Matt87GTA

I have a 99 TA with Monsoon and I am going to replace the door speakers with a set of Alpine SPS-600Cs. I added a JL 10W6 in a stealth box a while back and I want some better mids and highs from the doors to even out the sound some. Plus my GFs 98 WS6 has some blown front speakers so I can hand my good factory speakers down to her and fix two problems with one purchase.

My question would be, am I going to need an adapter or baffle of some sort to get the woofer part of the speaker to mount to the factory door panel setup? I take it the Alpine has a 6.5" woofer and the factory speaker is a 6.75" one and there will be some gap there... Are there any ready-made solutions for mounting the speakers that anybody has had good experiences with?

Also, would it be better to run the factory filter for the tweeter or to use the Alpine provided ones? As in, just run the factory wire from the head unit (full range if I understand the design correctly) into the Alpine crossover and then just use the high output and run that to the Alpine tweeter, or cut out the filter from the stock tweeter and use that to pass the highs through to the Alpine tweeter? Or should I skip the Monsoon amp altogether and just use the tweeter wires from the factory head unit to run the door speakers with the Alpine crossover? Which has more power output and provides a cleaner signal?

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

No adapter should be necessary. The 1/4" difference is in the cone size not the speaker frame. You will probably have to make your own screw holes because they won't line up but the speaker frame will fit the opening fine.

You will get some disagreement over your other questions. Personally, I used the stock wiring including the factory high-pass filter and I'm very happy with the sound. Others will tell you that it's better to use the crossover that came with the speakers. The problem with using the Alpine crossover is that it's designed to split a single channel into two - tweeter and woofer. But the doors are already wired with two channels each side so using the crossover eliminates one channel - half your power. Plus, the factory wiring has been set up ("tuned") for the configuration of the amp and the placement of the speakers.

As far as keeping the amp - why wouldn't you? The tweeters already run off the head unit but why give up the power to the mids from the amp? The Monsoon amp is not the source of distortion - the factory head unit is. Of course, it is a relatively low power amp and will clip if the volume is pushed too far but it would be worse running off the head unit alone.

Matt87GTA

Thanks for the info...

I see your point on the speaker sizes.

I suppose it is easy enough to just wire them up as direct replacements with the filters for the tweeters off the stock speakers and see how it sounds.

I have some foam cup baffles that I can install as well behind the speakers... Are these Alpines as much of a free air type speaker as the factory ones or would they benefit from a baffle?

KEE AUDIO

iTrader: (65)

Almost all door speakers are free air. If you put a baffle behind it you may actually lose some bass response.

pentavolvo

if anything id put the baffle in but cut it like in half and just use it to keep water off the top of the speaker if water gets in the door

id wire em just like factory

Matt87GTA

Well losing some bass response from the door speakers if we are talking very low frequencies wouldn't really be an issue since I have the sub in the back and the amp for that is crossed at 50 Hz and I have the 40 Hz band of the EQ on the HU turned completely down. As it is currently, my problem is that I have to keep the sub turned down quite low so it doesn't overpower the stock speakers as soon as the volume is turned up at all... I am hoping that adding the Alpines to the doors will help that some.

But if the Alpines are also designed to be free air speakers, I suppose it wouldn't do any good to add the baffles. I pretty much never drive my car when the roads are wet so water protection isn't an issue.

94'BLKBRD

iTrader: (76)

I just purchased the same sepakers.

Should I use the tweeters that came with them or not? Do I need to use tweeters at all?

I plan to install them tomorrow so it would be great if I can get a quick response.

Matt87GTA

Well I haven't installed mine yet, but I plan on putting in the tweeters as well. You definitely want tweeters so you get a full range of highs and mids from the door speakers.

Matt87GTA

I installed my speakers and didn't use the foam baffles on them so far. I used the factory tweeter filters like WhiteBird00 suggested and the tweeters sound really nice in the little bit of time I have had to listen to it.

I have gotten some conflicting theories on the whole free air issue with door speakers though... I have a buddy that is a pretty serious audiophile and said that components with woofers designed only for mid or low ranges are essentially a small sub woofer and are not designed to be free air versus mounted to a confined space. Conversely, I was told that Coaxial speakers or full range speakers are designed to be free air. So on an application like these Alpines on my TA, the mid woofer in the door would benefit from a "box" some and force the sound to be emitted outward from the speaker more and not allow the backside waves to bounce around in the door cavity...

I really don't know enough about speakers and am confused a bit. I can try it both ways and see how I like it I guess.

This baffle talk got me to thinking about the stock DVC subs in the sail panels though... Those would seem like a really good spot to put a baffle to create a "box" for the subs... I don't really send much of a signal to those on my car anymore since I added a sub to the trunk and have the 40Hz setting on the HU's EQ turned all the way down, but my GFs car has an all stock monsoon system so maybe I could try a pair of the baffles on her sail panel subs... Anybody try this? Any thoughts?