well i know with two 3.5s on my front dash i wont be creating very good sound staging but as far as effort/time vs reward to be maximized i think a simple bolt in will be fine...the speakers will be run straight off of HU power which is an older sony model...guessing maybe 15-20w RMS
these are the three i was leaning towards...let me know what you would choose with the given info. note they are going into a 90 olds 88...obviously a daily driver. note the efx are 10 dollars cheaper and simply running of the HU, there might not be much difference anyways...??
another note * I'll also be changing the rear 6x9s most likely to a set of 6.5s still haven't decided on that speaker...thinking some boston acoustic s65's. i understand it would be best to have comps up front instead but....effort/time/money vs reward says K.I.S.S.
yea, its crossed my mind....i didnt want to cut into the door panel...but maybe i can remove the bottom half (its multiple pieces) and make a new bottom half with room for speakers....hmm how hard do you think it would be to do this?
i have no idea how long ill have the car, maybe a couple years and i want to remove the stereo stuff when i get rid of it
just my opinion, but if it were me... instead of spending $160 on those front and rear speakers, i would lose the rear speakers altogether, and spend that money on a line output converter, a small 2-channel amp, and a set of $80 components. Even after fabricating some kind of replacement door panels to mount the components, you'd still be under $200, and it will sound infinitely better than the $160 you would have spent on those speakers.
if you really want to keep the back speakers you could just power those off the head unit as they are now. In the future you could add a little Bazooka Bass Tube for around $100, or (recommended) spend around $200+ and get a little sub and amp.
If you sell the car in a couple years, you can always take the stuff with you and install it in you new car, and just keep improving on it as time goes on (or not).
The first step is always the hardest - breaking away from the head unit power and getting an amp. However, anything else you do after that will always sound 1000x better than any speakers you power with any HU.
well there is one thing i didnt mention...i have a 2 channel old rockford fosgate punch amp that i was going to use for a 10" cvr....but if i can make a good door enclosure/mount then maybe ill get a $100 dollar set of 6.5" components and a new amp for the one sub
yup I'd drop the rear fill, too. get good front components instead. cutting new door panels is relly pretty easy. you can use stacked MDF, and shape it if you want to get fancy, or fiberglass over a shaped form. either way gives a nice custom look. use the original panels as templates, shape the panels as needed, install the speakers, and then you can cover the new panels with headliner cloth or speaker grill cloth color matched to the doors, or complementing them. That way they look stealthy, but sound a whole lot better than 3.5 speakers will.
well that sounds like a great idea then, i definitely feel more comfortable working with straight mdf than i would getting into fiberglass...now i can put the 6.5" on the door but would it be good to have the tweeter down there too? also i see a lot of people seal up their door with sound deadener...is that more of a competition thing? would it be good to have an enclosure built into the panel for the speaker or should it just go infinite baffle?
so having a 6.5", tweeter, and rear sub i should get pretty good sound then?
you can achieve great sound with a set of 6.5" comps and a single sub, given they are powered adequately. Tweeters down by the 6.5's is actually a better solution than them being up high. The ideal spot is in the kick panels, but you can create a good sound stage with them in the doors. Just angle them properly. In general, you'll want to point them at the head of the passenger in the opposite seat.
Simply sealing the door will help quite a bit, especially to achieve some "punch" from those 6.5's. Done properly, you'd be surprised how much bass you can get even without a sub. You don't need to seal it by covering the whole thing with Dynamat like you see a lot of people do, but without some kind of vibration damper, your door will probably rattle a bit. No need to get crazy with it. A few strategically placed panels will work fine. Below are a couple links on the subject, and i've also included an email sent to me from the owner of that company in response to my request for suggestions on deadening my doors. There are more steps if you want to go all out, but accoring to him, a few CLD tiles and some butyl rope will work fine. I'm went with his third option ($61.96 shipped) for my Toyota Tundra doors.
General info: http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com Sealing the door (going all out with it): http://www.kappaperformance.com/index.php?topic=2450.0
============================= This thread illustrates my usual approach to doors with speakers: http://www.kappaperformance.com/index.php?topic=2450.0 it also demonstrates two techniques for sealing the access holes in the inner skin. Sealing the holes is important for the performance of door mounted speakers. The ideal cover will be rigid, waterproof and removable.
Applying vibration damper (CLD Tiles) is definitely important here to control panel resonance. Where possible, I also stuff Extruded Butyl Rope between the side impact beams and the outer door skin as an inexpensive and usually very effective additional step add damping and to reinforce the outer skin at its weakest point.
After that, I apply a layer of mass loaded vinyl (MLV) to the inner skin. While this does help with external noise mitigation it also plays an important role in speaker performance. It acoustically reinforces the plane to which the speaker is mounted, decreasing interaction between the front and back waves produced by the speaker, reducing cancellation.
Finally, I add a layer of closed cell foam (CCF) between the MLV and the trim panel. This helps control rattles and buzzes in the trim panel and between the trim panel and the inner skin. Even if you were to decide not to use the layer of MLV, the CCF is still a useful rattle control treatment.
Here's the process: Clean the outer skin thoroughly. No matter how clean the rest of the vehicle is, the inside of the doors is likely to be filthy. I use denatured alcohol on a rag. Wipe it down until the rag comes out clean.
Start by pressing Extruded Butyl Rope (EBR) between the outer skin and the side impact protection beams. Leave gaps every few inches to allow water to drain. Cut some strips from a heavy plastic bag and press them into the top surface of the EBR to protect it from dirt.
Apply half the CLD Tiles allocated to the outer skin above and half below the side impact protection beam. Cut 2 more CLD Tiles into smaller pieces and apply them to the inner door skin.
Hang MLV on the inner door skin using Velcro Patches with pressure sensitive adhesive on both sides. The patches are 2"X4" but you can cut them in half for this application (most applications really). Start with 2 pieces in the top corners to hold the MLV in place while you trim it to fit. You want it to be as large as it can be - just barely fitting inside the trim panel when it is replaced. You will need to cut some holes in the MLV to allow cables, rods, shafts, wires, clips and the speakers to come through. You want these holes to be as small as possible. Every place we use MLV we are building a barrier and a barrier needs to be as large and contiguous as possible.
It helps during the fitting process to periodically remove the MLV from the door and lay it in the trim panel to test fit it. The Velcro makes this easy. When you first hang the MLV on the door, cut holes where the trim panel clips go into the door. You can then use these holes to orient the MLV inside the trim panel.
When you are satisfied with the MLV fit, add two more Velcro Patch pieces to the bottom corners. It's generally a good idea to add a third piece on top for added strength. Finally, use HH-66 Vinyl Cement to tack a layer of closed cell foam (CCF) on the side of the MLV facing the trim panel. When the trim panel is reinstalled, the CCF will compress slightly, getting rid of rattles and buzzes in the trim panel itself and between the trim panel and the inner door skin.
General Notes HH-66 is a contact adhesive that will only bond materials with vinyl content. That means MLV to MLV, CCF (like the material I sell with vinyl content) to CCF and MLV to CCF. You need to coat both surfaces and let them dry until just tacky, 3-5 minutes. Press the two parts together. The bond is more than strong enough to work with immediately. It will achieve its full strength after a few hours.
Velcro Patches can be cut in half (2"X2") for all but the most demanding applications. When working with the self-adhesive side(s) of the Velcro Patches press the entire assembly into place. It is a good idea to gently separate the hook and loop sides and press them down by individually to make sure the bond is complete.
As an Order: It gets a little tricky here. Your trim panels are a little too big to be able to cut two singles pieces from one sheet of MLV. That leaves two choices. You can either use HH-66 to seam pieces together by overlapping 1/2" or I can cut you two pieces that are each 28"X54", meaning you'd waste a 22"X28" area from each one. I'll price it each way.
You're probably thinking: "I ask this guy for a simple treatment for my doors and he comes up with something that costs almost $200". This treatment is what I do and what many of my customers have done with great results. If you wanted to forgo the benefits of the MLV layer:
Finally, if you leave out the CCF, you'll get a result similar to the one illustrated in the photo you sent me. The Extruded Butyl Rope will give you a better result on the outer skin. You'll get at least as good a result on the inner skin with much less coverage:
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typically yes you want the tweeter as close to the midrange as possible for time alignment reasons. having them apart can cause time delay issues, phase shift, etc, and just makes it sound.. "off."