Speaking of speakers...

[02for2]

Going to install a pair of JL Audio 6X9 3-way speakers to my '76 '02 to get rid of the lousy pioneer ones the PO mounted in the doors.

The options are Rear Parcel Shelf or the panel below the rear seat.

My questions are:

Is there a preferred location?

Which will be the easiest?

What's the best method of cutting the sheet metal necessary? Dremel, Hacksaw, Die Grinder? (no access to plasma cutter).

Any caveats or No-No's I need to be aware of?

TIA for any assistance provided...

Cheers!

[Frenchee]

If you think of anything easy let me know. My car has no cut out holes for spekers and since IM not very experienced/talented I'm thinking of just putting one on each side of the center console!

[02for2]

If you think of anything easy let me know. My car has no cut out holes for spekers and since IM not very experienced/talented I'm thinking of just putting one on each side of the center console!

The problem with a center console mount is that there is no separation and the sound will be significantly MONO, hearing mostly one channel depending on which side of the console you're on.

With the parcel shelf, you can get about 4' of separation and with the underseat support about 5'.

I'm leaning toward under the seat, not likely to ever have the rear occupied, so little danger of the grills getting heel-kicked. Plus, it is a slightly more stealth location to deter thieves and vandals.

Cutting the holes isn't as much difficult as it is time consuming. Measure carefully - twice and take your time. The results will be a direct result of how carefully and patiently you do the job.

Cheers!

[Harv]

Are there holes in the doors already? If so, I'd get something good like a set of components and refine the installation the best you can. Add real Power and maybe a sub at some point. Speakers in the doors will give you the best sound and imaging.

I have been slowly doing a nice (but cheep) system in my e30 and have been reading a lot on the e30 message boards.

John

[jrhone]

The problem you will have is the low end. The rear shelf will give you more low end from your speakers. IF you install them correctly and make sure you have an airtight install around the speakers and no leaks from the passenger compartment to the trunk. Under the rear seat is a lousy location for a few reasons.

1. There is no way to easily seal the speakers and give you enough low end, and...

2. The high end points directly into the floor and rear of the seat.

I would go rear deck if you want good sound. You can do a stealthy install so no one knows you have speakers back there. Under the rear seat is just a bad location UNLESS you plan to seal off the under seat area and use a 6.5" mid bass or subwoofer. Then you may get some decent low end. High frequency speakers there are just not good...Just my opinion. Is there a reason you are going 6x9? If it for sound then you kinda answered your own question. 6x9s under the rear seat are overkill as you cant really take advantage of the added woofer area and the high end would hit the bac of the seat...buy a set of cheap 5-5.5" coax speakers and call it a day...You also didnt say if you had an amp or not or if your deck had enough power to adequately drive good speakers....

[M3M3]

location under rear seat is stealth, but all the high's and mids are just driven into the back of the front seats. sound quality will be significantly reduced...not as bad as the center console mount though.

agree, if you have holes in doors already, use them with high end components.

rear shelf install is easy. mark the holes and cut. can be made very stealth by covering whole rear shelf with acoustically transparent material and tossing the covers that come with the speakers. speakers will be invisible. I did this on my e12 way back when.

[02for2]

I really don't like the look of having speakers in the doors, and I already have the speakers. They're 6X9s and not really made for the doors as the woofer has a 3.5" mounting depth.

Cheers!

[pureaudio]

The best you can do is use fiberglass kick panels made to mount speakers into, you can get them into the parts for sale section under a sticky thread. These significantly increase the amount invested in a speaker setup but it solves all the problems of the install. I don't like cutting speakers into the door and even if I had holes already there, I would probably source new panels to cover up the holes instead of mounting in them.

2nd best location is the rear deck lid but having only rear speakers is a huge loss in sound quality. I have mine in the rear deck but I barely even turn on my stereo, mostly just there in case someone else wants to listen to music while riding with me.

[FloDaLilRed2002]

6x9's in the back are great. I've got them connected to an amp that I put under the back seat and it really sounds great! As for the front. The previous owner had cut some spaces into the front kick panel and I was able to put in some 3.5" that are high end speakers and they sound great.

Just my 2 cents....

[HBChris]

I hung my 6x9s under the parcel shelf with an Amp between them in my coupe, top is covered with removeable speaker cloth panel. Sound is great, with only two speakers I bridged the four channels into 2 and doubled the output.

[02for2]

OK guys... GREAT INPUT!

Looks like the parcel shelf it is!

I like the amp hung between them, but I'm afraid that's where I'm going to have to relocate the fuel vapor recovery tank in order to get max separation between the speakers.

Not going with an amp at this time anyway. Got great sound systems in the other cars, but I don't think I'm going there with this car, just wanted some sound and to get the speakers out of the doors.

Thanks again!

Cheers!

[ML234]

On 4/24/2010 at 12:38 PM, jrhone said:

The problem you will have is the low end. The rear shelf will give you more low end from your speakers. IF you install them correctly and make sure you have an airtight install around the speakers and no leaks from the passenger compartment to the trunk. Under the rear seat is a lousy location for a few reasons.

1. There is no way to easily seal the speakers and give you enough low end, and...

2. The high end points directly into the floor and rear of the seat.

I would go rear deck if you want good sound. You can do a stealthy install so no one knows you have speakers back there. Under the rear seat is just a bad location UNLESS you plan to seal off the under seat area and use a 6.5" mid bass or subwoofer. Then you may get some decent low end. High frequency speakers there are just not good...Just my opinion. Is there a reason you are going 6x9? If it for sound then you kinda answered your own question. 6x9s under the rear seat are overkill as you cant really take advantage of the added woofer area and the high end would hit the bac of the seat...buy a set of cheap 5-5.5" coax speakers and call it a day...You also didnt say if you had an amp or not or if your deck had enough power to adequately drive good speakers....

Hey Jrhone - late to this party but do you have any suggestions for a speaker system to get? I currently have two holes cut in the back rear deck for 6x9's and don't plan on keeping the current set. Was also hoping to add two tweeters in front under the dash -- if you have any suggestions of good products out there would be really helpful! trying to navigate through the forum here without knowing much about soundsystems for vehicles but very much appreciate good sound. 

[jgerock]

8 hours ago, ML234 said:

Hey Jrhone - late to this party but do you have any suggestions for a speaker system to get? I currently have two holes cut in the back rear deck for 6x9's and don't plan on keeping the current set. Was also hoping to add two tweeters in front under the dash -- if you have any suggestions of good products out there would be really helpful! trying to navigate through the forum here without knowing much about soundsystems for vehicles but very much appreciate good sound. 

I recommend the front under dash speaker panels from Kooglewerks.  I have them in my 73tii.  

[mgben]

I agree with Jim the Kooglewerks items are cool or you could do the kick panel speakers.

I much prefer my sound coming from the front. (just me). 

If you want a trick parcel shelf item the kick panel guy makes this that would actually point sound towards you

https://www.boltonbliss.com/product/hat-tray-speaker-enclosure