speaker baffle/enclosure

[raafhimself]

What car you got there?

4dr e30

[StereoInstaller1]

4dr e30

any particular year?

[raafhimself]

any particular year?

'87

[StereoInstaller1]

Yeah...early doors suck for getting speakers in them, but I just worked on an '86 and managed to get 6.5"'s in the doors.

I don't know...I just can't imagine having a daily driver without a great sounding stereo. A single 10, a small 4 channel amp and a set of separates up front is plenty, and weighs about the same as the stock ballast in the trunk of most all 6 banger E30s.

I figure if you can't swing a few hundred bucks for stereo, get an iPod and a bus pass.

Or, worse yet, buy a new car, they all have stereos.

Luke

[raafhimself]

couldn't agree more with your comment. i'm an apple consultant working the miami area, not uncommon to put some 80+ miles a day....only way to keep me sane is music. im wrapping up the outer mods and wanna drop a couple on stereo. i currently have a sony head unit (meh, nothing special about it), crap pioneer speakers that distort too easy, and an 8 inch bazooka. this was a temporary-ish setup, thats run its course.

regarding speaker placement. being an early model, and not wanting to place speakers in the door, 6x9 in the front cavity only, or also utilize the rear shelf?

definitely a yes for a 4-channel amp?? is it that big of an improvement? have i been breaking a cardinal sin by not even thinking of one?

[StereoInstaller1]

I can't even get big 5.25's in the front! Pull that panel off and you will see that the shape of the metal behind the speaker prohibits most mods...5.25's is it for 99.99% of the guys willing to even try.

Somewhere on here is a post of how I put neodymuim magnet 6.5's in an E30M3, a guy named Jimmy who lives in Bend, Oregon. They sounded great but were quite a bit of work and not worth the effort IMO.

As far as power, yeah, deck power sucks balls. I swear, if you set up a decent pair of speakers running off of 1 watt of deck power vs. 1 watt of chinese made amp power, ANYONE would agree that amp power sounds better...plus there are actual adjustments...so, yeah, you want power. 35X4 is plenty, if set up right.

Luke

[raafhimself]

aiiiiiight. what 4 channel amp would you recommend? (best bang for the buck)

[StereoInstaller1]

aiiiiiight. what 4 channel amp would you recommend? (best bang for the buck)

There are basically 3 classes of amplifier: Godlike (ARC Audio, Zapco, Butler, Milbert, Genesis, maybe BRAX) Decent Chinese and Korean, and shitty Taiwan.

I run decent Chinese myself. As I was/am an Exile car audio dealer, that is what I run.

The basics are that you should be more concerned with features than actual performance, as the differences in performance are small but features can be a HUGE difference, such as variable high or low pass filters vs. fixed.

Get a decent Korean amp, shouldn't be more than $175ish new, or $100ish used. If you want better, go Chinese, but expect to pay $300 and up, new.

Luke

[raafhimself]

brands that fall in the korean category? (sorry for having to spoon feed me)

[StereoInstaller1]

I sell Titanium Power.

I have only had 1 piece break ever, and it had orange juice spilled on it.

[raafhimself]

tm 100.4 would be fine for my use? just something simple, good sound, but i'm no audiophile.

[s_ribs]

I can't even get big 5.25's in the front! Pull that panel off and you will see that the shape of the metal behind the speaker prohibits most mods...5.25's is it for 99.99% of the guys willing to even try.

In case you haven't tried them - PG RSD6CS fit with no modification to the metal. Even bolt to the factory holes.

Now sure how much I like them though... VERY clean, just not too impressed with the mid-bass. Possible that I just did a crappy job sealing them though.

[StereoInstaller1]

In case you haven't tried them - PG RSD6CS fit with no modification to the metal. Even bolt to the factory holes.

Now sure how much I like them though... VERY clean, just not too impressed with the mid-bass. Possible that I just did a crappy job sealing them though.

Also possible that the cone isn't able to move: the stock kick panel has to be moved away from the speaker somehow...or did you do something about that issue?

[s_ribs]

Also possible that the cone isn't able to move: the stock kick panel has to be moved away from the speaker somehow...or did you do something about that issue?

Yep, no kick panel installed.

The cone moves so much that the panel would require a decent bit of spacing. Enough that I'm not sure if it will even fit without looking messed up.

[StereoInstaller1]

You must not be running a high pass filter.