HzEmall Regal
Don't hack your car !!
- Joined
- May 25, 2001
Guys I have seen alot of posts and questions on the board about speaker locations and how they work and what is best in your G Body cars and I wanted to put some info out there for you to consider. I have no idea how to make it a sticky so I have to rely on just posting it this way.
In a G body there is really only 3 main spots in the front to place speakers and 2 in the rear.
The front being :
Dash
Doors
Kicks
The rear being:
Rear tray
Rear sides
Here is some simple things that you can try and play with to see what the difference in locations is.
A real easy experiment is to play some good quality music on a home stereo (not home theater) with just 2 speakers. Sit in the middle of the speakers about 4 feet away from the speakers as this is a realistic representation of what kicks are going to sound like, the further you sit away the more equal the pathlengths are going to be. Now move your chair in between the speakers and sit closer to the left speaker like you would in the car with door speakers and see what you think. Then sit right in front of the left speaker as that is close to what a dash speaker will sound like. Those 3 options will get you going in the right direction as to where you might want your speakers.
Now......
Go down to you nearest electronics retailer, buy a pair of small box speakers around $50 (make sure they have a good return policy as you are only renting these for a few days) Take the speakers and place them around the car starting with the kicks. Play some different styles of music and see what sounds good for you. You can also take your existing speakers and mount them on a small baffle and do the same.
Now everyone on here is going to have a different opinion of what sounds good in a car and what good music is for those people so you NEED to make this decision on your own cause your the one you have to please, no one else.
Take the box's and place them in the kicks, angle them so that they point at the dome light and listen to them, then keep angling them a little at a time until you find a sound that you like. Always use the same songs each time. Then place them on the sill panel where you would normally put a speaker in the door and listen to them, notice the difference and decide which is the better sound for you.
Then take the boxes and place them on the rear tray and the side panels and play with them until you hear the sound YOU like.
Here is some info on speakers to consider when chosing speakers and the locations to put them in.
Tweeters in the dash CAN work and sound good, if they are a good quality tweeter with a REALLY good crossover on them. Some tweeters are going to sound so BAD on the dash that you'll cry. Tweets in the dash has alot to do with reflections, the angle of the window and how you angle the actual tweeter. My 2002 Accord has factory tweeters in the dash with the mid in the door, I swapped the speakers out for some Diamond Hexs and it blew my mind how well it imaged when playing with the angle of the tweets up there. Tweets can work there if you spend the time to make them work.
You can do a combo of the tweet in the dash with the mid in the kick or the door, hell you can even place the mid in front of the front seat firing up (some claim it will work).
You can do a full kick set up with the mid and tweet in the kick panels, custom ones or Qforms.
You can also do a kick set up with a midbass in the door or cut the floor and do it in front of the front seats.
One thing to remember about door speakers, you are cutting the car, for those of you with GN's that are worth some money that is the wrong thing to do, if it's just a Regal like mine, cut away all you want, I DID !!!
A very basic setup to do in a G body is in the kicks, if you remove the factory kick panel you will find a "pocket" behind the kick in the metal (they are there in most GM cars and trucks) If you build a small baffle to space out the speaker a bit you can easily fit a 4" or 5" in there along with a tweeter, leave the kicks off for a few days and drive around and listen to it. This option requires no cutting of the car, and moving the ECU on the pass side, which is no big deal.
The next step is going with Qforms, these are a great way to get good sound for cheap, BUT if you go with these, you need to strenghten these, apply some fiberglass or even just a layer or 2 of dynamat (pick your brand name) This will make them more solid and allow you to get more midbass out of them.
The last step is to go with some all out custom kicks, under the carpet, over the carpet, attach to the factory plastic, you can cut the floor and move them back even farther, it's up to you.
Door panels, you can go with the concert panels, do some basic build outs, or go with some crazy cool custom ones either way listen to the options out there before you cut things up.
After doing all these different experiments (which can all easily be done in a day) decide for yourself what you think the best option in your car is for speaker placement.
After all, if you ask 10 people for their opinion on sound you'll get more then 10 answers
Decide for yourselves.
Spend the money right the first time, measure twice and cut once.
And don't drink beer while doing all this as beer will make things sound better then they are
I've done that one to many times the night before a big show
Car audio is fun, have fun with it !
In a G body there is really only 3 main spots in the front to place speakers and 2 in the rear.
The front being :
Dash
Doors
Kicks
The rear being:
Rear tray
Rear sides
Here is some simple things that you can try and play with to see what the difference in locations is.
A real easy experiment is to play some good quality music on a home stereo (not home theater) with just 2 speakers. Sit in the middle of the speakers about 4 feet away from the speakers as this is a realistic representation of what kicks are going to sound like, the further you sit away the more equal the pathlengths are going to be. Now move your chair in between the speakers and sit closer to the left speaker like you would in the car with door speakers and see what you think. Then sit right in front of the left speaker as that is close to what a dash speaker will sound like. Those 3 options will get you going in the right direction as to where you might want your speakers.
Now......
Go down to you nearest electronics retailer, buy a pair of small box speakers around $50 (make sure they have a good return policy as you are only renting these for a few days) Take the speakers and place them around the car starting with the kicks. Play some different styles of music and see what sounds good for you. You can also take your existing speakers and mount them on a small baffle and do the same.
Now everyone on here is going to have a different opinion of what sounds good in a car and what good music is for those people so you NEED to make this decision on your own cause your the one you have to please, no one else.
Take the box's and place them in the kicks, angle them so that they point at the dome light and listen to them, then keep angling them a little at a time until you find a sound that you like. Always use the same songs each time. Then place them on the sill panel where you would normally put a speaker in the door and listen to them, notice the difference and decide which is the better sound for you.
Then take the boxes and place them on the rear tray and the side panels and play with them until you hear the sound YOU like.
Here is some info on speakers to consider when chosing speakers and the locations to put them in.
Tweeters in the dash CAN work and sound good, if they are a good quality tweeter with a REALLY good crossover on them. Some tweeters are going to sound so BAD on the dash that you'll cry. Tweets in the dash has alot to do with reflections, the angle of the window and how you angle the actual tweeter. My 2002 Accord has factory tweeters in the dash with the mid in the door, I swapped the speakers out for some Diamond Hexs and it blew my mind how well it imaged when playing with the angle of the tweets up there. Tweets can work there if you spend the time to make them work.
You can do a combo of the tweet in the dash with the mid in the kick or the door, hell you can even place the mid in front of the front seat firing up (some claim it will work).
You can do a full kick set up with the mid and tweet in the kick panels, custom ones or Qforms.
You can also do a kick set up with a midbass in the door or cut the floor and do it in front of the front seats.
One thing to remember about door speakers, you are cutting the car, for those of you with GN's that are worth some money that is the wrong thing to do, if it's just a Regal like mine, cut away all you want, I DID !!!
A very basic setup to do in a G body is in the kicks, if you remove the factory kick panel you will find a "pocket" behind the kick in the metal (they are there in most GM cars and trucks) If you build a small baffle to space out the speaker a bit you can easily fit a 4" or 5" in there along with a tweeter, leave the kicks off for a few days and drive around and listen to it. This option requires no cutting of the car, and moving the ECU on the pass side, which is no big deal.
The next step is going with Qforms, these are a great way to get good sound for cheap, BUT if you go with these, you need to strenghten these, apply some fiberglass or even just a layer or 2 of dynamat (pick your brand name) This will make them more solid and allow you to get more midbass out of them.
The last step is to go with some all out custom kicks, under the carpet, over the carpet, attach to the factory plastic, you can cut the floor and move them back even farther, it's up to you.
Door panels, you can go with the concert panels, do some basic build outs, or go with some crazy cool custom ones either way listen to the options out there before you cut things up.
After doing all these different experiments (which can all easily be done in a day) decide for yourself what you think the best option in your car is for speaker placement.
After all, if you ask 10 people for their opinion on sound you'll get more then 10 answers
Decide for yourselves.
Spend the money right the first time, measure twice and cut once.
And don't drink beer while doing all this as beer will make things sound better then they are
I've done that one to many times the night before a big show
Car audio is fun, have fun with it !
