Speaker size, 4X6 or 5 1/4?

[Dtrain475]

What is the deal with these speakers, and what do I replace them with? I read on this forum that the 911's (87) came with 4X6's in the rear, and that's what Best Buy has listed as well.

I had one salesperson sell me a 4X6 replacement, quite a bit smaller in the pic. I took them back and the next guy said to put a 5 1/4 speaker in there. (Only the speaker)

Any ideas? 4X6 or 5 1/4????? Thanks

You can see the one I took out, vs. the 4X6 that I planned on replacing it with-

[David]

That looks like an ADL speaker. Was it mounted on top?

The PO had speakers like those. I put 5-1/4" speakers in back but I had to have the deck recovered. If you can get those 4x6's to mount and look 'right' I'd go with them since they'll cover the original perferations on the rear deck.

[Dtrain475]

The speakers that I took out were ADS, looked like originals.... however, not 4X6's.

[movin]

How in the world did you get those ADS rear speakers out? I have the exact same and can't figure out how to remove them. I tried prying between seam of the base and grill frame to no avail. It looks like the grill comes off by itself first, right?

[al lkosmal]

Why replace them? Those are very good ADS speakers. Are they toast?

Movin. If you take the grill off the mounting screws are revealed.

P.S. My 77S has these mounted in the doors.

[javadog]

Dtrain,

The original speakers in the rear of an '87 would have been the 4x6 size. A previous owner haas added the ADS speakers; Porsche never used them. If you have a set of the original Porsche rear speaker grilles, and the installation of the ADS speakers didn't leave marks on the upholstery that the grills won't cover (or you don't care about the marks), then you could use the 4x6 size. If there are marks, and you want to cover them, you'll have to use something bigger. Keep in mind, the 4x6 speaker will not have great sound quality. Most 5 1/4 speakers aren't great either. The ADS speakers will sound better, unless they are damaged.

JR

[Wil Ferch]

5 1/4 is the size used OEM in the doors....

- Wil

[wholberg]

I installed 6 1/2 Infinity speakers in my doors without any modification; they fit very nicely in the holes vacated by the 5 1/4 speakers.

The 4x6 in the rear really cannot put out good full spectrum sound, so I put Infinity 4x6 speakers in the back with in-line base blockers as I don't expect them to be good for low freqencies anyway.

Overall they sound great, but I will qualify that statement by saying that I have always considered car stereos to be a compromise, in that road and traffic noise will always swamp out that last 3% of audio fidelity that you pay so much for, so I don't consider it important.

[movin]

My '87 has the exact same ADS rear deck speakers. I know the brand in the past was great, I still own home componet speakers by ADS over 27 years old, rebuilt once and still sound better than most of the stuff heard today. (The only thing that sounded better was ESS with the Heil Air transformer Tweeters or an Ohm Walsh). I think maybe the best thing to do is have the units rebuilt if that still can be done.
Hey Dtrain475, what brand are those speakers from Best Buy in the pic?
I'm going to search for an ADS rebuilder to see if they can refurbish the speakers I have. If I find one I'll post.

[88-diamondblue]

Check out www.humanspeakers.com. he may very well be able to refurb the ADS speakers. I am planning on installing the long throw 6" speakers in my doors. Too many things on the list.

[movin]

I found this site on e-bay where they sell the ADS replacement woofers for that unit if you're interested in rebuilding it. I seriously doubt that other unit from Bestbuy would come close to the sonic performance of the ADS unit. ADS is a very high end, quality product. Any how, the tweeters are most likely in very good shape, usually the woofer/midrange just gets tired sounding.
Check this site out. You need the 5 1/4" woofer ADS L300, $75 for the pair.
http://stores.ebay.com/ADS-Speakers

[movin]

Hey Dtrain 475, do you want to sell those ADS speakers? I'm interested because one of the tweeters in my set is weak. Let me know!

[Dtrain475]

I haven't been on this topic in a while. I replaced the ADS speakers with Infinity 5 1/4's and modified the ADS cover to fit them.

The speakers in the pic were infinity, although I took those back. Those were actually 4X6's I believe, but after taking mine out I realized they wouldn't really work.

To get those ADS type covers off, don't pry!! They have to come off from underneath. There are 4 screws holding that back interior panel on there, unscrew those and you can take the whole panel out pretty easily.

Movin... I'll look in the garage, see what I have.

Dtrain-


For the record, I did have some issues and wanted to start fresh. I went with Infinity 5 q/4 in the rear and a 6 1/2 in the doors with Tweeters, also Infinity. Sounds much better, although there isn't much base. The rears should be even bigger yet, but there really isn't any room. Some guys have put 6X9's back there. I think for base, some alternate method is required. Bazooka tube or something maybe... Kenwood powered woofer under the seat or something.

I still want more, the deck is at least 10 years old and it wouldn't hurt to use an amp. Maybe a winter project.... If I decide to keep the car-

[Dtrain475]

Let me see what I have in the garage, check the thread on this....

[movin]

OK, I'll check back later. I just found out one of the ADS tweeters sounds a little weak, may need replacing too.

[cwiraz]

hi, I got a 911 '79 sc targa, and I need to replace front/back speakers, and at the moment Im confused, can anyone advise what size I need? thanks mucho!

[Canada Kev]

What size do you need? Or want...? Factory sizes are 5 1/2 up front, but I don't know about the rear. I installed 6.5" coaxials in the back deck to replace some big clunky boxes. I likely wouldn't have done anything except the existing grills were pretty ugly and all cracked and broken. The doors got 6 1/2 separates.

There are lots of posts that have to do with audio. I suggest you take a look at some results of a search. Lots of reading...

Some pics of my install:

[wildcat077]

I just installed some JBL 5 1/4 inch speakers in the doors on my 89 Carrera last weekend and will be replacing the rear 4x6's soon...
The previous owner had already replaced the stock speakers with some JVC units and i didn't like the sound.
Much better with JBL's which i purchased at Best Buy.There aren't many options for matching sets for the front and rear.
From what i saw and listened to,there were Pioneers,Alpines,Infinity and JBL's and the JBL's sounded the best out of the lot,as they were all priced approx the same !
Everything fits in the original locations,no hacking of your doors or rear deck involved !

Cheers !
Phil

[wildcat077]

Picture ...

[nineball]

alpine 6.5" components up front





no rear speakers, recovered the shelf





built my own rear seat delete to house a pair of 8" woofers











the stock rear speakers were 4x6 but you can replace them with some 6x9 if you want to, just need to possibly slightly modify the rear parcel shelf to accept them.