Stereo System - Need some Input
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From: Roswell, GA
I have PCE-210's and crossovers. I mounted one crossover where the stock amp used to be and the other under the drivers seat. As for mounting, I was lucky, if you can call it that, the PO's audio installer cut holes in the doors. That allowed me to mount the 4" speakers flush. The 4" on the rear quarters requires the use of a mounting ring. The rear crossovers and amp are hidden in the spare tire well.
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From: Buckeye, AZ
Glack:
Not sure about the tweeter upfront, but probably yes, as a single 4" would not be much of a stock setup. Look at the extent of the perforations - they seem to cover a lot of ground and should give you options to do various mountings undermeath. Somebody with an early will have to answer about the rear too. I don't know if the early rears were 6.5, but there is a lot of space behind the speakers, perhaps requiring a little change to the openings. The 6W0 I'm trying is huge. I won't have mine until next Monday, but the amp arrives today and I will be fiddling with the new headunit and amp tonight and over the holiday.
I'm probably going to get some of the PCE 210s. There should be space enough for the crossovers. Ed got the PSC 210 crossovers mounted on the panels. There should be enough clearance over the window opening in the bottom of the door.
Not sure about the tweeter upfront, but probably yes, as a single 4" would not be much of a stock setup. Look at the extent of the perforations - they seem to cover a lot of ground and should give you options to do various mountings undermeath. Somebody with an early will have to answer about the rear too. I don't know if the early rears were 6.5, but there is a lot of space behind the speakers, perhaps requiring a little change to the openings. The 6W0 I'm trying is huge. I won't have mine until next Monday, but the amp arrives today and I will be fiddling with the new headunit and amp tonight and over the holiday.
I'm probably going to get some of the PCE 210s. There should be space enough for the crossovers. Ed got the PSC 210 crossovers mounted on the panels. There should be enough clearance over the window opening in the bottom of the door.
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From: Stockton, CA
I need to update my sound system as well....first is a new deck then speaker upgrades with (hopefully) the JL Audo 6.5 woofers in the stock rear spots (enclosure built behind)
MB Quarts are very very good....years ago I used to compete in car stereo competitions (huge waste of money...) All I used for speakers was MB Quart...they were so much better sounding than everything else (JBL's were pretty good too).
MB Quarts are very very good....years ago I used to compete in car stereo competitions (huge waste of money...) All I used for speakers was MB Quart...they were so much better sounding than everything else (JBL's were pretty good too).
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From: Buckeye, AZ
Originally Posted by 86_5Tiburon
FWIW, mounting the crossovers outside the door meant not having to pull the door panels. YMMV
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From: Suburban St. Louis in Illinois.
For my setup, as I was using an aftermarket Alpine 4 channel amp (model # MRP-F240) to drive the high frequency speakers (all, but the Infinity Basslink powered sub)...I simply used the Alpine amps integrated High pass filter, to crossover the entire system from the sub. As all the speakers in my system were full range speakers in the first place, (Eclipse SE-8245 4" Coaxial in the doors, and the factory 6.5" and 4" an the rear)... this was an easy wiring task and very unobtrusive too. Also...considering the factory speakers are still employed in the rear, this setup sounds fantastic, and was still very economical. Only about $500 total.. for an upgrade of this magnitude... (less the Alpine head unit and shuttle), this system really sounds absolutely fantastic in my car. 
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Lots of good replies here already. A few comments:
- I'm will Bill on the door panel stuff. Might as well learn to take them off. It's a good skill to have. I've had them off countless times, for a lot of reasons. Once you get good at it, you should be able to do it in 10 or 15 minutes. For me, getting the door panels off was step 1 for a bunch of little maintenance things, like:
- Replacing speakers and mounting the (already mentioned in a previous message) rather large MBQuart crossovers.
- Removing lock cylinders for painting (had them painted along with GTS mirrors and rear wing when I upgraded those items).
- Replacing door stays (the thing that holds the door at one of three positions).
- Replacing a window motor.
- Replacing window guide felt.
- Replacing external door handle hinge. (the one that always eventually breaks)
- Whatever speakers you go with, make sure you've got a good plan and parts for mounting the speakers. MBQuart was good at providing the essential info (speaker and mounting hardware dimensions, etc.) and the availability of extra rings made it possible for doing the rears the way I did them (building up a nice, deep cylinder, using extra "aufbau" rings). I have no idea what all they have available these days (I know it has changed since I did mine), but the more you can figure out and obtain in advance, the better. It's a bummer if you rip into everything, only to find that you're going to have to order an unusual part to complete the job.
- Unfortunately, it's been long enough (6 years! Hard to believe!) since I did my install that a lot has changed. That means a lot of the model-specific stuff on my website is rather dated, but I'm hoping it's still useful on the overall apprach.
- The speaker system (including crossovers) is, IMHO, the most important part of the system. You can probably switch out many other things (external amp vs. head unit with amp, etc.) and get pretty good results, but a poor set of speakers or grossly mismatched speakers and/or crossovers isn't going to give you good results.
- At the time I got my speakers, MBQuart was very actively discouraging Internet sales of their products. I think this may have changed, as I see a few web-based sellers out there now. Low margin, low support, gray market, etc., etc., stuff (vs. local or at least reputable mail-order channels) is something you really need to do your homework on when you're looking to buy.
- In retrospect, I think I might have done a few things differently. I'd really like to recover some of my space in the rear. Travelling to Colorado and back a few months ago with my stuff and my wife's stuff all crammed into the back made me think maybe it's not worth trading off so much space for fancier components. I might just rework some of the stuff back there sometime to see if I can lower the floor a bit. So... if you're not doing a sub and a separate amp, you may very well be making a wise decision.
Last edited by Ed Scherer; Nov 23, 2005 at 11:17 PM.
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From: Great Falls, VA
Anyone else found a comparable amp that is short like this farenheit? Sounds like a good idea! Bill, let us know how if fits!!
You have me thinking about getting one of these. I just recently got an old amp out of the closet and was considering putting it in, but it would be very obvious anywhere in the car (and definitely wouldnt fit under the seat!!). So now Im liking the idea of a smaller amp that would fit under the seat.
You have me thinking about getting one of these. I just recently got an old amp out of the closet and was considering putting it in, but it would be very obvious anywhere in the car (and definitely wouldnt fit under the seat!!). So now Im liking the idea of a smaller amp that would fit under the seat.
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From: Buckeye, AZ
Well, Beer, I guess I should have felt around under the seat before hand. Ain't no way anything other than pocket change is going to fit under the seat, at least on the passenger side if you have rear AC. Haven't looked at the driver side yet. The power seats get down awfully low and the space gets very tight. I'm just taking things apart now. Maybe mounting the amp on the central panel lid will not take enough foot space (only an inch) to be noticeable. There are some small but not thin 2 channel amps - smaller than the stock amp. Perhaps 3 of them (for 5.1) scattered around would work better. Maybe trying to do anything other than what others have already done - using the spare tire well and/or the cargo area floor - is fruitless, but I'll keep trying for a while.
Last edited by Bill Ball; Nov 24, 2005 at 02:16 AM.
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From: Stockton, CA
Bill
Looking at spaces large enough to support an amp in the 928....there isn't very many....but two extremely large relatively unused spaces are.... the pockets in the doors!!! Even closed they have a vent out the top and a fairly large amp would fit in there....just getting the wiring to look clean would be the hard part!
I've seen the typical on the back of the rear seat amp or in the spare tire well + amp rack route....I just want something that is compeletly stealth...that sounds good and doesn't draw unwanted attention (928's are good at that already) In my old stereo competition car I actually had a double DIN pioneer deck with a motorized face and a huge LCD screen (hi tech back then)...it wouldn't last a week on the street in stockton...so I had it mounted slightly deep in the dash....sawed off the faceplate of the broken factory deck...and made a quick release mount for it...so when the car was parked I would put the old factory deck faceplate back on to hide it (complete with a tape sticking out)....everything else was hidden too....that car never got broken into!!!
Looking at spaces large enough to support an amp in the 928....there isn't very many....but two extremely large relatively unused spaces are.... the pockets in the doors!!! Even closed they have a vent out the top and a fairly large amp would fit in there....just getting the wiring to look clean would be the hard part!
I've seen the typical on the back of the rear seat amp or in the spare tire well + amp rack route....I just want something that is compeletly stealth...that sounds good and doesn't draw unwanted attention (928's are good at that already) In my old stereo competition car I actually had a double DIN pioneer deck with a motorized face and a huge LCD screen (hi tech back then)...it wouldn't last a week on the street in stockton...so I had it mounted slightly deep in the dash....sawed off the faceplate of the broken factory deck...and made a quick release mount for it...so when the car was parked I would put the old factory deck faceplate back on to hide it (complete with a tape sticking out)....everything else was hidden too....that car never got broken into!!!
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If you really want your stereo to come alive, pull the panels and put a set of MB Quarts (3 piece) 6.5, 4 and tweeter in the front. Plenty of room (with some subtle cutting) to fit the 6.5 up in the lower front of the door. It brings the whole sound stage forward and almost removes the need for a sub in back. I had one of our local stereo guru's (GoldKnight-Thurston P) do that on mine..and it's amazing....I borrowed a sub on the trip down to Sharktoberfest and it certainly helped, but isn't absolutely necessary. The amp on the back of the rear seat powers the MB quarts up front and the Blau Toronto runs the rear stock speakers-the original 6.5 back there was replaced with an alpine speaker). The other channels of the amp are bridged to provide power for the sub (when I get one).
I got the mb quarts package on Ebay with everything included (i.e. install rings xovers etc). Good place to find some old stock or cheaper prices....
Later,
Tom
89GT
I got the mb quarts package on Ebay with everything included (i.e. install rings xovers etc). Good place to find some old stock or cheaper prices....
Later,
Tom
89GT
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From: Buckeye, AZ
Tom, thanks for the ideas. Brian, the door pockets would accomodate a 12x6x2" or so amp. The 4-channel model I bought is 10x14x1.2. They do (or rather did) have a 2x60Watt RMS (CLX340-2) that is 10x7x1.2" Might fit there. Might fit under the seats too as one issue I have is the 14 inch side. Anyway, let me see what fits where. My 6W0s arrive Monday.
