alex

There has been some chatter on the forum about stereo installation (specifically subs) so I thought I'd document my install, starting w/ speakers. I already have 6.5" components in the back, these are for the doors. I'll get to the subs and amp rack in another thread.

SO here is what we are installing today (note the directional tweeter ):



Part 1: Prep

Now, I've already done a little bit here, so I'll get you up to speed:



Here is the door, with a little material removed with an angle grinder to accommodate the larger speaker. In order for it to fit and clear the bottom of the dash, it needs to be about 1/2" offset toward the back of the car.

The crossovers are going in the back of the car w/ the amp rack- this is to accommodate easy removal for track days (subs and amps are HEAVY!). I have already run Audioquest 16g x 4 wire from the back of the car, through the center console, under the dash and through the door. This will give me what I need for the woofers and tweeters.



It isn't pretty, but its very good wire for home theater applications.

I am using the 6.5" adapters with the speakers because that gives them the right amount of clearance. The speakers have a mounting depth of about 2.25", and I was going to use some MDF to get the clearance I need, but when you have a perfectly round plastic spacer available, why not use that?

I wanted the new backing panel to be thin since it had to fit between the lower dash and the door, so for this project I'm using 1/8" aluminum sheet that will be covered w/ black vinyl.

Making the template:

I want to utilize the upper screw holes, since I'm going to need to cover the entire hole in the door panel anyway.

-quick note: I am planning on building some carbon fiber panels w/ speaker pods built in, but that isn't going to happen until the summer, so this is a stop gap, but should look good enough to be considered a final product-

OK, so first thing I did was to put a piece of cardboard behind the stock speaker cover and trace the general shape of the new backing panel using the speaker spacer as a guide:




Without spacer:



Resulting product:



Now if I weren't so psychotic, I'd use this to start cutting the new backing panel. Instead, I'm going to scan this and the spacer and use Illustrator to design a perfect template.



In a perfect world, my template would be symmetrical, like this:



However, they really weren't all that interested in good sound in the late 70's when the basic design for the doors was completed, so Porsche used the tiniest, most shallow, wimpiest speakers ever. Anyway, add your 1/2" offset and your template looks like this:



With the woofer:



With the door closed (this is where you see why it needed the 1/2" offset):



In the next part I'll fab the new backing panel and cover it, and prepare the door panel for the woofer and tweeter.

billthe3

Fancy fancy. I went for the hold in place with one hand and draw around it with the other method for cutting out the necessary space, but your method sure does look a lot better.

alex

Part 2: Fabrication

I have quite a bit of this aluminum sheet, its actually a bit thinner than the 1/8", I'm not sure what gauge it is.

Traced outline of the template on the sheet:




Cutting the outline with the angle grinder (my ears are still ringing):




Outline finished, need to clean up the edges:




I used a bench belt sander for that:




Cut out the center with a jig saw w/ metal blade:




I used 3m general trim adhesive:



I found the best way to do this is to spray the face of the backing plate, then clamp it down with some way to distribute the pressure, and worry about the back later:




With the back I basically went opposite sides until I had gone all the way around:



While letting that cure a little, I decided to cut the door panel. It doesn't require much- a utility knife will do the trick. I wanted to make sure before I cut, so I put the panel on with the template, in order to make sure I wasn't messing anything up. I just got these door panels, so I'd hate to have to get another set!




Here is the cut:




Here is the speaker with spacer and surround (minus the grill) with the door closed:




Finally, the new backing plate with the center cut out:




It turned out pretty good, there are a few bumps on the bottom, but the speaker will protrude about 1", so it won't be noticeable. For the other side I'll make sure to remove more of the fabric and make the V cuts on the back first, I realized I should have done that first after it was too late.

Camera battery is out, and its almost 3am, so thats it for now. Still to come: Prepping door panel for tweeter, adding aluminum to door interior for mounting point w/ pop rivets, dynamat, backing plate install, woofer install, & tweeter install.

Opeth

Looks good man, keep the pics comin!

zehnd

Lookin forward to the rest!

alex

RE: the speakers- these should be finished up tomorrow(fingers crossed). Then I'll tackle the sub boxes and amp rack. The setup will be as follows:

2 12" subs in the the back rear corners, but won't be facing each other directly to avoid sine wave/polarity sound cancellation. Then the amp rack will hold them since they are at an angle. The amp rack will have the 2 sub amps and a 4 channel amp for the speakers as well as the 4 crossovers for the front/back components. Also, my 2.5 farad cap. It is going to be awhile since I want to fabricate all of the above mounts with carbon fiber. I may even do mdf w/ out the CF just to get every thing working and to make sure everything fits. Now, THAT will be a solid how to.

Just wait until I get my 5.1 head unit which will happen before the subs/ amp rack in there that plays dvd audio (not dvd-a, unfortunately) and sacd and dts disks . Now I need to get my center channel. ***This system does not use a screen, so back off, mister.

alex

To whet your appetite for what is to come, why not a couple pics of the skeleton (or something close to it) that will be wrapped in CF? The CF amp rack pictured won't be used, a new one will be built for the back of the car- it currently limits cargo space there, this just what I have right now.

Supachink

how will the sub be mounted in the cubby area to keep it from moving around? I was thinking about doing something similar to this with a single 10. Jager Garage9 used to have a box that they made, but it is NLA these days and i cant seem to find one anywhere.

alex

Hey man-

The beauty of my design (I've put in in a Mazda pick up also) is that the amp rack secures the sub box(es). The amp rack will lean toward the back of the car, over the spare tire bump, and be fastened with several clamps. It looks great if you do it right. In my car, I'll have one on each side, with the amp rack secured against them.

Basically you are just holding the back of the box in place, with the way the interior of the hatch area is, they won't be able to go forward, so as long as you can keep them from rotating out of their spot, they'll stay.

Another thing: my boxes are going to dip down into the recess a bit, and I know that I've seen someone selling pre-made boxes that seem to use that as their security- the bottom of the box sticks down a good 12" into the recess, so its not going anywhere.

EDIT- looks like you were talking about the same ones that I'd seen. Make your own, it not hard. Get some mdf, a little pneumatic nailer, some wood glue and silicone and go to town. I always start out with cardboard templates first-

alex

Part 3: Finish

First thing to do now is reconnect the lower left with an aluminum bridge in order to have a place for the lower left screw.




Here is the bridge that I cut out with the jig saw:






I covered it in Dynamat to avoid any rattles. I also had to remove the lip on the inside of the door. Here I am about to attach it w/ a pop rivet:




Here is the bridge attached with 2 rivets, and the clip for the speaker screw attached:




Next I covered most of the metal on the inside of the door with Dynamat. This also fixed a rattle that I used to have when I closed the door. You can pretty much do about half the door, it will deaden the whole thing pretty well.

The clips for the speaker screws are circled:




Now lets turn our attention to the tweeter. I like these plugs for wiring since you will have to remove the door panel eventually. I'll probably solder them after I make my new rood panels, but this is for ease of use right now. I like to use the male ends for the + wire coming off the tweeter, the female for the - just to keep them separate:




You don't need a hole saw to do this, but it sure makes it easy.




And the hole:




Here is how the tweeter attaches:




I used a little dynamat to secure the wires. I ran them into the top of the hole for the woofer, there won't be a speaker in that area.




Here they are plugged in:




I used these connectors for the woofer wires, they slide right on the back of the woofer:




Now I put the spacer and backing plate on. It took a little while due to having to find the clips with the screws. I had to use 1" screws. ***********MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE HANDLE ON THE DOOR PANEL********* If you are reusing your old panels, it won't be a problem, but I was using new ones . I had to remove some of the screws to get it on once I realized I'd messed up.




Plugged the wires into the woofer:




Woofer installed:




Here are the tweeter and woofer installed, minus grills:




Now with the grills and the rest of the door trim:




With the door closed:






I still need to clean up a little, but thats it as far as the install is concerned. For now the crossovers are going to be under my temporary amp rack, I'll document how I install those in the big sub/amp install thread.

544DRS

Good timing for me...I just started cutting metal today for mounting my front speakers. Mine are 6.5" Infinity 3-way speakers, and I didn't choose them until after I disassembled my 944, so it was good to see how you've cut your holes to deal with the dashboard.

Thanks,

Nick

alex

Good luck with everything. I actually left the passenger side brushed aluminum. I'm going to give it a few weeks and decide if I want the plates covered or not.




By the way, these speakers sound awesome. I have some orion 6.5" components in the rear quarters (the woofers literally look like baby subs, huge magnets and all) along with a Sony MEX-DV2000 head unit that outputs 5.1 dvds (trying to navigate the Rush concert dvds with no screen can get a little frustrating!) and 5.1 sacds along with regular cds and mp3/wma cds. I don't even have my subs in yet and its amazing. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a great head unit that can really make the most of any disk you have. I got it for about $200 online, haven't been able to find it in stores.

544DRS

I went back and forth about using components and decided not to, because this is my first install. That said, I'm probably still overdoing it, because I'm throwing everything into it:

head unit
processor
changer
two amps
fronts/rears/subs
computer
7'' LCD screen
alarm

Wish me luck,

Nick

alex

You can always add components later. I've just been blown away with the difference, but there are some really good 2 or 3 way speakers out there also. Don't forget the pics!

hockeydude

GREAT writeup!!

Looks awesome!