Front Door Speakers + Tweeters

[ryan287]

I really wanted to fit the largest possible speaker in my doors without a lot of molding and custom work. I also had holes in my doors from the previous 4.25" speakers.

The problem with the Hertz ESK 130 speakers was that the back side of them would hit the inner door supports. I found some plastic speaker mounting rings at Fry's Electronics, and along with some 1/4" MDF, I was able to adequately space the speaker away from the inner supports. I also had to trim some of the non-essential support as well.

I also lined the inside of my doors with sound deadener. Call me cheap, but I bought this stuff from home depot - its used for roofing around pipes. I could have spent a fortune on Dyna Mat doing the same thing, and guess what, my doors don't rattle! I think it was $20 for a role the size of an alternator pulley.

 

[Arikilen]

Interesting. Do the speakers work better there than if you attached them to the roll bar?

I cringe at the thought of cutting a huge circle in my door.

 

[ryan287]

I've never had role bar mounted speakers, so I can't comment on their performance. I looked at a lot of role bar options from boats, but they were really expensive when I'd rather be putting that money into quality speakers. At the time, it seemed to me that they were a couple hundred bucks per speaker, and there's no guarantee that they would sound good and not rattle all over. Also, I wanted to avoid having wires all over the place.

Having the tweeters mounted high and facing the passengers really helped with filling the cabin with sound as well.

 

[techlaf]

The roofing product has been used with success over dynamat, fat mat, etc. I think I remember the only complaint being it smells strong when it gets hot outside. Hopefully that smell dissipates over time.

 

[ryan287]

That was a concern of mine as well, but I haven't had any issues - I can't smell it at all and it has certainly been hot here in Socal. Could be that I don't have a top, but my garage doesn't smell either when it sits in there for a week.

 

[73azbronco]

I cringe as well, mine has those same speaker holes. An audio place I visited says we need to get some tweeters up on the window pillars to improve the sound. Using something like this:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/sho...Tweeter-and-speaker-pods-for-my-SR-components

 

[ryan287]

I guess you could just mount them on the top corners of the windshield frame without all the molding, but it adds wiring. Having everything in the door (speaker, tweeter, & crossover) left me with only one wire to contend with. My tweeters came with 45 degree cups, so they are angled directly at the front seats, which helps to avoid the roll bar too.

The hole for the tweeter was already in my door, if I did it over I might have moved it back an inch or so.

 

[Broncofan76]

yes, they will sound much better mounted in the doors rather than on the roll bar (at least in that kick panel location) those speakers are made to have a certain amount of free air volume behind them and they use the door as sort of a "box". I managed to mount 6.5" speakers in the corners in the same location but did have to work around (read hack up and relocate) the support brackets.
I agree that you'd get a much better sound if you ran a component system that included a tweeter mounted up high on the door or corner of the dash in conjunction with the 4.25"
nice work on the install and getting as much space as possible in that corner. Its a tough spot.