I currently have Infinty kappa components and due to bad amp i hate to admit it but some user error they are a little ragged out sp tp speak. I plan on redoing mu component system and my current thought is getting JL xr650csi 6.5" components. and replacing the amp with a fosgate power 451s. The amp puts out 112 x 2 at 4 ohms. The speakers rms is 70 so my plan was to get a little bit bigger amp and turn the gains down to try to get a cleaner signal. Any suggestions or coments on this setup? Anybody heard the xr components? If so are they over rated for the price? I was thinking of doing JLs or focals. Any other suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,
X

 

The JL XR's are a very nice sounding set of speakers and if that is what fits your plans best then I say they will do great for you. I personally like the Focal just a little better but that is just me. If you want others that sound great to compare I would say also look at Diamond, Oz, MB Quart, Dynaudio, and Infinity to name a few. All of these speakers all have great sound but sound a little different from each other. I can't tell you this pair or that pair sounds best because that depends on your ears and your opinion. I personally prefer and run HLCD's (horns) for all my mid and high frequencies complimented with an 8" midbass driver. I am currently playing around with a very small pair of magnetic planar line source transducers by Bohlender Graebener. Sonically I don't think anything offered in the car audio market comes close to them and thus far I have been extremely pleased with their tonal performance in car. Now if I can just get a few other pesky issues worked out with them I think I will be ok.

 

cgorris,
So glad you like the Focals. I just scored a good deal at ~$200 for a pair of PolyKevlar 6.5 Componets from an installer who is upgrading on Ebay. I got the spkrs in great shape and can't wait to get them installed. Is the tweeter location near the door handle or near the midrange in the factory door location a better opton ?

Ricksta

 

Ricksta,

I would go with some custome built kicks to really get the stage, image and ambience that you want. As far as placement you usually want to keep the tweet as close to your mid driver as possible so just keep that in mind. I personally think that the factory location is probably the worst place in the world that a car manufacturer could go about putting speakers. It seems to me for the money that we pay for our vehicles the manufacturer would get a clue and start making the kick panels the normal location for placement. One would think that since they already have to mold kick panels in the first place they should go ahead and mold a set with correct positioning of the drivers. They may even pick up a few buyers just because the way the stereo would sound better than everyone elses.

Sorry, for the rant there. Anyway you can either get some of the Q forms or just build your own or have a local stereo shop make you a set. It really is not as difficult as people may think to build a pair of kicks.

I just remember you saying that you are all about SQ and I don't think you would be happy with the speakers mounted where you are talking about. If you do want to give it a try then you could maount the mid in the door and just try moving the tweet around until you get what you want. This way you don't make any physical changes to the door panel without hearing what it would sound like in that location first.

I look at it this way. Find out where the speakers sound best regardless of location and then figure out just how the heck your gonna be able to pull off the mount job.

 

cgorris- took your advice and ordered a pair of Q-forms from Ebay. From what I've heard the imaging and soundstage is much better using the kicks. I may have to do some minor fitting/glassing to get the 6.5 Focal to fit, but it will be less work than starting from scratch. Anyway I will have a slightly used pair of Infinity Kappa's to get rid of.



Ricksta

 

You will definitely be happier with them located in the kicks I will guarantee you that. There really is no comparison. Sounds like your well on your way to a great system. The little bit of extra work will pay off big in the end.

 

Ive heard that the kick panels do make a huge difference, and right now I have the mid in the door and the tweeter in the upper left pointing in( its in my sig) Anyway im curious about redoing the tweeter location. Anyway what would i do with the holes where the tweeters are now.
Just wonderin,
Ricksta your system sounds like it will be the Ball$.

Jim

 

Neckster- I have ugly/efficient US Acoustic Amps 4ch/2ch total:$329 from Crutchfield with 3 yr warranty, Poneer MP5500 fro crutchfield $219, Q Form kick from here http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ory=32819&rd=1 $99. The kicks have shipped as well as a SuperCrew Sound Sub enclosure. I'll post results in the Forum after I recieve them. Heck, cgorris has more than this tied up in his wiring and distribution block ! Hey CG just kidding !

Ricksta

 

I heard that you had to modify the foot brake if you use the kick panels..is there any truth to that? I am also wanting to upgrade my speakers and go with some components w/kicks. I am still not sure what I want to replace the back speakers with. I am looking for more bass without adding a subwoofer... I don't mind adding an amp to push the new speakers since I would prefer to keep my stock head unit. I use to play around with car audio years and years ago but feel I might get in over my head trying to pick out the right equipment.

-Brian

 

some times to clear the kick panel you will have to "tweak " the emergency brake arm out a little but no biggie (You will be suprised how easy it is)

 

Thank you for the quick reply leapfrog. I assume there is room for the crossover in the kick panel. I will do some researching on components and speakers in my price range and post back for opinions. Thanks again.

-Brian

 

You can have a superb sound stage without kick panels. I just completed construction of new spkr pods for my door panels. Since I made these from scratch using fiberglass I was able to play with the placement of each spkr and ended up tilting them upward and inward to create a nice stage. I did not sacrifice leg room or foot room. In fact, I have not yet noticed my leg brushing up against the spkrs during my commute to work. Also have not noticed my leg blocking any sound from any of the 3 spkrs in the driver door panel. The only thing I've noticed besides a cosmetic upgrade is the bad *** sound I get with these JL 653-cs spkrs combined with the JL 300/2. Whether I play them at low volume or loud as sh** these spkrs produce very full and clear sound. This is my first experience with JL audio components and so far I could not be more pleased with their performance or placement in my F150 single cab.



Justin

 

Fiberman, first let me say those pods look great. I saw that you said you didn't like kicks because they got kicked too much and I can understand that aspect. However, the whole reason most put them in the kicks is to get path length diffferences closer in length from left to right. I am probably not telling you anything you don't already know but without a DSP to adjust time delay how are you getting them to stage properly mounted in the pods? Seems like to me you are going to be left side bias from driver seat and right side bias from passenger seat. Have you had this as a problem with your pods? If not how did you overcome the path length problem? Phase shift? DSP? Linkwitz Transform?

 

I think I still get that problem with my kicks...hard to say though, but Im just picky and its going to take me making my own to please me.

On another note, I don't notice a loss in foot room going with kicks where as if I went with pods on my doors like that my knee would be hitting them because as of now my knee rests againt the door right near the midbass. But each t his own, I guess thats what I get for being so "Gumbi-ish."

The only bad thing about the Q forms is that they are really partial to the drivers side, but some may not concider that a bad thing at all. Before I did kicks in my first install I put the midbass/midrange driver in the door and moved the tweeter all around and best sond came from the kicks so I bought a pair and put them in there . I had 6.5s too, but I just mounted them from behind.(get your mind out the gutter )

As for getting more bass with out adding a sub I say go with a good 3 way comp set and a good amp and you'll be good to go. Right now I have my 3 way Utopias powered off of a Zapco C2k 4.0 off the stock HU and am pretty happy although the sound could get a LOT better. The low end out of them is amazing and will improve with any set once you deaden/seal the doors. So my vote goes to tweeter and midrange in the kicks and midbass in the doors.

 

Old Kicks




New Kicks



And no they match better than that, they just came out funny in the picture.