i'm trying to re-locate where my front speakers are. I hate how the factory location is at the bottom of the door panels. That kills the sound quality because it's way below ear level, but even worse is the fact that when driving, my left leg completely blocks the path of sound from the left speaker, basically leaving me with mono sound instead of stereo. Anyway, I'm trying to place the 4" speakers at the top of the door panel by cutting a hole where I placed the red circle indication in this picture. Let me know what you think

 

Just use a set of tweeters up there, it'll save you a headache of trying to mount speakers.

But if you're still wanting to go through with this... have fun

 

I wouldn't even bother with cutting up your door panels for a set of cheap 4 inch two ways. Just buy some seperates and put the tweeter where you have your circle.

 

the heck happen to that speaker grill?

 

guys, i already tried having the tweeter where the circle is, but the problem with that is that all you basically hear are the highs because the tweeters would be at ear level but the midrange drives way below at your feet. I need to have the tweeter and the midrange driver BOTH at ear level to get the best sound.

 

I believe, because of the length of the frequencies, the midrange can go down by the door or in your headrest... your ears aren't going to notice anything except volume. In that case, turn it up. You are going to have a divided front stage if you locate a tweeter too far from the midrange, though. Try to keep them within 10" of each other. Be careful when cutting the vinyl. It likes to stretch and tear and then do it more. I just fabricated pods for 6.5" components. I'll let you know how good it sounds this weekend... hopefully.

Anyway. My thoughts would be to put a tweeter near the stock speaker location and just position the pivot direction to your liking.

 

Mids are ALWAYS mounted down low.

 

If you are overly concern about the mids down there, maybe build a bracket to angle the speaker up slightly??

 

do something like this then:
http://www.mattblehm.com/pics/old_ma...od_pics/11.jpg

but whatever you do, DO NOT try to cram a 4" speaker in there. they are horribly inefficient, have no bass, and don't handle power worth crap. just buy some good 6.5" components and angle the mids up and back some- basically point them at the dome light. put the tweeters in the A pillars or in the dash, and you're set.

 

I just installed my set of components and as long as the mid bass is getting some good and efficient power then you're good to roll. I have my tweeter in that same area and the mid in stock location. I barely notice a difference if any at all.

 

dont' worry about my 4" midranges, they're the best you can find--120 watt RMS audiobahns, and they can handle a heck of a lot of power. I cannot put them down low becuase I need them at ear level. Please understand that people.

 

Well, it seems you had you mind made up before you posted on here looking for opinions so enough with the talk and just make it happen. You asked what we thought, we told you, and you still want to do the same thing. Post pics when you have completed your project and until then good luck.

 

yea, i've had my mind made up from the get go, but i what i was trying to hear from you guys was more along the lines of if you knew if it could be done, or if you knew anybody who has done this sort of thing. Sorry for the confusion

 

make a fiberglass pod where the circle is in your diagram, then cover over it with vinyl.

Brian

 

hmmm, describe that more please. I'm intersted

 

Do something like this, but on the upper portion of the door panel. You can use fiberglass or whatever you want to work with.

Brian

 

With all that desire, it seems as though you already have ideas on what you plan on doing. So, what exactly are you thinking of? Maybe if we knew what your intentions were, we could give you our input. What is it you foresee in your car?

 

will that work to hold the speaker? Because unlike with the tweeter, I won't have any mounting brackets to flush mount the midrange driver. How do I put the fiberglass and the vinyl on? Excuse the questions, but I just don't know how to do this but I really need to. Thanks

 

Handling a lot of power doesn't always equal quality sound. I would take a set of Rainbow Dream Line KX or Diamond Audio M3 4" two way speakers before I would even consider Audiobahn. Either way, 4" two way speakers aren't very good, even the "best you can find." Go back and read Matt's post again.

Hey, it is your car and if you want to install your cheap coaxial speakers in the top of the door panels, the dash, headrests, center console, etc. go right ahead. There is a reason all of these people are telling you not to do it.

If you want better sound, sell your 4" speakers and buy some components. Mount the tweeter up high and keep the midbass speaker in the door where it belongs.

 

If you really want to do that you could do a 3-way set up with a 6 1/2", 4" and tweet. You could mount a 4" where you already are thinking of mounting it, a 6 1/2" where the stock location is with some fiberglass (like Matt showed) and a tweet near the 4". MB Quart makes a pretty good 3-way componet set.

I'm planning on doing a set-up similar to the one with the fiberglass door panels very soon. I'm going to use a MB Quart QSD 6 1/2" component set. I'm going to mount the 6 1/2" pretty much exactly like Matt's pic but, I'm going to mount the tweet alot closer to the 6 1/2.

 

You may have to make a backing from ?plywood? or metal underneath the fiberglass, but it is doable, do a websearch for making fiberglass stereo casings/enclosures.

Brian

 

Not wanting to sound like a complete C**k or anything but if you want the best sound possible ditch the audiobahn and get some high end components to mount there. Infinity,Focal,Memphis or RE among other brands mounte din the stock location with a hi aimed tweeter would sound better then the setup you are going for.

Also the speaker in the drivers side door is supposed to point at the passenger and likewise for the passenger side aimed correctly to avoid cancellation.

BJ White

(also I am in no way saying the diamond stuff isnt suitable just didnt want a huge list )

 

WTF? Audiobahn is CRAP.
You want good 4" drivers? I have a stack of 4" Focal mids I was going to use for my home theater setup. I'll sell them to you for $50 each, and they'll handle all the power you can throw at 'em.


And you CAN put them down low, they work very well down there. Angle them in and up, toward the dome light.
But don't even think about using only 4" mids up front. They have ZERO bass, don't handle enough power, and are very inefficient because of the tiny cone area. If you want to use them, use them as a true mid, and get a 6.5 or 8" midbass as well.

Trust me mang... I've been designing and installing systems since before your nads dropped, and I've won my share of audio competitions--including a podium finish at IASCA World Finals.. What you're planning is a bad idea, unless you plan to back it up with some beefy midbass and some time delay processors to fix the phasing issues by the crazy path length differences.

 

I do have components lol!!!! Those Audiobahns are components. They come with a 1" silk dome tweeter. I know not to get coaxials, I"m smarter than you guys think. Also, I forgot to mention that I have a subwoofer in my setup also, so I have all the frequencies covered pretty well.

 

Putting 4's in that location, behind the panel will be a royal pita - if you can do it at all - simply cause the door panel will not go on over top once you mount the speaker to the door.
My tweets are mounted where you have the circle and you don't need to worry about tearing the viynl or anything - it's really easy to do. I'm running 6.5" in the stock speaker pods in the stock location that I modified to angle UP AND BACK. Doing this stops the sound from getting blocked by your legs and greatly improves the sound. To modify the stock pod I just used a hack saw to cut it at the desired angle, then put a peice of MDF on top of that slash cut (for a mounting surface), then fiberglassed the MDF to the original plastic pod.
4's are NOT a mid-bass speakers. If you are currently running a sub, two 4's and two tweets, then you need something like a 6.5 or 8 to fill the frequency gap.
If you really want the 4's up there, you're going to have to do some research on how to fiberglass a pod and then integrate that pod into your door panel. I could explain, but it's pretty in-depth and I know there are plenty of places to find this info on-line. Here's a hint tho - find build-up pics of the Alpine demo Civic...

 

ElVito1981 . . .

Just go ahead and do what you want to do and post the pics and results. It seems for every suggestion, you have a reason for not accepting it. Show us your intelligence and just install your 4" speakers. If all turns out well, post pics and tell everyone that they were full of sh*t. If it does not turn out well, go to a shop and let them you.

 

maybe because I've already done what you guys are suggesting in putting the tweeter at the top and the midrange at the bottom. That's how anybody would do it, because the factory assembly for the speaker is in the bottom of the panel. Before criticizing me, think that maybe I had already tried what you suggest, since after all it is the obvious.

 

so if you guys are saying that Audiobahns aren't good, which speakers are the best? MB Quart? Diamond Audio?

 

there is a an audio and electronics forum, too.

Diamond Audio, Focal, CDT, Rainbow, MB Quart. There are others, too. It does depend on your personal sound preference, but Audiobahn isn't really that high on the list of "preferred" component speakers. Personally, I would take Infiniti Kappa Perfects, Eclipse or Boston Acoustics in front of Audiobahn.

 

Here's a crazy idea... could it be that the tweets and mids you used were not high quality? Or maybe they were crossovered incorrectly?

And are these 4" Audiobahns the SAME comps you had installed in the stock position which has convinced you that this setup leads to "poor quality"? If they are, I think the correlation with the quality is with the speakers, not location

 

ok, you may have a point. However, logically speaking location does play an important role in sound quality. Ideally you want all the sound to be in front of you, and at ear level. So, even if it were to sound good with the midranger driver in the factory location and the tweeter up at ear level, it could sound a lot better if everything were at ear level. Think about it, when you're at a concert, the band is in front of you, not surrounding you, and in most cases, the stage the band is playing on is at ear level.

 

Yep, speaker location plays an important role, that goes without argument. On my mom's Town Car, the speakers are mounted about where the handrest on the door is and the quality of this stock system is much better than my BOSE, but that's not all due to the location (I believe it uses coaxials larger than 4").

What everyone here is saying is that it's easier (& cheaper) to work WITH the limitations. I'm sure if you gave a pair of quality 6.5" components a try, you'll see a major difference. There's also no need to customize anything, outside of new speaker mounts that you can make out of MDF. IMO, 4" are just not worth the trouble since a pair of 6.5" will come cheaper since they are more readily available and we can fit them on the 3rd Gens too.

 

the size of the speaker isn't really important. There are many 4" speakers that can put out a lot more power than 6.5" speakers.

 

"...However, logically speaking location does play an important role in sound quality. Ideally you want all the sound to be in front of you, and at ear level."

Dude, just buy some headphones and call it a day.

 

I'm tired of getting updates to this thread....

 

this is an important thread man

 

unsubscribe then.... go to the User CP and delete it.

Brian