where is the best place to mount front speakers?

[76bimmer]

bmw 2002 faq,

i own a 1976 2002 and am wondering if anyone has a suggestion as to the best place to mount a set of front speakers.

i tried to mount a set in enclosures down around where your feet go and in the corner. they never looked or sounded very good and were in the way. so those speakers came out.

i have considered 2 places for a new set. one is in the sides of the center console, facing towards the doors. i have enough room in there as i do not have air conditioning. i kind of hate to punch holes in my console but maybe thats the best place. i am also wondering about how the console placement will be for sound.

the other place i am considering is in the bottom front of the doors. again i am not too crazy about cutting into my door panels. also there is a chrome accent strip that is almost surely in the way. it would have to be modified somehow to stabalize it if i do end up cutting holes in the panels.

does anyone have an opinion of what has worked well for you? please advise. thank you.

dan

[pkbinplano]

(nt)

[Delia]

Back in the 70s, mounting front speakers w/o cutting into door panels means locating them in the cardboard panels under the dash.

If the underdash panels on your car are missing (typical of a 30+ year old car), consider mounting the speakers behion the passenger buckets in the forward facing panel under the rear seat.

Delia

[Guest Anonymous]

The metal in the kick panels in front of the doors is easy to cut and can hold a moderately deep 4" or maybe even 5" round speaker. Easy to wire to that point as well. I'd do that before I cut into door panels - if you ever decide to remove the speakers, it shouldn't be hard to cover up the hole with a metal patch and new carpet.

Benz

[kangarooboy]

I had huge holes cut in my door panels already, as well as underneath the rear seat. So I don't feel bad with my big 6.5" speakers front and rear. They actually improved the look of my interior. There's even a huge hole in the rear parcel tray if I wanted to mount some more up there. But it's loud enough for me as it sits.

[robspeed]

I had huge holes cut in my door panels already, as well as underneath the rear seat. So I don't feel bad with my big 6.5" speakers front and rear. They actually improved the look of my interior. There's even a huge hole in the rear parcel tray if I wanted to mount some more up there. But it's loud enough for me as it sits.

YES! i found some door panels that had already been cut, and kept my uncut ones ... uncut! Best place for speakers period, other than putting some on the dash! (think: some of those compact computer speaker enclosures...)

[Otis]

Check back a few pages, for John McW's response in a thread, providing a link to a company that makes kick panel enclosures. John and I agree - put the front speakers in the kick panels. That makes for the best sound stage (i.e., the best imaging). No cutting necessary with the right forms (I custom-built the ones for Otis, but John provided the link for the correct, ready-buitl forms).

If you don't like the ready-built forms, but also don't want to start from scratch with fiberglass custom-builts, a company called "Rod Doors" makes custom speaker enclosures that you can adapt (with a little glass work) to make your own custom panels. I think I posted the link, a few pages back (might be in the same thread with John's response, I can't recall). That same company has some really cool fabrics and coverings, in case you want to do something unique.

[TMK-001]

That is what I plan on doing... oz_tom was going to get back to me with a price for the kick panels... never did :-(

I got two brand new doors, the last thing I want to do is bore two big holes in them!

Todd

[Guest Anonymous]

I do agree on the kick panels. Where you orignally had them, they should have worked very well. Unfortunately you do not have enough volume for good bass response. I currently have my tweeters and midrange down on the kickpanels firing directly at my head the unfortunate draw back is the image seems a bit low. I may place a tweeter on the A pillar to remedy this. I also have a subwoofer in the trunk, but have been contemplating an 8" sub underneath the dash firing towards the floor. My goal for this car is to have the an awesome sounding 2002 (sound quality, not a boom and hiss car)

[TMK-001]

Can you all post some pics, I would love to see how you tackle this issue... long drives can lead to your peril with the M10 engine at crusing speed becomes like the song of a mermaide.

[oz_tom]

That is what I plan on doing... oz_tom was going to get back to me with a price for the kick panels... never did :-(

I got two brand new doors, the last thing I want to do is bore two big holes in them!

Todd

The email kept bouncing... Ill try again tonight

[Otis]

I do agree on the kick panels. Where you orignally had them, they should have worked very well. Unfortunately you do not have enough volume for good bass response. I currently have my tweeters and midrange down on the kickpanels firing directly at my head the unfortunate draw back is the image seems a bit low. I may place a tweeter on the A pillar to remedy this. I also have a subwoofer in the trunk, but have been contemplating an 8" sub underneath the dash firing towards the floor. My goal for this car is to have the an awesome sounding 2002 (sound quality, not a boom and hiss car)

Ah, now we're talking. The A-pillar will help (that's what I did on my E-30); Otis' imaging seems fine, but I had to play with the angle of the enclosure (I made some prototypes), and therefore, I'm not running the tweeter on the A-pillar. A center-channel speaker also will help the imaging. Also, several years ago, Boston, Canon, and MB Quart all made some pretty cool self-contained tweeter pods that you could mount just about anywhere, and therefore aim them anywhere you wanted. Not sure if they still make them (Canon went out of business, I think).

Is your trunk sub firing backwards? I'm curious, because Otis' 3-8s fire backwards and vent up throught the deck, and there's no "boom" car effect. I usually don't like subs in the passenger compartment, since the sound (to my ear) is a bit too intense; I like to put the subs in the trunk and play around with the gain on a separate amp feeding the subs, so that I can fine-tune the "boom" right out of the system. But that's just me.