JoeTaylor

Hi Jason,

Nope, the stock grill on my '88 screws on and off of the frame of the stock, 4-inch speaker, see photo. The Kenwood speakers dont have that type of frame (nor do any other speakers I know of).

The only way I could possibly do it, is to cut off the outer ring of the OEM speaker frame and use it with the new speaker. Not something I want to do.

If I can find some simple mesh grills, like from Pioneer or other speaker, I would like to use those. There are always left over grills from installs, just need to find someone with an extra set of 4 inch grills.

Joe

6mil928

I see thanks Joe.

blazing928

Well here's mine so far.

Rainbow 4" profi M100s in the door need a 6mm spacer, Brax HT1 tweeter, rainbow profi 6.5" kickbass in the door. I recessed mine as I wanted the clearance when exiting the car.
Door needs to be glassed around the speaker and I will replace the mdf spacer behind with an alloy one for better stiffness. Speaker screws direct to door metal so the door card goes over it. the door card wouldn't be strong enough.

If I ever find a cheap set of brax matrix 2.1s I will put them up on the dash with the tweeter and delete the two rainbows in the door.

Doors are heavilly treated with Second Skin Audio damplifier pro and spectrum. Slowly doing the rest of the car.
Amazing bass already, a sound judge was surprissed there was no subs yet.

Sub will be a Critical Mass UL12, amps by Brax X2400GE & X2000, HU; Clarion HXD2 & Pioneer for dvd, 3sixty2 digital processor, various Xovers. No rear speakers.



For other slim line speakers try Focal V slims and Hertz make some as well

Kevin in Atlanta

With some care you can separate the speaker from the portion with the screw holes. I then used that hold my MBQuart 4" 210s in place. As for the tweeters I did the same thing and mounted the MBQuart tweeters to the plastic tweeter ring. Then you can use all stock speaker covers.

As for the 6.5 woofers I had some help from the previous owner. His installer cut out the metal behind them. I filled that void with 'Great Stuff' and replaced the Soundstream with MBQuarts, of course. Then I mounted them under rather than on top of the speaker enclosure.

I used a second set of tweeters to do the tweeters in the back - had to after the PO's installed butchered the install.

The result is a very stock looking stereo system.

Don Carter

Joe,

I too discovered what 86_5Tiburon states above. The ring with the threads is not really part of the 4" speaker even though it looks that way. If you pull and pry for a while, it starts to seperate. The problem for me is that mine is brittle and cracked. I definately want to use the stock grills if possible.

I really want to go with components rather than 2 or 3 way if possible since they supposedly provide better sound. May have to purchase the 4" and tweeter seperately to get there though. I know Pioneer makes some really good tweeter seperates with just a capacitor on the back, so no crossover to mount. Might go that route if the web site mentioned above doesn't come though with some MBQs that fit. Haven't thought much about the rears yet, just want to get the fronts and a 10" sub with 4 channel amp that I already have, going first. I'll probably power the rears off the head unit and hook them up later.

JoeTaylor

Hi Don,

I see that too, it looks like the threaded screw-on ring is glued on to the frame of the OEM speaker.

I agree with you, its a bit much to take a chance of breaking the ring taking it off. I am just going to bag up the old speakers and keep them for the car so the if the next owners wants to return it to stock, he will have them.

A capacitor is a great way to do a simple 2-way cross over. You could use the one that is on the OEM tweeter already, or if you can read the specs on it, use that to buy one.

Also, I found a site and has simple, compact hi-pass and low-pass filters if you want that, here is the link:

http://www.parts-express.com/wizards...TOKEN=24434486

Also they sell capacitors for audio applications if you want to make a simple hi-pass filter:

http://www.parts-express.com/crossov...itor-index.cfm

In either case you can simply cover the capacitor or hi-pass filter with shrink tubing to isolate it electrically and just stick it in the door like the OEM tweeter has. This site also sells loose speakers as well for home and car audio, they have a nice selection and great prices.

Personally, with the 3-way, 4-inch Kenwood speakers, all that cross-over gear is built into the speaker. Not being lazy, but it just another thing I dont have wire up, just bolt the speaker in place and go.

I don't think that the quality is the issue considering all the background noise from the engine, tires, etc. from the car, haha. It's not like it's a sterio in your living room, where it is quiet!

The 3-way speakers for me are the "90% solution" without going crazy on costs.

VTY
Joe

cobalt

I Would have to find my old thread but I purchased the higher end MB quart speakers off Ebay over time. Found if I buy them as a single unit instead of pairs you can buy them cheap if your willing to wait. I was able to remove the factory speakers and use all openings without mods to the car. If you are creative enough you can bend the tabs to hold the factory grills in place and it looks as though it is stock. I also used a head unit to power all the speakers at 50 w x 4 minus the 6.5's which i used a separate amp installed under the cover at the right side of the passenger seat. This low frequency amp powers the 6.5's as mini subs and it sounds quite good. total cost was less $800 including new Nakamichi CD500 head unit which was around $450. If I had to buy these components as sets it would have run thousands.

Don Carter

Ah, excellent idea, using the tabs of the new speakers to hold the threads of the stock grills. I like that!

hans14914

One of the new trends in car audio is full-range or wide-range drivers. It has taken off after the recent popularity of single-driver full-range home audio speakers. There are several manufacturers out there that are making small drivers that should easily fit in the factory door locations. These drivers will need a subwoofer in the car to support them, but they should allow for a very simple and high-quality upgrade. The major players in the "value" end of this trend are Fountek, Mark Audio, and Hustler Audio (renamed H-Audio here in the US for obvious reasons). H-Audio manufactures for Fountek, and the Fountek drivers are the older technology units developed by H-audio... but sell for a song.

Here is the best value leader of the group, available at $26 each:
http://www.fountek.net/products_fr_88ex.htm

The second best value is the Mark Audio CHR-70 at $36 each:
http://markaudio.com/chr70

If you do want to make room for larger drivers, there are two "secrets" in the audio community. One being the Dayton Reference line available through parts express, the other is a new company called SB-Acoustics. Dayton drivers are one of the highest values out there. They are built right by several leading manufacturers (like Usher) but are a house brand of PE. SB-Acoustics is a sprout-off of ScanSpeak. A few of the engineers and designers decided to start their own company, and took a lot of the ScanSpeak knowledge with them. For those who dont know, SS is the OE for most high-end speaker manufacturers. In the automotive world, they manufacturer the drivers for Alpines F#1 status line that costs over $2k.

A very valuable resource for those considering building their own set of custom components is Zaph Audio, an independent reviewer of speaker drivers. He has many no-nonsense performance figures on a lot of drivers. Its a good reference for narrowing down some options, just look under the driver tests sections:
http://www.zaphaudio.com/

You can find a lot better value by building your own component set, and using the onboard crossover on your amp or headunit, or by purchasing a low cost stand-alone crossover.

Hope that helps.

6mil928

The reason I bought the new door panels is for a stock look instead of my Infinity 5 1/4" sitting outside the door panel.

cobalt

Found these pictures although they don't show much

Nak head unit looks close to stock and the MB quart speakers in teh doors using factory grills.

Don Carter

hans,

Interesting info about the full range drivers. I don't see how they get over 30khz with a single 4" driver, but I guess the specs don't lie. The price is very good on some of those drivers as well.

I'm now being told by the web site mentioned above, that they have contacted MBQ and have located 2 pair of the original model I ordered. They are "B stock" so probably returns but in new condition. I'm thinking these will be the "Made in Germany" speakers that are no longer available, so I'll probably go for them, after the mounting depth is confirmed. Should be a 2nd pair available if anyone is interested, price should be 129 or less. PM me if interested and I'll tell you who to contact.

Don Carter

Has anyone tried MB Quart RUI 210's? They are designed for shallow mounting and have front mounted magnets (new to me), but I'm kindof worried that the magnets stick out too far for the stock grills which are fairly flat.

http://www.mbquartusa.com/reference_speakers.html

Researching MBQ 210's is driving me nuts. So far I've counted eight different 210 model numbers. Often you can't find the mounting depth in the specs, and of course some aren't available.

I also noticed the RUA 210's which have a depth of 1.65 inches. I think they also have front mounted magnets.

6mil928

Can someone measure the stock door speak grills for me? I want to make sure when I find some that they are the correct size.

6mil928

Is this right Alan you have 5 1/4' in the doors and not 4"?