Another Luke Box Install

[beta14ok]

Ok…..so I ride a 318is with non-premium stereo. The 318is is a damn noisy car and I have always wished for better sound on my daily commute. The PO installed a Clarion DXZ645MP headunit (not too bad and the display color can be set to match the rest of the dash lights), and Infinity Kappa 5.25", 2-way speakers w/ associated cross-overs in both the front kick-panels and rear deck. It has never sounded particularly good….even lousy when cranked above the raod noise. Also, the front tweeters sits above the plane of the main speaker and don’t really have any clearance from the grill on the kickpanel, so one grill is broken and the other was bulged-out.

So I turned to R3V and started reading and following the threads about the Luke box and the good vibe on the stock premium speaker system. My Luke box w/ amp rack is in the queue for May, (very affordable thanks to the “bail-out-coupon”), but in the mean time, I’ve been accumulating the premium kit. Tonight, I installed the premium kick-panel mids and the premium door tweets. What can I say…It sounds damn good for a bunch of old gear…….in fact, way better than those Kappas. Just getting the treble frequencies up into the cab rather than lost on the floor is a huge change for the better.

I don’t expect as much difference in the rear. …but I will update once I swap-out the premium rear deck units for the Kappas.

So far I'm out like $125 (including shipping) on premium fronts, premium tweets, and premium rear deck speakers.

Then in May/June, the next step will be the Luke box, amp & sub. I gotta believe that simply carving-out the low frequency from the existing premium speakers will help them to operate in a more efficient way. I’m looking forward to a fun project and the better sound that folks here have described from using a well engineered bass box.

[dogsbark26]

So you installed premium front speakers in a vehicle that was not originally optioned for them, right?

I want to do the same.

I can see that my car has the wire harness for the premium tweeter already in the door. My question involves how this speaker is crossed over from the midbass/woofer in the kick panel? Doesn't the wire from the tweeter just run down to the kick panel? Does it just connect in a jumper-like fashion to the tabs on the woofer? Is there a crossover integral to the woofer? Or is the tweeter being fed a full-range signal?

How can I add the tweeter without installing the premium woofer? (I've already got a Focal 5 1/4 in the kick panel)

[German Audio Specialties]

Sp I am guessing the Kappas are the co-ax and not the component? You want to use a component speaker up front, you need the physical height of the separate tweeter, or your fronts will basically be inaudible.

Either one is WAY better than the PS stuff IF (giant IF) you have a sub...so keep it.

And, we are on for early bailout coupons...get on it now if you wanna.

Luke

[beta14ok]

Luke,

Yep, the Kappas I have are what I would call coax...the tweeter is mounted on a little stalk in the center of the main speaker.

dogsbark26,

My question involves how this speaker is crossed over from the midbass/woofer in the kick panel?
Doesn't the wire from the tweeter just run down to the kick panel?
Does it just connect in a jumper-like fashion to the tabs on the woofer?
Is there a crossover integral to the woofer?
Or is the tweeter being fed a full-range signal?
How can I add the tweeter without installing the premium woofer?

I think all of the answers to these questions are in other threads in this section, but ya gotta read all of the pertinent threads to get it….it’s not all in one place.

My question involves how this speaker is crossed over from the midbass/woofer in the kick panel?
You MUST have a crossover network for the tweeters. You should not feed the tweeter a full frequency signal from the amp…it will sound like crap and possibly damage the tweet. In my case, I had 2 choices. I could (1) either use the premium fronts, (which have the crossover network built-in) with the premium tweeters, or I coulda (2) used the crossover from the Kappas which were in the car. I actually listened to it both ways, and in the end decided to use the premium fronts, because their crossover sounded less brittle than the Kappa crossover…plus it was simply less spaghetti to mess with. I may have a third choice if I decide to amp the tweeters separately….but I’m not ready for that decision yet.

Doesn't the wire from the tweeter just run down to the kick panel?....etc?
Yep…..read-it here: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...ht=non-premium and a few other threads also like
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...ht=non-premium and
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...tweeter+wiring .

Just to make sure you have the right wires, you could test the continuity with a multi-meter……put one probe on the tweeter lead behind the rearview mirror panel and the other probe on the lead behind the kick-panel….if the meter shorts, you have found the correct wire. Then test the other one.

How can I add the tweeter without installing the premium woofer?
If you wanna keep your existing kick-panel front speakers and use the premium tweets, then you will need a cross-over for both sides.
Guide on DYI: http://www.termpro.com/asp/pubs.asp?ID=127

[beta14ok]

............you need the physical height of the separate tweeter, or your fronts will basically be inaudible.

Either one is WAY better than the PS stuff IF (giant IF) you have a sub...so keep it.

And, we are on for early bailout coupons...get on it now if you wanna.

Luke

Makes sense. I may try modifying the Kappas to remove their tweet so that the kick panel isn't putting pressure on it any more...ie just using the main Kappa speaker with the Premium door tweeters. More experiments....with the kick-panel covers off and the Kappa tweet disconnected, before I destroy anything. I guess I could also cut out the center of the kick-panel and put some ugly speaker grill over it......naw!

I'm planning to exercise the coupon in early May. Looking forward to it.

Cheers.

[beta14ok]

Looks like the premium's use a 3.3uf cap as a high pass filter.

[StereoInstaller1]

Looks like the premium's use a 3.3uf cap as a high pass filter.

Exactly that...a cheeseball electrolytic at that. Simple 6db/oct high pass.

I actually hacked the stock PS mid crossover to make the tweeter be 12db/oct and ran the mid full range. Was a little aggressive, but decent, and WAY better power handling.

If I were in your shoes, I would hack the Krappas, put the tweet in the stock tweeter location...as I have many times. It will be bright as hell, be warned.

Oh, and when you put the Krappas back in, make sure to space the kickpanel out just a bit so the speaker suspension is not compressed. I just use a couple of nuts under the screws, so the head of the screw prevents the cone from being hit. You only need to space it about 1/4", it still looks stock but is a bit more hassle to install.

Luke

[beta14ok]

Oh, and when you put the Krappas back in, make sure to space the kickpanel out just a bit so the speaker suspension is not compressed. I just use a couple of nuts under the screws, so the head of the screw prevents the cone from being hit. You only need to space it about 1/4", it still looks stock but is a bit more hassle to install. Luke

Thanks for the guidance Luke. The PO's installer really did a compromised install that really didn't give that little speaker much room to perform.....It was really squished.....that location is compromised enough without adding more problems.

[StereoInstaller1]

Yeah, but your left ankle loves it

[stamar]

ya just an aside, wouldnt any relocation to the doors sound a million times better? the speakers are literally pointing at your feet. The tweeter is in your ear.

[beta14ok]

That was kinda Luke's point. ;) In these car's the stock front speaker placement is not optimal.

I'm not planning to lose the tweeter's door location, so not all of the information is exclusive to my feet.....but yes if I would relocate the mids to the door it could sound better (I don't know about 1M times though). But.....even if I did that, it would only sound better with the addition of a sub and after all of that low frequency information is carved out of those poor little 5.25" mid-range speakers input by the amp's nice variable frequency filters. I'm relatively confident that once I'm only using the HU as a preamp and I have a proper subwoofer mounted in a proper tuned & ported box like the one Luke makes, and all of the speakers are driven by proper amplification, it's gonna sound pretty damn acceptable.....even with using the front mids in the kick panel location.

I'm not planning to cut the door panels at this time.

[beta14ok]

I’m picking-up this thread from like 6-months ago…………….

As noted above: I started this project with the goal of replicating the $500-ish Luke Box install. My car (1991 318is), didn’t have premium speakers, so I patiently waited for good prices, and then bought some off of “the-bay”. It turned out that the little 5.25” Infinity Kappas from the PO, were installed incorrectly and, once freed from their confinement, sounded pretty damn good….particularly with the Premium Tweets wired in parallel with the tweeters from the Kappas, so I kept them and sold the other Premium speakers.

The $500 price point might have been achievable, but once my existing head unit crapped-out and needed to be replaced. And, I decided I also wanted the Luke Amp Rack, the budget went a little fuzzy. I’m still well under $700, and very pleased with the results.

Here’s the gear for this install:
· 10" Luke box
· Amp rack [ http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=220989 ]
· Jensen 5500 amp
· 10" obcom sharktooth
· JVC KD-HRD71BT Head-Unit
· 2x Stinger 6000 series RCA cables (fronts & rears)
· 1x Rockford Fosgate RFIT RCA cables (sub)
· Tsunami 4-gauge power wire & fuse rig
· Kimber Kwik-12 (Additional speaker wire lengthening Fronts and Rears for connection to the amp and all sub wiring) Free from another project.
· 4x Infinity Kappa 5.25" coax speakers (front & rear). Free from the previous owner's bad install. Fronts speakers sliced in w/ stock wire like: [ http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...=231107&page=3 ]
· Stock Premium Front door tweeters wired in parallel with front Kappa tweeters from the cross-overs.

I’d like to say that I had some special tweaks on the install processes, but I don’t………the whole install process is detailed in the posts of Luke and others right here in R3V, so I plagiarized ideas freely. I did use a Dremal tool to neatly cut the extra metal in the ski pass area, but that’s about the extent of my tweaks. Anybody could do this install! Also, It turns-out that you really don’t need to pull the instrument cluster, but I like the way the RCA wires run under the cluster and they are neat and out of the way.

I also used my Dremal to rout-out the center of the front kick panels so that I could use different speaker grills in the front. I wasn’t gonna do this at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. It turned-out clean and has zero buzz as the speaker grills, kick panels, and speakers are secured with 4 screws instead of just the one. The Kappas have plenty of room for full excursion of the piston. I like the way it turned out.

I can’t say enough good things about Luke and his products…..simply it’s all been outstanding. The guy really gives! This combo sounds really, REALLY good!

A few Pics………………

[Skunkworks]

Nice install, some Black Paint on those screws and removing that speaker and cleaning that Sharpie off the panel would be perfect..

[beta14ok]

Thanks SW, I'm on it.....totally agree.

[beta14ok]

Latest mod: Ski pass rear seat back.

Honestly, I was pretty happy with the sound of the Luke Box played through the original vinyl seat that came on my 318is and it's 5-6 inches of thick foam. But, I found a ski pass seat back that matched my interior and figgered I try it out.

Holy #$%&!!! The difference is HUGE. The sound is much cleaner and way more bass & slam.

I tried it with the arm rest removed from the car and with the arm rest in the down postion (open ski pass). Doesn't make any difference.....it's killer bass! I gonna leave the arm rest in, so I can flip the arm rest up to conceal the goods as needed.

If you wanna enjoy the glory of your Luke Box, then you gotta carve-out the foam or port the seat or get a ski pass seat.