AndyK

I was talking back speakers...when I took out the blown stock speakers, and replaced them with new Blau 4x6's, I noticed there was a larger opening (6x5?), and a metal plate making the opening smaller to fit the 4x6's. Your last speaker pic shows a car with the same opening I have. Still, there is no rear grill, just the closed panel with holes.

I don't want an amp hanging from my glove box, or taking up room in the back (I already have a WOOX mini powered sub back there). Are there any 4-channel amps that would fit under the passenger seat?

Bill Lucas

Sure. Mine probably would but then the motor for the powered seat is under there as well. I was more concerned with keeping the wire runs as short and neat as possible and the amp doesn't constrict passenger room under the glovebox at all and is barely visible to boot.

Why don't you do a search on the Internet for car audio amps? You'll find oodles of them with spec sheets galore and then you can see what will fit under the passenger seat.

The adjacent opening in the back is for 6.5" speakers.

Good luck.

Robby

White Pony- Yes, I had a hard time believing the extra power claims at first- I'd run decent speakers off the HU & find that the factory speakers sounded better- people would tell me I needed more power for aftermarket's b/c factory's were more efficient & that I was going to end up blowing the aftermarket speakers- that I would compensate for my lack of power w/more volume- everyone said LESS power blows more speakers than TOO MUCH power- I went to the ADS amp (30 or 35w RMS) from the Kenwood HU (22 or 23w RMS), not expecting much, but there was a world of difference- like you & Bill are both saying. I then bridged the ADS, as an experiment, & the Kappas really came alive. Same w/the Reference 6x8 components... They just need a certain amount to push them at optimum...

As for Dynaudio's- several RLer's are interested in those- almost wonder if you could round a few up & get some sort of group-buy....? Highly unlikely, I'm sure, but yes, Dynaudios are very highly regarded speakers. In my research, I've found that Kappas are a very good entry level speaker for the money- this is why I went ahead & spent another $150 (that included S&H) for new Kappa 6x8 components, to upgrade from the Reference. Only a couple of Boston Accoutics & Infinity Reference came in 6x8 seperates when I bought my Reference- now everyone has them. Anyway, even Kappas don't ever get the high praise of Dynaudio, Focal, CDT, etc. Even Diamond Audio seems to be widely accepted as top of the line stuff... You could spend a fortune on some of that stuff though... the bottom of the line w/most of those is still out of my league... Oh yeah, CDT came out w/a 6x9 seperate recently- you can ususally find them for less than $200... I know you could squeeze a 6x9 under the rear 1/4 window, but you'd have to cut metal... I'll bet those bad boys would really put in some excellent rear fill w/plenty of bass, in that location...

Andy- so you have the bigger opening in nthe rear like in my last picture, the red car... I'm not sure why they didn't just throw a 6.5" speaker in all of them, but... I mean, if they're having to change the cut out, like that, why not just change the whole panel & just make a neat 6.5" round cut-out & throw in the better speaker? Instead, what they did was to make a larger section out of one side of the 4x6 cut-out so that either size speaker could be put in by filling in the unused section.... weird IMO... They made an adapter to seal the 6.5" part when using 4x6's & they also made an adapter to seal the 4x6 part when using 6.5" speakers. PLUS, the 6.5 they used had a squared off outer mounting edge, unlike any other aftermarket 6.5" in the world... I was happy to find out how easy it was to make a wooden adapter plate to to mount an aftermarket speaker in that hole & have it all sealed up easily- sealing that hole is essential- trust me on this... Now the only prob is getting TO it to do the work.... Too bad they didn't use a real grill- that's strange too- I guess only M490's got that- I know the tweeter from the 6.5 is built into the grill, but they could have easily used the same grill & not put the tweeter into it... weird... But, in a way, you might be better off... I've always sort of wanted a real grill back there anyway- the M490 grill is an odd shape- you can probably cover the entire area of holes w/a 6.5" grill- not sure about the area behind the grill in the grill cars... If you have a 6.5 grill, hold it up & see... THEN, you could just cut the cardboard panel & mount a regular grill there... would really be simple w/most grills... And, you have the benefit of mounting the real grill so that you can remove it easily w/out having to get in behind the panel, like the M490 style, which is a PITFA- to gain complete access, you have to remove the panel, which ususally means removing the hole window... ANOTHER benefit is that the grills in the M490's are shaped funny & the speaker is still slightly obscured by panel, etc- I'm considering adapting a regular 6.5 grill when I install my new 6x8's...

EDIT- I've edited this several times- hopefully no one read this in the e-mail format b/c it's been changed, shortened, etc... Anyway, as for a 4-ch amp that will fit under the seat... that really depends too- IF you have height adjustable seats, you might be able to find something if you raise the seat up, but you'll be hard pressed to find a 4-ch amp that will go underneath it at the lowest point... Porsche had some factory amps under there in certain cars, but they were 2-ch & very small & thiin... I've thought about trying this w/an aftermarket, but it would be tough...