mm6 enclosures

[neomagus00]

im thinking about putting my mm6's in enclosures to replace the stock door location, cause it's pretty retarded how they're in now: they're mounted in the door's metal frame, while the plastic that makes it look pretty sits about 4 inches away from that frame; thus, the mids are essentially blasting away at the dead space in my doors, with a 6 inch hole for the sound to get through:

I
N    |-----|
T    |    |-|\
E    |    >|  |
R    |    |-|/
I    |-----|
O
R    ^     ^
     |     |__metal frame w/ speaker
     |    
     plastic w/ stock speaker hole

1) is it beneficial to mount the tweeters next to the mids? cause that seems like it would cause more work for me :)

2) does the shape of the enclosure matter? i.e. it's probably going to have to be roughly a tube, with the end maybe angled up a bit

3) something strange i've noticed - when i crank it with the windows down, each bass hit makes my window shake. im quite sure it's not from the note itself, but rather from the physical speaker hitting the window. is this normal, or is there something i can do about it?

4) finally, what issues with external water and such should i concern myself with?

[LittleCar_w/12s]

Well sounds like your lows are going into your door, hitting the outside and then bouncing off the glass.. in short, you're loosing at least half of you sound because there's no enclosure, but it's not "hitting" the glass itself.

I know this sounds silly, but you could find a good plastic bowl the right size and mount it below the speaker basket into your door. It should make a good bit of difference. or you could use the bowl as the end of your tube enclosuyre that you're talking about to maximise the airspace for the speaker without simply leaving the tube open.

as for the highs.. mounting them in a different location depends on how much you want to alter your interior, and if you want to buy a nice plastic grill that will not make it too obvious.

Water should not be much of an issue if the mid is on the inside of the frame, especially in an enclosure, and if you have good window seals.

--Jerry

[neomagus00]

hmm... i'm assuming i should build the enclosure out of cabinet grade birch, b/c mdf may (so i hear) dissolve under water. since the enclosure will be sticking a bit beyond the frame (i think, i haven't looked at it yet) this would be important. then coat it a few times with water-repellent stuff, like the sealant one puts on a wooden deck.

tweet location - i was referring to sq, my mistake for not making this clearer. will the relocation of my tweeters nearer my mids improve my sound quality? how about what it will do to imaging and staging?

[exalted512]

will not make your SQ better unless its in a really BAD place right now
it will however make your highs/mids blend better
-Cody

[neomagus00]

i don't think they could be in a worse spot - they're aimed right at my windshield from my dash now; i know you hate that. blend is good.

there's no problem just mounting the tweet essentially on the door panel, is there? it would be a basic surface mount, only the surface would happen to be a prepared face of the pod.

[exalted512]

no problem with mounting it that way
only thing is if you want to sell the car without the tweeter youre going to have a good size hole there
-Cody

[neomagus00]

hmm... yes... in that case, i'll just have to make it so it's removable. actually, i accidentally cooked the stock rear speakers with my HU when i got the mm6s installed, so the only stock audio that's still alive is the HU and the 2" tweets/mids that used to be in the dash. if i end up selling, i'll just put in like $30 coaxes and be done with it.

wait, why does surface mounting involve a hole?

[exalted512]

oops, i read flush mount, youll still have a hole to feed the wires through though, but MUCH smaller
-Cody

[neomagus00]

okay, i feel better.

what is bondo?

[fairlynew]

my car has a plastic "sleve" that brings the speaker out about 4 or 5 inches, its a 92 camry, came with the car, im guessing to fix that problem, it has a 6.5" speaker. might want to take a trip to a junk yard and look for them, they are in the front doors.

[neomagus00]

hmmm... good idea, i'll look in to it.

i've also thought about getting qlogics kicks and then adapting them to my use. anyone ever used these, or have opinions on them?

[exalted512]

the truck with the Focals i demoed had q-logic kicks
nice stuff, but depends on how much you want to pay for em
id look for em on ebay
-Cody

[neomagus00]

yes, you mentioned the focal truck - you said the soundstage was too low. is this a common problem with kick enclosures; should i leave my tweets in the dash to keep the stage up? or is that low soundstage fairly rare?

all the q-logics on ebay are $99.00, so i'll probably end up building my own stuff.

i really do not want to move my tweeters, now that i think about it. my glove box doesn't need taken out again. okay then, unless there's any problems i have to worry about that haven't been mentioned, i guess i'll start the design...

[exalted512]

well, kick panels in a small car and very nice, theyre exactly where id want them, but kick panels in a truck are very different since theres about a ft more space...
so really, if you have a small car, IMO kicks are the way to go
-Cody

[neomagus00]

that's comforting then, i do drive a small car. why is it that they're not as good in trucks cause of more space?

[exalted512]

well, more space as in this:
in a truck the kick panels are farther from your head than in a car
in a truck you can sit with your knees at a 90* angle and your quads are parallel with the ground
in a car youre legs are more straight to get your legs parallel
-Cody