gregh

Well I've plumped for some Infinity 605CS speakers, got all the trim off to have a look around. Looks like the main unit will bolt straight in, however 2 questions.

Where is best to put the crossover unit? Do I need to drill into the door and secure it somewhere?
What is the best method of mounting the tweeters? Once again am I best drilling into the door?

cheers,

Greg

john banks

Greg - the crossovers can go into the hollow in the door about 1/2 way up the door and about 6" from the hinge along the door - there is a nice 1" wide bar there which accepts a tiny bit of blu-tak quite nicely on the back of the x-over. Tight fit but that's good. I just blu-tak'd the tweets to the metal again trimming back the splash guard from the factory position.

Nothing has moved in 6 months and it doesn't rattle (well not the tweets or x-over anyway!)

These speakers like "a lot" of power. Compared to some Kenwoods I have in the back shelf of the same size - they need about double for simliar volume - but they sound so much sweeter. I bridged my 4channel to give em 150WRMS each and they sound "nice". Noticeable improvement by running one length of speaker cable straight from amp terminals to crossover without using the factory crap stuff.

rockin'Ru

Dr.John Banks...haven't seen you here in a while.What's up?
As for the question,passive x-overs need more power to achieve the same spl as active x-overs.As John said,the more power he gave them,the better they sounded;the x-over absorbs,separates and disapates power.You should follow the recamended rms of the set atleast...
As for tweeter location,that's up to you.Use 2 sided tape or something and move the tweeter around till you find your own "sweet-spot".There is no set rule as to where speakers are to be mounted.

john banks

Hi Stephen,

Been away on hols, b4 that have been getting rather too much into Unreal Tournament and Eye doctoring to be Scoobynetting much. Have some vague ideas for some further ICE and engine mods though.... reading a nice bit in InCars about a spare wheel sub/amp - looked quite good - a bit like Dan's. Considering Unichip and bumpsteer once the nanny-state restrictive insurance policy runs out!

gregh

Thanks chaps, tweeters blu-tacked in, although they seemed to magnatise themselves on the door without to much worry!

I couldn't seem to get the crossover in the middle of the door, ended up on the bottom, where the glass curves when it's fully down. I've blu-tacked them to stop vibration then used duct tape to secure them, then covered with some plastic to prevent drips. I think rain can still channel underneath them - will that be ok?

I'm still on my standard head unit, so I guess I just up the volume to give 'em more power?

cheers,

greg

john banks

Greg - sounds quite sensible the rain protection you have given. Cranking up the volume will help to a point - depends on your head unit (if you are on the standard Subaru item you would notice an incredible difference with a CD head unit costing a little over £100), but at best it's likely to be giving up to 12WRMS per channel although it may say 4x45 or 4x50W on it. That means that at the sorts of volumes a lot of us listen at in a noisy car, you will be getting distortion. Rockin'Ru has from the sounds of it well over 1000W of amps in his car and I'm sure it sounds incredible, but some of the more conservative among us find that a genuine minimum of 100WRMS per channel gives a nice sound and would be well matched to these speakers. A small (in size) quality 2 channel amp could be mounted discretely somewhere I am sure? Would make the world of difference - even if you are not listening at "mad" volumes, the effortless power at lower volumes is most appreciated and when you crank it up it is like the difference between being off boost and on boost! But if you are happy with running the speakers off the head unit, stick with that, cos at the end of the day it's you it should be pleasing.

rockin'Ru

"Mad" volumes?LOL!Yes sir,it's certified lunacy for everyday listening.I never thought there'd come a day when I had too much,but I do now.I can travel at 70 mph with both windows down and not here a bloody thing from the outside.It's sick
But as John said,you'll only get a small amount of usable or "listenable" sound with the factory radio.And he's also right about the spl of only a few watts of "clean" power.A small 50x2 watt rms amplifier would really bring those components alive,not only in spl,but sq would increase greatly.
You can buy amps with speaker-level inputs that will allow you to use the factory radio with an external amp easily.Sony makes a nice amp for this that has a dual 5 band eq built in for extra tuning capability.
Just one idea