1meanGTA

i'm about to buy some 6.5 inch component speakers. thinking re xxx unless they are too much over 300. im going to be running them with 2 channels of an orion 8004 (200x4 at 2 ohms)
im not sure what to do with them however. i do NOT want kick panels, unless i can find some nice, cheap ones that will integrate nicely with my car, which doesnt seem likely to me.
i dont really want kicks just because i dont want my buddy billy joe bobs steeltoes less than a foot away from my new 300 dollar components, even if there are speaker covers. doesnt seem right having something so expensive on the floor.

so i dont know whether to mount them in the doors, or build some plates to put them in my 6x9 slots.
i would like it to be sealed because i want good midbass response, my car lacks a lot of midbass and i need to fill that in. theres just really loud highs from the kappa 4x6's and super loud bass from the 12's. doesnt sound right playing anything but rap.

what do you all do for your components? (outside of super expensive custom fiberglass jobs, not looking to spend another 500)

1meanGTA

well i just scored a set of BNIB rainbow SLC 265.03 6.5 inch components for 150 bucks shipped
these things off my 8004 are gonna be insane... just gotta figure out where to put em now.

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

Um... kick panels.

Sticking them behind you in the 6x9 location is a waste of however much you paid, and you'll have to hack your whole dashboard apart to get them into the stock 4x6 location. The only remaining options are doors or kicks. If you have power windows, you've got to build the doors out a mile to get them to fit.

If you're that worried about your buddy with steel toed boots, try asking him to be careful. My kicks have been in my car for 3 or so years now and don't have a single mark on them.

1meanGTA

do you mean for midbass response, loudness, imaging or all 3?
i dont actually have a buddy billy joe bob, i dont have many people in my car, its just the principal, i'd feel weird having a 300 dollar set of components on the floor. one of the people that does ride in my car a lot is my brother who is handicapped. he is ALWAYS kicking that plastic piece above your feet when he gets out.
so they are pretty out of the way? i've never actually been in a 3rd gen with kickpanels, just seems to me there isnt a lot of footroom to spare. is it best to build my own or have someone do it, or are there good kickpanels i can buy?

1meanGTA

crutchfield was the only online vendor i could find that has them. they want 150 bucks for it, dont have one that can match my interior, and it only fits 5 1/4 inch speakers, i need 6.5. any suggestions or is this going to have to be custom?
if so, anyone around here that could possibly make some for me?

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

I make them, Rezn8r makes them, and I think there was one other guy on here that mumbled something about making them too. We're all around $150-200 for a set.

They do stick out a bit, maybe 4" or so for mine. I can't speak for Rez's and the other guy's designs. They really don't interfere at all when getting in and out for me, though I do bump the driver side one sometimes while driving. Still... I have yet to bump it hard enough to leave a mark.

Here's the only pic I have of my new style installed in the car. Unfortunately, you really can't get a good perspective of how far it sticks out:



The location where it does stick out the most is on the woofer ring just above the tweeter. This helps shield the tweeter from any contact, and the woofer is pretty well protected from the grill anyway.

1meanGTA

looks pretty nice, how is it constructed, fiberglass? i imagine you could do any color?
is that an ib setup, or are they actually sealed off behind there?

the deal on the rainbows fell through
i might be picking up some cdt ef-61 cf's pretty soon though.

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

They're fiberglass, and the back is open. Since virtually all 6.5" car speakers are designed for IB, I have to open it up to eliminate the huge midbass boom. If you prefer sealed though, I can do sealed.

1meanGTA

would the other frequencies suffer or would it just be so much midbass sealed, that it would not sound balanced with the rest of the sound?
im looking for big midbass, but if going sealed wouldnt get me that much more, and would hurt the rest of the speakers range i'd just stay IB.

ScrapMaker

IB speakers will not suffer in any way by being in an IB enclosure... that's what they want!

the only downside is that you may have rattling plastic around the kickpanels, since there will be 'rushing' air around the back of the enclosure... (I forget... do we need to cut the plastic on our original kickpanels for these to work, or not?)

either way, you can fix it with polyfill/rubber/dynamat -- whatever the hell you want.

ColdGTA

Kicks are REALLY they way to go. I put some in a few weeks ago and I was really blown away of the sound quality. Granted I used a set of high end CDT components, but never the less the imaging is awesome. The pic of Jim's are really a nice design.I ended up with some Q-logics that I got for cheap. I reinforced them with a few layers of fiberglass then put some foam in the open area of the pods. If I had to do it over again I would have forked out for custom set like Jim's or make a set from some used panels. The fit of the Q-logics was pretty sad and the mid bass portion of them stick out more than I like. They should have made them the opposite way. With the mid bass in the back portion of the kick panel away from your feet.

ScrapMaker

how much were those CDT components and what would you compare them to?

ColdGTA

I would compare the CDT's to Diamond Audio, high end Focal, Boston Accustic(sp),etc. Don't remember what I paid for them. I got them from a close out sale about 2 years ago. I do remember the set I got retailing for about $475-$500 depending on who you wanted to purchase them from.

sesand

I really enjoy my kick panels. I put some sound deadening material in there and it made a difference with the rattling. I have some midbass, but it took a lot of tweaking, and it's still not great. I can't find a way to make the rear 6x9's sound like anything below about 100 Hz. I have some Infinity Reference 6x9's in there with poly fill and liquid sound deadening material, but to no avail (although there is absolutely no road noise coming from the rear wheels/exhaust now). The whole panel is virtually sealed except for in the back by the spare tire/lock box and the vents. The last thing I may do is seal off the vents and the rear - I'll let you know if it works.

ScrapMaker

lol, my 6x9s have better bass response in my hand, than actually installed in the sail panels... those sail panels turn good speakers into mush.