Just picked up a set of MB Quart components (4" woofers, 1" tweeters), and I'm looking for places to mount them in the front without giving up my 6.5" woofers in the front doors. Any ideas?

 

Have you thought about a kick panel?

 

Thought about it, but I think I want something closer to ear-level. I don't want my sound to depend too much on where my left leg is or whether someone's sitting in the passenger's seat...

 

i mounted mine right behong the back seat cushions on the rear deck. Sounds great from there but the people that sit in the backseat are deaf by the time they get out of the car.... haha

 

to me there really isnt another option than kicks for FRONT Staging. Now if you plan to stick em in the rear deck or something then fine...

 

My back seat passengers have a tough time as is with the 6x9s I have in there...

What about cutting up the top of the dash (in the "shelf" area) and surface-mounting the woofers there, with the tweets in the stock Bose location in the A-pillars?

 

the amount of work to make that look presentable would far outweigh the benefits of kicks imo...

 

I vote for kicks!

 

But if you own a manual trans wouldnt a kick panel get in the way of the clutch?

 

Yes it would. I was actually gonna post that... I don't see anywhere to mount it properly. It's just clutch, dead pedal, door....

 

Spend some time down there poking around. Threre's room I think the question is what are you willing to do to get them in there? You're talking about cutting a hole in the top of the dash, so maybe you're willing to do what you gotta do to get the job done right.

You have a 4th gen. The stock kick panels come off, which gives you more room to work with. Youre talking about 4's...those babies would sink way back there. Face the midranges straight out towards the center console and angle the tweet towards just outside the opposite listeners ear.

You may have to trim a lil metal outta there, but you could then pretty easily make a baffle for them, maybe glass in a midrange at the right angle.

People are recommending kick panels over and over again because they know(either by personal experience or reading any forum/post about how to get the best sound) that it's the best place for the midrange speaker.

Again...you're 4's will drop in there pretty easily using just a baffle. These 7" midranges, on the other hand, were a little tougher to get in Even if I had a 5 speed, there'd be plenty of room. Oh, and the dead pedal is long gone

 

Definately kicks, but more importantly how will they be run? What 6.5s are in there now? Are your 6.5s amped? Dedicated midbass?

 

Yeah good point. What processing (crossover specifically) are you gonna use?

 

really? and mine is a ninety 8, so its the same setup, although i did remove the dead pedal for sufficient rear clearance. Steves method is completely different and allows for you to go with a good strong mid woofer in there.

 

To answer the questions about my setup, here it is (nothing to write home about):

HU: Sony CDX-F5700
Main Amp: Clarion APA450 (50w RMS x4)
Fronts: Rockford Fosgate P162S components (6.5" woofer, 2x 1" tweeter each)
Rears: Pioneer TS-A6981R 4-ways
Sub: JL Audio 10w7 in sealed enclosure per JL's specs, DEI 750d amp, 1 farad cap

For the record, the sub was a gift... I REALLY don't have the cash to play at that level with the rest of my stuff. I will do the work (MDF is cheap and I have a good source for sound deadening and wires), but finances are tight.

I had been planning on running the MB Quarts off the head unit since that amp is obviously unused as of now.

And about the dead pedal... I really, really would rather not remove it if I don't have to...

 

I just had a thought.

What about moving the Rockfords to the center console in the footwell so the MB Quarts could go in the doors, and just remove the tweeters on the Rockfords so that they are confined to midbass and high bass duty? Is there anything sturdy in the center console area to mount speakers to?

 

Center Console?

Multiple speakers all over the place playing the same frequencies. this system sounds like it's not gonna come together that well. More speakers aren't better.

What's wrong with your system now that you want to add more speakers and move them all over the place? What are you looking to gain?

Different speakers all over the place playing overlapping frequencies will not sound good.

I'd rethink everything before I move on.....

 

Gotta agree with Steve, I think your definately goping in the wrong direction. If you want more speakers, just invest in a passive 3-way setup and call it a day.

 

Well, my main goal is to upgrade my front stage. The Rockfords aren't terrible, but they're not great. The problem is that my sub amp isn't very powerful, so I've been using the 6.5" woofers up front for midbass and high bass so that I don't overload it. These MB Quart components have 4" woofers, so I highly doubt they'd be a good replacement.

As I said, if I were to keep the Rockford woofers just for bass, I would disconnect the tweeters and make sure to use an appropriate crossover to tune out higher freqs.

 

Let me rephrase then, an efficent 3 way set or even a good 2 way set would accomidate your needs, even with a small amp doing the work.

 

I see what you guys are saying, but unfortunately I have to work with what I got for now.... I just don't have the cash to buy more stuff. Given the parts that I listed above, plus the MB Quarts, is there any way to tangibly improve things?

 

Personally I think itll sound worse rather than better. Unless your investing into some processing. In which case you could just go with different speakers.

 

^Agreed. Ditch those Pioneer rears. Run your Clarion amp bridged on the front stage, and sell the Pioneers and the MB Craps to invest in a nice 2 or 3 way front setup.

 

I think that you could get away with a couple of options. If your not looking or interested in losing the dead pedal you could easily go with the options that steve gave you. In doing this you could go with trying to match up a set of custom passives (Ology Audio can set you up), but me personally I would put the sixes in the rear and sell the quarts. When you do that get ahold of a midline comp set upfront and go from there. When you look to add on you can easily sell your amp and get ahold of an xtant pretty close to what you could slang that clarion for. (403a was 200 on the xtant site for awhile not too long ago).

 

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

I would sell the MB Quarts in a heartbeat if they weren't a gift (like the sub), given on the premise that I'd do something with them. If it turns out I can't use them, I'll just give them back.

Guess I'll just try a thing or two and speak up if I hit on something that happens to work.