Can I get some speaker advice?
 

I've done many searches on pelican regarding this subject, but just need some last-minute advice before I make a speaker purchase.

1) Anyone know the maximum depth for the 4x6 speakers in the rear deck of an '86 Targa? The numbers I've seen say 1.75 but can't find anything less than 1.8 or 1.9. . . Would anything less than 2" work?

2) Would you choose to put in 6.5" blaupunkt speakers OR would you go with 5.25" Focals (reason for this decision is that there's a great site www.zalytron.com to get cheap focals but they don't have a 6.5 coaxial).

The Zalytron guys suggested a 6.5" focal component (which has a neodinium tweeter which he seemed to think was pretty special but I know nothing about). Is it unwise to do the components? Just nervous about doing too much cutting, but it's not like my car is a showcar either.

Thanks guys.

Rich

Rich:

I simply bumped up the foam "bar" at the backend of the speaker deck to accommodate the increased depth of the speakers.

However my deck hides the entire speaker *under* the vinyl. If you are mounting your speakers such that they drop in and have a cover, then you have more room to play with.

I note you own a Targa: be especially careful with the speaker deck edges at the defrost wires. That is, if you are pulling the deck you should ensure, on reassembly, that there is minimal rubbing at the wires if you raise it up (which will, of course, cause increased interference with the rear glass).

Good luck,
John

I would forget about rear deck speakers, because once you have good front speakers, the rears don't add to imaging or ambience improvements. I highly recommend the 6.5 Focal component because it will produce much more bass, so much so you may be satisified without needing a subwoofer, and place the tweeter as in the factory location in the late 80's Carreras for best imaging. Take a look at my car in my signature below to see what I mean.

For rear speakers any 4x6 should work. I don't think depth with a 4x6 is a problem in practice. The standard rear speaker through 1986 was 4x6m (slightly larger than 4x6). After much searching I put 4x6 Infinity Kappas in my 84 Carrera and they fit fine. The 4x6m selection is very limited so I just used what I thought was the best 4x6 available.

Some time mid year 86 or 87 Porsche started using 5x7 as their stock rear speaker. I believe there is actually enough room in 84-86l Carreras to install a 5x7. There looked like plenty of room in mine. If I had it to do over again I would have gotten 5x7s and made them fit.

I highly recommend the Infinity Kappas. My 4x6s were less than a hundred dollars and sound great. Similar quality to MB Quartz at a fraction of the price. I will be replacing the front component speakers with Kappas.

As for the front components, I am a strong advocate of larger is better. There's just no getting around that bigger speakers offer better potential, of course depending on quality.