maxcooper

People seem to ask about FD door speakers a lot. Here's a pic of my non-BOSE speaker mount with a 6.5" 2-way Eclipse speaker mounted in it. I know, I should have used smaller screws and not bent the frame. But it sounds fine and I'm not entering any car audio competitions, so it's good enough for me.


I've always been curious to see the Bose front speakers and their panel. Or some really nice speakers mounted in FD doors that took some additional magic to fit them in. Hell, I am sure people are curious about what the stock speaker looks like, too. Post all the pictures you want about FD door speakers in here. I am sure it will help someone.

-Max

dclin

iTrader: (4)

If nobody beats me to it, I'll take and post pics of the Bose front speakers later today. I wonder if anybody has managed to sqeeze a horn loaded compression driver/speaker set into a FD...?

HedgeHog

HOLY CRAP!!!!! A photo taken by Max that's actually in FOCUS.....wow. :p just playing...

Thx for the pix.

89droptoprx7

iTrader: (3)

dclin i'd love to see a bose application. i'm looking to replace my bose fronts with 6.5 componets.

maxcooper

New camera. There was a sasquatch on the other side of the door, though, I swear!

-Max

travisorus rex

The one thing that is great about the Bose system is that they have integrated "boxes" to make the sound better.

The downside to them is that there isn't any aftermarket speakers that can replace them. IIRC, they are about a three inch speaker and they are mounted with a three screw setup like the above picture. There are no speakers out there that will directly replace the funky Bose setup.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

Opps, give me until tomorrow. Have to go back where the FD is stored. Like mentioned above, the Bose front enclosure openings are pretty small. I actually believe its 4". I have a set of old school Soundstream 4" coaxial Reference speakers that I can test drop when I go back tomorrow.

I planned on building kick panels for the 4", and drop 6" midbasses in the door. I ended up getting 5 1/4" speaker mounts from the R1/base stereo (like what Max has above) to fit the larger speakers. Might even see if I can make some enclosures to stuff the 6"s further back into the footwell, if it sounds ok.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

Here are some pics. As you can see, the front Bose speakers have their own enclsures - its not just baffle.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

The front Bose speakers are 4". My Soundstream speakers are deeper then most 4" speakers though, so it will not fit flush onto the mounting surface, top side mount.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

The rear wall of the enclosure is not parallel with the mounting surface of the front wall. The rear slants at a slight angle, so that there is approx 1-3/4" for a top mount install on the shallow side, and just a hair under 2" on the deep side. This measurement is to the top of the ribs inside the enclsure. You actually might have an additional 1/8" if your speaker magnet can fit in between the 'ribs'. Looking at www.crutchfield.com , most of their mainstream 4" speakers appears to physically fit.

It's been mentioned before, but I thought I bring this up again. The Bose speakers are low impedance - between 1.x and 2ohms IIRC), so you cannot just drop any regular 4ohm speaker in it's place and wire up. You have to bypass the Bose amp, and power the aftermarket speakers with another amp.

maxcooper

Note that the stock speakers are 6.5" (listed as 6.3" in the Factory Workshop Manual, but the aftermarket would certainly call them 6.5" speakers). Shallow (<2.5") aftermarket 6.5" speakers fit just fine in the stock Mazda panels. I know 5.25" speakers work, too, but this seems to be one of the common questions -- 5.25" or 6.5"? 6.5" speakers do fit, though I did have to cut the back of the panel. There's a plastic cup around half of the magnet, and I cut out the center of the cup to clear my Eclipse speakers. It was an easy thing to do and a pretty minor change. With really shallow 6.5" speakers, you wouldn't even have to do that.

-Max

89droptoprx7

iTrader: (3)

so if i want 6.5 in my bose setup i need to make new mounts? i would think any good shop could make something fit and still get the grill on.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

Max: Opps, always thought that the R1/Base front speakers were 5-1/4". That, or this is evidence of old age and memory loss creeping on.

89droptoprx7: 6-1/2" will not work without HEAVY modification. You'll likely have to reshape the whole enclosure, especially the front. Not to say it's impossible, just that it's easier to just get the R1/Base front speaker mounts.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

Took a bunch of pics today, thought I'd take some of the R1/Base speaker mounts.