trosser001

Will Focal 6.5" speakers fit in 993 (non hi fi) without mods?

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I recognize that there are many, many, many threads in this forum regarding stereos in our 993s. And out of respect to the community, I want you guys to know that I did my due diligence and searched over the last 2 days for any posts where someone answers this question:
•Will the Focal 6.5 inch component speakers fit in the stock lower front door speaker cutoouts of a 1995 993 (non hi-fi), without having to cut the metal or door panel?

I could not find the answer, so I had to post the question.

Why do I care? Well, I'm going to update the speakers in my '95 993, and I like the Focal speaker sound and build quality. And finally, I like the sound of the 6.5 more/better than the 5.25 in Focal offerings.

I have read in a few posts that there is more room than the 5.25 inch of the original Nokia speakers - thus possibly allowing us to fit in a 6.5 inch. But, I don't want to have to cut metal nor door panel.


A few of the Rennlisters posts speak of the fact that they do have the 6.5 inch Focals mounted, but they fail to mention if there was any cutting of original materials to get the necessary room.


Also, there are a few variants of the Focal 6.5 inch compenents (I'm going with a 2 way). Besides price, they have differing required mounting depths....

Can anyone confirm what the available mounting depth is?

For reference, here is a sample of the required mounting depths of a few of the Focal 6.5 inch variants:

PS 165 - 65.5 mm
PS 165FX - 77.0 mm
PS 165 F - 72.5 mm
PS 165 AS - 62.90 mm
PS 165 KR - 71.0 mm

JB 911

Here's a good one. Depth wasn't a problem for me. 6.5's fit fine. If you want to reuse the mounting tabs you may have to notch out the door cards as in this thread but it's not much and it's under the vinyl so no big deal. If you choose to direct mount - i.e. drill into door sheet metal instead of using clips, you won't have to. Some people say to direct mount will give you the best sound as there's less vibration.

https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...grade-fyi.html

Christian J

I put in 6.5's on the door cards for an easy fit but my speakers buzz.

95_993

^^^ Same with my passenger door speaker ^^^

ble2011

Mine buzzed until I made sure all screws went through the door card and seated into the metal.

stltri

Does the sound quality significantly differ between the stock size and the 6.5"? I'm assuming the stocks are drilled into the metal?

Spyder_Man

I cannot comment to sound quality comparisons since I've yet to hear these sorts of speakers in a 993, but when I asked some car audio professionals for advice, they all recommend going with 6.5" speakers.

I think the 6.5" will provide a bit more low end than smaller speakers which will probably be a noticeable difference unless you add in customer subwoofers somewhere to fill in the low range.

trosser001

Update: so I experimented with both mounting ideas (door card vs into the door sheet metal). The sound difference was noticeable and I'm an old Dead Head with many live, loud, show's under my belt (= poor hearing).

The winning setup was into the door sheet metal. I went a bit further though and cut nylon washers (actually, spacers) to size (about 1/2 inch in thickness) and placed them between the door card and the door sheet metal. The screws pass through the spacers and when tightened, securely hold the speakers in place without warping the door cards. See example of nylon spacers in pict, below...

Now the tweeters were another story and required me to carefully alter the stock housing to hold the Focal tweets in place. But that is worthy of another update when I have more time!

ble2011

I too found that screwing the speakers securely into the sheet metal was best. I noticed the bass was not as muddy. I just screwed mine in however, no spacers and didn't have an issue.

JimPA

trosser001,

Which specific 2-way Focal 6.5" model did you choose? This upgrade is on my to-do list (like yours, a non-hi fi car).

I like the nylon spacer to avoid deforming the door cards. I look forward to the details of your tweeter installation.

trosser001

I failed to update this thread with the sound quality of the Focal Performance PS 165FX, and I can't be any more happy. The difference in sound quality was mind boggling. Wow. They are now 3 years old and continue to make impressive sound - deep when called on, and balanced at all times. Volume is not a problem for these beasts either; distortion? Nope.

The tweeters were a bit difficult, I decided to use the stock/original housing which then necessitated my fabricating a new backplate out of sheet metal. Actually, it was fun, just a bit time consuming.

kevin2012

Guys picture please.

palladio

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