michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Share Posted October 28, 2005 Last week, I built a set of kick panels to house 6.5" mid-bass drivers to help out the anemic front stage in my car. ( 3.5" dash speakers ) Eventually, i'd like to get rid of the dash speakers and go with either a nice set of 6.5" components up front, or a set of same sized co-axials. ( the midbass would get relegated to the front doors with a real crossover on them ) I have been looking at these speakers, sitting since I bought them in 2002 or so, in my closet and decided to put them to some use, rather than take up space. Currently, I have them high-passed at 80 hz, and utilizing them full range. ( ie: acoustic roll-off only ) Not too bad, they compliment the front dash speakers well, can't wait to get a decent upgrade there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 Another pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 The backside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 Passenger side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 Rear of passenger's side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted October 28, 2005 Share Posted October 28, 2005 Be advised that placing the speakers in the kickpanels is about the worst acoustical position in the vehicle. Look at some new cars with multi-speaker setups to see where they placed their speakers after doing hours of measuring and listening tests. You will rarely see them in the kickpanels. GM found this out with the 1968 Corvettes. The radio performance was just God-awfull. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 Close-up of texture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted October 28, 2005 Share Posted October 28, 2005 Be advised that placing the speakers in the kickpanels is about the worst acoustical position in the vehicle. Could you perhaps explain why... I think all of the best sounding car audio setups I've heard have had the speakers in the kick-panels. That or firing upwards in the dash. But if your dash wasn't built to have speakers in it then putting them in the kickpanels is the only place left unless you plan on moutning directly on top of the dash (like I've done in the past), but that's mega ugly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 Maybe this will paint a better picture, this is taken from the driver's seat. I dunno, those factory engineers that "know all" placed a POS, bandwidth limited 3 1/2" speaker on the top dash face, mostly pointing to the headliner. Not to mention the quality difference of having one 30" from your ear, and the other 52 1/4" away. The path length diference is on the kick-panel speakers 48" away on the driver's side, and 53" on the passenger's side. The speakers have a larger diaphragm, resulting in much smaller excursion for the same spl, along with the reduction in IM distortion in the factory offerings. They most certainly have the benefit of corner loading, which results in less sound being reflected off of surfaces such as the windshield. ( factory 3 1/2" point at the headliner pretty much ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 Another picture, this time taken along the edge of the door panel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 A picture of the driver's side, the door was open a crack, and the panel was not quite tight in place. Picture taken from the driver's seat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 Best of all, I compromized zero foot room, as you can see the brake pedal is a country mile away from the panel and speaker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted October 28, 2005 Share Posted October 28, 2005 Nice install job Michael. How did you come upon the shape for the kick panel, did you modify the original or was it trial and error? I've got to do a job on my 2005 Accord. It's a pretty balanced system, but runs out of steam pretty quickly. Of course it's the massive indash cd changer, linked to steering wheel controls. Think I'll just bump the power up (bet it doens't even have pre-outs so I'll have to use speaker levels, ergh), and put a small sub in. I'm not trying to annoy the neighbors, but it's nice to jam on the open road, yes? Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 Here you can see the pop can barely staying on the dash speaker grille, however if you look close I am parked on a hill. From the passenger's point of view, sound from the driver's side speaker is blocked via the stupid cluster design. Instead, you are treated to partially reflected sound off the windshield/piller/headliner a`la bose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 Colter: Pretty simple actually, I made several cardboard templates for each side, refining the overall shape until I had cardboard templates that were snug all the way around. After that step, it was time to cut some wood. These are made out of very thin MDF ( masonite ) that is 3/8" thick. Kept fitting and grinding the masonite until it was sitting like a glove. I eyeballed the curve to match the factory sill, tracing it onto the wood with a marker. With a jigsaw, I removed the piece. I then had a pretty big gap to the factory plastic. After making another template of a filler piece, and cutting some wood, it was time to attach it to the existing panel via hot melt glue. To form fit and create the nice curves, I turned to autobody filler. I applied aluminum HVAC sealing tape to all the surfaces near where I was going to apply the filler, to act as a barrier. ( aluminm tape molds nice to stuff ) I mixed up a batch of filler and carefully "buttered up" the aluminum tape and set the wood in place. I cured the filler quickly with a heatgun to get it to kick over, then removed the panel. A combination of hand and machine sanding ( to rough it out ) was needed. Refinement and repeating the process resulted in the finished product you see. After satisfied with the fit and finish of both sides, it was time to apply a finish. I was lazy and headed straight for the paint cabinet and got out the rockgard and schutz gun. I was thinking of painting these with SEM in the factory color, or obtaining vinyl in that blue, but I might just leave them as is. Start to finish was about 14 hours for both sides, and I wasn't in any rush. In any event, it would be even easier to create another set, having done it once already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 Passenger side factory speaker position, better than driver's side, but still terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 Another picture of the driver's side, this time taken down the doorpanel. I suppose if the driver's side one is on not enough of an angle, I can always make and attach a tapered spacer ring to the panel, effectively angling the driver up more. I did have a little less angle by design, so that ingress / egress is not affected, nor legroom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 Yet another shot of the atrocious dash speaker on the driver's side. Don't even get me started on the qualities of the $ 4.00 each factory 6 x 9's in the rear from pioneer or onkyo, whoever was supplying them in that year. They have about 1 mm long voice coils, and a tiny spider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 Here is a picture of the gem 6x9 that GM engineers were so proud of, to stick in cars, and anything else, heck '86 astro/safari vans even had these in the dash! If I could have purchased these before Parts Express ran out, I could have bought them at u.s. $1.98 each in quantities of only 1-3, list price being $ 8.99 each. PE item # 269-564. Power handling is listed as a meager 10w, maybe I should cut open a factory one to show exactly how short the VC is. Question remains, if "list" is $ 8.99 each, how much did GM pay for these, buying them by the truckloads? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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