Buildinga sound system for the Z, am I going in the right direction?

[grannyknot]

I have installed new speakers and head units in other cars I have owned with varying degrees of success

in sound quality, so with the Z I thought I would put a little more thought into it. I'm not an audiophile, I can't afford to be

This is what I've done and what I'm thinking of buying,

The Z is well baffled, LizardSkin type coating on the all interior surfaces, covered with MuderMat then 1/2" thick quality underlay. It's pretty snug and quiet.

I have this amp already that has been sitting on the shelf for a few years,

Clarion U.S.A. | APX4360

I'm thinking about these 5.25" speakers for the kick panels,

Infinity Reference X REF-5002ix 5-1/4" 2-way car speakers at Crutchfield.com

and these 6x9's for the back installed into custom boxes still to be built,

Infinity Reference X REF-9602ix 6"x9" 2-way car speakers at Crutchfield.com

Thanks,

Chris

I thought I would hold off on a subwoofer to see what the 6x9's do first and if a sub is needed then pick up one of those flat powered subwoofers that slide under the seat,

Sound Ordnance B-8PTD 125-watt compact powered subwoofer at Crutchfield.com

[Walter Moore]

I doubt that you would need a sub woofer, but depending upon the exhaust system you have installed you may need plenty of power to hear anything.

(I do...)

I have two sets of 6x9 speakers. One in the far back in a box from Motorsport auto, and one set behind the seats in WalMart special boxes. If I was doing it over I wouldn't put speakers behind the seats. They seem not to do anything.

The parts you have picked seem to be good stuff. I bought all my components from Crutchfield and they gave me good service.

[ktm]

I would argue that you need a subwoofer in these cars. There is just not enough volume to produce much bass in the kick panels or even a rear box enclosure. Honestly, I would ditch the 6x9's and try to go with 6-in. if you can. 6x9's just do not produce the same response as a good set of 6-in.+ speakers.

I have speakers right behind the rear seats as well (6x9 in order to fit - I know, ironic, but if I were to do it again they would be 6-in.) and they do not help with highs, but do help to fill out the sound a little bit. I also have a 10-in. Powerbass subwoofer installed in a custom built enclosure sitting in the spare tire well. You can definitely tell the difference in sound when it is turned off.

My system is Pioneer 6x9s in the behind the seats (tool enclosures), 6-in. Alpine 3-ways with adjustable tweeter in the kick panels, MB Quart tweeters in the driver and passenger side vents, and a 10-in. Powerbass sub.

One thing to make sure of when installing the system is to make sure that the speakers are all wired up the same. I just discovered an issue where I had 2 speakers wired off-phase from the rest of the system (I switched up the wiring when doing some work a year ago) and could not figure out why my system "suddenly" sounded crappy. Switched the wires on those two speakers and BAM, back to sounding awesome.

Edited November 24, 2013 by ktm

[grannyknot]

Walter, I know Crutchfield is a little more expensive but I think they are worth it and some of these fly by night Amazon companies don't sound very trustworthy.

KTM, that's a good point about 6x9 vs 6.5 dia.,I had forgotten that it was a compromise design.

I've been reading a lot of good reviews of Infinity's KAPPA series and think I might go that way,

Infinity Kappa 52.11i 5-1/4" 2-way car speakers at Crutchfield.com

Infinity Kappa 62.11i 6-3/4" 2-way car speakers ? also fit 6-1/2" openings at Crutchfield.com

[superj243]

I removed the carpet and storage compartments out of the rear deck. Laid the carpet over a piece of plywood then traced the layout of the carpet onto the plywood. After I cut the plywood I had to cut two 6x9 holes where the storage compartments were then trim it in a few places to get it to fit inside of the car. Put the carpet back in place, cut out the 6x9 holes in the capet to match the plywood and put 2 Kewood 6x9s in. I just took the wires that went to the original speakers behind the seats and connected them to my 6x9s. I also added some subwoofers for extra bass but their just in a box back against the hatch.

[grannyknot]

Well as it turns out, Ctutchfield won't sell me anything because I live in Canada, I went to crutchfield.ca and they don't sell the speakers I want. So much for free trade eh? Same story with amazon.com

My last resort was ebay and I found both sets of the exact same speakers for $99 a piece. I should have them in about 10 days.

[grannyknot]

double post

Edited November 25, 2013 by grannyknot

[grannyknot]

Well, I got the speakers started trying to come up with a box that fit into the back corners of the Z,but no matter what I came up with it always seemed that most of the sound was going to hit the back of the shock towers so have built a box to sit dead centre but snug up against the latch.

Everything I read about ported vs unported was just frankly confusing so I ported the box and I'll rig up a solid plug for the port and see which one sounds better.

Edited December 30, 2013 by grannyknot

[Mikes Z car]

What I read recently is that a ported box is louder for the same amplifier power than a closed box but to get the same bass response from a ported box compared with a closed box with sound deadening inside you need a bigger ported box. Does that have any agreement with what you read? I thought the explanations regarding ported VS non ported that I read were confusing too. I'd really enjoy reading your ported VS non ported test if you do that. Nice job on your speaker box!

I never have known if I should believe this since I like 6X9 speakers and plan on using them in my car now but I read decades ago that 6X9s have more bass distortion than a round speaker, but what the heck does that mean?

Edited December 31, 2013 by Mikes Z car

[ninjazombiemaster]

I've got a ported 6x9 box in the back of mine, some small subs installed at the feet, and tweeters in the pillar behind my head which I don't believe actually connect to anything. It gets loud enough to be heard over my very loud straight pipe, but it gets a little distorted when you reach the high volumes. I'm using Kenwood speakers. I think that has more to do with me using the head's power amp, and not an external one. Also probably why I have very little bass. I'd say a 10" sub would be more than enough for our cars.

Crutchfield is a great place to research a purchase before buying it on Amazon instead. They're prices are unreasonable...