jimtesla

Hey

My speakers are all but gone.....cracking....left front is out.....
what do you suggest for replacements?

p.s. passed my smog today first try...........

later

Jim

smnc

I've always been a big Infinity fan, so I'm going to be installing a set of Infinity Kappa 40.2cs in the front this winter. Thay're components, so the 4" mid ranges go in the stock location, and the tweeters will get installed in the door panel.

I'm not sure what to put inthe back. I'd like to put components back there too, but there's nowhere to put tweeters. That leaves me with either Infinity Kappa 62.3i 2 ways or 3 way Infinity Kappa 63.3i. The 2 ways have a tweeter built in that can pivot, so I can angle it to an optimal position. BUT the three ways produce better high-range sound.

Just my 2 cents,
-Spencer

jimmyv13

Search for "upgrading sound system"or something like that....It was a long topic with lots of information.

rotorhead

the rears can definitely fit a 6" speaker, any good 3way speaker will do. the kick panels use 5.25" speakers if i'm not mistaken, once again, just go with a good brand. i took 'great stuff' expandable foam and filled in a lot of the empty areas in back around the speakers. really seems to have tightened up the bass. don't go wild with the foam, just try to create an enclosed area for the speakers to work. i sealed in front of the shock tower and back near the ant. location.... sealed airspace in between. use whatever to cover over some of the openings, i used multiple layers of duct tape and its held fine for years, but you can use whatever. this really helped get some better sound from the rear speakers till i could buy a sub. i also foamed around the fronts, but there is so little usable airspace up there it didn't seem to help.

rotorhead

whoops, that was 6 1/2" rear speakers... guess i should have read it before i posted it

smnc

The thread jimmyv13 was refeing to is "Modernizing the Sound System" click here.
But it was mostly about headunits, and not a lot about speakers.

rotorhead
I thought the fronts used 4" speakers? Maybe I'm crazy tho...

jimtesla
Anyways, a good place to start shopping is http://www.crutchfield.com/
They'll help you kind the right stuff fore your car.

Hope this helps,
-Spencer

smnc

I was just re-reading it, and I take it back, the "Modernizing the Sound System" thread DOES have some good info on fitting speakers into the kick's.

rotorhead

4"s? hmmm, ya know, i be durned if i remember now! been awhile since i squashed myself up under the dash to check. i usually mount my speakers on the outside of the kickpanel( cut hole) and every 7 i've messed with has multiple screw holes drilled for the speaker. so stock they may very well be 4's , but i'm 99% sure you can get a 5.25" in there without too much hassle. personally, i want to know where these guys are getting door pods for component speakers. i mean, if you really want good sound, you've GOT to ditch those kick speakers. last i checked, my ears weren't in my feet!

jimmyv13

For better stereo imaging you'll want your speakers in the kick panels. For perfect stereo imaging, the idea is to have both R & L speakers the exact same distance from your L & R ear. That is very difficult in a car, so the next best thing is get the distances as close to each other as possible. In imaging, the distance from your ears doesn't matter....volume can fix that. If you measure from your approximate area where your head is to each kick panel the measurements will be closer together than if you take the measurements from your head to the door panels.
BUT, this can be remedied with messing with your fading and balancing on the head unit itself. It's all up to you. I have my front stage down in the stock location with seperate tweets and they sound great. I kept them there rather than fabricating door pods and taking up what little space is available in an RX.

rotorhead

problem with that is you lose a lot of sound quality from the kick speaker... the speaker is aimed directly at your center console. if your head was behind your dash, it'd sound a lot better but, with a door mount(and i mean low front corner of panel), you can fiddle with imaging by playing around with the output axis of the speaker. basically, the left door speaker should be aimed directly at the passenger and vice versa. being off-axis from the speaker helps make up for the fact that one is closer. tweets on the dash... facing the windshield, for a broad soundstage. sound is also a very personal thing, so the best thing you can do is go with what sounds best to you. don't be afraid to play around and try something new( say, i can get a couple 4's down behind each side of the center console... hmmmm)

smnc

I checked today. The stockers are 4", but yeah, I've heard 5 1/4's will fit np.
Maybe I'll upgrade the speaker size as well, when I replace them this winter.

BTW
For anyone who cares, THIS may just be the BEST stereo enhancement since Dolby Pro Logic was invented. Not cheap, but I think I'll have to sqeaze a bit more cash out of the stereo budget
You can look up more info about Dolby Pro Logic II at the Dolby Labs Site.


-Spencer

SilverRocket

I stuffed 6x9s into the stock rear locations no prob, just had to cut holes in the plastic trim and mount them shallow cause the hole isn't that deep.

IMO the stock kick location sucks ***, no matter what speakers you have in there. I have 4" infiniti's and am definitely not pleased with them. I'm toying with the idea of cutting into my doors and throwing in some comps, but not sure if I really care about the whole stereo thing anymore.

smnc

You sound bitter Silver. Bad stereo experiences?

I agree about the kick's sounding like crap tho. Do you have components (seperate tweeter) or combos? I'm kinda hoping that having the tweeters in the doors will improve things. If it doesn't I may move the mains to the doors as well.

jimtesla

So I had time to look at why my one front speaker was silent....
Its no there......I looked everywhere for the wiring and cant find it......there was a large rubber hose north of the speaker area and I tugged on it......I guess thats a drain hose? Cant that bugger back in its hole now.....

Where does the speaker wire come from...top , bottom....
maybe I should just open the other side and see.....but just in case that one is not correct...

Thanks

Jim

jimmyv13

In my car, 85 GSL, the wiring came from the amps in the storage bins. It ran along the rocker panel of each side for each front speaker. You should run new speaker leads anyway. The old wire is prolly corroded and doesn't conduct very well.

rotorhead

if that's the same hose i'm thinking of, its the drain for the condensation running off the AC. no AC, no prob, but i have AC and found out on a trip to texas that the AC puts of a LOT of water. had quite a puddle in there b4 i realized. i wedged/ducttaped a large soda bottle down there, but it'd fill it up at least once every 30mins.... and i was still 4 hours out of TX

SilverRocket

Just with the front speakers lol. I've blown 3 sets haha, I've really had it with 4" speakers. Even running them with a high-pass crossover on the amp as well as capped, they still can't handle ****. Maybe if you got extremely nice speakers, they might last. But what's the point? For that price you could easily figure out something better.

I used to have a very loud stereo, but it was too heavy for a sports car IMO. These days I'm just more concerned with performance, and don't really want to blow any more cash on speakers etc.

My 6x9s and JL 10 are quite adequate for what I want, now I just have to sort out the front....

smnc

I see...

I'm a but of an Audiophile, so I need a good sound system or I'll go crazy. Doesn't have to be too loud, it just has to sound good.
I'm thinking about trying to rig up a door or kick panel set-up to angle the speakers a bit towards the seats.

-Spencer

rotorhead

just a little idea for tweeter placement.... in my old 79, it had the round AC vents at the far corners of the dash. it was a beautiful location for the tweets, seeing as not much air ever flowed thru those vents anyway. and what air did flow thru could keep the tweets cool. for that totally hidden look(if you're into stealth stereo) you could cut one of the vent inserts in half, glue black speaker cloth onto the back, and reinsert them back into the vents. voila! invisible tweeters! imaging in there wasn't half bad either. maybe a sub hidden under one of the rear storage bins... stealth stereo is an awesome theft deterrent... they won't steal what they can't see.