Grade me on my front door Speaker Pods - What do you think?

[Luke111]

I am getting my Focal splits next week and I have a question regarding door pods (which is the route I might take if the mounting depth of the woofers is too great fro the OEM location).. Would the lack of volume in a door pod as opposed to a normal door cavity not negatively affect the performace of the speaker? I see that Rich's set go all the way through into the door but Lou's set are enclosed..

Maybe it's a dumb-ass question but I'm not super clued up on these issues.. Possibly a 6.5" speaker doesn't need all the volume of a door cavity? The results you guys are getting with your door pods probably speak for themselves I guess..?

No issues at all... 6.5's require very little volume .... and the sound from the CDT 6.5's in the pods is incredible

Lou

Sent from my iPad using IH8MUD

 

[Trock]

Great, thanks for the feedback Lou..

 

[yoopercharged]

I am getting my Focal splits next week and I have a question regarding door pods (which is the route I might take if the mounting depth of the woofers is too great fro the OEM location).. Would the lack of volume in a door pod as opposed to a normal door cavity not negatively affect the performace of the speaker? I see that Rich's set go all the way through into the door but Lou's set are enclosed..

Maybe it's a dumb-ass question but I'm not super clued up on these issues.. Possibly a 6.5" speaker doesn't need all the volume of a door cavity? The results you guys are getting with your door pods probably speak for themselves I guess..?

They'll sound good and tight, but you will lose some of the low end frequencies. Most 6.5s are designed for infinite baffle, instead of a small sealed volume like a pod. Most people probably won't notice. If you do use pods, you can fill them with polyfil (for stuffed animals, quilts, etc) to simulate a larger volume. I just used the stock location and made 1.5 inch spacers out of MDF. I used 2 pieces of 3/4 in and glued them together. That will accommodate most 6.5s.

 

[Trock]

I just used the stock location and made 1.5 inch spacers out of MDF. I used 2 pieces of 3/4 in and glued them together. That will accommodate most 6.5s.

I'd really like to use the stock location but my worry is that if I space them then they won't clear the bottom of the dash..

Did yours clear the dash using 1.5 inch spacers yoopercharged?

 

[Trock]

Ok it's taken me a while to get started but things generally move pretty slowly on this continent

I picked up a spare set of door cards and when they arrived I was pretty bummed as they were the earlier spec cards without the factory speaker and I thought they wouldn't fit.. I test fitted them on my Cruiser and they are an exact fit thankfully..

Not having the factory speaker grill actually works out great as I won't have to have the pods going so far up to cover the old holes so have ended up pretty stoked with my purchase.. The trim is identical..

Buying an extra set of door cards might seem extravagant but I figured I can now take my time getting the pods just right with minimal down time for my vehicle and I can always sell mine when I'm done..

Here's a few shots of the new cards and where you can see I've cut the door pocket, there is still about half of the pocket left which I'm happy about as one of my aims is to retain some storage space in the doors..

I've been thinking about using marine ply for the base of the pods but MDF should be ok seeing as though the pods will be completely on the interior of the vehicle and shouldn't ever be exposed to moisture..? I guess the fibreglass will also protect them too..

Any advice is most welcome..

 

[Trock]

I got a bit done yesterday.. my plan is to join the pod with what is left of the door pocket and get the whole thing covered again, probably in vinyl something like Lou's.. I've removed the piece of carpeting and will try and fill the area where the carpet was with body filler so it will be a smooth unit but we'll see what happens when I get to that stage before I make the final decisions.. If I have time I'd like to get the baffles done today and get them placed so I can look at starting the glass work..

The one thing I am still unsure about is whether or not to keep the pods enclosed or have them opening at the back into the cavity of the door..? I am going to be doing a pretty extensive sound deadening operation on the doors too when I get to that stage..

 

[Luke111]

Looks good.... You might consider using 1/4 inch MDF as your backing board....much easier to work and it will help with clearance issues at the lower edge and the front edge once the door is closed and it's half the weight. My buddy Ryan copied mine and they hit the lower inside floor and front edge and had to have them redone...you don't have as much room as you think.... Looking forward the the finished product!

Lou

 

[Trock]

Thanks for the advice Lou.. I'll check that clearance and adjust accordingly..

Hopefully I'll have an update in the next week or so..

 

[Trock]

Got some more work done on the pods, bolted them up to the door cards and ready to test fit to the doors to make sure it all clears before I start with the glass work..

 

[Luke111]

Looks good...the first set I made were 4 1/4 inches at the higest point including the back board ..they cleared the door but were touching my leg so I lowered them about an inch... That's one of the reason's I suggested using a 1/4 inch back board.. also make sure you can access the bolts from the inside of the pod once its glassed up..unless you're planning to counter sink nutserts Keep the pictures coming

Lou

 

[Trock]

Thanks Lou - I've used epoxy to adhere the nuts and washers on the inside of the pod so its just a matter of bolting it up from the inside of the card.. I've done the same with the speaker rings so the speakers can be removed easily if necessary..

I think I might also have to drop my rings slightly.. at the moment they're just stuck on temporarily using putty so I can play around with them once I have the cards in place in my Cruiser..

I did try to get some thinner MDF but around here they only sell full sheets unfortunately and that blows my budget so I'm going to have to make the 18mm backboards work.. The thinner stuff would have been way better though as I would gain some volume and shed some weight.. Once I get them on the doors I'll make my final decision..

Appreciate your advice Lou, your thread is inspirational - one of my favorites on MUD for sure

 

[RichElliott]

Hi All!

I just noticed that my original photos from the beginning of this thread photos were not displaying correctly. Looks like IH8MUD changed up the way it links to photos in albums. Anyways, I updated the links and now all of my photos are showing again!

The rest of the photos from my speaker pod build can be seen here:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/media/albums/richs-1997-fzj80.256/


Thanks,

Rich