When I was thinking 3" midrange, I didn't expect them to measure almost 5" in diameter! The cone itself is exactly 3", but the basket extends another 1.7 inches onto the diameter!

Here's how I planned on mounting them (picture from passenger seat ear level):



When you look more closely, you can see what an enormous pod will need to be built at the base of the a-pillar:




I think I'm still going to attempt this without that ugly grille and really trying to make it look as integrated and stock as possible. I "think" it can be done with some creative fiberglass and color matching work. It'll be like building kickpanels for the windsheild. The tweeter is plenty small and will be easy to integrate into the design.

Whattya think?

 

Good luck. Grille looks sorta like a Silver Basketball

 

Holy crap. Have fun with that lol.

 

Yeah ... I think the raw driver is much prettier:



The only other option is kickpanels. These have never been a favorite of mine because legs get in the way, but with how cheap the Qforms are to buy, it may make sense to try them.

 

Here's all three (DLS Iridium UR1 | DLS Iridium DUI3 | Orion XTR8 MB):

 

I think I'm getting a hard-on...nice speakers!

 

They look awesome. I say use the kicks. They look terrible there. JMHO. Imagine the sun damage. Kicks all the way. I am def jelous of your new purchace. I wish I could afford them. Thanks for the teaser pics. I can't wait to hear this SQ beast.

 

Kicks might not be the best answer for'm being its a MT. As far as sun damage I'd imagine being a high end driver, that dome is made from an ultraviolet-resistant natural fiber-silk mixture- i know my tweets are...

Big Ham....looking good....fun fun...

 

Awesome speakers man...glad to finally c some pics...

 

+1, to Manny, I was going to do kick panels, but due to highway driving between Tampa/Gainesville/Orlando, I def wanted to keep my dead pedal and not worry about speakers being there. So Ill be keeping it simple with 2 ways.

 

These mids (and overall component set) are supposed to be so killer, I can't help but have 3 ways. I always regretted not having done 8's in the doors of my 4th gen.

Just to let you all know, this system has not been terribly expensive thus far. The 2 MB Quart amps were $250 each on sale, the DLS mids and tweets I got for $215 shipped from a a teammate on TeamROCS, the Orion 8's were $30 shipped off ebay ... yes that is for BOTH. The PG xover was $30 shipped on eBay (takes speaker level ins for now, too) and I have a JL 12W3 and a box that needs to be assembled laying around in the garage that I will use for now. That total is under $1000 after I get the Q Forms. Will it be competition grade when I'm done ... nope. But for before I drop some more cash on a second battery, isolator, 2 10's, a headunit and/or a line driver, this is a hell of a value system with potential to be a monster.

I have a long install road ahead of me, but I'm going to make sure it's done right. I'll be sure to keep you guys updated. In fact ... I'm going to try and get some nice pics of the amps too ...

 

wow nice speakers, but that midrange is pretty big for the a pillar, looks pretty hard to integrate it into that stock look, but if you try you could pull it off

 

Looks like you got some nice speakers for an awesome price. We're in the same boat by the way. My Dynaudio 3" mids are much larger than 3" as well. I have my 8s in the doors and the mids and tweets in Q-Logic panels. I've often thought of learning how to fiberglass and re-doing my entire door panels to fit the mids and tweets above the 8s, but I think it's beyond my ability and I'll have two trashed doors after I've finished. Have you thought of mounting the mids IN the dash facing up towards the windshield? That has crossed my mind but I'm no closer to trying that than I was trying to fiberglass...

Tony

 

Tony ... how do you like your Qforms? Nice build quality? I assume for the price you simply can't beat them ...

 

The build quality is fine. I would have preferred the tweeter mounts to be aimed differently than they are, but it sounds fine. One thing I didn't realize before I purchased them is you have to cut the plastic trim pieces that run along the floor near the door openings. Which is fine I guess, unless you ever get rid of them and go back to stock, in which case you'll need to buy new trim pieces. Also, I used sound deadening sheets on the backs of the kick panels to add some weight to them. Probably not necessary with only mids and tweets but oh well.

Tony

 

damm those mids look like my new "tweeters" lol.

 

DLS speakers are awesome, they need a lil power to get them going, but they can take alot

 

Well, both the tweets and the mids will be seeing 100W x 4 ... so 100 watts per speaker. I'm thinking this should be enough to make them sing with active crossovers. Amp does 100W at 20Hz-20KHz, so limiting that range at the input should make close to 200W at the limited frequencies each speaker requires.

 

nice man...same set i got. and 3 sq first place trophies to go along with them. i have the mid and tweet in kick panels and the woofer in the door. thats what i would do.

 

I can do it
I was going to do the same setup in my 4th gen before I wrecked it. I was goign to do pods for the mids and tweets up there.

 

also as for the kicks, those 3 inchers have great off axis response, so you can mount them flat in the kicks. Scott Buwalda style.

 

Hmmmm ... never did consider that and only saw Scott's install last night for the first time after Googling a little bit. Interesting how Scott put them in the kicks, and tweets up high. I always try to get my mids and tweets as close as possible, but I don't think it would be "that" big of a deal.

Without looking like a clone of Scott ... I may just try this.

 

If the qlogic kicks for 5th gens have a purpose for anything, it well suited for dome midranges. Even 4" drivers/mids dont sound so great in them. If I were you i'd try the tweet right next to it like Tony F. has them to see if you like the imaging.

 

BTW....Big Ham....perhaps you should go around and get estimates on fiberglassing your A pillars to accomodate both midrange/tweet-it may not be as $$$ as you think- not only do you keep your deadpedal(trust me its no easy to give up when you drive everyday) , but its also something no one else has done in our cars and it will look clea/killer...

 

Nice set of speaks you got there. For the last year I've been running the DLS UR36s set, the three way set (with slighltly smaller dome midrange, they call it 2 or 2.5" though, lol...this is the set with the yellow kevlar midbass speakers, the 2.5" dome and the same UR 1 tweets that you get with the Iridium set you have) with the mids and tweet in kicks in my 98 Maxima. When I ordered them, I also intended to try to get the domes and tweets up high. Wasn't meant to be for me. After playing around with locations and really considering install (and sound, as far as my ears could tell), kicks was the way to go. I had the 3 way set biamped.......with the midrange and tweets uing the passive crossover off on amp and the midbass in the doors off another...each amp being an ESX 175.2...so they had plenty of power avaliable.

The kickpanel install was just so simple because these domes have such an excellent off axis response. To my ears, the midrange and tweet firing straight accross, mounted in the kickpanel area sounded best. What a simple, good looking install too...just get a holesaw set, and put the proper size holes in the plastic kics and screw em in.....play with phasing and very little EQing was needed with my speakers after that. Helped a lot to block the underdash area with carpeted cardboard, but that goes for any kickpanel install (the one especiall though).

Now if you're going to try to get these up high, I would hope you are going fully active with these and have solid processing...meaning a P9 combo, alpine 701 combo, Berhinger unit, or some other unit where you can cross over and time align each channel with the upmost of flexibility. You've got pathlengh difference issues as well as reflections off the glass....Otherwise, I just don't think it would sound that great at the end of the day...just my .02 though....As far as those reflections I was mentioning...if you are thinking of trying to get these up high, this post is a MUST READ! Very directly discussing what you want to do...and this guy KNOWS HIS SHAIT!.....

http://forum.elitecaraudio.com/showt...threadid=96808

 

No need to give up the deadpedal or make really any mods/customization at all to get the midrange and tweet in the already existing plastic kicks.....Plus pathlength differences are the less than that of mounting them up high, mids/tweets are located close to midbass drivers, no reflection issues. Just so many fewer problems mounting them in kicks.....It's a 1 hour install that sounds better, IMO...

By the way, with my setup as I described it in the last post, stage height was not an issue at all. ...]

I have the DLS UR36s set I'm talking about for sale if anyones interested....stevekronberg@yahoo.com 300 shipped.

 

Looks about the same as trying to build kickpanels for a 4th gen using mb quart 6 1/2s.

 

Steve....do you have pics? Unless he mounts them on the surface of the stock kicks facing the center console I dont see how else he could mount them in our 5th gens, that 3" mid is enormous-perhaps the smaller UR dome is a better fit/easier to work with for this car- BUT judging by the look of that midrange and the fact that its rear chambered he may want it pointed somewhat toward the passengers/stage- my experience with most accoustic volume/rear chambered tweets is that their dispersion is favorably unidirectional..... perhaps not,I may be wrong but thats mighty far down there for a location unless he angles them

All I know Big HAM- is that its duct tape time......listen, to figure out where you like'm

 

Sorry no pics. I have no dig cam..and borrow my moms somtimes. I need my own cam bad. I took a few pics before the install

http://www.bboystevie.elitecaraudio.org/photo.html

then she needed it back.


Borrowing my moms (I know that sounds cheezy...I'm 30 and I spend money on speakers, not cameras!!!!!) dig cam nowfor what I'm doing this summer and will post pics if theres any interest in the next few days (Fountek Ribbons , Seas CA18RNX's in doors), IDMAX. Back to the DLS's, I played around with angle mounting the tweet and was going to do it just a tad with a lil piece of wood, (that would have been easily as the tweet is small still using factory kick). Sometimes once I 90% finish my installs I get lazy Obviously, the mid here is the problem and I do understand that this one is smaller. I was shocked when I got mine, so I'm sure getting the bigger one is more shocking.

I don't have much experience with the 5th gen. a 98 is 4th gen I'm pretty sure (not a big Maxima frequenter, though I'm considering going to the NJ/NY meet coming up. any stereo people gonna be there????)

I guess you could say for me "diameter" wise wasn't a problem on the kicpanel mount, depth was, but if I mounted it at just the right place, which sounded fine to me (I know there are others w/ better ears) it was fine. Otherwise I was just going to make little baffles to bring them out a little bit, spray paint it to match the kick and mount it....or do without a kickpanel altogether and mount it to the metal behind the kick....was trying to get away with not making full new kicks. Where do you (the person with this car) live? I'm in Maryland if I can help and have the summer off as I'm a teacher

Also, to better help responses, the original poster really shoul let us know if he is going active, semi-active (like I was doing, midbass on one amp, midrange and tweet on another) or totally active, and if so, what processor he is using.

I'm gonna see if I can find a pic of a 5th generation kick panel area and see if I can guestimate any advice.....

 

Pretty much what I said, just remember, when you mount these in your kicks, try to get an MDF ring cut out to go behind the driver. This will make your baffle more stable. Or you can also deaden the hell out of the back of the kick panel. I had 3" Vifa soft domes mounted flat in my 4th gen kicks, and they are bigger than the DLS domes.

 

Steve, I'll see you at the NE Maxima meet and hopefully the ECA meet I'm trying to lock in(3.5max6spd there) on the 24th....

 

Right on...nice to see some ECA'ers here. I would call myself possible for the Maxima meet, a definate for the ECA meet. I don't hang here too much, aren't into speed/mods, but might come up anyway, especially if there will be lots of decent systems to listen to.


Sounds like a killer setup there in your sig Manny...looking forward to hear in it.

 

by the Maxima meet may be a stretch....but by the ECA meet the system will be in full swing-we'll see...