6.5" Fitment in Doors

[Mohit]

I'm trying to piece together a new sound system for my 318is, and want to go with 6.5" components mounted in the doors instead of the kick panels. I've seen some threads of this, but one thing that struck me was the depth of the speaker and clearance with the door. Is the door deep enough to fit most 6.5" speakers, or will I need to find speakers with shallower cones?

Also, would it be find to just mount the tweeters in the door as well?

[Liquidity]

Are you sure the installs you saw had them mounted in the door and not the pocket?

[Andy.B]

Out of curiosity, why not put a set of decent quality component speakers in the stock location? I would consult stereoinstaller1 for any audio advice, but I suspect that unless you are dropping a ton of money on speakers and custom install work, you would be equally pleased by quality speakers in the stock location.

[Mwishlist]

The few door ones I have seen that didn't look bad were spaced out at least a bit and in custom pods shaped like the map pocket or similar

I just discovered, after finishing installing my sub and amp that you can fit 6.5 in the kicks with sometimes minimal modification. I have a sweet pair of 6.5" components from my last vehicle which I will be trying to fit in the kick asap. So that is something to think about.

[Mohit]

I saw in this thread about the door mounted speakers, and it was Mr. StereoInstaller1 himself who said door mounted speakers will sound much better than speakers at your ankles. I was originally going to mount them in the stock location but after researching more it seems like the door option would sound better.

Here's one picture I found of the door mounted speakers

[Silver Wagon]

another idea is to make kick-panel pods. this may or may not work due to space constraints. if you can angle the speakers so they aim at your right ear it will improve sound-stage dramatically. this will also keep your door panels original. just a thought. haven't' looked into it yet. might look at it this weekend.

[Mwishlist]

I saw in this thread about the door mounted speakers, and it was Mr. StereoInstaller1 himself who said door mounted speakers will sound much better than speakers at your ankles. I was originally going to mount them in the stock location but after researching more it seems like the door option would sound better.

Here's one picture I found of the door mounted speakers

That actually looks pretty good. I think the tan trim ring helps a ton, but they still seem out of place a bit. I know in my truck my Pro60's sounded amazing in the doors once I dynamatted everything, the amount of bass I was able to get was pretty impressive in the doors. We'll see how they sound in the e30 kick panels as a comparison tonight.

[dwvw]

If you do it right speakers in the kicks sound best. It's all about path length differences.

[Liquidity]

If you do it right speakers in the kicks sound best. It's all about path length differences.

And tweeters on the dash for soundstaging - ideally pointing up and reflecting off the glass.

[Silver Wagon]

And tweeters on the dash for soundstaging - ideally pointing up and reflecting off the glass.

no, put them in the kicks also. the closer you can get equal distance of both tweeters to your right ear, the better. the kick panel is the only place in the car that offers that distance.
here are some pics of some door panells i made for my Jetta years ago. people would call me a lair when i told them there wasn't any speakers in the dash



you can just see the tweeter, how it looks with the door closed in this one.

[dwvw]

Generally speaking if you can't get the tweeters within an inch or so they should at least be 18 inches away. And using time delay and delaying the tweets if they are mounted closer helps immensely.

[Liquidity]

no, put them in the kicks also. the closer you can get equal distance of both tweeters to your right ear, the better.

Yeah sure - if you want your sound stage on the floor. This isn't an IASCA SQ competition, this is real life.

[Ether-D]

The pic with the 6.5 mounted in the door is a vert. The window doesn't roll down into that space on the vert doors, but does on all others.

[Silver Wagon]

Yeah sure - if you want your sound stage on the floor. This isn't an IASCA SQ competition, this is real life.

you have obviously never heard a car with tweeters mounted there. if you close your eyes it sounds like the music is coming from the front of your hood. i know this cause i have done it on several of my cars. and none of them were IASCA competition cars. they were real life daily drivers of mine cause i like good quality sound in real life cars.
i guess you want to hear the drivers tweeter over all other speakers in real life i guess.
so much can be achieved with proper speaker placement. time delay is a band-aid. it sounds good to the driver, which is the one that matters, but sounds horrible to the passengers.

the placement in my Jetta above isn't ideal but far better than the alternatives in that car.

[Liquidity]

Almost every car has speakers in the doors or kicks - all below ear level - and the soundstage is terrible. And what do you mean by only hearing the tweeters? Any decent setup has ways to attenuate the volume of drivers like jumpers in the crossovers.