AU audio/speaker up size anyone???

V8falcons · 24-07-2008, 08:18 PM

OK guys,audio related but an AU question so I'll post here,has any one fitted 6" round speakers in the front doors of an AU with out any major mods and as well as has any one fitted 6x9s in the lower section of the rear doors(wagon),My car being a wagon I also want to fit 5" in the rear speaker locations where the factory 4" item go as well
I didnt want to be the guinea pig on this,so I thought Id ask you guys first

Regards
Dave

ronwest · 24-07-2008, 08:50 PM

I'd previously fitted 6.5" Hertz and now I've got 6.5" Alpine Type X's.

The Hertz's were more difficult to fit because of the mounting depth (I wanted to retain the factory door grills).

If you're going to install decent speakers you'll need to make/buy some spacers.
I made mine from mdf

It's easy enough to mount 6" or 6.5" but just make sure of your mounting depth.

Pic of Hertz

edit: Oh, I fade my rears out. I don't sit in the back seat so don't need them

b2tf · 24-07-2008, 08:59 PM

I've got a set of 6.5" splits for the doors (ute so no back) to go in but I do need a spacer, just havent made them yet.

CYCO TROOPS · 24-07-2008, 10:10 PM

I bought 6" speakers, I havent installed them, but got told that 6" will fit without having to change anything. So yeh being a wagon, I am abit lazy to change them really. I should actually get onto it. I was shattered that I couldnt fit no 6 X 9's in there :(

sikford · 25-07-2008, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronwest

I'd previously fitted 6.5" Hertz and now I've got 6.5" Alpine Type X's.

The Hertz's were more difficult to fit because of the mounting depth (I wanted to retain the factory door grills).

If you're going to install decent speakers you'll need to make/buy some spacers.
I made mine from mdf

It's easy enough to mount 6" or 6.5" but just make sure of your mounting depth.

Pic of Hertz

edit: Oh, I fade my rears out. I don't sit in the back seat so don't need them

what thickness mdf did you use to do the spacers mate, bout to do some in my car, was it very difficult to router the inside out of them too?

cheers

ronwest · 25-07-2008, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sikford

what thickness mdf did you use to do the spacers mate, bout to do some in my car, was it very difficult to router the inside out of them too?

The spacers are 13mm mdf.

Check the mounting depth of the speakers as that will determine how you need to go about it. The Hertz in the pic were done that way as there was less than 1mm clearance to the window and about the same to the stocko door grills.

It may be that you won't need to rout the insides but no, it wasn't difficult with the right gear - I still have all my fingers

sikford · 25-07-2008, 04:22 PM

lol, yer for sure, cool as, ill go get some to do it now, that'll be for another weekend, tryna get the sub box done first, just finished the false floor apart from cutting the top for the perspex above where the amp will sit...

V8falcons · 25-07-2008, 07:30 PM

ok guys thanks for that,any one fitted 6x9s in the reaer doors and 5" in the wagon speaker compartment?

blackers10 · 25-07-2008, 07:58 PM

matey i wouldnt bother with 6x9s to start with...
and they will ruin your audio staging in the rear doors being that close to your head which is closer than the front speakers(sound comes from infront of you not behind ... thats why you face a band ;) )

the spacers are only as thick as they need to be
mine are 10mm .. i have 6.5" focal splits (to mount round speakers properly you need to make a spacer to fill in the gap around the speaker so it sounds right)

good luck mate

V8falcons · 25-07-2008, 08:31 PM

OK,If I can get 6.5" in the front doors,I can make spacers no worries,I just didnt want to hit the window or have the cut the door in any way and use the factory door grill,And then fit 5" in the rear I would be happy....... for now

blackers10 · 25-07-2008, 08:37 PM

i had to trim some of the surround of the grill (but you cant see the bit i trimmed)

ayeyew · 27-07-2008, 04:27 PM

Mate, bugger the 6x9's!

Get a good set of 6.5" components for the front stage, run them off a decent amp and the sound will be fantastic!

I have 6.5" MB Quarts running off a RF Power T400-4 and it sounds fantastic!! But, yeah as everyone has said, you will need to make up some spacers to make it fit and sound right.

Everybody i was talking to in the audio scene said bugger the rear stage.. Unless passengers are often in the back, it is really of no use. Especially if you have some huuuuuuuuge subs

The vibration from the subs can actually interfere with the coils in the rear fill apparently?

blackers10 · 27-07-2008, 04:45 PM

yeah well if you watch the rear lil speakers when not connected.. the air moved by the subs pushes them as tho they are working but they arnt... i know that can NOT be good for them haha!!

Chamelion · 28-07-2008, 01:38 AM

Just to note, the rear speakers in my wagon (and all to my knowledge) are 5.25" stock, not 4". I bought some aftermarket 4's which were too small, though I put them in anyway with some dodgy spacers.. Not that they're audible with my perspex cargo barrier in place!

private9 · 28-07-2008, 05:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chamelion

Just to note, the rear speakers in my wagon (and all to my knowledge) are 5.25" stock, not 4". I bought some aftermarket 4's which were too small, though I put them in anyway with some dodgy spacers.. Not that they're audible with my perspex cargo barrier in place!

That's great, didn't realise they were 5.25's - I'd assumed they were 4's, and I just bought some too

:

Ah well, serves me right for not checking! Plus I can chuck in my MB splits instead (mids only).

**Mechan1k** · 29-07-2008, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayeyew

Mate, bugger the 6x9's!

Get a good set of 6.5" components for the front stage, run them off a decent amp and the sound will be fantastic!

I have 6.5" MB Quarts running off a RF Power T400-4 and it sounds fantastic!! But, yeah as everyone has said, you will need to make up some spacers to make it fit and sound right.

Everybody i was talking to in the audio scene said bugger the rear stage.. Unless passengers are often in the back, it is really of no use. Especially if you have some huuuuuuuuge subs

The vibration from the subs can actually interfere with the coils in the rear fill apparently?

Hee hee ... you should try it in a ute ... I get a back massage everytime i drive.

I did go rear-fill in my ute though ... as sometimes i don't crank the bass up that much ... I just put 5x7 Pioneers in ... and hooked them up my Pioneer 4-ch. I run 6" splits in the front doors with MDF spacers to hold my tweeters in next to them behind the factory grille. I fade it mostly to the front anyway and just allow a low amount of fill from behind.

Sounds the goods ... although my HPF on front channels of my Pioneer 4-ch has died .... so i think it will be cheaper just to get another amp (have had that Pioneer amp for 5-6 years ... so has served me well).

b2tf · 29-07-2008, 05:26 PM

Quick question for those who have done it, whats the maximum depth you can mount a 6" speaker into the front doors without them hitting the windows?

ronwest · 29-07-2008, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b2tf

Quick question for those who have done it, whats the maximum depth you can mount a 6" speaker into the front doors without them hitting the windows?

The mounting depth of my Hertz's (6.5") was 67mm.

From memory (I'll check later) I had to rebate the adapters to 6mm depth.

Soooo, 67mm - 6mm = 61mm (between door inner skin and window - allowing a cigarette papers clearance).

I'm working tonight so I'll confirm all that later but it won't be far out.

ronwest · 29-07-2008, 07:15 PM

Ok, to confirm the measurements:-

Door inner skin to window = 61mm
Door inner skin to stock speaker grill = 13mm

Therefore front speakers cannot be anymore than 74mm overall (if stock grills are used).

(My Hertz's were 72mm total depth but by the time I put some bitumastic sealant between the speaker and the rebate, and, the adapter and the door skin it ended up "just" fitting).

As a by the by, both my Hertz and Type X's tweeters "just" fitted in the factory A-Pillar position.

**Mechan1k** · 29-07-2008, 07:43 PM

Hold on ... if the inner door skin to the window is 61mm ... that means the speaker is mounted 13mm back from the inner door skin ... that means from the front of the speak to the window there is actually only 48mm ... if my Maths are correct.

Going on the above figures ... unless the above figures are incorrect.

b2tf · 29-07-2008, 08:27 PM

doesnt look good for my RF splits then, looks like I'll have to make up some sort of grille. They're fairly deep.

blackers10 · 29-07-2008, 08:30 PM

i think it was bluedriver? had the grill cutout directly infront of where the speaker was

and there was another AU that had pods made that fitted where the stock grill is then wrapped under the handle part to make it sort of flow..
ill upload a pic

blackers10 · 29-07-2008, 08:39 PM

b2tf · 29-07-2008, 08:42 PM

those look good, my rockfords have a grille which id put over them if they end up sticking out. Im thinking if I use the stock grilles, glue some MDF to the back of them then cut through them to fit the speaker that will work ok. The only thing I cant work out is, if I do that, how can I mount the speaker to the actual door just to give it a bit of strength?

blackers10 · 29-07-2008, 08:44 PM

if you made a REALLY REALLY thick spacer(or used steel(seen it done on audio sites)

you could screw the mdf your talking about to that and the speaker thru that to the big fat mounts etc...

OR
remove the grill(they just clip out once you remove the single screw holding them on)
and make the required mods to make it fit behind them.

b2tf · 29-07-2008, 08:47 PM

i wonder if i could modify the speaker grille so it is a seperate part to the doortrim (ie not connected at all), so that way if i need to take the trim off i can?

blackers10 · 29-07-2008, 08:53 PM

if you filed off the clip tangs you could definatly do that..

as the grill clips on the edge that you can see (going away from the camera)

pull off a trim and have a look.. its quite obvious and would be easy i think with some mdf and fibreglass

b2tf · 29-07-2008, 08:55 PM

yeah ive had it off before, i reckon that would be the way to go. make an MDF spacer, mount the speaker in it, attach to door, then put the speaker grille over the top and get it to the right height.

ronwest · 29-07-2008, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

that means the speaker is mounted 13mm back from the inner door skin ... that means from the front of the speak to the window there is actually only 48mm

Lemme think about that after coffee

ronwest · 29-07-2008, 09:23 PM

Ok, had my coffee

Because my spacers are rebated, the Hertz's mounting surface sat 6mm into the grill -> inner skin space.

Given that the mounting depth of the Hertz's is 67mm, the calculation has to be 67mm - 6mm = 61mm (inner skin to window depth).

The 13mm distance between the grill and the inner skin won't change so it still comes out at 61 + 13 = 74mm (grill -> window)