Audio Questions

[Chris_C]

If I were you I wouldn't go for both, could end up with some very iffy stereo imaging. Erm... if you want to keep the same mountings, a pair of 4" co-axials would be the way to go, but off the top of my head I don't know which will fit (you need to make sure the magnet/cone depth don't interfear with the window mech).

My local halfords has started mounting speakers backwards as well as forwards now, so you could pop your old ones out and take them down to check. Good speakers can be had in that size, expect to pay around £40 before you notice a difference though.

Thing to remember is that it should strengthen your mids, and a tad of mid bass. As much as you say you don't want bass, there is a difference between having none and being a saxo t*sser. Then again, that will take either money or effort in modding doors, which unless sound quality is a big issue to you, probably isn't worth it.

If you don't mind a bit of work and using the footwell mounts, 6x4's will give a tad more mid, due to the larger cone, but the treble (which is the most directional of all sound) will end up being around your ankles, which is a problem I'm currently curing with my set-up. That said again, only certain people realise this is happening in my car, I don't know how musically trained your ears are!

Edit: Actually, you might get away with both... maybe... hmmmm, I'll come back to that idea.. it would give more mid/bass, just the differing path lengths for the treble end to travel... Anyone know if you can get non co-ax 6x4's? They wouldn't be too good for treble anyway, acting as a bandpass filter

[Cornholio]

Hi Chris,

Thank you very much for your detailed reply. That is most helpful.

With regards to just running the front door speakers, it seems like every head unit these days has four loudspeaker outs. Will I do any damage by running just two of them? It may sound like a silly question, but I was once advised against it by someone who knew his stuff. Then again, he trained on valve equipment, which was an entirely different kettle of fish.

I agree with your comment about muddled stereo imaging. I wanted to avoid mounting speakers in the cut-outs at the back because of the long path length. I'm a bit of a hi-fi snob at home, but have never been too bothered in the car. I guessed that if I put the second pair of speakers in the footwell, most of the higher frequencies would get lost, so hopefully it wouldn't be such a problem. Also, they would be closer to the door speakers too, so maybe these factors would lead to them operating more as a second pair of bass/mid drivers. I guess the fader could be used to adjust their level to add a touch of body to the sound without them becoming too prominent. Hmm.

BTW, I'm not to bothered about the bottom couple of octaves in the car, but I do play bass in a rock band of an evening...

[d3k4y0]

The advise of running two channels open isn't really relevant for car systems, the advise i expect you got was that it would put excess strain on your output stage valves,
this is a problem as a valve amp's power stage always needs a sufficient speaker load to work efficiently. if the speaker load is removed, it keeps pumping more and more power through to nowhere till the power valves pop and most likely your transformer does too, which would be very expensive to fix.

there's no problem with this in tranistor amplifiers as far as i know, I know I've certainly never had any problems only running two speakers.

perhaps your best option would be to mount a pair of 6"/5" in your footwells (I'm not sure if they'll fitbut looking at the area they probably will) and then some 4" components with 1" tweeters

[Cornholio]

there's no problem with this in tranistor amplifiers as far as i know, I know I've certainly never had any problems only running two speakers.

Thanks for that. I could never see why it would be an issue with transistors, but the guy who advised me was a very good service engineer with 50 years experience, so I wanted to be sure. He trained in the days of steam radio, so I guess that some things just stayed with him.

[NasoNex]

Thats about the same setup as I have and I am surprised on how good the sound is and how little of the car is resonating.
I have spent a total of € 200,- on the audio (Sony Xplod CDX S2200 MP3, 220W 6"x 9" XS-F693N and 120W 4" XS-F1031) and I did not expect this great sound quality.
If you make your parcel shelf heavy enough the sound is pretty pure and clear.
All I have to do now is weigh down the door cards where my front 120W speakers are mounted.
I'll get some pics up...

Dude, we got the same car, and the exactly same CD player I actually mounted my new sub today, Boss Rip-128. The old one is blown to pieces

[Chris_C]

With Dekay on the 2 channel idea, transistor should be fine, and if you are worried, use the fade to kill the power stage completely. Speaker wise... if you don't want the hassle... definately go with co-axials in the doors. I'm really interested how the footwell jobbies would sound as well... it has the small chance of working well

I'm a musician too (well... hobbiest) I just decided that I spend more time driving listening than I do at home (well.. the sound was annoying me from the OEM setup.. and at the time I was!!!)

[chris_rg24]

Can someone tell me wether there are acually rear speaker cables and if so where are they terminated? I know theres a plug for them on the harness. If not then can someone give me some advice on the best way to route the cables.

Cheers.

Chris

[foggyjames]

Thread resurrection!

As far as I'm aware, no cars were pre-wired for speakers which weren't fitted. Time to start lifting carpets

cheers

James

[Fuse]

You can fit 6.5" elements on doors without any adapters if the element isn't too deep.

For example I've got 6.5" DLS

http://koti.mbnet.fi/mtn/images/autot/GLT/kaiutin.jpg

And windows work, it wont block the winder.

[Chris_C]

My drivers were too deep.. so I had to use spacers. Then, with spacers, the window winders fouled Electric windows ftw

[foggyjames]

DLS make some niiiiice gear. I see myself replacing my JL e4300 with one of their amps.

cheers

James

[Nick C]

My drivers were too deep.. so I had to use spacers. Then, with spacers, the window winders fouled Electric windows ftw

But yours look extremely shonky, even with the leccy windows!

[Chris_C]

Look shonky!!! How do they sound though dear boy Granted, I do need to cover the adapter rings...

[Josh_Cohen]

Well Since I Have A New Install I'll Give U some Pics Hope U Like Cheers Josh

















cheers guys

[d3k4y0]

Why are you running an amp in an open case? That's not going to end well!