11 replies to this topic

[Jimmy Hat]

Right, at the moment I am trying to put together a cheap n cheerful stereo for my Mini. At the moment this consists of a set of Infinity 9623i 6x9s in the rear shelf, some unknown yellow 4" Pioneers up front (dont know where exactly) and a cheap £50 halfords JVC headunit. All nicely matched up then. That sound okay?

What I want to do though is add a sub. I've narrowed it down to one of those 10" active Fli ones you can get in Halfords or on ebay for about 100 quid or a set of Kenwood wda69rc's for under the rear seats. Which do you think would sound better (ie louder, but still good quality)

If its the Kenwoods how would I go about mounting them? I believe they're meant to be free air rear shelf subs, so would a board with lots of big holes in it do?

If i went for the Fli where could I put my 6x9s other than under the rear seats? Or is there any way I could enclose anything so I could have the subs and 6x9s in the boot?

Or would I be better off spending my money on some infinity 6520cs components up front for example, instead of the Pioneers? Dont really want to do that but...

Cheers for reading, I know its kind of a long question!!

[sam_1275_carbon_sprite]

the sub would be louder, but if you want more mid and high tones (not just epic rumbleing) then get the 6x9's, you'll still get some decent bass, but it wont overpower the rest of the song,

you could mount the sub in the boot, with the 6x9's on the parcel shelf, then add some bass ports (holes in the shelf, but you put like rolled edge sleeves in to make them look nicer) ((bass port on ebay)) this will give better mid and high notes from the 6x9s as the're closer to ear level, = better sound, but you'll get nice bass from the ports,


BASS PORT:

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...#ht_2425wt_1165

[almichie]

if i were you i would spend the £100 on buying a better second hand headunit. say like an alpine. this way you get a better sound source and a better amp for driving the speakers you already have. i wouldn't use the 6x9's and a sub as these will end up cancelling each other out. the general rule is one or the other. i say stick with what you've got and upgrage the source.

[Jimmy Hat]

Sam - might not have made myself clear there, im planning on having Infinity normal 6x9s and Kenwood 6x9 subs if i go for that one, not more normal 6x9s, what do you think? Also, Ive heard you can't have a sub in the boot and 6x9s in the rear shelf at the same time? Does that not apply if you have ports in the shelf?

Almichie- exactly what I was going to do, but Im planning on having the head unit as the only visible part of the install with all the speakers hidden, so in theory the hu's whats gonna get nicked so i deliberately bought a cheap one, thanks for the advice though

[almichie]

"ports" are for tuning a sealed enclosure to the require resonance. You can just plonk ports in a shelf and hope that they're going to work! i can see that by adding holes into the shelf of a mini that this would increase the "bass" heard in the car as the boot is almost sealed. if you ran the sub in the boot without the "ports" then to speaker has to work very hard to overcome the sealed space. when you add holes or ports - what ever, you increase the speakes ability to breath in that space. but adding ports to the shelf also creates an issue in that you are tuning the space that is the boot to a set frequency. the other problem is the front firing sub is acting against the rear firing 6x9 that sits in the shelf. and they cancel each other out. doesn't matter if you add ports or not they still cancel.

[Jimmy Hat]

Well by ports i just meant holes, with port things on them to make them look decent, but cheers for the advice. Youve answered my question about having 6x9s in the shelf along with subs in the boot.

So if i got a pair of these http://mobile-emotio...9carspeakp.html and put the on the back of the 6x9s would that stop the sub from cancelling the 6x9s out as the 6x9s will be completely sealed from where the sub is?

[almichie]

Looks like they might. But you run into other problems then!!!

The whole idea of the 6x9 speaker is to eliminate the need for a sub. by making the width 9 inches this enables the speaker to reach bass that others can't. By sealing with such a small enclosure you loose its ability to strech into the bass regions it could before. The speaker breaths less.

If you were to run a free air sub in the shelf along with the 6x9's, then thats entirly different again.

But it doesn't matter how you look at it running 6x9's and a sub doesn't work all that well. you far better off running 5" or 6" speakers with a high pass filter and a dedicated sub with a low pass set close to what the high pass is.

[Jimmy Hat]

Ok, so what would you say would be the minimum dimensions for a good 6x9 enclosure then? I dont just want boom boom all the time with it but I do want it to be able to, hence the sub i dont even know if id want it on all the time, or just turned right down. I would consider the free air sub in the shelf but having already enlarged the holes to fit the 6x9s I dont know how cutting another hole would affect the strength of the shell?

Another thing I have thought of is to just shove some more speakers in there for good measure, because I've found out where I can get an amp, 6x9 and 6" package insanely cheaply. What i was thinking was to have 4 of the speakers run off the head unit, and 4 of them amped (strategically), with the sub obviously on a different amp, and the amped speakers turned off or right down for normal listening then when I want a bit more punch I turn them and the sub up, reckon thats a good idea? 2 6x9s in the rear shelf, 2 under the rear seat, 2 4"s in the air vent holes and 2 6"s under the dash, with a sub in the boot? (il think of a way to seal it somehow) It might not be ideal, since the speakers on the amp and the amp would be pretty rubbish, but i was just thinking that might make a loud stereo for not much money??

[mini-man-dan]

I've got 2 4" alpine type e 2-way speakers if you're interested? Pm me if you are Dan

[Jimmy Hat]

If you'd told me that a month or 2 earlier I might have been, I'm sticking to my Pioneers now, and I think one set of 4" speakers is enough, but thanks for the offer anybody got any thoughts on my idea about getting more speakers? The idea behind that being the fronts will act like a fake set of components, with the 6" speakers underneath providing more of a bass type sound and the 4" speakers in the air vents dealing more with treble, and the extra 6x9s just for extra volume really, with the sub to liven it up a bit?

[almichie]

My recommendation to would be to keep the 6x9's on the shelf. spend a bit of time and money in the boot region - get the shelf covered in dynamat and do inside the boot area, like the rear of the seat the floor etc. mount the speakers in some nice dense material - a nice thick peice of mdf is good all covered in felt. make sure that this is well fixed to the rear shelf with no means of rattles or air escape - use some no nails around the edges. then get yourself a 4 way amp. something that'll deliver around 50 Watts RMS to each channel should be enough. this way you get the most out of what you've got there already you dont need masses of speakers for good sound (or even volume for that matter). a nice set of 4" in the front and the 6x9's in the rear - you'll be suprised what that setup can deliver if set up correctly!

Run the rears (6x9's) in full pass on the amp. run the fronts with a high pass set to 150-200hz, this takes away the lower bass from the front as this only ends up bogging the little speaker down with something it isn't good at producing - leaving the rears to produce the bass. remeber that treble is directional you can only hear treble from the front, bass is non directional - you can't hear where is comes from.

simple but effective.

[skaterava]

I don't like the idea of a sub in a Mini, would take up too much room in the cabin and wouldnt be loud enough in the boot, so i've got myself a small amp, wired it up to 2 6x9's in my parcel shelf, and after a bit of twiddling with the buttons on the head unit and amp, they pretty much do the same job as a sub but without drowning out the treble it works out much cheaper than getting a sub too.