Hey fellaz...about to upgrade from the crappy bose and have been thinking Diamond Audio D662a components or D971 components for the doors. First, has anyone used either and can give a recommendation. What else has anyone used? Anyone used a Focal 3 way?

Also, what do you recommend for the rear speakers just to give a minor upgrade for what little sound comes out there?

 

Diamonds are way too bright, MHO. I'd stick with a 2 way setup.
Focal is good.

 

I've used many Diamond Audio components.. They are pretty good for the most part, just make sure you use a high pass on the set to keep out the sub bass, like 80hz+. The "a" component sets are aluminum dome tweeters which are very bright, the "s" sets are silk dome and are much softer sound than the aluminum. Focal, high end Boston, Dynaudio, Image Dynamics are all good as well. Morel makes some really nice sounding components too. I just put MB Quart 4" components and a kicker 8" in my door, still trying to get it to sound like I want, but I think it will turn out good.

Chris

 

thx guys...i must admit that I do like a brighter/higher treble sound. might be why I was thinking DA's. How were you able to fit an 8 in the door...I thought about that but thought it didn't have the space.

 

8s are easy in the vette doors.

 

8" on a baffle.

 

Nice...any other pics? If you go with an 8 for the door, how do they handle the midrange frequencies paired with the tweeter? Would love them for the obvious lower range but not sure how they handle the higher mid ranges?

 

You would need a "special" 8 designed as a midrange. There aren't very many, and they still don't play very high. You would also need a tweeter that can play really low. I run Dyn MW172 8" @ 350 watts + Dyn MD102 tweets @ 90watts, 2.5k crossover point.

 

Nice...so my next question is whether it is worth it if I will have a 12 in the back...would you recommend an 8 or would a great pair of 6.5 components be fine for the front?

 

Well, I think it more important to get more bass up front the bigger you go, subwise. However... there are so many great 6.5 sets, I wouldn't pass them up. I was fixing a very "specific" need for myself.

 

Here are a few pics of my door install. I did change the 4" mounting a bit, sounded like a tin can the way I have it in the pics. I used some 1/2" spacers to space it out from the plate, made it much smoother.

 

I run the Pioneer 720PRS's and they are damn good speakers. 6.5" components up front, 12" Polk MOMO DVC sub in the rear. Crossed over at 90HZ, 24dB slope. I like it a lot.

Be careful when trying to install a couple of speakers in the door. While it will fit, you need to block the back of the mid like Thumpr did. (Good job, Thumpr... looks cool.) This prevents the 8" driver from sending it's sound through the midrange driver's cone.

You also need to be concerned about the way that the door panel blocks the speaker in the upper part of the door. As you can see in the following pictures, it starts to become a problem as the angle changes...









As you can see, because the area is so high and behind the door panel area, you run into a problem with the sound being blocked. Even if you had it flush with the front of the panel, you will run into issues with the off-axis response.

I addressed this by moving the tweeter down low and out from the door, like this:







As you can see, the tweeter is moved out to the edge of the speaker grill. Once everything is in place, you can't tell that I have them in there. Here is a picture to show you how it looks with the grill cloth removed. (I reinstalled the fabric after this picture was taken to make it as 'stealth' as possible.)





Hope this helps.

Mark

 

Thanks Mark...read multilple reviews on these and everyone felt like these were the best bang for the buck! How do you like them?

 

I like them a lot... very clear, low distortion. A good value all around. I spent a long time listening to different speakers before buying these. I couldn't be happier.

At first I thought that they were missing something... then I realized it was the distortion I was used to hearing.

The tweeters can be a bit bright... some people have replaced them with other brands to get things smoother. I haven't had that problem, and in the location that I have them in, they seem to be just fine.

They didn't like being crossed over at 90 hz with a 12dB slope with 75 watts a channel going to them... but with a 24 dB slope they just rock. No issues whatsoever.

I would recommend them in a heartbeat.

Mark

 

I hear the Apillar is the way to go with the tweet...would you agree or do you think the imaging you have is the better way to go with these tweets?

 

If you guys are looking for a suprise the just order Phoenix Gold RSD comp set.The amount of midbass is staggering when set-up correctly.

I tried the Alpine/Pioneers/Focla and the RSD's in my Denali had the SQ of the Focal but more midbass at a stupid cheap price level.I ran two sets in the Denali.Very surprising.Hard to come by though.The weave Pioneers are a good midbass also as above.

 

Tough call...

It depends on where you put them on the A-Pillar, and if you are running time alignment.

Up high will give you a higher sound stage, but you have to be careful about reflections from the glass. I have seen some that have put them pointing more downward than out/back. I suspect that the off-axis response of the tweeter is low enough and not reflecting off the glass?!?! I don't know for sure, because I never tried it.

Maybe some that have their tweeters mounted in the A-Pillar can chime in and explain the pros/cons of doing it this way.

Mark

 

I mounted my tweeters on my a pillar in my C4. I loved how the soundstage improved to where it sounded more upfront and like it was playing off my dash. It definitely moved it more forward which for me was what I was looking for. I plan on doing the same with my C5.

 

Dynaudio

 

I am still stumped on 1 last thing..2 way or 3 way. 3 ways are much more pricey and is it worth the extra costs? JL no longer makes a 3 way set. You buy an individual 8" midbass driver and add a 5.25" component set to it. Focal and Dyaudio make great 3 ways but again, is the larger cost worth it? if anyone in the DFW area has a 3 way setup I could hear please let me know. And did any vert owners replace the rear speakers?