Full audio upgrade, speaker sizes? (1 Viewer)

[Pucker5]

Mount it over the wheel well where the current factory woofer is. At six inches thick It will be close to flush with the well. If you’re good with the wood You could build a wood platform that curves to the wheel well radius. Just trace with cardboard. Secure at the base

 

[West Hill]

Mount it over the wheel well where the current factory woofer is. At six inches thick It will be close to flush with the well. If you’re good with the wood You could build a wood platform that curves to the wheel well radius. Just trace with cardboard. Secure at the base

No time to consider that option for now. I am having a shop do most of the installation and due to some commitments, am dropping the car off Friday morning.

When I do go for a permanent solution I'd like something that looks close to OEM while realizing a custom enclosure will have to be deeper than stock and the panel will need to be modified.

 

[Pucker5]

Heavy duty Velcro strips along the bottoms but honestly upfiring with a shallow woofer that small in that big of car is going to be wack. Better off firing off rear hatch or from sidewall to sidewall.

 

[01138lex]

I did my setup with 3-way sonys in the front xs gs1631 and 2-way sonys xs gs1621 in the rear. Powered by a Alpine Pdx9 and a JL fix86/twk88 combo. Signal jumped from the oem amp. Amp and processors stuffed where the old sub used to sit and where the bottle jack used to live. My JL sub fires towards the hatch and it sounds clean. Its not super loud but it hits tight and clear.

 

[West Hill]

Heavy duty Velcro strips along the bottoms but honestly upfiring with a shallow woofer that small in that big of car is going to be wack. Better off firing off rear hatch or from sidewall to sidewall.

Have you heard a TW3? I haven't but reviews are positive and say the TW3 is one of the better shallow subs on the market because it has the most excursion at 15mm, which is pretty close to a normal sub of 18-20mm. The 11" in my X6, up firing with a storage cover over it produces more than I will ever want. It is a traditional sub design though. The TW3 is 12", I don't think up or down firing will matter, corner loaded works really well in my coupe, I just need to try different positions and see which one works best and balance that with utility. Don't think I will trust velcro and plan on a secured strap to tie it down while making it easy to remove.

 

[West Hill]

I did my setup with 3-way sonys in the front xs gs1631 and 2-way sonys xs gs1621 in the rear. Powered by a Alpine Pdx9 and a JL fix86/twk88 combo. Signal jumped from the oem amp. Amp and processors stuffed where the old sub used to sit and where the bottle jack used to live. My JL sub fires towards the hatch and it sounds clean. Its not super loud but it hits tight and clear.

Would love to be able to put three way in the front doors. You must have a later model with the small mid near the handle. Tuning a two way with the tweeter high in the sail and mid low in the door will be a challenge. I have a twk88 in my coupe and the system sounds great. Three way as well but it has 8" woofers under the seats, not an ideal location. I have a corner loaded sub in the trunk so essentially a 4-way. I assume the DSP in my VX amp is similar to the TWK88.

 

[gregnash]

Been doing some planning for my upgrade later this year and thinking I may go with HERTZ brand speakers.
Looking at doing the Uno Series 165 K in the front as they seem to have an inline resistor instead of adding a passive crossover for the tweeters and then the 165 X in the rear doors. Eventually I will put something like the Kicker hide-away in the rear to handle the low end. That will probably happen as the same time as an amp replacement.

 

[West Hill]

Quickly built the box and will put a coat of primer on tonight. Tweeters arrived so just waiting on the JL Audio 12TW3-D4.

Edit: Image added. Paint color turned out pretty close to the interior color.

 

[West Hill]

Some slow progress with the installation, was able to fit the two amps side by side instead of stacking them.

 

[West Hill]

A door and Dynaudio Esotar 2 650 speaker.

 

[West Hill]

My install is finished and I couldn't be happier with how it sounds. I have some work to do to tame some rattles when playing at high volume but you can only hear them when standing outside the car, not while listening inside.

The mid-woofers in the front doors put out some series impact and the outside door handles are just loose enough to vibrate a bit. A piece of tape or rubber should take care of that. The rear side windows shake a bit as well at high volume, mostly from the sub-woofer's sound pressure and a bit from the mid-woofers. I don't play at those volumes very often but I can crank the volume as high as I want with zero distortion. Musicar Northwest built the tweeter sail panels and the sub-woofer latching mechanism, amp rack and mid-woofer mounting rings. Their level of craftsmanship never ceases to amaze me.

The sub-woofer is very secure, I won't have to worry the enclosure will fly up and hit my wife or I in the back of the head should we get rear-ended. I can also easily remove it when I want to haul things or put in the third row seat. It should also still fit behind the third row seat. With the tinted windows and matching paint, a thief will need to look very closely to even notice the sub is there. I may still build a custom enclosure in the OEM location but with what I have, am in no hurry.

 

[corporatecruzr]

Been doing some planning for my upgrade later this year and thinking I may go with HERTZ brand speakers.
Looking at doing the Uno Series 165 K in the front as they seem to have an inline resistor instead of adding a passive crossover for the tweeters and then the 165 X in the rear doors. Eventually I will put something like the Kicker hide-away in the rear to handle the low end. That will probably happen as the same time as an amp replacement.

Have you tried the 8 inch kicker you were looking at to replace the rear cargo speaker? Looking for some ideas. Id like to get rid of the 2 4 inch speakers that are stock on the '98 cruiser. I know absolutely zero when it comes to speakers and electrical.

 

[gregnash]

Have you tried the 8 inch kicker you were looking at to replace the rear cargo speaker? Looking for some ideas. Id like to get rid of the 2 4 inch speakers that are stock on the '98 cruiser. I know absolutely zero when it comes to speakers and electrical.

No I am just getting to a point where I can do the stereo stuff. Factory head unit is starting to crap out on me so new head unit will be here Monday. Then ordered some Morel's based on recommendations from @suprarx7nut (not the ultimo though) for the front doors. Kinda piecing together at the moment while I wait for other stuff to get taken care of.

 

[katit]

No I am just getting to a point where I can do the stereo stuff. Factory head unit is starting to crap out on me so new head unit will be here Monday. Then ordered some Morel's based on recommendations from @suprarx7nut (not the ultimo though) for the front doors. Kinda piecing together at the moment while I wait for other stuff to get taken care of.

@gregnash , which Morels did you pick?
I decided to bite a bullet and do an update. I did refoam factory but .. I'd like something better.

So far I decided on following "formula":
- Infinity Kappa 60CSX in front doors
- nothing to the rear
- 4 channel amp??? 2 channels for fronts, 2 channels bridged for rear sub
- 8" sub in factory place ???

Does this make sense? Can anybody recommend Amp and Sub? Within $300-400 range?
Is using cross-overs way to go? Or it is much better to drive tweeters separately from amp? I feel like I'm overthinking it. I also ideally don't want to alter any factory warning.. Amp will go into OE location and adapter will be used to retain factory wires

 

[gregnash]

I ended up picking up the Morel Maximo 6, these are none israel made, so built to their standards but in parts unknown.

 

[ramangain]

I decided to bite a bullet and do an update. I did refoam factory but .. I'd like something better.

Join the club.

So far I decided on following "formula":
- Infinity Kappa 60CSX in front doors
- nothing to the rear
- 4 channel amp??? 2 channels for fronts, 2 channels bridged for rear sub
- 8" sub in factory place ???

Does this make sense? Can anybody recommend Amp and Sub? Within $300-400 range?
Is using cross-overs way to go? Or it is much better to drive tweeters separately from amp? I feel like I'm overthinking it. I also ideally don't want to alter any factory warning.. Amp will go into OE location and adapter will be used to retain factory wires

Do you have an LC or an LX with the ML system?

If you have an LX with the ML system, you can also add the 2" midranges from Infinity Kappa 20MX in the stock front door locations and get a true 3-way system. It brings the soundstage higher. I've posted on how to install them, but never added pictures, sorry.

Run the supplied crossovers with the Kappa CSX set. They work well and allow the flexibility listed above.

Install some rear speakers too, if just to add proper rear fill. It DOES help with the front soundstage depth, and passengers in the rear will appreciate having speakers back there too.

Personally, I used an Infinity 4 channel amp and a 10" powered sub to round things off.

 

[katit]

Join the club.

Do you have an LC or an LX with the ML system?

If you have an LX with the ML system, you can also add the 2" midranges from Infinity Kappa 20MX in the stock front door locations and get a true 3-way system. It brings the soundstage higher. I've posted on how to install them, but never added pictures, sorry.

Run the supplied crossovers with the Kappa CSX set. They work well and allow the flexibility listed above.

Install some rear speakers too, if just to add proper rear fill. It DOES help with the front soundstage depth, and passengers in the rear will appreciate having speakers back there too.

Personally, I used an Infinity 4 channel amp and a 10" powered sub to round things off.

I have LX with ML

Actually I already placed an order. I am getting this:
Amazon product ASIN B075ZG8BFTAmazon product ASIN B07BK9M6S2Amazon.com: American Bass 8" Competition Woofer 800W max: Car Electronics
- good wiring

I was discussing setup with one knowledgeable person and he was pretty insistent on spending more for good comps upfront and not bothering with rears.
So, I will be doing following:
Sub mounted in stock location
All new wiring. RCAs to amp, 10ga to sub, 12ga to speakers. This way I won't cut any of the factory wires and I can do this since I am pulling carpet.
For amp - I will reuse stock location and will do some fabrication to make it fit. My goal is to avoid any extra objects (like sub box)
Amp will drive fronts with 2 channels and rear sub with other 2 channels.

So, all that ordered/decided on.
However, idea with midranges is great! I didn't know I can do that. So, cross-overs I'm getting with my speakers will allow for mid-ranges hookup? If so, it might be worth doing for sure!(edit: I see, they got their own cross-overs. Is there enough space inside a door to mount 2 cross-overs??)

 

[ramangain]

I have LX with ML

Actually I already placed an order. I am getting this:
Amazon product ASIN B075ZG8BFTAmazon product ASIN B07BK9M6S2Amazon.com: American Bass 8" Competition Woofer 800W max: Car Electronics
- good wiring

I was discussing setup with one knowledgeable person and he was pretty insistent on spending more for good comps upfront and not bothering with rears.
So, I will be doing following:
Sub mounted in stock location
All new wiring. RCAs to amp, 10ga to sub, 12ga to speakers. This way I won't cut any of the factory wires and I can do this since I am pulling carpet.
For amp - I will reuse stock location and will do some fabrication to make it fit. My goal is to avoid any extra objects (like sub box)
Amp will drive fronts with 2 channels and rear sub with other 2 channels.

So, all that ordered/decided on.
However, idea with midranges is great! I didn't know I can do that. So, cross-overs I'm getting with my speakers will allow for mid-ranges hookup? If so, it might be worth doing for sure!(edit: I see, they got their own cross-overs. Is there enough space inside a door to mount 2 cross-overs??)

The next time I pull a front door panel I'll show you how the 3 way mounts with the Kappa series.

 

[katit]

The next time I pull a front door panel I'll show you how the 3 way mounts with the Kappa series.

Better do it now as my finger is over "Buy" button

If you can just say that those speakers and mid we are talking about will fit - I will make it fit, 2 cross-overs in each front door, correct?

 

[ramangain]

Yes, they fit. You need to do a little modification to how you mount the 2" mid in the drivers door bracket due to the size of the armrest electronics, but its easy to figure out with a zip tie.