where to put 8" woofers in my e30?

[jcerecke 2]

At the moment I have components up front and 2x 10"'s in my boot space. Have taken out the rears because... well I don't sit in the back and they were stock. 10"s are going up to 80hz and my fronts couldn't really get down that low so I've wound them up to 250hz and above and bridged the gap with 2x 8" peerless 4ohm woofers. at the moment I've got the 8"s mounted in bookshelf speaker cabs sitting on the back seat.

Where can I put them?! I know I can't cut the rear shelf holes bigger, and spacers won't really work easily because the top of the shelf isn't flat. I also thought about sticking them in the front door cards but since they're only doing 80-250hz I thought it wouldn't be a solid enough mounting place and it's not exactly a sealed enclosure either.

Considered putting them where the 5.25" fronts are and putting those in the door? Am I allowed to cut the kickpanel hole bigger? I'm assuming having the 5.25"s closer to me would be better since they're doing the highmids and the 8"s are doing lowmids.

Any ideas or suggestions!?!

cheers.

[Five Star 0]

What are your components?

I'd flag the 8's and change your components. But that's keeping it simple..

You'll need a decent enclosure or they'll be a waste of time. I hope you're good with fibreglass

[jcerecke 2]

What are your components?

Alpine Type R 5.25in + tweeter SPR-13S

I'm not convinced going to 6.5" would satisfy me. 8" is small enough as it is to go down to 80hz.

[Five Star 0]

Have a listen to some properly setup 6.5's then. They suit most people!

Going with 8's will be a long and expensive road. Fun though

[rogan 7]

I'd go 6.5s for that car.

I did a small install on the wife's old e30 and I can't remember seeing anywhere you could put 8s. There a post on Bimmerforums where a guy fitted speakers into the doors just in front of the armrest in custom pods - can't remember if they were 6s or 8s and can't find the link either.

[JasonL 0]

Poroblem 1: is having 8inch speakers. Best set up you will find is to have 6.5inch in the front and 6.5inch in the rear. Problem having 6x9s in the back is that magnets are too big and there is no room for the bass to air late (or what ever its called). If your wanting good speakers go with the DLS MS6A they are great speakers look up reviews on nz ice. They are great speakers. Also your subs should be doing the lows for you. whats the other gear you are running. ie amps subs.

[jcerecke 2]

The problem I have with putting anything in the rear is with my subs going, the pressure will push the cones of my rear speakers and distort them. Or am I mistaken?

Who said anything about having 6x9s? They're not an option for obvious SQ reasons.

My subs are doing the lows lol. What else can they do? They're going up to 80hz. My subs are 2x 600w 10" Rockford dvc somethings. (power/punch, cant remember which is which but they're the better ones) in a smallish sealed elclosure. They're being run by a soundstream 1500d amp at 1 or 4 ohms. Can't remember. But the amp supposedly puts out the same wattage at both speaker resistences, although I have no idea how.

Front 5.25"+tweeter and 8"s are being run by a soundstream 4x60w.

I'm really really set on the 8"s eh. I mean... I already have them. Although that DLS stuff looks really good.

I think I might try put the 8s where my 5.25s are at the moment, and put the 5.25s in the door card with a bit of reinforcing.

[JasonL 0]

The problem I have with putting anything in the rear is with my subs going, the pressure will push the cones of my rear speakers and distort them. Or am I mistaken?

Who said anything about having 6x9s? They're not an option for obvious SQ reasons.

My subs are doing the lows lol. What else can they do? They're going up to 80hz. My subs are 2x 600w 10" Rockford dvc somethings. (power/punch, cant remember which is which but they're the better ones) in a smallish sealed elclosure. They're being run by a soundstream 1500d amp at 1 or 4 ohms. Can't remember. But the amp supposedly puts out the same wattage at both speaker resistences, although I have no idea how.

Front 5.25"+tweeter and 8"s are being run by a soundstream 4x60w.

I'm really really set on the 8"s eh. I mean... I already have them. Although that DLS stuff looks really good.

I think I might try put the 8s where my 5.25s are at the moment, and put the 5.25s in the door card with a bit of reinforcing.

Rockford and soundstream very nice brands. Great stuff by both. rockford new gear is not all that good now :C

8" will be sweet in the front but bit of a mission to put them in I was jst thinking 6.5" would b a better idea than cutting and desgining cut outs to make them fit. I was going to put 8" in my e30 too but the room behind the magnets wasnt enough for the bass to get too them lows and didnt sound all that nice but im more into the spl side of things.

Also with the rear speakers look under tray I had 4 free holes. So I cut some of the tray out to let the pressure out thought them holes and recarpeted over top so its looks stock. was thinking of boxing the rear speakers but they sound much better due to the extra porting.

About the 6x9 I jst c lots of people with 6x9 in da back.

Hope that can help ya.

[rogan 7]

The problem I see is regardless of whether you put 8s or 6.5s in the front, they're going to be constrained by their enclosure. From memory the e30 factory mounts are horriffic to work with. I think you'd struggle to get an 8" in the kicks.

You also wouldn't want to put the 8s in the kicks and the 5.25 in the doors, why have the higher frequency speakers closer to you. If you must do 8s + 5.25s then put the 8s in the doors and the 5.25 in the kicks. Also consider you're going to need more amps (presume active xover) and crossovers.

[jcerecke 2]

You also wouldn't want to put the 8s in the kicks and the 5.25 in the doors, why have the higher frequency speakers closer to you. If you must do 8s + 5.25s then put the 8s in the doors and the 5.25 in the kicks. Also consider you're going to need more amps (presume active xover) and crossovers.

Lower frequency needs to move more air to achieve the same volume, and it does that by moving the cone a greater distance. So if it's installed in the flimsy door card then it's probably going to rip it to shreds in no time. And the flexing of the door cards will introduce unwanted noise. Also the lower the freqency, the less directional it is, although everything the 8s will be doing will be directional anyway so that doesnt really matter. But since the midrange is more directional, I'd rather it sounds like it's coming from the left and right, rather than the left and my feet hence closer.

My headunit is doing a 3 way crossover for me, and I have a passive crossover for the 5.25s+tweeters. And if thats not enough, the 4ch amp has HP/LP filters on it too

I already have the 8s in my car and working fine, but they're just in speaker cabs sitting on my back seat.

[rogan 7]

Lower frequency needs to move more air to achieve the same volume, and it does that by moving the cone a greater distance. So if it's installed in the flimsy door card then it's probably going to rip it to shreds in no time. And the flexing of the door cards will introduce unwanted noise. Also the lower the freqency, the less directional it is, although everything the 8s will be doing will be directional anyway so that doesnt really matter. But since the midrange is more directional, I'd rather it sounds like it's coming from the left and right, rather than the left and my feet hence closer.

And the bigger the speaker, the more volume of air is needed in the enclosure (generally). Trying to get sufficient enclosure for the 8s in the kicks will be difficult unless you cut metal and go an infinite baffle route. If in the doors, you wouldn't mount them to the door cards, you'd build pods to mount them to the frame, then seal and deaden the doors.

5.25s in the kicks isn't an option for everyone. My feet and legs are too big but for normal sized people this isn't really an issue. Having the 5.25s down there can lead to a stronger phantom centre channel but less stage width. Putting them in the doors could weaken the centre channel and mean a very spacial sound.

How you'd get 8s in the kicks without interfering with gas pedal access is beyond me. From my vague memory of the front of an e30, I reckon you can only put 8s in the doors and even then you'd have to be very careful of window opening and intrusion into leg space.

My headunit is doing a 3 way crossover for me, and I have a passive crossover for the 5.25s+tweeters. And if thats not enough, the 4ch amp has HP/LP filters on it too

Sounds like you've got enough then. One thing to consider is it's much harder to get a 3way front stage right than a 2way. I once tried a 5way front stage, never again, it's 2way for me from now on.

Who said anything about having 6x9s? They're not an option for obvious SQ reasons.

Aren't they? Obviously you'd have to be clearly insane to have 6x9s in the front. Hehehehe

[Old_Skool_Bmw 0]

IMO 8" would be too big for an e30 up front.. (if you want it to run at it's best)

Im comparison here is what I chucked together one afternoon just to get a 6.5" in my old Merc 190e (same sort of size as the e30) especially the front kicker panel + OEM speaker set-up's

The 6.5" alone had recommended 8-10L sealed enclosure. I sealed the door up and didn't get any sort of rattles from the windows etc.

(Pics before paint + prep)

Laurence

Edited April 15, 2009 by Old_Skool_Bmw

[Dyl 4]

Had a kick ass stereo in my old E30 and it was easy as.

Infinity Cappa bridged components in the front and a Cerwyn Vega boxed 12inch in the boot. Easy, simple and I never had to cut holes in the rear tray. It is CRITICAL that you get your sound stage just right in the front of the car or else your sub will just drown out anything worth listening too. I cant reiterate how important it is to have geed, well balanced complementary. It's worth spending the coin!!