• InstallGear 14ga wire (30ft, exactly enough)
• Blue crimp connectors
• Various Closed Cell Foam weatherstripping (One) (Two) (to make my version of fast rings)
• Speaker Gasketing Tape
• Tessa Tape, 8 rolls used total (OCD)
• Metra 7800 Wiring Harnesses
• American International HSB524 Speaker Mounting Brackets
  
  

Sound Deadening Materials: All from Sound Deadener Showdown

• 41.6 cu ft MLV
• 27.2 cu ft CCF (three sheets)
• 14 High Temperature, Vinyl Compatible, Velcro Strips
• 70 CLD tiles
• 1 32oz can HH-66 Vinyl Contact Cement
• 1 package of butyl rope

Other tools

• Push Pin Pliers
• Plastic trim removal tools, various makes
• Extra green and yellow clips - get these before taking any trim off! (Apple Green-Honda Part #:91560-SZW-003) (Yellow-Honda Part #:91560-SZW-J01)
• Butyl Waterproof tape
• Heat gun, wire strippers, utility knife, ratcheting crimp tool, lots of band aids

Here is the dimensions of the various panels I used for the Sound Deadening estimate from Don at SDS. It was the perfect amount.

• Length and width of the cargo area floor: 42” x 33”
• Depth and Diameter of spare tire well: 32”diameter x 7”deep
• Height and width of the rear quarter panels: 40”w x 22.5”H
• Height and width of cargo door exterior sheet metal: 53”W x 22”H
• Height and width of cargo door interior trim panel: 42”W x 22”H
• H & W front door exterior: 44”W x 37”H
• H & W front door interior: 37”W x 28”H
• H & W rear door exterior: 38”W x 37”H
• H & W rear door interior: 31”W x 28”H

There was a lot of trial and error in this... the last time I took a car apart was 1996.

Stock door: Notice stock 3M Thinsulate and plastic vapor barrier held on with butyl rope. The butyl rope wasn't firmly seated to metal so after applying CLD tiles to outer door behind it, I ensured it was better sealed.

Weather stripping and silicone Caulk (and some profession crimping there!) around tweeters in sail panels.

Treated door trim with CLD tiles (more stock thinsulate here)

Installing CLD behind vapor barrier - messy!

Wiring complete, tweeters installed, everything possible wrapped with tessa tape - almost done!

Complete Door with MLV and speaker:

Rear Door and Cargo area in next post.

EDIT:4/24/19 the software side of this project was adding the Viper4Android eq and FX module to the stock head unit. This is worth it. That process is documented here: https://www.crvownersclub.com/forum...-replace-eq-viper4android.html#/topics/197753

 

[mnestrud]

Stock Speakers BTW:

Rear Cargo Door Before:

Rear Cargo Door After:

Rear door trim - more thinsulate.

I drove the car around after just doing the cargo door... eliminating resonance with the CLD tiles (I didn't put MLV here) made a huge difference by itself in the stock sub sound.

Cargo Area with trim removed:

Behind the subwoofer. Notice daylight coming through the seam at the bottom where three panels meet. That black and white grid thing is an air vent to the outside, and it is stained with water. It is like this on both sides. I used the butyl rope to plug up the seam... this is a poor design flaw.

 

[mnestrud]

Treated Sub with CCF and put CLD tiles on the back. Also put CLD everywhere I could reach behind the sub.

The other side...

Both sides from the other direction. Notice the stock resonance prevention stuff on the bottom of the tire area.

Drivers Side trim panel. Having extra yellow and green clips were a lifesaver. More tessa everywhere!

Pretty much complete. The stock fiber mat went back in the wheel well area and then everything was carefully put back together.

Since I have one more photo, here's the stock tweeters as well:

Depending on the road, I've measured an 8-10dB reduction in noise using a phone sound meter. 10dB is approximately equivalent to a 50% reduction in perceived noise level (Fechner's law ftw). The speakers sound fantastic as well, much, much higher clarity.

Not pictured, I used weather stripping on the doors behind the mids to prevent some backwaves from cancelling out the signals and to bridge the speakers to the door panels (like the sub)... this theoretically helps with mid-bass.

For next steps, I would swap out the awful Hankook tires, but they're not bothering me enough to not use them until they're done.

Overall a great project for a car I spend 1h/day commuting in. Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[mnestrud]

Very well done ..... How much time did it take to complete the project ?

I completed the project in probably 35 hours over a month. That includes wiring the speakers twice because I wasn't confident with the first attempt (I went from 18ga/hand crimped to 14ga/ratcheting crimper).

Another thing that that would have sped it up: paying more money for some of the soundskins damplifier products which has CCF+MLV in one, and has adhesive backing. The SDS route is time consuming but reversible (installed with a few pieces of velcro) and SDS has higher quality materials. If you have to e.g. change your window motor, if you go with one of the all in one products, you're going to have to redo the work.

 

[mnestrud]

I used these clips, they fit perfectly

https://www.amazon.com/AUTEX-Garnish-Fastener-Retainer-Ridgeline/dp/B077JRM7ZF/

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I saw those... good to know they work! I didn't see a part number so ended up getting the yellow clips from clipsandfasteners.com which I matched based on the part number. I didn't look too close at what is different, but there are both yellow and green clips in the trim panels, which have different dimensions.

 

[mnestrud]

Will you come to AZ and do mine?

Great job, both on the CR-V and posting this DIY!

Thanks! Ha, no, though I would enjoy the drive there i'm sure. Happy to answer any questions or help with the process though!

 

[mnestrud]

Fantastic work and you where able to keep the ANC functioning properly, which is something I have not seen anybody else be able to do.

Thank you! I didn't change out the stock amp or stock sub, just made them have to work less by reducing ambient noise. It's kindof like, you can reduce weight from your car by taking out the spare tire, or you can accomplish the same thing by losing the weight of a spare tire, lol.

I would love to try something like this but 35 hours is more than enough time for my wife to file for a divorce. She has let me use 4 straight weekends doing mods to the CR-V, so I think I have reached my limit for now. One question, what do you think is the most significant part of this upgrade in terms of the most improvement for the least amount of work. Would just changing out some of the speakers be worthwhile?

Rob

I understand... lol. I have a wife who travels occasionally so I get work done in spurts. Especially something like this where I took over the kitchen this past week!

I would prioritize the following:

Day 1, maybe 2 hours max: Upgrade the front door speakers and get some of those silver CLD tiles (skip the MLV). Put them where you can reach through the speaker hole on the outer door panel, as well on the back side of the plastic trim. Avoid going through the vapor barrier if you can, or just peel it back carefully like I did. Skip the tessa tape and just address rattles if you get any. Shift most of the sound to the front (you probably do anyway) to keep the sound stage in front of you. Rear speakers are really for passengers... and they don't like good sound as much as you do!

2. Deaden the cargo door area. This took 2 hours total, as all I did was CLD tiles. The cargo door trim is the easiest to take off of any of it. the stock sub will sound very different by doing this. a lot of the sub is lost to vibrating the rear door, vs. bouncing off the door and back up to you.

You could do both in a half day if you plan ahead... or even one door at a time to make it even less of a 'one big project' (though it will sound unbalanced, it won't hurt anything).

 

[mnestrud]

I thought about upgrading my EX-L to Touring sound but it would be quite a job as I'd have to run new harnesses in each door, plus the harness to the back for the subwoofer

It wouldn't be terrible... If I didn't have a stock amp I would put a class D amp under the back seat like a previous poster here. I think you'd have to remove the door kick plates and run power, and pull the stereo from the dash. You could probably fish most of it.

But yes, a project!

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[mnestrud]

Thanks mnestrud for the advice. I think I will try changing the two front speakers as you suggested and and add in the CLD tiles. I might have to wait another month to start anymore work on the V, but it will get done. My model did not come with the Sub, it is the same stereo setup like the EX-L so I don't think I will get any benefit from the cargo door upgrade.

Rob

Even easier then. Get some Velcro and mount the crossover to the trim. Wire the mid stock wiring to it and both your tweeter and mid to the crossover. Ditch the stock tweeter wiring. The stock mid wire has full range going to it.

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[mnestrud]

Any idea if these mods will help insulate the car interior more from the cold in winter? Or could you suggest some materials to help in that regard?
BTW, thanks for the photos and materials used in the process.

I doubt it. Maybe some. I bet you could find the r value of 1lb/sq ft MLV online (edit just looked, <1)

If money isn't a problem... Foil faced MLV (sound, radiant) plus Hydrophobic melamine foam or thinsulate (better) (sound, air trapping/thermal) plus cld tiles (resonance) and ccf (decoupler of mlv against metal). In headliner I'd put cld and hmf/thinsulate only due to weight. You're gutting the car at this point. But you could probably achieve a +5 or more r value.

People do crazy stuff like fill car cavities with house insulation... I would want something that doesn't hold water, because unlike your house, your car doesn't have a full vapor barrier and anything in it could absorb humidity easily.

Funny story, our house was built in New England in 1949 and it ONLY had foil faced Kraft paper in the walls. Needless to say it was inadequate insulation, but probably better than nothing. I'm guessing people were more used to bundling up inside back then, and oil was cheaper.

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[mnestrud]

Thank you for this... will definitely be doing this one door at a time.... when wifeee is not looking (it's her CRV)

I'm thinking of doing the same thing on the back passenger doors too.... to lessen the outside noise more... hopefully it is the same as the front door.

I have thought about doing the rear doors too.

The majority of the remaining noise seems to be in front and below me... I also might try pulling the carpet and doing the front floor and firewall where I can reach.



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[mnestrud]

Great DIY! If the car were my daily driver, and not my wife's, I would be totally doing this. And she would totally walk out into the garage, shake her head, and walk back into the house.

Thanks!

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[mnestrud]

Hey mnestrud, if you are still monitoring this post, how easy was it to reinstall the door panels after you added the MLV to the doors?

I want to do the same to my new CRV, but when I did that on my '16 Pilot 2 years ago it was a tight fit getting a couple of the door panels back on. I pulled the CRV door panels today and my initial impression is that the clearance between the door and panel is a tad less than what I remember in the Pilot. But yet it looks like you were able to reinstall without issue. Like you , I used SDS MLV. Was wondering how that went for you. Thanks

Not terrible. Only issue is a quarter sized gap on the bottom side of the inside handle on both front doors. For the life of me I can't get it to clip flat. That piece of plastic has a lot of play the way it is mounted to the car.

I did have to cut some more mlv holes than say 'perfect' installs would have bc of the tight fit. I was reluctant also to pull the cord connecting the handle to the latch off and run it through the mlv which may be the problem with the handles.

It will take lots of trial and error. This was as my first time doing it too, if I did it again I would do a few things differently... Like run the latch cords correctly.



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[mnestrud]

Thanks. I've seen that gap you mentioned, even on vehicles not sound deadened. I wonder if it is due to the panel flexing when taken off and reinstalled more than the door handle. The CRV door panel is light weight. When I did the Pilot I ran the cord thru the MLV. Wasn't hard, just slit the material enough for the cord & handle to slip thru. The more I drive the Pilot, the happier I am that I did the deadening. Unfortunately my new CRV reminds me of what the Pilot sounded like before I did all that. arn:

I drove a new Tiguan recently, it so severely failed to meet my expectations in a lot of ways, the largest being road noise. It felt like driving a Jeep!

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[mnestrud]

Thinking of doing the same. Did you get enough for all four side doors? How many linear feet?

Good question. Here's the full specs from Don at SDS. I gave him the measurements and he did the calcs. I used a few extra cld tiles all around.

Length and width of the cargo area floor, 42” x 33”

Depth and Diameter of spare tire well, 32”diameter x 7”deep

Height and width of the rear quarter panels, 40”w x 22.5”H

Height and width of cargo door exterior sheet metal, 53”W x 22”H

Height and width of cargo door interior trim panel, 42”W x 22”H

H & W front door exterior,44”W x 37”H

H & W front door interior, 37”W x 28”H

H & W rear door exterior, 38”W x 37”H

H & W rear door interior, 31”W x 28”H


From Don:

From your measurements:

Front Doors (each):
6.5 CLD Tiles, outer skin
2 CLD Tiles, probably cut into smaller pieces, inner skin
2 CLD Tiles, probably cut into smaller pieces, trim panel
7.2 ft² MLV
3 High Temperature, Vinyl Compatible, Velcro S8trips

Rear Doors (each):
5 CLD Tiles, outer skin
1 CLD Tiles, probably cut into smaller pieces, inner skin
1 CLD Tiles, probably cut into smaller pieces, trim panel
6 ft² MLV
2.5 High Temperature, Vinyl Compatible, Velcro Strips

Cargo Floor / Spare Tire Well:
5 CLD Tiles, horizontal surfaces
2 CLD Tiles, Sides of spare well
14.6 ft² MLV
14.6 ft² CCF
3 High Temperature, Vinyl Compatible, Velcro Strips

Quarter Panels (each):
4 CLD Tiles
6.3 MLV
6.3 CCF
2.5 High Temperature, Vinyl Compatible, Velcro Strips

Tailgate:
5 CLD Tiles, Outer Skin
3 CLD Tiles, Trim Panel

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you did this all at once -

Totals:
58 CLD Tiles
53.6 ft² MLV
27.2 ft² CCF
19 High Temperature, Vinyl Compatible, Velcro Strips
1 32 oz can HH-66 Vinyl Contact Cement

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[mnestrud]

Thank you mnestrud so much for the detailed response. I am starting with the doors first (probably the most complicated part) since I want to upgrade my speakers. Didn't realize I would go down this rabbit hole

I do have a couple of questions regarding your door. On his website, Don recommends MLV+CCF together. Is there a reason why you only used MLV? Also, if you were to do it again, would you do anything differently for your doors?

CCF is not needed except where the mlv will need to be decoupled / is touching metal or hard plastic. I used it strategically in spots but not comprehensively. Don suggested this for purely vertical installs where there are air gaps. This reminds me, also double check the vapor barrier, mine was loose and was easy to reposition. This is the plastic sheeting held on by butyl rope.

Regarding doing differently, I would, and am going to in a couple of weeks, completely remove the handles and latch mechanisms from the door and move the mlv behind. I didn't do this and it's causing some bulging of the door panel around the latch, which was small in spring (dime) but has expanded in summer.(quarter thickness). I also didn't do the rear doors originally (it's a process!) and will do them at the same time.

Definitely do the CLD even if you're going with stock speakers. This made a huge difference in road noise.

Post back with any additional findings and let us know how it goes!

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[mnestrud]

mnestrud, if it's of any help here are pics of what I did.
View attachment 125271 View attachment 125273 View attachment 125275 View attachment 125277

This is great work, really clean install. I was not able to get that kind of coverage around the edges at all and get the door panel back on. You reinspired me to continue the adventure, heh.

I did the rear doors and tailgate yesterday. Other than gravity, the tailgate was really easy compared to doors. I have some mlv and CCF left and am going to see how far I can get on the firewall and front floor without taking the seats out or dash apart. The install guide for the illuminated door sills contains trim removal for all the trim up under there.

Having done the sides completely now, except behind the b pillars and firewall, the ambient noise is really shifted forward and down to the engine and road noise.

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[mnestrud]

Continuing the project, here's full floor sound deadening for the front of the car.

Like the cargo area, I went with CLD tiles, then CCF and finally MLV. There is plenty of room to do this.

Taking the seats and console out was time consuming but not terrible. I used instructions from Honda Tech Info. Had to get a T50 torx driver for the seats.

I didn't remove all the wiring harness to strip the car, I just worked around them. Not pictured, I also put CLD on the backside of all the plastic trim pieces. I also put a significant amount on the plastic air tubes that deliver air to the rear floor.

Underside of drivers side carpet. Passenger was similar. This area has the most stock sound deadening of anywhere.

Close up of passenger side.

Close up of driver side and under console.

Full view pre CCF/MLV.

Full view before putting everything back together.

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[mnestrud]

Bringing this back!

Im planning to embark on a similar endeavor myself, and i had one question, is there any reason not to use the material below, for the cargo area and rear wheel well cover? Im pretty sure this material is already in the spare tire area, why not use more? I dont plan to do MLV in the doors, and i defiantly would not use this, but do plan yo CLD and tessa tape the crap out of the doors.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/MP-Glob...ecycled-Fiber-Underlayment-INSUL100/100641168

You are correct, it is in the wheel well. Also under front seats in forward wheel well.

I adopted the sound deadener showdown philosophy completely so didn't consider the material.

I can't say that won't work but I would have to Google around to find differences between this and mlv. Keep us posted with what you end up doing with pictures.

You could always email Don @ SDS and ask him too.

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[mnestrud]

This below is too good to be true..


Depending on the road, I've measured an 8-10dB reduction in noise using a phone sound meter. 10dB is approximately equivalent to a 50% reduction in perceived noise level (Fechner's law ftw).

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Are you saying that you appreciate the outcome? Agreed, it was a lot of work.

Still have to finish one small area underneath the rear bench and floor behind front seats. Should help a tiny bit more.

Other large area is the firewall, which I don't know what to do to it without taking off the dash.

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