danny951

I've looked around and can't find much. What is the max rear mounting depth for the rear speakers in a late 944? I plan to do 6.5" speakers with a 1/4" MDF mounting plate but don't know how restricted I am to speaker depth.

I'm looking at the Kenwood Excelon KFC-X1700P component speakers to provide good midbass and clear sound. They have an Approximate Mounting Depth of 2.5".

Cost around $350 (list) but I found them for $169 shipped

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...roductID=15055

White Pony

Are you gonna get above the goofy cardboard rear panel? If not the sound is very muffled- and if you are exceptionally tall and have to move the seat back a ways, the imaging is WAY off. If possible I'd suggest saving your money and having a custom installer put in a good front soundstage... Doorpods with large diameter speakers such as the 6.5" ones you are looking at.

Are you also going to get an amplifier for them? Is there a budget you are looking at?

danny951

I have an a/d/s PQ20 amplifier to run the front and rear.

On the rear speakers I'll have the 6.5" driver behind the panel, on an MDF mounting plate, sealing the hole off. Then I'll mount the tweeter on the outside of the panel.

The front speakers are the Boston Acoustics 4x6 plates. They sound okay, but right now are just running on a mid-grade Clarion HU, with the factory wiring.

Do you have any good info on front doorpods for a 6.5" speaker? I'd like to go that route, so I have a nice front soundstage, but I don't have $300 + cost of speakers for it.

zoltan944

last i looked, it is VERY deep speaker wise, only the front has issues.

White Pony

Doorpods have to be built custom, there are ones available for 5 1/4 for 75 for the pair but they are ugly as hell and whoever made them seems to me to be an acoustical retard. It will cost 2-400 alone just for the installer to custom build some pods and cover them with material but IMO it's worth it.

However...
I should have a pair made by late may/early june that will require no drilling/ modifications to your doors besides removal of the 4x6's and the grilles. Then I'll try to copy them for fellow Rennlisters. I hope to charge less than $100 for a set.

As far as the rear speakers, there is PLENTY of room for what you need to do... Just consider your tweeter imaging carefully!

Opeth

White have you got any pics of the door pods?

White Pony

I'm MAKING THEM as we speak... Once I get them made I'm going to re-produce them via a fiberglass press molding tecnique I saw on a website awhile ago. I plan to make 6 1/4" ones first then work down from there. Basically the pod will screw onto the door via the 4 speaker mounting screws. Wish me luck, it's looing pretty bad from right now, my little jigsaw died.

Opeth

good luck man, what kind/color of finsh?

danny951

I'm very interested White Pony. Question: Will these be a basic spacer style door pod where the drivers are positioned flat like the stock speakers or what? Anyway, the time frame you mentioned is perfect for me.

I went to Tweeter today and listened to the speakers they had displayed. They didn't have the Kenwood Excelons's I had seen online, but they had MB Quart, Boston, and Polk Momos. Out of those three, all of which in the $250 - $400 range, (the others they had in that room were not great) I actually preferred the Momos (MMC6500) the best. They had them for $299. They had another room with sets from $499 and up but that's out of my budget. I'll be looking around for a place to listen to the Excelons soon so I can compare. Both sets can be found for under $200 online so it's just a matter of which sounds the best. And again, these will be for my rear, and for now I'll keep the Boston 746 plates, then upgrade them to the same that I choose for the rear. Tweeter also had those plates that I have there in the same room, but on the "rear" wall and I was able to listen to the momos and the Boston 746 plates together even using the same Clarion HU that I have, so that was very nice. It all sounded very good even without a subwoofer added in. Obviously, I'm not hitting huge bass or anything, but the sound was strong and convincing.

I talked to the installer there and he said he would install my a/d/s 4-channel PQ20 amp with new wiring to all 4 speakers for $100 (plus amp kit) and install the rear speakers for $75. He has a friend with a track car 944 that has a nice stereo (maybe someone on here?). It has a nice set of separates in the front and rear so he was somewhat familiar with the car, though he didn't do the install. I told him he'd have to mount the rears to a 1/4" MDF plate and secure that in the hole back there and of course take off the trim and pop out the rear windows.. He still said it'd be $75 plus maybe $10 or $15 for materials. I know I could just do it myself, but for that price I can't refuse... at 6'5", I hate being cramped up in the back working on stuff like that so I'll let him do it haha.

Got Me a Porsha

I did a TON of research on speakers and locations before I was satisfied with my setup and this is what I found:

The rear speaker locations in '87-up cars have the removable plate with 4x6 two way speakers behind the panels. The remaining hole is actually 6 3/4" diameter, too big for a 6.5" speaker. Also, a piece of metal should be cut to fill the partial hole left by the 4x6 speaker. There is also a support brace toward the front of the hole, which does limit the diameter of the speaker frame. An oversized 6 3/4" speaker will not fit. However, the Alpine R-series SPR17LP supplies adaptor rings that not only adapt a 6.5" to the 6 3/4" hole, but they also use the factory 3 screw holes for mounting. Its a sweet deal.

One of the few speakers that will fit the shallow front locations is the Alpine SPS-46C2. The only catch is that the tweeters press against the factory grilles and cause them to bow. If you use the factory spacers between the speakers and the grilles they fit just fine.

I am running a small 70w rms amp, 2 channel, 2 ohm to fronts and rears and they sound FANTASTIC! I have decided against subs for now, as the low end is just incredible. It is the best low buck system I have ever had in a car.

And yes, I had to remove the side windows in mine to remove the panels without destroying them. It wasn't a big deal, just use the string trick to put them back in.

I hope this helps.