Fitting 6x9 speakers..
 

Please no "6x9's are shit bla bla"

They were £20 new from work and are yellow so shh

Anyway I want to fit them tommorow, any advice for a newbie?

I want to run them of the rear speakers and shut rears of so just the front speakers and the 6x9's are running.

This way im going to upgrade the front speakers soon with some new 13's on the cheap from work agian


Any pics or advice appreciated

Dan

Right, as ya say ignroing they are the work of the devil lol;

Measure your parcel shelf, go down to homebase, get some 10-14mm MDF for about 10 quid thats the right size.

Get it home, get out your parcel shelf. Draw around this onto the mdf with a pencil. Cut out around this line, but about 5mm outside of the line, with a jigsaw.

Now the hard bit, a hell of a lot of sanding. Use an electric sander and take your time getting the side nearest to the back of the car at the right chamfer for the boot.

Then cut out holes wide enough for the speakers. Also make two small plates of mdf again with the holes but this time so that they can be screwed into this plate. They will then sit in the cut out hole in the main shelf by attaching the plates to the underside of the shelf with a strong wood glue or some screws or both. Put some kind of strong materil over these holes from the top, eg thin mesh. Screw some large screws into the far sides of the shelf, where the hangers are. Wrap these in black insulation tape until they are big enough to slide into the slots.

get some felt from a diy store and glue it on, staple it tight around the bottom. Obviously it will go tight over the holes for the speakers. So it will look like a normal shelf and you wont get broken into or look gay lol, and your not gonna have to pay 60 quid plus for a 'stealth shelf'. Ive done this myself minus the 6X9 bit, and it looks much better, allows me to have a decent sub box in the boot and doesnt shake and make gay noises



Alternatively screw em into the std shelf, but they will sound like someones hitting a baking tray with a wet flannel and they will be in plain view.




Electronics wise, id reccomend getting a few metres of decent speaker cable and connecting these to the HU, then taking them down the car and into the 6by9s as the std rear cables are thin and shite.

I had some 6by9s that came with the westy and bought a few metres of cable off www.caraudiodirect/com, it was the CAD silver stuff for £1 a metre, just until i got a sub.

Get an mdf stealth shelf premade and clothed for about 60-80 quid, might find one cheaper on ebay. I spent the extra money as the shelf is a similar design to the standard shelf, theives aren't that thick!!! ..the bass response from the shelf is great.

I run kenwood 7x10's on my shelf with heavy wattage as I think the mid bass is tremendous and adds real definition to the subs thuds.

Did i mention my shelf has 6x9 holes allready :oops:

more and more are being sold with 5.1 these days, and many are ditching hifi's and running with dvd players with 5.1 - most cd's dont play surround either (SACD), just music that goes to front and rear dvd speakers if the option is chosen. sounds great with echo!

People want good systems at home because the average room is good accoustically and home is the common place to relax, driving these days is strenuous to say the least and cars have sh*te musical properties, road and engine noise is also a burden - 7x10's give clear accurate bass and serious volume, bass is lost to high frequencies when driving so why spend extra money on decent fronts aiming for superb SQ - save that for home!

Good 6x9's or 7x10's on a decent amp can give you all you want whilst driving in a car, use some decent 2-way speakers in the front off a small amp cut off under 80-150hz or so to add a bit of ambience! - good rear shelf speakers are ideal for those wanting a stealth system too, expensive door builds are asking to be taxed!!!

Personal preference, it might be certain tones he believes play better with speakers installed in different materials. Like I say you can have the best sounding system on the market, its all lost on a car. Might aswell stage a concert in a generator room.

Thats because 6x9's are designed to fit on thin shelves, they are space savers, recording studios with dearth space may consider them.

They have space enough not to use car speakers.

but an expensive 6x9 sounds as good as a mid priced oval speaker, and they can handle larger wattages that smaller speakers can't.

doesn't really make a difference once the sound is reaching silly wattage and like many say a passenger makes the sound mono. Rear speakers are head height front fire at feet.

Not all concerts, some experiment with sound at the back and larger acts have speakers in the middle of the arena, and you'll find Stringfellows have a more expensive pa system than The Arctic monkeys - one is all around!!!

I've heard many big bass installs and comps just can't compete with the bass, they are there for when the competitors turn the bass down on the graphics etc and listen to their Quo.

So are you gonna offer someone out over it? I know as much as you.

whats so wrong giving an opionion on the other options? are you gonna lower your standards now to that of the SSC scum when they posted a pic of a woman being raped to piss my gf off?

Those who don't have shelf speakers on mdf in my estimation are sheep and know nothing about installs. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Why lock topics, give bad rep and ban members if they don't agree with you?

Its amazing just how many saxo owners have purchased and or owned Lexus Lights or 6x9's at some stage, most be some other reason than a certain style guru has branded them undesirable!!!

I remember when 6 spokes were next on the hit list after 3 spokes!

Don't be a sheep my impressionable/malleable Saxo owning friends!!!!!!!

I have been into car audio too for 12 years and listened to all kinds of set ups and had all kinds of systems, big and small. I don't just do the sq scene. I'm big on accurate bass in the car so sometimes sq comes a second best. I save the HQ for home.

mines as a little as £400 and it goes loud and clear, gives me the bass I need with space left. The 7x10's really give me a good bass fill. Its the most accurate bass install I've ever heard!!!!!

But we aren't on about poor products here or poor installation or breaking the bank. Just that 6x9's etc can be handy and can work.

Its sounds fine, my bass demands wouldn't suit high power front speakers. Why put 100's of watts into front speakers to crackle in the doors firing at legs and being blocked by a passenger?

Most cars come with a quad system standard that works well for casual listeners, so if I and many others didn't have a sub, 6x9's/7x10's and decent fronts would be ideal. Never make the mistake of underestimating the bass response of mdf. I actually hear the music in the material the speakers are mounted in, so I'm very critical of loud front installs.

Not really advice, just stating how we have our systems and ways around problems that may arise running rear speakers.

Well I've stated why my 7x10's are good for me, I'm not an idiot I like how the rear speakers provide good midbass and save boot space on the sub. Speakers should be mounted in quality wood I've heard so many decent systems ruined by door speakers not cutting the mustard at high volumes, for low volumes great! thats why I want some fronts on a small amp to give me a touch more mid range as the stealth shelf muffles the 7x10's at low volume. - theives eh?

Fancy comps in door builds are good for stealth either - I could go on.

How the f*ck can fronts balance a good midbass with hard hitting subs?

Wonder how many concert and studio speakers are mounted in metal and plastic?

now that would be idiotic!!!!!

Please read my post... Im fitting them to the parcel shelf

But running them of my back speakers


No wonder you were banned from ssc 3 times for talking about 7x10's I didnt even mention them :wink:

:panic:

Well i think stealth shelves are a proper rip off when if you take your time you can make one just as good yourself for a fraction of the price. Impresses people too

easiest way is take the rear door cards out disconnect the speaker attach new speaker wire to the existing wire run into the boot then put the card back on, then wire up the speakers to the new wires. 30min job if that

I was banned because people like you don't read properly.

Exaclly what I was looking for!

Thank you :wink:

Rep your way

Ben_saxo I would give you some too, but you have had some "luvin" of me recently when it lets me I will

I said nothing to do with 7x10's ....

But will not use the ful potential of the speakers. The std cabling is like 100000AWG lol

no probs mate anything else just ask.

I made mine for an escort, cost about £25 in total not to mention having to borrow jig saw, stapler etc. Would have been more for the trick bits steaths come with. Like the chicken wire type material that stops the cloth sagging into the cones. Stealth shelfs have the wells that convince suspect passers by thats its a standard jobby.

I never said you did:oops:

just promoting our case for rear speakers!!!!!

speaker wire is speaker wire unless you are going to be spending thousands and running the best money can buy equipment then the standard cable to run a set of crappy shelf speakers (which were only £20 and yellow although i dont know what the colour has to do with it) then chopping the loom up taking half the car apart is pointless.

Guy at work has new fronts and 6x9's and does not have a problem

anything is better than the 4 blown speakers I have now


jeese I knew this would turn into a case for decent rear and front speakers

I want 6x9s as they match the car, dont care really so leave it!!! :n:


:afro:

No worries dan but i would invest in some decent cabling

They gave me some with the speakers...

cable is cable

all sounds the same to me

read my post above dan. will explain cabling briefly, if i wasnt off to work i would dig out some info. maybe tomorrow

Think of it like a water pipe, current wont be able to flow through the smaller cables as easily as larger cables, just like with water in pipes. Higher quality cables with less oxygen also allow better flow and the quality is much better

dude I cant even has bass on in the car due to crackling

anythign is betetr than what i have

I have white wolf cables to my 7x10s - nearly £5 a metre!!! Always read that for low wattage a small cable is better than thick.

not really, just telling you speakers on the shelf are fine and ways to enhance your listening pleasure, you'll also have room for that all important upgrade when you are ready, my son.

the diffence would be so little there is no point he is only running the 6x9s off the headunit so it aint like hes putting alot of power through the standerd cable

i have never heard that i have always heard the thicker the better for power and i take its the same for speaker but for speaker cable you dont relly need anythink thicker that 16awg for any speaker i think its 16awg could be 12awg

Think it was regarding bass though, thicker the better regarding high wattages to the sub. As for mid range speakers and low watt speakers just quality oxygen free would surfice. Think I read and or was told (was years ago when I was really into ICE) that thicker speaker wires would actually blight speakers taking low wattage. I run fat cables to the 7x10's as the wattage is high and the magnets vast.

I could turn my stereo to 30 on 2 subs powered by 2 x 580 watt amps bridged on normal wire before meeting distortion, but I upgraded to white wolf and I could crank it up to 34!! haven't done the test on the 7x10's yet.

the right speaker cable can really make a huge difference, possibly at high wattages though, never dealt with low wattages.

Never played about with RCA cables though, do they make an audible difference?

yeah but you have to think even if your 7x10's have thick wire thay still work when theres lil wattage going thru them so i dont think its true. bigger the better for most electical stuff i think but could be wrong going to have to see what mehmeh or dave say about it

the speaker cable doesnt make that much diffrence but rca cables do thats why its best to keep it away from power cable ect

I keep my reservations on cable qualities (can of worms) although like you say; RCAs are a little more plausable, due to the low voltage.

Thin speaker cable being better than thick...
Hmm that's something I've not thought about before. I can see this swinging both ways depending upon the signal and the power levels. Thick wire means less resistance so loss of power is minimal, which is why thick powercables are a must. However the thicker the cable, the more capacitance, so you could actually end up distorting the signal if it's a high frequency.
I would guess that it woudn't even be measurable until you get up well out the audio spectrum as the frequencies are too low, normal speaker cables are also made up of loads of strands anyway so that adds another thing in to the equation...

All in all I haven't the foggiest where it ends up :panic:
You would have to weigh up the loss of power (and resultantly also the distortion) vs the potential distortion, due to capacitance in the cable. It would be interesting to know where it balances out.
Personally I just stick to around 14/16awg for speakers (depending upon the power) as that seems good middle-ground. The output of an amp is high voltage, low current (compared to the power side) so speaker cables do not have to be anywhere near as thick as the power cables.

Yeah thats it, on low volumes I noticed the subs sounded a bit tinny but when I turned the volume up they hit hard.

I have the rca's on the other side of the car to the power cables, but I've never spent over £20 on rca leads.

Tweeters always seem to come with ultra thin wire too, might be a frequency thing.

lol i might have to make a thread on TA see what thay say about it as i want to know where it balances out to i have read some where that for any power sub/speaker you dont need more than 12 awg speaker cable

i think that could just be down to the speaker and the power its geting not the cable but im not 100% sure as i have only just started to get into car audio

yeah dont think you relly need to spend more than £20 thats what i spent triple shielded rca so should stop some distorting

true tweeters do always come with small wire but that could just be thay cant solder on bigger wire

The subs did sound meatier with £1.50m RF cable on them at low volumes though, so its a bit of an headf*ck.

I'm sure there's guides out there that state different!

Nooooo... can of worms, can of worms, can of worms :panic:

The thing is though; if your amp outputs are hitting 80V in to a 4ohm load (ignoring impedance rise etc) then only 20A would flow. 12awg can support 20A over a 14feet distance with only a 0.5V p.d. so yeh you're right, you would have to be running some serious power to warrant anything larger.
EDIT: 80V equates to around 1000W, in to a 4ohm load.