Lets see if these will fit - 6x9 in the doors.

[Serious Sam]

Been wanting to do upgrade the system for sometime.
Finally got the car in my hands for awhile.
Started with throwing a little more bass in the trunk, but as with so many projects - one thing leads to another.

Never seen anyone put 6x9's in the doors, so I thought I would give it a go.
After the first week, feels like a may have bitten more than I want to chew.

Anyway, here's some pics of some minor progress - more thinking things through than actual work getting done.

[woodisgood]

That poor car........

[StereoInstaller1]

Why 6X9s?

If you want bass in your doors, do a thin 8".

If you want good SQ, a decent 6" fits.

Remember, the goal of a sub is so you do not need your mids and highs to try and produce bass. That is the job of a subwoofer...

Luke

[Serious Sam]

I have almost everything to complete the install, and I'm doing this on a shoestring budget...let me take that back - on a half of a shoestring budget. Therefore, I am unable to do any upgrades or improvements to my equipment at this time. This can change at any time as my business is so up and down - just been down for awhile now.

Wouldn't 6x9 midbass perform better than 6.5's?

My subs are less than ideal, IMO.

[StereoInstaller1]

I have almost everything to complete the install, and I'm doing this on a shoestring budget...let me take that back - on a half of a shoestring budget. Therefore, I am unable to do any upgrades or improvements to my equipment at this time. This can change at any time as my business is so up and down - just been down for awhile now.

Wouldn't 6x9 midbass perform better than 6.5's?

My subs are less than ideal, IMO.

Not so much, actually.
A typical 6X9 is gonna make your door rattle more if you try and run it much lower than about 80Hz@18db/oct, or about 1/4 octave lower than a 6.5".

So yeah, a little bit, but since most 6X9s have such squaky midrange, the midbass can easily be overwhelmed in an on-axis install like you are doing.

If you were to do a "notch filter" you could lose all of the squak, but that requires more parts.

Luke

[Serious Sam]

StereoInstaller1, thank you for your recommendations. Your posts have taught me alot over the last year and half, although it may be tough to reveal that in this build.

To clarify a little, I plan to run the 6x9's as purely a midbass driver.
I agree that the midrange can get ugly on a 3 way 6x9.
I am able to remove the mid/tweeter stalk from the center of the speaker with ease as it is just screwed into place from the magnet side. clipping the leads is simple enough, and this leaves me with a midbass driver that is 50% larger in surface area than a 6.5. Isn't bigger better, even for 70hz to 400hz region if you're looking for more punch/kick in that region?

The rest of the fronts consist of a midrange (4") and tweet from a set of Competition MB Quarts (paper cones)- a bit old school IIRC. I hope to custom mount the midrange so that it is firing up out of the kickpanel and want to try a few places for the tweet, as historically the BMQuart Tweets can come across a bit agressive.

I am concerned about running the 6.5 from the Quart Comps as they have that paper cone, which once wet can deteriorate quickly - and those doors do get wet. This was some of my reasoning behind trying to get 6x9's in the door - when I really wish I had those 8's you referred to previously.

The three way duties will be handled by a Audio Control electronic xover.

StereoInstaller1, what is a notch filter? Does that just eliminate a certain region of sound from a coax speaker?

[Serious Sam]

Heading in a slightly different direction for the next few days. Thought about what Luke mentioned about marginal benefit of doing a 6x9 over a 6.5 in the doors.

This is the set that I am installing. I had planned to substitute the 6 with a 6x9. The 6x9 is going to take 3x as long to fabricate as I have to customize the map pocket. I have not given up trying to make the 6x9 work, but I hope to get some more progress done quicker this way, and see if I am satisfied with the perfomrance. I have an idea how to test the 6x9 against the 6 in some back to back tests. We'll see.



Using the 6 above, I can install without having to cut up that pocket. Still gonna have issues with the glove box, as I am not comfortable pushing the back of the speaker into the door too much. This woofers have paper cones and will not handle getting wet.

IIRC, this set gained notoriety for winning many of the IASCA events.
Anyway, they are in exellent shape and appear to be made around 1995. I hope they have not deteriorated as you can hardly tell they were even installed previously.

Some additional pics and a little work on the baffles.

[Serious Sam]

Some more work accomplished.

[slow e30]

now i like them kick panels. verry nice sir

[Serious Sam]

Thanks for the compliment.
Its got a good start, but it'll be a real challenge for me as this will be my first fiberglassing attempt.

Gonna render the glove box completely useless.

[Serious Sam]

Looking for some suggestions.
I have done some more work, and getting closer to trial installing the 6 speaker baffle to the door card, and inner door frame.

Right now, I plan to just use some button head bolts to attach the baffle, but these will show, obviously.

Any suggestions for a way to hide these. I only have 1/2" think MDF to work with as I thought about recessing them some, and placing a simple black "cap" over the hole. But that may be cutting things too close.

Any ideas?

[woodisgood]

Paint em'

[StereoInstaller1]

Mount baffles to door panel using basic drywall screws, but under the grille so the speaker hides them.

Mount speaker last.

[Serious Sam]

Good ideas. Wonder if they make black anadized button heads?
Home depot definately doesn't carry them.

I would like to secure the baffles to the door frame. Having an e46 sedan, there is a world of difference in the sound quality of a midbass that is installe on a baffle that is bolted to door frame as opposed to mountingit onto the door cards. The factory spkrs do ok in the stock location on those cars but the mistake everyone makes is getting better spkrs mounting g them to the door card and 'losing' performance. It is amazing the difference of mounting that spkr 'solidly' to the door itself.

I also cut out the door card more than what the 6 needed when I was first working on 6x9. I want to be able to use the same mounting points for either configuration. That's why those 6 baffles are so ridiculously big.

If I had gone for the 6 initially I could have made smaller baffles andstill mounted to the metal, I think.

[Serious Sam]

Hoped to get more done this weekend, but ended up going out of town.

6 baffle is ready to get attached, once the holes are drilled and everyting aligns I'll then resin and paint it.

Working on getting the kick panel ready to glass.
The 4 baffle is done and mounted ready for felt and resin.

Glue is currently drying on tweeter baffle, then I have to hole saw the center out to accept the tweeter housing. Wrapped the tweeter baffle with three layers of super thin birch plywood glued on each layer to strengthen before the hole saw, and give the tweet a recessed look.