Ok i have a 96 civic ex i putting Alpine 6-1/2" 2-Way 330W Component Car Speakers. i am having trouble with the tweeters. it doesn't really fit in the stock spot, it's too big. so i took it out of the case it was in an now it fix. but there is no way to mount it, in there . does anyone have any idea of how to do this or they have done it them self ? photo's would be great if anyone had some .. thanks guys

 

Trouble with just the tweeters, how did you get the woofers to fit? 94

 

LOL @ FCM...


Are the tweeters too deep or are they just to big around?

 

to big around in the housings they give you. i took the speaker out and it fits i just dont have a way to attack the speaker the stock one has attachment point .
the woofer fit fine in the door . just had to cut the little basket in the back . did i miss something was something funny

 

In general when I'm custom fitting tweeters, I find that hot glue, back straps, speed clips and sometimes abs plastic tend to be useful. I also have a box full of various brand tweeter mounts that I compile from the pieces that aren't used, as most brands provide several optional mounts.

 

hmm that is a good idea i could do that .. thanks man very usefully and help full i think i have some Velcro around here i could use

 

What they said about the tweeters^^^ ditto.

I was asking about the woofer, [maybe they found that funny] the mid-range speaker of the component set, because Alpines 6.5" speakers are over-sized not standard 6.5" speakers like your stock speakers.
It's not so much a depth issue, although you did have to cut the back out of the speaker housings, but a mounting diameter issue, or it should have been an issue.

What is the model number of the speakers?94

 

ah the r's i like them ya i had to cut a fair amount of the speaker for it to fit they were not as deep as the infinity's but they were wider .. i now wounder if i should have gotten the matching 6x9's for the rear even though it sounds really good i wounder if there would be that much of a different's .. on the tweets i got some really strong Velcro and it held them well it said i might have to glue them in .. i am looking at this amp to power them » 4-channel car amplifier
» 75 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms (90 watts RMS x 4 at 2 ohms)
» 180 watts RMS x 2 at 4 ohms in bridged mode
» CEA-2006 compliant

 

Now I know you didn't mean, "i had to cut a fair amount of the speaker for it to fit", you meant the stock plastic speaker housing, right?

That is what I meant when I said the Alpine speaker is "over-sized", it will not fit the stock 5" mounting hole, the Alpine is about 5-3/8".
I assume you "filed" 3/16th of an inch off the inside of the plastic housing, cut a hole in the 2" deep speaker housing big enough for the speakers magnet to fit through, and you did this neatly and uniformly so the speaker sits nice and flat and has an airtight seal all the way around it's mounting lip, right?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coyote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i am looking at this amp to power them »</TD></TR></TABLE> What amp would that be? 94

 

yes i meant the stock plastic man come come now
and yes they are really wide i didn't think they would fit but with some work. and yes i cut,filed and sanded so it was nice and neat. everything around the lip is nice and air tight. used the foam strips they gave me. didn't give me much else . the only thing i had to do was add new hole for the speaker , stock ones didn't line up at all. i will be going in i think later on and adding some sound dynamat or something else/better??? , i didn't have the $$ right now. i want to do the trunk too. i hate when people cars rattle .would i have been better off with the alpine r's 6x9 ? the infinity sound great i just didn't know if there would be a big different's or not ..
this was the amp i was talking about Infinity Reference 475a
4-channel car amplifier
75 watts RMS x 4
everything sounds good now i might not add a sub not sure i have a Rockford punch xlc 12. i just don't want to give up all my truck i have to carry a lot stuff with me for work and school ..

 

The amp is a pretty good one, although under-powered in 4ch mode for the Alpine Type R components, [110W continuous I think].

If you want to install rear speakers, find a set of mid-bass drivers, you do not want tweeters behind you, even a set of Type R 6x9s with the tweeters disabled will work.

Here are a couple of hints for good bass response without using a sub...

Replace the stock plastic speaker housings in the doors with custom MDF ones, not hard even with limited wood working knowledge and tools.
If you think the Type Rs sound good now, you will be amazed how good they sound when mounted to wood and the added mass the MDF has over the plastic.

Power the front speakers with at least 110W RMS, [125W would be better]

Install mid-range/mid-bass drivers in the rear, there are even some 6x9 subs out there, whatever you install, [no tweeters] wire the speakers in series and connect to a mono or bridged amp.

Dynamat, [or the like] will improve SQ, a lot.
Replacing the plastic vapor barrier in the doors with single sheets of Dynamat, [or the like] to seal up the door as much as possible, will improve bass response from front speakers, a lot. 94

 

is there any good sits on doing the MDf's in the door ? something like the Eclipse XA4000
4-channel car amplifier 125 watts x 4 or Alpine PDX-4.1004-channel car amplifier 100watts RMS x 4. so i would be looking at $500 sheets for an amp like that then .. hmm
so the type R are a better speaker then the infin then ?when you say disabled do i just cut the wire for the tweeter ? would it be better to go with dynamat or raamaudio stuff or something else ???.. thanks for all the help man

 

Although I am no fan of Eclipse amps, it is 125W per ch., however the Alpine is a much better amp, IMHO.
Both the Dynamat and the Rammat are good products, either one will do the job.

To disable tweeter, just unsolder the cap on the tweeter, that way it can be reconnected if you need to. 94

 

ah ok so it look like the infinity are going back to BB then. the alpine is going to have to wait for a bit, have to save up for that. is there anything else i could use beside those too that would be cheaper ?
my guess would be is there aren't any good sits on building the door custom MDF ones? does anyone have some photo's of ones they have or have done ?? so i can get a good idea of how to do this .. thanks again

 

Yea, sorry, no sites that I know of for the MDF speaker housings, but not hard at all to make.

You can probably pick up enough scrap MDF from the local car audio shops for the job.

The housings are normally made up of 2-4 layers of diff. thicknesses of MDF, all but the "mounting plate" are nothing more then rings.

The mounting plate is made using 1/2"-3/4" MDF, use the stock speaker housing as a template to make your "mounting plate".
The MP will have the same shape as the stock housing and mounting holes in the same place, in most cases it can be made just a little bigger, [the more mass the better].

Once the MPs are made, mounting hardware has to be installed and they will need to be "dry fitted".

Using pan head bolts/machine screws about 1/2" longer then the thickness of the MP install 4 of them in each MP in the stock mounting hole pattern, countersinking the heads so they are flush with the front of the MP, countersink the nuts on the back of the MP so the plate will sit flush up against the door.

Remove the plastic inserts in the doors sheet metal that the stock speaker housing mounting screws go into, install Dynamat, [or the like] over the area that the MP will sit on, dry mount the plates to the door, installing washers and nuts on the studs through the speaker hole in the mounting plate.

When mounting the plates make sure they mount flush and flat, [very important].

Once in place measure the depth from the face of the plate to the window/window guide, subtract that from the speakers mounting depth and what you are left over with will be made up using MDF rings that have an outside diameter the same, or even a little bigger, then the overall diameter of the speaker and an inside diameter the same as the speakers mounting hole diameter.

You may need a combination of diff. thickness's of MDF, EG; a 5/8" and a 1/4" ring to get the 7/8" you need, remember you only want to come out just enough so the speakers magnet does not touch anything.

HINT 1- Measure both sides, [mount both plates] the clearance is not necessarily the same in both doors, and make spacer rings for the least of the two.

HINT 2- Only the top ring needs to have an inside diameter the same as the speakers, lower rings can have a smaller hole, including the mounting plate, however don't forget the hole in the mounting plate has to be big enough for your hand to fit through.

HINT-3 The thicker spacer ring should be on top with the thinner one(s) in between the mounting plate and the top ring.


It is important that the top rings speaker mounting hole is the correct diameter and perfectly round, you must get an airtight seal.

Once you have all the parts, mounting plate and spacer rings, you will need to glue them together, it will now become obvious why studs were installed on the mounting plates instead of just drilling holes and using screws to mount the new MDF housing, the over-sized speakers outside diameter will cover the stock mounting hole locations, making it impossible to use them for screws.

When gluing the the spacer rings to each other and to the mounting plate it is important to center the rings on the plate properly so the speaker sits behind the grill in the right spot.

HINT 4-, Use a good quality wood glue and "scuff" the mating surfaces with some coarse sand paper.

Ideally clamps would be used to hold it all together until the glue cures, but stacking the parts on a flat surface and then setting a heavy weight on them will also work, let dry overnight.

One more dry fit, install housings and make sure door panel still fits properly and will not interfere with speakers cone movement, some trimming may be needed on the door panel and possibly some sanding on the housings so the door panels fit properly.

If all the above is good remove housings clean up the excess glue, give the whole housing a sanding, [not the speaker mounting surface] to clean it up.

The MDF has to be sealed, I like to use fiberglass resin, I will "paint" all surfaces, including inside, except speaker mounting surface with 2-4 coats of resin, it seals the MDF and makes it waterproof, once the resin is cured, paint the housings with a flat black paint.

Install the housings, make a gasket for the speaker from Dynamat, [cover mounting surface cut out mounting hole] and install speakers and door panels,

Your done, except for the testing.
If you have taken the time to do the above correctly, you will be very surprised at how much of a diff. the MDF housings make over the stock plastic ones. 94

 

WOW man Nice write up . this will be very helpful in doing this !! thanks alot man it doesnt sound too hard. i am sure i will posting up once i start i have some time off from work and school coming up? i am guess you have this done in your car do you have any pic of the final product ?. what do you use to cover the speaker ? the grills they have you or do you make some of your own ??again man thanks for all the help !!

 

Yes, I have custom MDF speaker housings and extensive Dynamating in the doors, the rear speakers are in custom MDF and fiberglass cabinets, both set of Eclipse 6.5" are in the stock locations behind the stock grills. 94

 

from what it sounds like . how you have your system set up. is what i want to do myself .. do you have any photo's of your set up or is it top secret ??? how you did the rears sounds intouresting too.. doo tell

 

Sorry, no pix, still at the place I did the work and we don't get along.

I was autocrossing the car at the time and did not want to add a lot of weight, Eclipse gave me the speakers, the HU came from Alpine and the guy I was working for.

The front speaker housings I had made many times before for both Honda/Acura and other makes, the rear cabinets was the first time and was kind of learn as I went, although I had already made more then a few fiberglass sub boxes, just never 2 of them for full range speakers in the side cavity, [1/4 panel] of a 94LS.

It has worked out very well, and is still pounding out Billy Idol and Frank Zappa after more then 10 years.

I still get people insisting I must have an amp and sub hidden someplace in the car, most STFU when I pop a rear grill and they see the bass is coming from an Eclipse 6.5" 2way.

Nothing like some Frank Zappa, Hot Rats or Billy Idol, White Wedding to get the mirrors vibrating. 94

 

is there a easy/ trick to running the speaker wire to the doors ?

 

Yea, the trick is to unplug the door harness from the dash harness , [at the "A pillar] pull the door jamb harness/plug into the door and out the speaker "hole", unclip the dash harness plug from the "A" pillar, disconnect any harness "hangers" and pull the dash harness, out from under the dash and plug it into the door harness, right out there where you can see and work on the plugs.
On most Honda/Acura door harness to dash harness plugs you will see a spot/section, [when drilled out] will easley accommodate a 16ga speaker lead, this spot is on an outside edge, [top/bottom of plugs] not actually in the plug pin area but not outside, [bypassing] the plugs.
You can also "drill out" a few of the unused pin holes big enough to pass a 16ga speaker lead through.

If you really want to go all out, you will do all the above, to the point that the door and dash harnesses are plugged together, [outside the door jamb] you will have gone to the bone yard and found a car with the same door to dash harness plugs and taken them, practise unplugging and unclipping the plugs on a junked car before you chew the chit out of yours, it does not matter if you damage the ones from the junk yard, all you need is the pins, 2 male and 2 female pins for each side, you will depin the pins you need from the plugs, carefully "open" them and remove the stock wire, re-crimp and solder them to your 16ga speaker wire find 2 unused pin locations, [not necessarily next to each other] in the plugs and repin the pins with their 16ga speaker wire, reassembly is the reverse.

BTW, I prefer to drill, so I am using a single length of speaker wire, [no connections] between the amp and the x-over.
I will also, sometimes, install my own door to "A" pillar "boot" and run wiring through it, [lots of work] 94

 

Dooh off to the bone yard i go
when i was talking about the 6x9' i got it wrong the type S not the type R. not sure what the big diffrent is i have these infinitys now if i want to change them i need to being them back to BB soo ish ..
[URL] http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....94575[/URL] http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...98255

 

FCM, do you happen to have any paper/pdf/pic templates for a MP for 94 civic coupe front door? I still have the stock plastic housings that i can cut and trace from, but if you have a template i could use that'd be sweet...I'd just need the triagle shaped MP not the rings.
Oh and any tips on cutting these out of MDF with a jigsaw like what blade etc, I don't have access to a scroll saw. I just want to redo my half-*** job from a year ago i was in a rush and just wanted some tunes, plus I'm upgrading my front stage and deadening the heck out of the doors

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coyote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Dooh off to the bone yard i go
when i was talking about the 6x9' i got it wrong the type S not the type R. not sure what the big diffrent is i have these infinitys now if i want to change them i need to being them back to BB soo ish ..
[URL] http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....94575[/URL] http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...98255
</TD></TR></TABLE> No big diff. although the Type R are 100W speakers and the Type S are 50W speakers, with the amp your running, stick with the Type S.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chrisw85 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">FCM, do you happen to have any paper/pdf/pic templates for a MP for 94 civic coupe front door? I still have the stock plastic housings that i can cut and trace from, but if you have a template i could use that'd be sweet...I'd just need the triagle shaped MP not the rings.
Oh and any tips on cutting these out of MDF with a jigsaw like what blade etc, I don't have access to a scroll saw. I just want to redo my half-*** job from a year ago i was in a rush and just wanted some tunes, plus I'm upgrading my front stage and deadening the heck out of the doors </TD></TR></TABLE> Way to jack a tread.
No I have no templates, I always just use the stock speaker housing. 94

 

i was looking at Bquiet stuff and wounder how they are ? and how much would i need to do the doors and the truck ? well should i just do the lid or would it be a good idea to do the whole thing ..