Door speakers with maximum "woof"?

I am searching for the 6.5" speakers with the most capacity for bass - i.e. the most xmax - that can fit within our doors using the rings from iaperformance.com. Anyone got suggestions?

 

I think I might be satisfied with the stock stereo, if I just upgrade the speakers to make room for a little more bass. Never thought I'd say that (used to have two 12" subs, three amps etc, etc) but I definitely don't need more volume, I just want to feel the low end a little more. I figure if I get some good strong speakers in the stock locations I can probably be satisfied without adding a subwoofer. I might end up deciding to get a sub anyway, but I figure I should see how much bass I can get out of the stock 6.5 locations first.

 

I'm no audiophile and I'm not going to visit shops to A/B test speakers. The stock speakers sound good enough to my ears, so anything that doesn't suck worse will be just fine. (And I am familiar with the stock head unit's frequency response issue, and I can live with it.)

 

IAPerformance claims that their rings will speakers 2.9" deep, has anyone run into issues with anything smaller? (i.e. is their claim for real?)

 

Has anyone tried to fit a CDT M6, or MTX TXC6.1? I'm not likely to spend more than $200 per speaker, but I might if it's worth it.

 

Thanks!

I'm looking for the same thing as you are my friend.......

If I understand you correctly, you want more bass with the stock amp? You can marginally improve the bass with new speakers, but without additional power it's almost a wasted effort. Spend your time and money on dampening the doors and you'll get the improvement you're looking for.

 

As for the CDT M6, I have the Braxials installed and the bass it produces is crazy! You will have to use 1" of spacers to get the CDT's to fit. This requires 2 sets of IA spacers as each one is only good for .75".

I'm aware of the limitations of the stock amp, and I don't believe I am hitting them yet. If I turn it up, I get distorted bass with clean highs, which tells me that it's the speaker that is clipping, not the amp. I will be damping the doors when I swap speakers, for sure.

 

Did you have any trouble getting the door panels to fit correctly with the extra spacers installed? Did you have any trouble with the window hitting the speaker, or rattling against it when the window is down?

 

Thanks!

The search for awesome midbass has allowed me the good fortune of experiencing all the issues you described.

 

The window hitting the speaker magnet is how I know a 1" spacer is needed.

 

If you order the IA spacers, they include 1/2 pin extenders for the door. This helped, but with my braxials, it's not enough. The tweeter is pushing up on the door panel. I have not fixed this yet.

 

Rattling, now that's a sore spot. After seriously dampening the doors, it's my door panels/switches that rattle now. So much so, that I've turned up my crossover to reduce the noise until I get it fixed. I've ordered more dampening material and acoustic foam to try and resolve this. Anything in your door pockets will rattle too.

 

The main issue is the part of the handle that needs to be removed to access the 2 screws. After forcing this piece it's become loose and rattles over time. I also believe that because the tweeter is touching the door panel (in my case), extra energy is being transfered to the doors. I'm thinking about moving away from the braxials and back to focal...

I had the problem with my infinity perfects hitting the door and rattling like crazy. This was fixed with the extenders that are provided with the iaperformance kit, but I was also told that I could shave down the interior door panel to prevent it from touching. Sound dampening will be your very best friend, it even made my stock speakers sound decent. The infinitys have amazing mid-bass, all the way down to 75 Hz range that they are rated for (would be good going lower than that, but that's where the crossover cuts it off).

OEM sub will give you exactly what you're looking for with less headaches.

I've given that some thought, but if it doesn't satisfy me then the money was wasted. But if I upgrade the stock speakers and decide to get an amp later, nothing is wasted. Plus that leaves me with one less place to put a carputer.

Ok, but the OEM sub will put out more bass than any full range door speaker ever will.

Ok, but the OEM sub will put out more bass than any full range door speaker ever will.

 

Bold statement... You're not trying hard enough.

Bold statement... You're not trying hard enough.

Well, you're sort of hitting my point. Why do things the hard way? It seems silly to try to get more SPL out of an IB setup than an enclosed sub.

How about four IB subs vs. one enclosed?

 

Seems like a close race, actually. Four subs could yield an extra 6db vs one speaker. Give that we're dealing with 6.5" speakers, an enclosure could make that up in the 40hz range, which is what I want to augment.

 

And the door speakers will be limited by the head unit's amplifier, whereas the OEM sub has its own amp...

So you've obviously put some thought into this & aren't new at car audio. A couple problems with your approach tho -

 

If I turn it up, I get distorted bass with clean highs, which tells me that it's the speaker that is clipping, not the amp.

 

Nope, that's your amp clipping. Not enough juice. The best speakers on the planet will have the same problem.

 

You mentioned wanting to augment 40hz. Problem is the signal from the HU is down a good 6db at 40 hz.

 

You'd get better results from the OEM sub. It won't do much below 50 hz other than some harmonics but it'll do better than any door speaker - Jeff's right.

 

If you truly want to upgrade the doors you've got a max of 3" depth before you're hitting the window with the magnet. Going custom will open that up but that's a different ballgame.

Plus with that much spacer involved you'll have Xmax issues too. They're solvable tho.

Remember the OEM sub has it's own amp enclosed. I was extremely satisfied with it's results. Just also remember to tweak the sub's adjustments to your sound requirements.

Ed in Philly

stock sub was enough to get my side mirrors to vibrate. that said, four MBQuart Premium 6.5" midbasses, 100wx4 of clean power, plexi trim rings sealed with dumbgum and a metric shit ton of dynamat will get you what you are looking for.

Thanks Patagonian. BTW, do you own a conure? You nick had me wondering.

 

But r.e. the OEM sub...

 

I might end up deciding to get a sub anyway, but I figure I should see how much bass I can get out of the stock 6.5 locations first.

 

(hint, hint... )

Thanks Patagonian. BTW, do you own a conure? You nick had me wondering.

 

But r.e. the OEM sub...

 

 

 

(hint, hint... )

I guess if you insist...then here's what you need:

 

4 good IB subs...I've not too much experience with this, but I've heard that CDT M6 are good for the job - I'm sure those will be a bit of work to fit. Then to power those, you need a bunch of juice. PG Xenon 100.4 is probably good. Then to hook that shit up, you'll need a bunch of LOCs. From there, you are still left with dealing with factory equalization which sucks the bass out of high volumes. Time for Cleansweep! All that amounts to well over a grand - and the OEM sub costs what....$150? To each their own I guess!

I guess if you insist...then here's what you need:

 

4 good IB subs...I've not too much experience with this, but I've heard that CDT M6 are good for the job - I'm sure those will be a bit of work to fit. Then to power those, you need a bunch of juice. PG Xenon 100.4 is probably good. Then to hook that shit up, you'll need a bunch of LOCs. From there, you are still left with dealing with factory equalization which sucks the bass out of high volumes. Time for Cleansweep! All that amounts to well over a grand - and the OEM sub costs what....$150? To each their own I guess!

 

If I recall correctly, the oem sub gets its signals from the rear speaker outputs, thus is subject to the factory head unit's frequency response quirks. The 40-60 range is only off by a couple db, and is actually boosted above the baseline at low volume levels, so I doubt I'll be getting a Cleansweep. It's a great idea, but I'm not the target market.

 

Currently busy comparing figures for CDT M6, MBQ Premium, and Focal Audiom 6W, etc, etc. I think I'd be most happy with the CDTs if they'll fit without major issues, but I'm not sure if that's possible.

Thanks Patagonian. BTW, do you own a conure? You nick had me wondering.

 

 

que que??

Never mind. http://www.google.com/search?q=patagonian+conure

oh....'Patagonian' refers to many things, not just a bird.

Remember the OEM sub has it's own amp enclosed. I was extremely satisfied with it's results. Just also remember to tweak the sub's adjustments to your sound requirements.

Ed in Philly

+1

If I recall correctly, the oem sub gets its signals from the rear speaker outputs, thus is subject to the factory head unit's frequency response quirks. The 40-60 range is only off by a couple db...

 

Can someone confirm and elaborate on this? It sounds like the OEM sub gets a full-range speaker-level signal and amplifies it.

that's exactly right. the OEM sub has it's own internal crossover, but the input is full range and speaker level off the rear channels.