Rear Speakers Placement ideas?

[scotricker]

I will be installing new front speakers, then of course a newer head unit, (see Blaupunkt Portland CM85 with CD changer in for sale forum)

But the rear shelf has what looks like harness attach points, and is solid metal under there, so I don't think there will be enough room to install rear speakers.

I might remove the rear seat backs, and make a shelf there, or even get some used seat backs and insall speakers in them.

What have others done?

I plan to put powered subs under the front seats, and component speakers in the front doors with separate tweeters. but where should the rears go?

[willtel]

If you have a quality set of components up front leave the rear speakers out all together. Rear fill simply isn't needed in a car this size.

[nineball]

i agree. i removed the front and rear speakers and replaced the fronts in mine and the results are much better. it's not really fair to compare the two systems based on the quality of products and installation but the difference is night and day. another benefit is that you can get away with a single 4 channel amp as well depending on your needs for sub power.

my install went beyond what most would do but it should give you plenty of ideas.

new audio install

[scotricker]

I was thinking of a 4 X 50 watt JVC head unit with infinity component speakers in the doors, and add two low profile powered subs under the front seats.

So then, if no rear speakers, what to do with those other 2 channels?

[PCA7GGR]

Get yourself an enclosure like the one pictured below. They come up on the boards every now and then. Most were made by Clover and they were pre-cut to accommodate a variety of speakers so make sure that the one you find is pre-cut for the dimensions you need. Mine was cut for 4X10s so that what I have in it. It points the speakers towards you instead of up towards the rear window.

[tchanson]

The Moch-1 enclosures are also still available new, if interested:

Speakers for your Porsche 911 or 912






Tim

[SCOTITUDE]

6x9's will fit with a spacer and clear the metal shelf underneath. Its an old pic and I dont remember the exact dimension. I used the template on the back of the box for the shape and maybe an inch in depth. Long screws thru the speaker and a nut underneath in the engine bay.

[GaryR]

Not to hijack, but what are the very best speakers available nowadays that will fit in the door enclosures? Minor modification is fine.

[dipso]

I put a couple in the space by the rear seat belt reel. I used shallow speakers but I think regular might fit.
It looks cleaner than speakers on the rear shelf.

[RWebb]

it does look cleaner

for the R shelf location, the back glass will bounce treble back towards you -- I doubted the advantage until I tried it (on a Boxster) but it did improve the sound - even with small, rel. cheap speakers

I was surprised b/c the things are hardly "time-aligned" etc.

If you are heavily interested in audio in your 911, you might try different speakers in different spots, all with EQ...

[Kemo]

I have seen replacement rear shelves that are raised up a bit to accomodate 6x9s. I think I saw it in Excellence, this was a long time ago...

[NoEardGoat]

Originally Posted by willtel

If you have a quality set of components up front leave the rear speakers out all together. Rear fill simply isn't needed in a car this size.

Well put! You don't need them and can make a really good system sound worse.

Really high quality audio died a couple years ago. The emphasis is now more towards loud farty bass. If you know what your looking for you can pick up a used set of really good speakers for cheap. The same is true for amps, the high quality older stuff was simply better. I just put a system in my Dodge ram with Kef(UK version) 6x9's in the doors, 4" Kef in rear (under very little power) and a element designs 12" sub. powered by an Alpine head unit. I got everything but 1 amp and the sub for free, but got a nice Eclipse amp used off ebay for cheap and bought a new sub from elemental designs.

Diamond Audio made really nice speakers, Focal, Kef, Elemental Designs

Amps: Eclipse, some of the older Fosgate, Zapco, Phoenix Gold, Helix (German),

Head Units: Alpine, Eclipse (older), Nakamichi, Denon.

[fritzgator]

I did what Scottitude did. install place cut spacers that matched the speaker grill shape. better than stock size and much more selection with 6x9's.

[nineball]

Originally Posted by scotricker

I was thinking of a 4 X 50 watt JVC head unit with infinity component speakers in the doors, and add two low profile powered subs under the front seats.

So then, if no rear speakers, what to do with those other 2 channels?

you have a world of options. you first have to decide on what speakers you want to use and then get an amp that can supply the power they need. jvc makes some very good head units but they also make some that are not worth the money. another thing to keep in mind is that if you are going to use an amplifier then the hu power rating (in your case 4x50) means nothing. those ratings are usually overinflated as well a the standard is around 22 watts rms per channel from a hu - not enough to properly drive a set of components.

for example lets say you got some alpine type-r component speakers for the front. ( Alpine SPR-17S (spr17s) 6-1/2" Component Systems Car Speakers Car Audio Car Audio, Video, & GPS Navigation - Sonic Electronix ) they can handle 110 watts rms per side so you would need an amp that can do 75-125 per channel. you could pick up an alpine pdx4.100 ( Alpine PDX-4.100 (pdx4100) Multi-channel Amps Car Amplifiers Car Audio Car Audio, Video, & GPS Navigation - Sonic Electronix ) which would supply you with 100 watts rms for each component and still have 2 channels left over. you could then bridge those channels to give you a single 200 watt rms channel to power the sub(s). you could pick up something like this shallow mount kenwood ( Kenwood eXcelon KFC-XW1000F (kfcxw1000f) 10" Subwoofers Car Subwoofers Car Audio Car Audio, Video, & GPS Navigation - Sonic Electronix ) and it would be a pretty good match.

Originally Posted by GaryR

Not to hijack, but what are the very best speakers available nowadays that will fit in the door enclosures? Minor modification is fine.

"the best" is a subjective statement. there are so many companies that make quality speakers there really is no single best. i am an alpine fan (except for the newer headunits) and run an oldr pair of type-x components. hybrid audio, cdt, alpine, mb quart, and scanspeak all make excellent quailty products but you are going to pay top dollar for them, with some running well over $1000 for a set.

due to the mounting position of the speakers and the fact that the window is not a factor you can mount just about any 6.5" speaker in our doors. for tweets in a component set you pretty much have to do a surface mount or cut a new hole in the door panel and the inner door skin.

[Tadpole]

I made my own rear seat delete. I then made speaker boxes which are removable with wingnuts from underneath the shelf. The 6X9's are now facing toward the front. I'm not running door speakers.

[willtel]

As you see there are plenty of ways to skin this cat!

Here is my install if you aren't confused already.
911 SQ stereo install with custom sub enclosure

[RWebb]

I agree that the primary emphasis should be on high quality sound - using speakers in front.

I am partial to Focals...

But rear speakers added on will surprise you.

if you make an enclosure, you add wt. so there will be a tradeoff.

[scotricker]

6 1/2 s will fit in the doors?

[scotricker]

oops, wait, I have hand cranker windows..no 6.5's for me

[CT944]

I just installed new Pioneer 4x6's (3 way) in the rear and 5 1/4's (2 way) in the front. Perfect fit. Got them today at Best Buy.