Stereo and speakers

[James_TX]

I am looking to change out the front and back speakers and possibly the Stereo itself.

I am not a car stereo junkie by far and dont know what to look for.

Questions...

1)I have a 77 930, what are the speaker demintions? Do they follow the others I've seen, F5 1/4 B4x6? Can anyone suggest a full sounding manufacturer?

2)For the actual stereo, what is a good manufacturer? Is there anything specific I need to look for?

3) I like bass but I dont want peoples houses to shake as I drive by. Just something that will bring me pleasure while driving. Can I achieve this w/o a sub woofer and amp?

Over all I would like to modify the car as little as possible. IE adding hardware, cutting or drilling. I would also prefer to keep everything as transparent as possible. Looking as is. Same look, better sound.

Can anyone suggest anything?

[TR89-911]

I already had a decent Alpine system including a six disk changer in the glove compartment when I bought my car. I am also not a stereo expert, but have had to replace an amplifier under the passenger seat and all speakers. I have 4 up front and 2 in the rear, all Boston Acoustics. I found them to fit quite nicely without any cutting in my car. Mine is an 89 Cabriolet. There is not a lot of room to work in the rear with the convertible mechanism, so my options were quite limited. Boston Acoustics seem to be pretty well respected and the sound is outstanding in my opinion.

[bell]

there are alot of really nice speakers on the market, but you will need an amp to have good volume with no distortion.
blaupunkts are nice (i'm praising my toronto) for radios, make the inside of the car sound nice first, then decide on the sub.
my .02

[kbruz]

I just replaced my stereo and speakers in a 86 carerra. I put an Alpine head unit with coustic speakers. The stock speakers are 5 1/4 in front and 4x6 in rear. Coustic makes a 4x6 that fits nicely. These are all 2 way speakers. The only problem that I can really say is that the front tweeters are someone blocked by the door pocket.

I choose to not mount seperate tweeters in the front door as I did not want to cut holes in the door panel. I may at sometime go back and rethink that strategy. I'd recommend that you use seperates up front and mount the tweeters higher on the door panel.

Good luck.

[Speedy1]

I went round and round with speakers I ended up with MB Quarts 6 1/4 componuts up front And
6 1/2 Round in the rear it's a very tight fit in my 82 SC but I power them with a Nakamichy 400W
4 channel amp If you go with the stock size 4X6's
in the rear you will not get enough bass. Unless you run a sub good luck finding a spot for that!
I am useing an alpine head unit last years top of the line XM ready mp3 its cool well good luck

[RANDY P]

2nd the vote for 6.5" Mb Quart coxials. Real full, natural sounding speakers. Buy the good ones that the tweeters are not sharing the pole piece with the Midrange. You'll have enough bass / midbass your pant legs will move when they play. Take a listen, you'll like 'em.

Head unit? 1st choice Alpine, 2nd choice Sony. IMHO Sony = mediocre but my only REAL critera is a seperate amp on lead vs power antenna lead, Both of these brands have seperate leads - when you're listening to CD's the antenna stays retracted. Nothing's more annoying than that huge antenna up when you're not listening AM / FM. Spend the few dollars get the Alpine- another hidden benefit is that the Alpine is black, conservative and doesn't look so damn bling - bling.

MUST have an amp for this combo, buy something brand name and at least 50 RMS / channel. (Alpine? cheap and decent)

Forget about installing the rears, they'll only mess everything up. Leave 'em dead.


rjp

[scottb]

Keep in mind, many of the head units described here are very modern looking. Do you care about that, or do you want something a little more conversative to to go with the simple interior of the car? I just installed a Blaupunkt Heidelberg in my car. It is simple-looking, but has great features. Good luck with your project!

[RoninLB]

Ditto on an amp...and I feel the 5 1/4 front are to limited for enough dB in a 911..I like the 6 1/2in for fronts ..............Ron

[James_TX]

If I upgrade to 6 1/2 in the front would I need to modify the door?

I was looking at Crutchfields selection, is the only difference between Component speakers and regular, is that the component you can place the individual ranges in different places?

Also the powered amps, Infinity BassLink X is that any good?

[RANDY P]

For phasing reasons, buy the coaxial, conponents only work right and sound right when they're placed next to each other, or if you have the time to mount them so they play on axis. Most 6.5" will fit, however you have to watch the depth. I know quarts fit, and they're a pretty beefy speaker. It's nothing a competent shop can't handle.

Conponents sound like s#$t when the tweeter is in a different spot than the midrange. Plus you have to punch holes for mounting them, not a big deal now, but when it's time to change them again (it's inevitable, nothing lasts forever) you'll need to go with a different speaker since speakers are always changing, and more holes, or new door panels. Don't ask me how I know about all of this.

My guess is you're trying to preserve the interior...

Another thing, it's not just the fact it's a 6.5" which helps, it's the fact it's an MB QUART 6.5", this IS a shameless plug to buy that product. Just like the car, THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE. Seek Quart out.

rjp

[JavaBrewer]

I have an 86 Carrera with the same stereo sound issues. I'm no audiophile but my current setup really stinks, hell my 94 Chevy S-10 stock stereo sounded better. I currently have a Sony CD head unit with Boston Acoustics 5.25 door speakers and 4X6 rear deck speakers. I recently added a MTX 45w/4 amp under the passenger seat which added better sound quality but I'm still missing the rich sound and bass I was hoping for. I'm not excited about dropping more money into the system but will attempt 6.25 separates in the doors soon. I've faded the rears to about 30% so they just "fill" the back a bit. I've noticed at even fader levels the rears overpower the door speakers and the sound is real "dead".

I also recommend Rod Birch at http://www.caraudioinnovations.com/

He has a custom sub enclosure for 911's that you might be interested in. I did not go that way but he's great for ideas and I bought my MTX amp from him.

Good luck, I'll post an update when I get my separates installed.

[RoninLB]

James..I caught from your previous thread that you are audio serious..what I did w/ 6 1/2in front is use a wedge [thin side 1/2in and thick side of wedge about 1in] which aims the spearer up twords you and gives clearance inside door cavity..I used seperates because the tweeter hole was already there in the door panel..an amp is most important, like bell, Randy, Speedy, TR89 have already stated...no amp = lousy tunes..If you decide that you may do a wedge under front speakers/not that you must use one/don't know I'll take a digital pic for you..and bell is a pro on this stuff, so he would know about various components better than me..and IMHO, Randy has excellent speakers..not cheap, but much better than anything you may find in Crutchfield..I use 6 1/2 Focals for front speakers which are in same price range as the MB Quart...my goal was to hear every part of the tune in great clarity with the roof open at 70mph ......Ron

[RANDY P]

Ron -

How are the Focals? I've never heard a set, heard good things about them - and $$$? How are they?

rjp

[Speedy1]

Several hard core automotive intertainment establishments shun the use of the sony head units. Now I'm not in no way pushing any specific system for the very reason that what I can hear is in no way the same as you, or any of our friends on this board. However I pitched the 2year old sony head unit for the very reason that it was a pile of crap! Use a componut system if you can afford to (mine are MB Quart pro models).
Mount the 6 1/4" any variety, (I have an elaberate expence account so I bought the best
that I felt was not spending friviously), from the outside of the door pannel. The tweater is surface
mounted I found that my door pannels had cutouts for the tweater and the door is detented to accomodate them, so you can flush mount if you wish. I did not have to cut the doors for the mid bass so the install was clean. The crossover was put in a zip lock baggie and duck-taped to the inside of the door. The only problem is the water shield that covers the stock
speakers does not fit so I used Dino-Matt and
created a protective cover for the speaker. Dino-Matt is a thick rubbery sound deadening material with a super sticky back side. This may
or may not affect the sound of the system but I'll
make that sacrafice and not worry about drounding
a pair of $600.00 speakers. The rear is very subjective the airea is not seperated the enclosure is open so stero seperation may not be herd. To overcome this I installed a dense foam
seperator down the center or the rear deck hence left and right only 40% or so is herd out of the back so, It's just fill for a warm full rich sound, Did I just say that? Any way the amp must put out.. ( I've herd this before )
If the speakers can handle 60W min and 120 max
your amp had better put out 75W RMS. RMS means clean power 400W amp = 100W X 4 = roughly 70W of clean distortion free power to each channel. If you under drive your speakers not enough power then you insert distortion with the volume control and that does bad things to your new speakers, like overheating the voice coils this can send big plumes of smoke into the air. I know this from my own mistakes. Go to sears and purchase the craftsman tool box liner the thin foam, and use it to replace the plastic door liner spray adhesive works great and it looks good to,even though you don't see it. It blocks out the drafts really good.OOO yea it is a must to replace the speaker wires the factory plug type will rob most of your power, I know it's not fun job but your speakers and ears will thank you for it. I bought the Alpine CDA-7894 you can alter the time to all speakers. Custom sterio seperation Wow that is a great feature especially in a 20 year old sports car.

[RoninLB]

Randy... I don't have expert ears..but I did want the best bang I could get..I was afraid tuning in the MB Quart might be a problem..The Focals cost me about $375 from Rod Birch last year.. I listen to a wide range of tunes so I need better action than Crutchfield speakers.. rock is mostly distortion, so Crutchfield would be good enough for rock..I am having a problem with raising the stage..I hope angling the woffers help raise the stage.I have the seperate tweeters mounted in the Focal supplied external flex angle mounting..I found that aiming them directly at me helped increase dB, but may hurt raising the stage/don't know yet... the base line noise in my 911 is 90dB..that's because of exhaust noise and I always ride with sunroof open and only use the 911 at 65mph+.. anyway, with 75X4 they start to distort about 112dB..I know it's border line ear damage, but there are moments when I need a blast..bell heard them recently and he would be able to give a clearer diagnosis of how they sound/he uses MB Quarts and really knows audio..he has been helping me raise the stage. I just haven't been able to do the work yet..I want the coral of Beethoven's 9th to extend out the side windows and I want Jim Hendrix jamming out on the front hood..it ain't over yet..I figure bell will chime in on my 6 1/2 Focals......................Ron

[RANDY P]

I've always owned Quart, the 911 came with "JL Audio 6.5" - I tolerate it, but at low volume.

Ghastly speakers, highs bright enough to crack glass. Can't tune it if my life depended on it.

I've thought about Focals as well, just want to see if I'm missing out on anything. Good components and a pair of 8's and a LOT of power. Might try the Alpine DSP to manipluate the soundstage. I'm lazy, and I don't want too many holes anymore.

Lemme know where you get 'em finally placed, the info will be useful.

rjp

(If we were having this conversation 10 years earlier, I'd be screaming for Fiberglass and sawzall work on the doors -...

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by RANDY P
I've always owned Quart, the 911 came with "JL Audio 6.5" - I tolerate it, but at low volume.

Ghastly speakers, highs bright enough to crack glass. Can't tune it if my life depended on it.
.


Lemme know where you get 'em finally placed, the info will be useful.

rjp

the Focals are not bright. I know what you mean by bright..I need some time to do audio work.. "Lemme know". I'm minus a few brain cells at my age, so I'll try to remember..but bell will know about my stage immediately/or you remind me.. no way I can forget bell, I'm smarter than I look/I think ....................Ron

[bell]

yep...here i am ron's stage is nice but needs fine turned to raise it, his system as at the point where all we need to do is get the stage to raise, i'l just waiting for his email as to when he's going to be able to get to putting his new phase shifter in (hint hint )
i was suprised how well ron's focals handled the lower midrange frequencies, i don't like real bright tweets but they can always be EQ'd to fix that. rons didn't sound too bright but he also had all of his traveling gear in the car which can absorb alot of reflections. ron has actually motivated me somewhat to build myself something nice again (installing all day doesn't help motivation on my own audio).
i have a feeling the 924s is going to be pretty wild as far as the audio goes.......spare tire well is going to make a killer box

[Moses]

Altering the door panels is NOT blasphemy. You can't get much sound from a 5 1/4" speaker.

I have 6 1/2" MB Quart components in the front. Yes, I violated the door panel twice to mount the tweeters! It looks stock. Sounds great. The 4 X 6 MB Quarts in the rear deck add "fill" to the sound.

[SK]

I put JL Audio 5 1/4" in the doors and an 8" JL Audio w6 sub behind the seat.....4 channel amp with active crossover and eq.
I'm very happy with the sound. Lots of low end from the sub w/ punch (not boom), and bright highs from the 5.25". The eq helps tune very well. FWIW