Couple of car audio Questions...

2 options IMO.

1. Run 5.25 components up front off the amp and 6x9 coaxials in the back off the headunit. You can dynamat and prepare the front doors but realistically you aren't going to get much performance below 100hz due to the limited cone size.

2. run 5.25 components up front directly off the headunit. Run factory rears off the h/u (there is absolutely no point spending cash on rears unless using them as bass reinforcement in a sub-less install). Bridge amp and run a sub (10" in sealed enclsoure would be my pick). In my opinion Alpine subs underperform for the $, I'd be looking at other brands.

Hastykiwi and Rogan - many thanks for your considered and very helpful advice gents - much appreciated!

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Originally Posted by Hastykiwi

Spot on mate.

If you only have a two channel amp, then put the power to the speakers where you sit, and you aint sitting in the back. As you also said the rears will provide fill only, which frankly is a waste when listening to two channel stereo music. I have yet to find someone who deliberately sits and listens to their home stereo, with their back to it, simply because our ears face more or less forwards.

Any further expenditure would be better spent reintroducing the bass you lose with the engine running and road noise etc. A reasonable sub, (doesnt have to be big) will back fill the bass frequencies and give you the sound you hear when you listen without the vehicle in motion.

cheers
Nick

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And being closer to the higher powered speakers will overrun the deck driven rears.

Bass needs space to expand as its a low frequency and having it right at your feet is no good. Thats why bass drivers are always situated at the rear allowing it to expand thru the cab. Putting your larger speakers in the rear will make a world of difference.

Your all welcome to come and listen to the Rangie anytime.

Cheers


Andrew.

And being closer to the higher powered speakers will overrun the deck driven rears.

Couldn't agree more. I wouldn't bother rears at all.

Bass needs space to expand as its a low frequency and having it right at your feet is no good. Thats why bass drivers are always situated at the rear allowing it to expand thru the cab. Putting your larger speakers in the rear will make a world of difference.

Again I agree. I guess its the type of speaker you choose to throw your money at. The point i was making was that throwing dollars at the same mid range frequencies from the back is a waste, especially as there is a pile of low frequency sounds lost just through ambient noise of the car. As you point out there is no where in the front to genereate these frequencies so getting these back is, IMO, are better use of funds, and again IMO, a sub will do this more efficiently and effectivley than any composite speaker wether it be 6x9's, 2 way, three way, or components etc.

cheers
NIck

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Originally Posted by LOVEMYRANGIE

Bass needs space to expand as its a low frequency and having it right at your feet is no good. Thats why bass drivers are always situated at the rear allowing it to expand thru the cab.

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I have to disagree. The main reason subs are in the boot is because it's damn hard to fit a subwoofer enclosure in the front. If you run a sub up front you can run higher crossover points, say up to 160hz,which takes alot of stress off the midbass.

In my old classic I toyed with the idea of removing the heater and having a 12" sub there instead.

One of the most successful sound quailty competition cars had 13" subs in the front footwells: http://www.milbert.com/autos/earl

After removing the front door skins about 10 times and scratching my head as to how I was going to fit decent 5.25" drivers in, I think I've buggered most of my retaining clips (the pointy red ones). Does anyone know where to get replacements?

I also got trigger happy on ebay and picked up some cheap alpine 5.25" 2ways (only 20W RMS - matching head unit). I thought I would try these in the front first, and if I wasnt happy I'd move them to the rear (or look at a subbie as per posts above) and get decent drivers for the front. Well - they sound terrible! lots of distortion. Hardly any improvement over the original 4" drivers. Although they are not bad if I set the bass to -2 or -3 on the head unit and up the trebble, then much of the distortion goes away (but this has a big impact on the mid range bass!).

To make room to accommodate 5.25" drivers with reasonable power handling capability, ie BIG magnets and coils, I think my next step is to cut out the steel surrounding the speaker recess in the door frame to make way for some beefy 5.25" drivers (splits). Its double skinned at this location, so I think I can do it without degrading the stiffness of the door frame. Although trying a subbie in the back will be a lot easier, and may compliment the low power 5.25's in the front, so I will try that first.

Spacers may work here as an alternative. Just remember the bigger, or heavier the magnet, the more power it will require to drive it properly, ie maintaining sound quality at low volume levels. This is when you would start to think about the external amp driving the fronts.


My personal favourite is 51/4 inch components up front giving a good mid range cone in the 5 1/4 inch, a seprate tweeter to lift the sound up to face level, but, with this a sub is almost madatory to produce the frequencies the 5 inch cones cannot.

Its all fun trying it out though...


cheers
Nick

[QUOTE=Taz;1164600]After removing the front door skins about 10 times and scratching my head as to how I was going to fit decent 5.25" drivers in, I think I've buggered most of my retaining clips (the pointy red ones). Does anyone know where to get replacements?


You can get the red retaining clips from Tony at Karcraft in Sydney 0297379944.