Cheap n' Light stereo setup for a notch?

[Darkwriter77]

New speakers are in - new Infinity's in the front doors, my old little 3" JBL's crammed in the dash (Dremel Tool Massacre, Part 3 ... but the carnage is completely invisible behind the speaker grilles), and old Sony Xplode 6x9's in the rear. Everything sounds almost EXACTLY the same as before, with maybe a minor gain in treble and clarity. Tried stuffing a bunch of dense foam up behind the rear speakers, but the bass and mid-range is completely unaffected. So, there goes about a hundred bucks down the toilet.

Next idea: taking the 6x9's out of the rear shelf, putting the 5x7 (or 6x8, whatever they are) Lightning Audio speakers back in, and then investing in a cheap amp and a couple of enclosures for the 6x9's. Screw both enclosures down onto a board on either side of the amp so the whole assembly can just slide out in one unit whenever necessary, and secure it into place with, I dunno, a couple of bungee cords or somethin'. Oh, and wiring/switching the amp to mono for a little extra kick ... although adjusting the EQ/crossover on the amp to only put out bass would be kinda stupid with 6x9's, obviously.

Any thoughts on this? It'd be cheaper than investing in a sub and then having a nice pair of 6x9's just sitting around in the closet...

 

[carbed87]

You both make me sick.

You and your Notches. Black.... Notches......

black notches FTW!

 

[Darkwriter77]

Still fartin' around with ideas and such for this thing. I'm still not totally against the idea of building a box or two of my own out of some dense particleboard I've got lying around (used to be a panels of my big computer desk, heh), but for all the time/effort involved, I might just go with a pair of those pre-made wedge-shaped 6x9 enclosures.

The Sony XPlodes I've hung in the rear deck of the notch have ZERO bass. NONE. Zip. Zilch. Plug the same speakers into the Lincoln, and it sounds like I have a 10" sub with an amp back there. With proper enclosures, I know these things will rock, even without an amp. Trouble is, what's the best way to go about rigging it up?

Here's my current list of hairbrained ideas:

1. Buy a pair of those pre-made 6x9 enclosures, and throw the Sony's in there. Hang the Lightning Audio 6x8's back in the rear deck, toss the enclosed 6x9's in the trunk with an amp, and see how that works.

2. Buy a pair of pre-made 6x9 enclosures, mount the Sony 6x9's in there. Somehow hang the enclosures under the deck, or just secure them into place aimed upward, and run them wired as if they were just bolted into the deck like OEM-fit 6x8's.

3. Build some weird one-piece box for the 6x9's, with a divider in the middle, slide that puppy under the rear deck, and run 'em off the head unit.

4. Give up on all this silliness, buy a cheap sub, box, and amp, toss it all in, and sacrifice trunk space and extra money for the sake of laziness.

Any recommendations to any of the above four ideas, or any other ideas/suggestions?

 

[Darkwriter77]

Okay, that's it. I'm pissed. I just wasted a whole day fabricating a pretty nice box for my 6x9's. A one-piece box with a divider between the two chambers, everything screwed tightly together with drywall screws, sealed perfectly with silicone on every little joint, and then lined the inside of the chambers with high-density sections of foam.

IT SOUNDS EXACTLY THE SAME AS IT DID WHEN I JUST HAD THE FRIGGIN' SPEAKERS HANGING FROM THE DECK! AAAAARRRGHHH!!!

I'm at the end of my wits here. I guess I'm just going to have to do the inevitable: throw the old 6x8's back into the deck, maybe stick some baffles behind them (I have some for 6x9's that I can use behind 'em), and then just dump an amp and a cheap all-in-one box in the trunk and fuhgeddaboutit. This sucks, because I was so friggin' proud of my handiwork, up until I turned on the radio. The front Infinity door speakers put out more bass than the rear!

 

[fivespeedsteed]

+1.
I have Infinity Reference 6x9's in the rear, and they sound amazing. I plan on replacing the front speakers before summer with Infinity's as well. Yes, Best Buy has them.

do 6x9's fit in the stock holes in the back? i have a hatch, and i think they are 6X8's? can i just get 6x9s for the back?

 

[Darkwriter77]

They can be MADE to fit in a notch, but they're not a direct bolt-up. I had to drill new pilot holes, mount them at a weird cockeyed angle to the original cutouts, and use 1/2" spacers (on my Sony speakers, anyway) to keep the speaker's inner portion from contacting the shelf. Of course, in doing so that pretty much kills any vague sort of seal or solid mounting the speakers would have otherwise had in being mounted as such. Alternatively, you could be all hardcore and just take off the rear shelf carpeting/padding, go to town on the rear deck with a Dremel, grinder, or some other metal cutoff wheel, and just cut the 6x8 holes out wider to fit the 6x9 size, then drill four new pilot holes ... but your results are likely to sound about the same.

Being that you have a hatch, you're gonna be far better off just sticking in some good, stock-sized aftermarket replacements, or maybe dropping a couple of 6x9's in pre-made wedge enclosures and running some wire extensions to 'em from the stock harnesses. A good set of 6x9's in a solid set of enclosures can sound pretty nice without putting a dent in your wallet ... or your electrical system, if you're running a stock 65-amp'er.

Having wasted a lot of time (but fortunately, not much money yet) on this crap lately, myself, I've found the best course of action is to just get a good set of door speakers, some really good OEM-sized rear speakers, install some baffles behind both sets of speakers, run a quality head unit ... and if that ain't enough, just splurge on an amp and sub(s) that you can cram in the trunk under the rear shelf or in the hatch area (depending on what you have).

I would post pictures of my 6x9 speaker box, but I'm so pissed at the thing's performance and having spent so much time and effort on it all day today that I can't even stand to pop the trunk and look at it. My back is killing me from all the sawing, drilling, filing, fitting, screwing (of screws, that is), and hefting that fat puppy in/out of the trunk ... and all I've got to show for it is 20 extra pounds of dead weight that sounds like poop. Oh well ... at least I got around to fixing the trunk's weatherstripping while I was at it, so I'm not constantly sucking in exhaust fumes while I go to/from work every day. (With the rear seat removed and the trunk closed, you could still see daylight between the trunk lid and the weatherstripping.)

Just for giggles, I might hook an amp up to my 6x9's before I spend the extra bucks on a sub and (pre-made) box, just to see how they respond to some extra juice. That, and I plan to spray the outside of the box with some leftover truck bedliner that I've got from when I spray-lined the trunk and under-seat area; it doesn't look to horrible as-is, since I made it from dense furniture particle board (the whole box weighs exactly 20 lbs.), but what the heck ... if it sounds like crap, it might as well look like it, too.

Something interesting I found while I was at Pep Boys today, getting the 6x9 baffles (which I tried before fabricating the box). They make adapter plates for round 5" speakers (same size as the door speakers) to bolt up into Ford/Mazda 6x8 speaker openings. So, now I'm kinda debating whether I should re-install the Pioneer speakers in the door and move the Infinity speakers to the rear shelf with these adapter plates with baffles behind them (to help with the mids) and then let the trunk sub/amp deal with the bass issues...?

NOTE: I keep getting confused on what the hell is OEM in the rear deck. It's either 5x7 or 6x8, or 5x8, or ... whatever. It's a weird, crappy size. Someone at Ford should be slapped for using them in the first place.

 

[JGT]

its 6x8. most companies don't make a real 6x8 though. they make a 5x7 with 6x8 mounts, so you might see 5x7/6x8 as the size.

you should put whichever speaker in the doors that sounds better to you, which will probably be the infinity speakers. seems to me like you have an ear for something you can't get from any car speaker. go buy a sub! look at the self-powered subs, they're cheap and small. they wont make your car rattle, but should cover your lows.

 

[Darkwriter77]

Yeah, that's looking to be the way I'm gonna have to go, I suppose. I don't want to blow a bunch of money on the whole deal, either. As it sits, I'm just looking to get a 200 to 300 watt amp and either a single 10" sub to drop in a universal box or, the cheaper alternative (that I used in my previous notch), a pre-loaded box of two 8" subs. I still have all of the heavy-gauge cable and RCA's from my past amp n' sub deal, so I'm probably looking to spend less than $100, total.

I don't really crank my stereo often, and I don't listen to any music that's really bass-intensive - I'm mostly running metal tunes when I drive. It's just kinda pathetic when you're driving down the highway with my kinda stereo setup, and it sounds like the bass player and drummer audio tracks are on full mute ... even when you crank the volume up almost 3/4 to full.

 

[JGT]

It's just kinda pathetic when you're driving down the highway with my kinda stereo setup, and it sounds like the bass player and drummer audio tracks are on full mute ... even when you crank the volume up almost 3/4 to full.

i have the same problem. i'm going a different route to solve the problem though. i'm getting 2 nice component systems for the front(jl xr650), probably a 12(jl 12w3v3), and a 4 channel amp(jl 450/4) to run them off of. a friend of mine just got a neat headunit that has a little mic and it will auto set the 16band eq and speaker time alignment. i might get one of those to..

 

[Darkwriter77]

Neat ... but sounds kinda expensive. I just wanna be able to hear my tunes at 75 MPH. Getting into super fine-tuned audiophile stuff like that would only be useful, IMHO, in something like a Lincoln, where you've got a well-sound-insulated environment to start with, so you can better appreciate the benefits of a high-end stereo setup. I mean, it's kinda hard to compete with an off-road X-pipe and Pypes Violator muffs, tire/wind noise, and little to no sound insulation on the chassis.

If I ever get the funds to afford a second car and I can score a nice late-model Panther-frame car, I'll probably go that route, though. For now, I just need the cheapest, lightest, and simplest setup I can manage.

I plan to have this mess ironed out by the weekend. Two days off, and nothing else to do with it.

 

[JGT]

well once i set this all up, i'll never have to touch it again. until they come out with a completely new technology for sound reproduction. amps r usually pretty safe to buy off ebay and the one i'm looking at will power the speakers and sub, the 2 components are about as much as buying 6 new speakers, and the sub is like $200ish new. i've never made a box before...that should be fun.

 

[Darkwriter77]

You can have my box. Cut out the holes a little bigger, and you can drop a couple of 10's in it.

 

[backfocus]

I see you are finnally getting what I was trying to tell you in the first place. Forget about those 6x9s and be done with it. They were never mean to be in a box and were not designed that way. What box volume did you use anyway. You can't just build a box and stuff it with batting and think it is going to sound good.

As you stated youe fox stereo will not sound like a lincoln because of the different acoustic reflections and soundproofing, that is unless you spent a alot of money on proofing material, but then you are adding a lot of weight to the car.

You could find some 6.5s that some companies (kicker, polk, jbl) make and use them in boxes, as some companies build there speakers with that in mind. I built a box with two 6.5"polks in it, hooked up to a 150 amp and people were amazed, everyone thought he had 10's in the truck. You get what you pay for when it comes to audio equipment, but you can still put together a system that sound good on a budget. You just have to look for deals, do the research for the best product for the money, and take the time to do the small details right. I have peiced a lot of systems together for people that sound great and didn't cost that much.

FYI: Stock speaker size is 6x8 and yes some companies do make a 6x8. But some companies also make 5x7 with 6x8 mounts.

 

[Darkwriter77]

Yeah, I'm just kind of a cheapskate sometimes - more apt to spend a full day of my own labor and stuff I already have on hand, rather than just going out and buying the good stuff. I just don't like the idea of having these things just lying around the house collecting dust when there's a chance that they could be put to good use.

I can't remember the exact dimensions right off hand, but I think the box is roughly 10" deep x 9" tall x 29" long. Basically, only slightly larger than a couple of those wedge-shaped enclosures you always see pre-made for 6x9's everywhere (which is probably what I should've done to start with, anyhow). I've had 6x9's in pre-made wedge boxes that sounded decent when powered right off the head unit, and actually downright good when hooked to an amp ... but that was usually in hatchback applications (all four Firebirds I've owned in the past, plus an Escort EXP, a Geo Metro, a CRX Si, etc. ...). Problem here, of course, is that having the speakers lying in the trunk pretty much smothers any treble they produce, as well as most of their mid-range ... and, of course, 6x9's aren't exactly bass-thumping monsters by any means, soooooo ... *sigh*

I'd post pics of the final setup I'll be tossing in this weekend, but I know y'all will just laugh at how hideous my trunk area looks. Sprayed with bedliner with a cheap vinyl rubber mat laid over it = mad pimpin'!

 

[DMAN302]

add a base tube..the self amped bazooka tube i run is awesome for guys who like a nice bass hit without getting carried away...it surprised the heck out of me how hard it works when in place.

 

[JGT]

add a base tube..the self amped bazooka tube i run is awesome for guys who like a nice bass hit without getting carried away...it surprised the heck out of me how hard it works when in place.

just dont spray paint it blue and put a NOS sticker on it..

 

[DMAN302]

Not likely...I try not to go the tacky route though some might disagree

 

[Darkwriter77]

Okay, life is good again. The formula for my notch's audio happiness is:

(2) Infinity door speakers (free) + (2) 6x8 Whatever-you-want brand rear speakers (free) + (1) pre-loaded box with two 8" subs ($49.99 Pep Boys) + (1) 300-watt generic-brand amp ($49.99 Wal-Mart) =

The box just barely squeaks in there under the trunk tension rods. I don't have the amp hooked up to it yet, I'm just running it off the head unit right now until I have time to re-hang the 6x8's in the rear shelf and fish all the wiring through the car for the amp. Even so, it sounds 2x better as-is than any of my other prior setups.

I'm still trying to think of a handy-dandy place to mount the amp where it's not in the way of anything, but it won't overheat in the summer. I was thinking maybe of hanging it from the X-brace behind the rear seat, but I dunno if it'd get too hot there or not. Any ideas?