E36 front speakers max mounting depth

[LCP]

Guys, any idea? Changing my front speakers soon, just wondering whether speakers with 60mm mounting depth is okay. Also, any chance of going up from 5.25" to 6.5" without modifying anything? These Germans sure are weird, I think their ears grow on their ankles, else I dunno why the front woofers are located on the kick panels... LCP

 

[vincent]

yeah , i also want to know can i put a 6 inch in the kick panel ....

 

[BlueMixWhite]

There is no no way u can put a 6.5" at the kick panel. Need to mod the kick to fit that size. If really wanna to mod, better mod on the door.

 

[LCP]

Ok thanks, back to my original question... so, how deep can a 5.25" speaker be to fit into the stock position? Many 5.25" speakers out there have about 50-60mm mounting depth.

LCP

 

[Vanquish]

You can add a kick panel to the original stock location and put in a 6.5 or even a 7 inch mid unit. Mounting depth of 3 inch or below will not be a major issue. This will be a much cheaper and atleast IMHO a much more effective mod than cutting the door panel and refabricating them. Here's a couple of pics of my current kicks - currently having a pair of 6.5 inch DLS UR6S mids there. But these will be tinkered with later to accept the even deeper SEAS L18 7 inch aluminium coned mid bass units. And no, the Germans do not have their ears down at their ankles - go ahead and Google up some info on the E36 or E36 cabin acoustics. They have very strong staging and imaging properties while driver transition/blending from mids to tweets are very smooth even with the mids perched up in the footwells.


1. Fabrication - MDF board, angled and fitted with DLS supplied mounting rings.

2. Post install - wrapped with black leatherette for a stock look.

3. The new kicks meant that the hood release latch had to be relocated - a small issue for my ever reliable installer.

They look cool, neat and yet simple while being absolutely superb in terms of staging, imaging and improving mid bass response from the DLS mid units. And they did not even cost a fortune to fabricate and install.

Cheers,
VaN.

 

[BlueMixWhite]

Hi Vanquish,

How is the staging at kick panel, as good as at the door panel? I am having sleepless nite....should i mod the kick or the door.

 

[DanPromote]

vanquish, that's exactly what I want to do for my car! Mind telling me where to do this around PJ/KL area?

 

[Vanquish]

Blue,

To my amateur ears and IMHO, the stock location sounds better and more natural in terms of midbass response and imaging/staging. Yes, the tweeter position and location plays a huge part in the latter but compared to the door panel location, the stocks are more secure, easier to mod with and the returns are just as impressive. I've heard a couple of cars with their doors modded and apart from some cosmetic enhancement and a slightly better mid bass response, these panels do not break new grounds to me atleast. In fact, the distance between the mids in the door panels and the tweters up on the dash tend to create a sense of detachment with certain tracks and music genre to my ears atleast. And as I was telling another pal, I just hate the idea of my mids having to compete with all sorts of vibrations and road noise that could drown or overpower them at the end of the day. But seriously, I'd suggest that you hear a couple of system with different mid bass / location and etc first and weigh in the pros/cons and the $$$ investment before you take the plunge.

Dan,

My kicks were designed and installed by my usual installer - Yap at YCS Autosound who also happens to be a Club Member here in JB. I very nearly went for the panel mod before a long chat and a working model of the kicks from Yap changed my mind. I guess you can speak to the usual installers in KL that we know of and show them these pics if you want to. I'm quite sure that you can work similar or even better for your ride. In fact, I mite even put my current kicks up for sale when the SEAS L18 mid units arrive here soon. The current kick panel's depth may not be sufficient for the monster RNX magnets on those SEAS hence I may end up fabricating a new pair of kicks with a little more mounting depth.

Anyway,

From my own experience, the stock location seems to be less prone to the harsh elements of NVH and weather compared to the door panels - but there is a fix however. If you decide to go with the modded door panels, please ensure that they are securely fitted and installed while a fair amount of sound proofing and damping is a must to eliminate vibrations, rattles and resonance. Check out Affan's car and set-up for an idea of how this should be done - a very neat and sweet sounding set-up. Now, where's that ICE Meister when you need him the most .....

Cheers,

 

[LCP]

Cool kick panels there, thanks for the info Vanquish... just one question on the staging and imaging, any preferred mid-to-tweeter crossover frequency point for E36 set up? Or is this entirely dependent on the speakers itself... IMO, it would be best for the imaging if the tweeters can produce the upper mids... say in the 1.5kHz to 3.5kHz region...

LCP

 

[Vanquish]

LCP,

You just touched on another subject that has been a never ending source of debate. Okay, if you are running matched pair of components with factory supplied passive crossovers - like a pair of DLS M6 components pair, be rest assured that the cross-over points for the mid bass and mid to high frequency point would have been sorted out for you at the factory. The fun will start when you ditch the crossovers and decide to run them active - each drivers powered individually and run off an electronics crossover either stand alone unit or from the HU. That will be a whole new game .... cone breakup point, cone characteristics, response curves, on-axis/off-axis response, crossover slopes and etc .... in case you're keen ...

Cheers,

 

[3er]

Check out Affan's car and set-up for an idea of how this should be done - a very neat and sweet sounding set-up. Now, where's that ICE Meister when you need him the most .....

,

He's away in DC.

 

[LCP]

Vanquish, heh heh, no, won't go into a debate on those things, bottomline for me is the mid to high transition must be smooth and imaging is there... Mids must be detailed too..

LCP