Click on his screenname as a moderator for the S2000 Talk forum. There is a link in his signature. It says something like "Vote For my car on...." Pretty tight stuff. His is custom Carbon Fiber, though.

John

 

That plastic piece shouldnt cause any problems once removed...its the one that fits inside the indention in the plastic under the panel on the door frame right?

I forgot about that piece, but you should be ok, it should just unscrew off if I can remember correctly.

 

ehhh....

i don't often disagree w/ William, but i've gotta say something here...


this is VERY dependant upon the midbass speaker and it's parameters. for some speakers this might help, but for others it will completely devastate the sound quality.

for example, i know of a certain member here who had these XTC baffles in the door, using a set of high dollar Focals. when he sat in my car, he was flat out astounded at the bass my doors created, and i was astounded at the bass his Focals did NOT create. we spent an evening hunting wires, checking phase, tweaking crossovers, EQ's, everything... nothing could help.

we finally determined the only difference was he had the baffles and i did not. out came the baffles -- BAM! (Emerill style) there was the bass.


summary:
be cautious doing this...
if you've got a speaker designed for infinite baffle (IB) or ported design, and you put it in a small sealed enclosure - it's gonna suck.
if you've got a speaker designed for sealed performance, the IB or ported setup will suck.

that being said? most door speakers are designed for IB applciations.

 

No argument here. I had used them with some Polks and RF components and they sounded great. I switched to Kicker Comps they sounded much better without the baffles.

Being they are pretty cheap and the install is relatively easy - worth trying out me thinks.

 

I have to agree with Phil on this one, you put the wrong speaker(which happens to be most of the ones talked about on this site) into a small sealed enclosure in the door and your going to do more harm than good. Most, not all, but most speakers that people talk about using on this site will actually sound worse and in the rear case it will cook the speaker because its not designed to handle the pressure of a sealed box/encloseure. I would try Dynamating (or something similar) first. If you decide to use a foam baffle make sure you cut a few small slits in the bottom so the speaker can breath.

 

Oh and mine are just fiberglass panels Thanks for the props though guys

 

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

To clarify:

1. I'm very happy with my midbass now in the classic IB configuration.

2. I wasn't considering the XTC baffles. (Are we all talking about the same XTC baffles, the foam ones that fit around the speaker frame?)

3. PJK3's point (seconded by darkknight) makes a lot of sense. Since most door-mounted speakers are used in an IB configuration, they are probably designed to work best that way.

Still, the install guide for my speakers shows, in addition to the usual IB, 2 possible sealed configurations: a 4 liter box and a 7 liter box. It also shows an approximate frequency response plot for each choice.

As you might expect, the 4 liter box has the most output but also rolls off the soonest (on the low end); the 7 liter box has more bass extension but less total output than the 4 liter box; the IB choice plays the lowest but has the least SPL of the 3.

Making a sealed box for the doors would be a royal pain and might not sound much different from IB. I might still give it a try; if I do, I'll certainly let everyone know the result.

Thanks again.

 

well, like PJK3 said, it depends on the drivers used. 95% of all car drivers are designed to be IB or in a big enclosure, like the whole door. shifty's reccomendations would work better for home drivers. ie, DIY set with home drivers. people i know who use the scanspeak revelators instead of the car version by genesis or alpine, make small enclosures for the doors for better results.

let me add that midbass is one of the hardest things to achieve when building a system.

here are some ways to get best/most midbass from your doors.

seal up your door, with dynamat or other deadeners. do the inside of the door, the backside of the skeleton and the front side. i always do double layer.

use nice MDF baffles and use non hardening clay to seal up any leaks around the baffle.

deaden your doorpanel. this can help with cancellation.

then listen. most of the time, you will experience more of a hollow sound or slightly muffled midrange. to fix this, you will need some type of sound wave absorbing material. i have always used egg crate foam on the inside of the door and between the door and the door panel. i hear there is something new to the market called ensolite(spelling?) foam. i have not had the chance to use it yet, but i plan to put it in my car before world finals. the good thing about it is the fact that it is very slim and does not hold moisture inside.

all these techniques will give you the best results given the fact that it is done correctly. i have learned these techniques from the best of the best in IASCA.

last thing, EQ.

 

Not sure what direction to take with all this information.

What words do you all use to describe the different door parts? For this post I'll use:

* door trim piece: the plastic cover we pop off to see the door metal
* inner door panel: the metal layer on the cabin side of the door
* outer door panel: the metal layer on the street side of the door (on the far side of the rolled down window when viewed from the cabin)

Questions for MR ASDF:

1. about MDF baffles: how would MDF be better than the inner door panel?

I'm sure like most people's, my woofers are bolted to the inner door panel. Seems like a pretty good IB barrier, especially if I go in and treat one or both metal panels with sound deadener.

2. about deadening the doors: you treat both sides of the inner panel and also the cabin side of the outer panel?

Since you mentioned taking your car to compete in IASCA world finals, I can understand this "no holds barred" approach. What about for the rest of us? I'm sure more is better but I'm looking for the most gains with the least work (and weight!)

I'm going to contact Boston Acoustics and ask them if sealing my woofers would really be worth the trouble. If I get a good answer (my experience with their tech support has not been positive), I'll post what they say.

 

Ah...so they are....I must have been thinking about the upper tweeter area. Are the door speakers sealed of open? Looks great. I would do something like that, but I am NOT good with fiberglass, and do not want to experiment on this car.

Thanks

john