How necessary are these XTC baffles? I got a pair of short ones, mainly to protect the rear of the speakers since one has to hack the factory basket to accommodate larger magnets found in a lot of aftermarket speakers.

Granted I need to do some further testing, but with the stock HU still powering the stock components with one side having the baffle installed, I want to say the one with the baffle doesn

 

Try the search. I think Darkknight or PJK3 or one of them other brains said that if you cut out a hole in the baffle, you'll be fine. They said that 97% of all door speakers need to breathe, so if you enclose them, they'll sound like crap. Hope that helps.

 

Hello again.....

It really depends on the speakers design. If the speaker is designed with an "infinite baffle," it is designed for open air usage, and will not sound as good with the baffles installed. Speakers react differently to different air situations. A baffle creates more pressure behind the cone, thus more resistance. Some speakers are designed with the resistance in mind, while others are not.

Check speaker design....not sure where to find it, though. I am pretty sure this is the cause of the difference in the sound you are hearing. These speakers were possibly designed to work without baffles in an open-air environment.

You might also want to try a bit of poly-fill material in the baffle. I think putting this stuff in makes the baffle seem larger than it really is, thus reducing the problem. Just an idea.

John

 

I have a 1"x2" square cut out right now at the bottom of the baffle to feed the speaker wires. Once I drop the new speakers in, I'll see how they sound. Perhaps I'll end up cutting the entire back of the baffle out?

 

No wait, it was jwa4378!

 

I dont remember ever saying really anything about baffles. I had a few questions, and John and Phil kind of explained them to me. Makes sense though....speakers are designed to move a certain amount of air. If there is resistance behind the cone (from compressed air), the cone would not move as much, thus not moving as much air. Maybe I did light on the subject a while back..... .....going senile at 22!

John

 

Just to help clarify a little bit here...

If you take the average aftermarket speaker (like about 90-95% of them) and put a baffle behind it.. your most likely going to damage the speaker. They are not designed to work in an enclosed box type of an environment. They are more or less a free air woofer. If you enclose it your going to do 2 things for certain:

1. Ruin a perfectly good working speaker.
2. Ruin a perfectly good working speaker.

What HU/AMP/speakers are you using?

 

Please note that I posted this after prepping one door, so my observations are based on the stock HU powering the stock components.

The rest of the stuff required for my install will arrive tomorrow so I should be installing everything by this weekend.

To answer your questions below:

1.) Stock HU feeding PAC OEM2 LOC
2.) 6.5" Polk Audio Momo Carbon components (http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/pr...nents/mmc6500/)
3.) Phoenix Gold Xenon 100.4 -- there is a chance I may change amps.


Therefore, should I or should I not use the XTC baffles? If not, is there any risk of damaging the speakers since they may be exposed to water?

 

I would say just don't use them but if you drive your car daily and in wet weather, you can get the baffle but you'll need to cut a good chunk out of the bottom so as not to damage the speakers.

 

Thanks!

Should I find that the new speakers sound better without the baffles, I will try progressively trimming the baffle to try and improve SQ and provide some protection before removing them completely as I do drive it daily here in rainy Seattle