Dash speakers - is there an e30 solution?

[Lair]

I've always liked the sound of a system with dash speakers.

Has anyone ever tried a dash mount setup on an e30?

Search turned up nothing.

[smonkbmw]

i cant think of any reasonable solution short of rebuilding the dash, or fabricating some sort of pod setup on top of it. short of that im not sure what else can be done. im sure stereoinstaller will chime in here soon.

[Lair]

I'm not a fan if the pod look, but I wouldn't be opposed to a flushmounted speaker.

[smonkbmw]

theres no space to do something like that. on the left the gauge cluster fit snug to the "hump" in the dash. there is no space to the left of that for anything besides a tweeter. on the right those cut outs would work, but the ECU is right under that also.

so without building the dash up or making pods, youre SOL.

[Van Westervelt]

Luke's setup is pretty hardcore. I think he was/is planning on redoing his entire dash though.

[Lair]

I didn't think about the ECU.

It's probably a bad idea to install a magnet right next to it.

[jrobie79]

im making some door pods/a baffle in the door to hold some 6.5's, if it looks like shit ill try to use some fiberglass to make it look decent, but im hoping after i cover it all with vinyl or something it wont stick out too much.

[Aptyp]

interesting. if you get rid of some of the ducts it would be easy, but i love A/C for the month of August.

[StereoInstaller1]

I had to relocate the ABS brain on my car to make my mess fit.
Before upholstery:


Tweeter location:

[Aerton]

Luke, you are a mad man!!! more details on that tube you have behind the speaker and pics when it's complete please.

[StereoInstaller1]

This seems to be one of the things I suck at in life, this whole "picture taking" thing.

The tubing is a 6" to 4" ABS reducer of some kind, the rest is 4" tubing, both just basic plumbing parts, mounted in MDF panels, upholstered. They look pretty nice in person, way better than these photos look.

One of these days I am gonna make an entire new dashboard, kind of a cross between a mid '90s Prelude and a late '90s 'Stang, with a real instrument panel and all kinds of shit, and these speakers will be truly built in.

These locations sound absolutely fucking amazing, BTW... (not to be too big headed but) I think this is one of the best SQ cars I have ever heard. Amazing detail, really punchy and quick, excellent tonal balance and some of the best "staging" I have ever heard in a car. I prefer a pretty "forward" sound, and these do that, in spades.

Plus the fast but solid Midbass from these Exiles...best sounding $350 set of separates I have ever heard. Just MHO, but no one is ever not impressed!

Luke

[Lair]

That's what I call "dedication to one's craft".

I wish I could hear that setup.

I haven't had a decent non-HK system since the early 90's. I had a Ghia convertible with 4 Punch 8's in the rear powered by two Punch 75 amps and Polk Audio 6.5's (with the seperate mid/tweet pod) front stage powered by an Orion amp that was pretty decent.

I haven't had a true project car in years, and I'd like to put something relatively clean in the '91 cab I bought.

I'm planning to modify the door pockets and run some 6.5's in the doors. I also have one of those goofy quonset hut-looking JL audio woofer enclosures that came with a 968 cab I bought in '98. I have some 4 inch Polks for the rear fill also. It's not very ambitious, but I'm hoping I can get some decent sound out of the setup.

I'm really interested in seeing the cab box you're planning.

[StereoInstaller1]

I'm planning to modify the door pockets and run some 6.5's in the doors.

You don't need to if they are late model doors, 6.5", even big ones (by todays standards) fit with only minor cutting of metal.

A Ghia with 4 8's? Right on, that is the old school, better than 99.9% of the shit of today. I bet it rocked. My car is basically built in an "old school" style, large box, huge ports, one of the few woofers out there with a moving mass under 225 grams, etc.

This is the best sounding stuff I have heard that normal people can (almost) afford.

[Lair]

You don't need to if they are late model doors, 6.5", even big ones (by todays standards) fit with only minor cutting of metal.

A Ghia with 4 8's? Right on, that is the old school, better than 99.9% of the shit of today. I bet it rocked. My car is basically built in an "old school" style, large box, huge ports, one of the few woofers out there with a moving mass under 225 grams, etc.

This is the best sounding stuff I have heard that normal people can (almost) afford.

I'm planning to do the pocket thing for purely aesthetic reasons. I mounted a pair of 6.5 speakers in the footwells, and then trimmed the kick plate covers to fit around the grills. I know it sounds awful, but the end result looks good. I managed to trim the covers almost perfectly. The problem is - it sounds like ass.

I had a good friend who worked in a high-end local shop, and he helped me with the Ghia. We built a sealed box that fit perfectly into the rear body cavity of the Ghia, and separated the 4 woofers into left & right pairs with a sealed wall in between.

Each pair of woofers had its own Punch 75 amp. I insisted on the setup after reading the fine print on a NIN "Pretty Hate Machine" CD. The CD stated that it was NOT meant to be played on a monaural system, so i set the box up for stereo play.

It was pretty sweet for 1990-91. It was one of the first 'stealth' systems in town. Everything was hidden, and the car looked completely OEM (other than the HU).

Nobody believed it was just 4 eights and two 6.5's. It sounded much bigger.

[Lair]

I don't have many pictures left (and none of the stereo), but this is what the car looked like.