asherwood

I am upgrading all of the speakers in the car and have tenativly decided to put a 4" component set into the dash with the tweeter mounter on the door panel point upward.

I have an oversized 6-1/2" component set that I could use the woofer for the door and then use the tweeter for the front, or put the component set into the rear tower and find another speaker for the door so I am wondering what size can be used in the door?

OR, should I utilzed the amplified 8" bazooka and leave the door 'woofer' alone???

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Al

Dane

I am kinda confused with what you are wanting to do here, but I will try to help.

I wouldn't even mess with using the dash speaker locations, if you have something to put in the door panels. The dash 5" factory location have awful placement, and provide no baffle or enclosure whatsoever.
I would leave those out...which will save weight, money, and sound quality.

Perfect!

Please don't. Rear imaging is a bad idea, and is totally uneccessary, even for people who aren't into sound quality. I would use a true midrange speaker for the rear, which once again saves money.

Practically anything 7" or less will work with a little modification. Use your component set that you already have!

Eric89GTU

Well, I pulled my pass.door off this weekend. THere wasnt much room in there. I had to make myself a 3/4" wood baffle to raise my 5 1/4 B.A. woofers off the metal of the door (stock speakers (which actually sounded decent crossed over, despite rotted foam, heh) had a plastic baffle w/3 screw holes to raise it...wouldnt work for my B.A.'s)). This weekend I am going to try again and see if I can fit my 6 1/2 Audiobahns in the driver's side. When I checked it out this past weekend, it seemed infeasible, but looking back on it, I -might- be able to get it to work. SO I'm gonna try. Oversize woofers would be a bitch to fit. This is all assuming your doors are like mine. 89GTU

EDIT: DAne, any suggestions on how I might be able to fit those 6.5's in the door easily? I don't feel like cutting through the plastic outer panel, and that seemed to me to be the only way to do it...


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Eric Larson
Email: larson@nettaxi.com
AOLIM: i0 Eric 0i

89 GTU (Electric Blue)
80k
Stock (but a Great Stereo)

[This message has been edited by Eric89GTU (edited May 03, 2001).]

Dane

A 89-90 GTU or GTUs has a different door panel than a 91, which has power windows, while a GTU does not.
Even considering that, I have seen plenty of people running standard (3 bolt) 6.5" speakers in the front doors of 89-90 non power window RX7s, but the magnet depth would be more limited. If you will notice, the power window models have door panels that protrude outward where the door speaker mounts, allowing for more depth.

Eric89GTU

DANE:
Which is odd...becuase I do have power windows/doors. Maybe it was an option or something. But it really didnt look like that big-freakin-magnet would clear the PW rail nor this other piece of metal protruding to the opening...if you don't have any suggestions I'm gonna take a look this weekend anyway...

ASHERWOOD: you could check out partsexpress.com for some cheap stuff, I seem to remember them having a -nice- pair of 4"s for like $40. radioshack also makes a disgustingly good woofer for the price (all you do is add damner to it and it's pretty damn clean and not-harsh), it's like $12 or something. 3wrms/8wmax I think though, heh. I could find the part# if you need it.



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Eric Larson
Email: larson@nettaxi.com
AOLIM: i0 Eric 0i

89 GTU (Electric Blue)
80k
Stock (but a Great Stereo)

Dane

If you are in the US and have a GTU with power windows, then maybe your GTU isn't a GTU!
Chances are after a repaint, a GTU sticker was applied. The other possibility is a power window / door panel conversion, which I have seen done often. Just out of curiousity, do you happen to have adjustable shocks, as well as power door locks? If so, chances are you have a GXL. If not, you got pics (curiousity)?

Once again, you will not really have a need to utilize the dash speaker location. A good solid component set for the doors, properly amplified will be plenty for the front. As for the rear, I would simply use a decent quality midrange, no special brand or price considerations needed for the rear.
You can get any size of midrange you need at places like www.mcmelectronics.com pretty cheap (their catalog is even better). They even carry 5" midranges, which is an exact fit for many of the openings in most RX7s.
I have toyed around with systems without rear speakers, and it works fine...maybe not quite as full as having rear speakers, but sonically decent.

Ok, this changes things a little. Now I realize that you are speaking of using the factory deck, right? Every 89+ (assuming that is what you have) premium system that I have worked with has an external low pass crossover for the front (door) speakers. If you feel the need to retain the factory deck, you can "wire around" the crossover and send the full range output to the components.
Let me know a little more about your setup (or potential setup).

Eric89GTU

Heh, looks like my car is goign through an identity crisis. Anyway, mcm and partsexpress are good places to look, but I don't think that you will need a 4". I have one of the door woofers replaced so far (stock woofer still in driver's door), with both tweeter/x-overs hoooked up, and w/30wrms (thanks to my dad's 1985 nakamichi amp which kicks ***) its plenty loud, I never get the vol. dial above 1/2 way. Good luck



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Eric Larson
Email: larson@nettaxi.com
AOLIM: i0 Eric 0i

89 GTU (Electric Blue)
80k
Stock (but a Great Stereo)

asherwood

Dane, I agree about the rear imaging problem, so I'm curious about the idea about the midrange for the rear?

If I disregard the rear speakers all together what do you think about the oversized 6-1/2" in the door, a 4" mid in the dash and the tweeter near both of them, say, mounted on the door panel facing up and in toward the listener? Then use the 8" bazooka(amplified) getting it's signal from the rear speaker leads?

Also, with the stock deck the 'door woofer' is obviously crossed over, but is this passive or active (being done within the deck), because the Pioneer Premier C702's that I have only have a 2 way crossover.

So far I am having a hard time finding 4" mids for sale by themselves, locally they seem to only be available as coaxials or in convertible set's that include a crossover and mounting kit for the tweeter (ie. Clarion SRX4693 or JBL 432P). The response that I get from the sales guy is that no one makes 4" component mids any more!

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Al

Dane

Hey, Eric89GXL I sent you a Private messages...check it.

Anyway Aserwood, to really get true quality sound, you might want to forget the factory cassette deck.
On my 89 convertible, I actually "hacked" the deck's pre amp output, and this worked excellent, but this was the "skippy" CD/cassette combo deck.
Anyway, after a while I got annoyed with this setup, because of the "old" deck's tendency to skip and show "error", but this was very cost effective, and stealth looking.
Anyway, with the FM modulated CD changer, you are limited to the sound quality of FM...which is even well below the specs of a good cassette player. Once again, you will be even more limited to the factory deck's output specs also.
Here's my opinion of what to do with your stuff (remember, it's just opinion, nothing personal):

stock stereo with cassete and graphic eq:
gone to basement / storage
Alpine FM mod. 6 disk changer:
sell via Ebay (if it is OK)
all stock speaker (dash, door, rear tower):
gone to basement / storage
Pioneer Premier C702 6-1/2" component set:
place in door panels
Pioneer DH65 1-1/2 DIN CD deck:
in dash (potentially)
8RS Bazooka sub:
oh soooo gone to Ebay!!!
2 Granite Pro 8" subs:
potentially in rear of car (if you don't use the 10's)
2 Pioneer 10" IMPP subs:
potentially in rear of car (if you don't use the 8's)
2 PPI 3-1/2 coaxials:
sell, sell, sell!
1 Alpine 80x2 (bridgable) amp:
potential sub amp

Ok, next step, get some mids for the shock towers, and consider one high quality (5) channel amp, preferrably with built in crossovers (most have this)...Or you could get a decent 4 channel amp to complement the Alpine you already have...but I prefer (1) amp when possible for simplicity. For stealth, you can easily build a "false floor" sub box, which will be much easier to build with the 8" woofers, but can be done with the 10's.

DANE
rx7@lcs.net
My Page



[This message has been edited by Dane (edited May 05, 2001).]

asherwood

The car: '91 NA. currently installed: stock stereo with cassete and graphic eq, Alpine FM mod. 6 disk changer, all stock speaker (dash, door, rear tower).

Parts on hand: Pioneer Premier C702 6-1/2" component set, Pioneer DH65 1-1/2 DIN CD deck, 8RS Bazooka sub, 2 Granite Pro 8" subs, 2 Pioneer 10" IMPP subs, 2 PPI 3-1/2 coaxials, 1 Alpine 80x2 (bridgable) amp.

Don't have too many preconceived ideas, other then not really wanting to clutter up the back with a big sub setup, the goal would be to inprove the clarity and punch of the sound. I thought about keeping the stock deck and changer as long as I can get the changer back working, no sound on the appointed FM frequency, but the disc spins, seeks changes tracks etc. If this doesn't work out, then I will install the Pioneer deck. The Bazooka sub should have enough to fill out the bottom in such a small compartment.

Overall goal, stealth, clean, clear, solid sound and no hacking interior trim bits. I am willing to buy some additonal components to fill out the setup...


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Al

Scott 89t2

stick the deck in, 6.5" in front doors with tweeters mounted in door. put the 8" subs in the rear shock towers after sealing them up inside. get a higher power 4 channel amp and sell the rest of it.

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Scott M, 89 turbo II
http://www.1300cc.com

asherwood

Scott, that's an interesting idea, I wonder if there is enough volume in the shock tower to support the 8" subs? What about a 2 channel amp for the subs and let the deck power run the front set?

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Al

Dane

Of course not! But hey, who cares about sound quality (LOL).
Even a small volume 8" woofer requires about .5 cubic feet, which really means about .75 to 1 cubic foot, after factoring in the magnet, and basket.
The shock towers probably have about 0.2 cubic feet of airspace...

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DANE
rx7@lcs.net
My Page

asherwood

So that idea is out... looks like I'm back to the 6-1/2 component set in the door and a separate amplified sub system for the rear. Do you think that there would be much bass from the door speaker, or would the sub be needed to fill out the bottom end?

Also, Dane, I saw that you had some aftermarket wheels on your car, what are the size and offset you used and what tire size?

Thanks

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Al

PennyWizE

i was wanting to put my pioneer 6.5 coaxials in my doors but i took the door panel off and saw absolutely no way that they would fit. i have an 86 base that came with 4 inch all around (i think mayeb biger in the back) i have infinty kappa 4" up front but they dont sound as good as they should because the drivers side is in the open air with nothing behind it. so is there any way to make the 6.5's fit in my door, it o nly looked like a 1\2 inch of room for it.

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1986 RX-7
Sitting at home in my driveway needing a new engine and tires and me bumming rides to work with everyone I can. If you want to donate any $$ towards my new engine please email me. I accept all maor credit cards, cash. checks, money orders, paypal etc. Thanx

Dane

A 6.5" door speaker will produce excellent mid bass, but will still not produce solid "subwoofer quality" bass in the low frequencies.

I no longer have the wheels you mentioned, and have since done a 5 lug conversion, and have factory (89-90 type) wheels. The aftermarket wheels I had were 16x7" wheels, with a 40mm offset. The tire size was 215 50 ZR 16. 225's would not have fit in the front, and 215 was VERY close, but that is ok. 215 is really enough, and I like having the same size tires all around...for handling balance, as was intended.


There are a few ways, but I wouldn't recommend them. Some 86-88 RX7's had a 6.5" in the door, in the middle of the door panel (see below) back mounted with only a small square grill. You would have to find a donor car and get the brackets, and door panels(which would also have to be modified because they are power window door panels).
This is probably alot more trouble than it is worth, but if you own the donor car, this might give you an excuse to do a power window conversion.
The other (even worse) option is to swap your doors with 89-91 doors, because they come with cutouts for 6.5" speakers. Finally. you could buy or build "kick panels" to house the 6.5" speakers.



Actually 5"...but 4" will replace them, as you have done. Most base models have 6.5" in the rear, unless they have the enclosure/amps...then they have 5" all around.

Infinity makes great sounding speakers, but you have found out the most important element of speakers dynamics...the enclosure. Also being that these speakers are your front soundstage, they have two strikes against them, right from the start, due to the fact that they are angled at the floorboard. Check out how I handled this dilema:





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DANE
rx7@lcs.net
My Page