Speakers

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Discussion

RCA

Original Poster:

1,769 posts

268 months

Wednesday 16th January 2002
quotequote all
Sorry all, this has probably been brought up hundreds of times, I would like to fit some 6x9's in the rear of my chimaera, there is plenty of room but would have to make some sort of bracket, Has anyone done this? or had it done? if so how have you done it and where have you placed the speakers, many thanks Richard

Red 4.0HC
J1 RCA

trefor

14,635 posts

283 months

Wednesday 16th January 2002
quotequote all
There is room for 6x9s. You'll need to replace the air vents which are there at the moment and they will sit best at a slight angle to fit to the contours of the rear bulkhead. You should be able to fit the trim back in place in the boot no problem. This will mean no air vent unless you cut a hole in the middle for one of the two you just removed. What I did was space the bottom of my speakers away from the GRP/carpet (so they're more vertical). This created an air gap underneath. (I used door stops with holes in the middle if you're wondering.)

BTW, GRP is a b1tch to cut - I got my jigsaw out! run the wires down the LHS, if you look in the boot there is a gap which goes through to the aperture/velcro held gap between the door and the seatbelt top mount (IYKWIM).

T/.

P.S. Careful what you cut/drill. You've got fuel pipes and a petrol tank right are where you will be playing!!!


hughjayteens

2,029 posts

268 months

Wednesday 16th January 2002
quotequote all
trefor - You will be seriously reducing the output of your speakers by spacing them out - The seal between the front and rear waves is cricial.....
If you sit them in properly I think you'll notice a HUGE improvement in sound.....

For sale, 1995 BMW 318is M Tech. www.pistonheads.com/ads/adverts.asp?s=132

TVR needed!

trefor

14,635 posts

283 months

Wednesday 16th January 2002
quotequote all
I knew someone would point this out. But this is a TVR, not a Lexus. Compared to the original crappy speakers the sound is fine now, especially since the rear speakers are just behind you, facing forwards into your 'ear 'oles. In my case, for good sound from the stereo we take 'her' TT with it's Bose upgrade.

RCA

Original Poster:

1,769 posts

268 months

Wednesday 16th January 2002
quotequote all
I was actually thinking more along the lines of having the speakers completely inside the car either side just beneath the metal roof struts, making a sort of enclosure or something for them, any ideas????, that way I have not got to cut anything!!! Not very good at that

Marshy

2,748 posts

284 months

Wednesday 16th January 2002
quotequote all
I had Offord do all the hard work cutting holes in the fibreglass - I wasn't that brave. 6x9s work well, and the boot space seems to make a good (if large) enclosure for them.

You'll probably have to run wiring yourself - while I found a couple of candidate speaker cables at each side of the boot, they weren't connected to anything, nor could I find a place where they came out in the dash, or anywhere else!

There appears to be a rear speaker loom, but it goes from the back of the stereo to a multiplug in the cavity in the wing behind the passenger seat. Handy enough since this is where you'll be threading cables to from the boot.

Re: the seal... it does make a vast difference if they're sealed. Before the holes were cut, I wedged the speakers in the boot just behind the vents. Added some bass reinforcement. However, with them mounted properly, my measly little 4x50W stereo can now kick me quite hard in the kidneys. I suspect you'll need them sealed properly in if you're to hear the stereo with the top down at any sort of speed.

Note that while your front speakers will still need to be decent (otherwise they'll just fart at you), most of what you obviously hear will come from the rear. Or you could just set the fader all the way back and forget about the fronts...

Edited by Marshy on Wednesday 16th January 22:30

philshort

8,293 posts

277 months

Wednesday 16th January 2002
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My Pioneer head unit has a "front enhance" setting (or something like that). It cuts the bass to the fronts, so you can crank up the volume without melting the (relatively) puny fronts. I have Alpine DD posh blue fronts by the by, pretty respectable, but this allows much more volume from the 6x9 rears (actually 7x10 Kenwoods).

Bit more sophisticated than just winding the fader back, the mid and high tones at the front are not reduced so the sound stage is not so radically altered.
The whole setup will go loud enough that you don't want to be sat in the car - perfectly audible top down at 130mph (allegedly).

The head unit is a few years old (KEH8400RW if memory serves, the wood effect jobbie); don't know if others have this facility.

Oh yeah, I have a couple of amps in the boot as well, before any wise-ass tells me a head unit won't go that loud.

Phil

BTW, I can't see how you'd get any speaker enclosures under the struts and still be able to drop the roof. Cutting the bulkhead isn't difficult, its only fibreglass!

Edited by philshort on Wednesday 16th January 23:02

RCA

Original Poster:

1,769 posts

268 months

Thursday 17th January 2002
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Ok, cutting the fibreglass seems the way forward, does anybody know some kind soles that would like the job of doing it for me????? !!!!!!!, remotely near to leicestershire!

philshort

8,293 posts

277 months

Friday 18th January 2002
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Love to help you, but strangely though I didn't blink an eye at taking a saw to my own, the thought of taking a saw to someone else's car gived me the shivers!

Phil

richb

51,531 posts

284 months

Friday 18th January 2002
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Ok strip off the carpet from the back bulkhead, mark up the position of the hole required in black felt tip, and take your Black and Decker jig-saw to it. If you measure the gap between the bulkhead and the tank then find a saw blade that shorter than this once fitted to your saw you wont have to worry about hitting the tank! Takes a couple of mins. at the most!

RCA

Original Poster:

1,769 posts

268 months

Friday 18th January 2002
quotequote all
Ok, thanks all, Here goes with the old B & D, wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!