Hi all, newbie here but have been lurking around the roadfly xtype forum for a while (whereI also posted this question this morning). I didn't realize this forum existed and found a ton of useful info already.

Has anyone had any success in flush mounting a tweeter in the black triangular plastic trim, (in the front corner above the door panel)? I have the non premium stereo (with just the 4 speakers in the doors) and do not have factory tweeter mounting locations. Without pulling the door panel off, I can't tell how much space (if any) is behind the black triangular part. Most flush mount tweeters require about an inch of space. That looks like the only logical place to put them. I'm looking at the Polk db6501 6.5" 2-Way Components for the front and Polk db651 6.5" Coaxials for the rear doors with an amp and a sub in the trunk. I don't want boom,(I'm a late 30's financial advisor)just very good, tight sound quality.

I have searched here and saw one thread where the tweeters were mounted in that location, but not flush.

Thanks for any help and thanks for the great info here,
Paul
02 X 3.0 Sport

 

I think ironcobra was the one that added them in that spot but I don't think he flush mounted but he definitely would have if he was able to. You could try fiberglassing to that part of the black plastic to make it look like one.
I don't think you'll be able to squeeze them in there flushmounted. I don't think there is 1/2 let alone an inch back there. I've never taken it apart but I doubt there is little if any space between that panel and the door. I say fiberglass a pod in the front sill near the windshield! If your just trying to get away with a small system there is also already power in your trunk for adding a small amp (30 amps or less.) The perfect resolution is this package from circuit city its under $200 bucks as well...I'm pretty sure it's either 20 or 30 amp pull so you could hook it to the rear power wire hidden behind the carpet. It has low and high level inputs in-case you didn't want to add an aftermarket cd player to the jag as well.

 

Thanks for the info aquill1. You are right, after searching for that thread again, it was Ironcobra who mounted the tweeters in that spot. Yesterday, I bought both sets of speakers (the components for up front and the coaxials for the rear door). After I had the door panels off, I was able to see under those black triangles. For anyone wondering, there is room behind them to flush mount a tweeter, but some custom fabrication would be required. One of the bolts to hold the side view mirror on is right in the way. There are about 5 oor 6 threads that stick out past the nut. If those threads were cut off, there would be room. I was going to do it, but I think there would be a problem with the sound. It would look great, but once the doors are closed the tweeters face right into the dash board. I didn't think that would sound too good so I put the coaxials I bought for the rear up front and will return the components for another set of coaxials for the rear. A fiberglass pod solution would work but I am trying to keep it as stock looking as possible. I have to say, even changing just the fronts made a big difference in the sound over the crappy phillips speakers. Since I still have the old ones in the rear doors, I was able to do a comparison between the two and it's night and day. The highs are the biggest difference. Where the phillips are completely distorted, the Polks are still nice and clear. I would imagine the components would sound even better. So, today I will do the rear doors.

The MTX sub from circuit city is a perfect solution for me as I am just lookiing forgood bass to round out the music. Unfortunately, they are sold out at CC. I think I missed it by an hour. When I go back todayto return to the components, I will see if they have any in the store somewhere.

Thanks for the advice on the rear power in the trunk. I did see that connection and wondered what it was for. I am not sure if there is a remote wire back there or not, but I would thinkI could tap into the onecontrolling the cdchanger if I knew which one it was.Also, do you (or anyone) happen to know if there is a speaker wire to tap into back there at all. With my car not having the premium system, there are no factory subs but I am wondering if all the cars were pre-wired for it. That would sure make life a lot easier.

Paul

 

You don't have your zip anywhere but if you put your zip into the store locator they will check to see if any stores have it in stock. You may be able to get it even cheaper as it might be a floor model but I don't know if I'd get it in that case. If you have any questions on subs or anything like that hit me up and I'll help you out.

You will have to tap into the wires at the door sill at the drivers or passenger door. Are you going to run the speakers off of a 4 channel amp or no? If I were you I'd hook up a 4 channel amp to it all you will be amazed the sound that will come from the speakers, if you think they sound a lot better now you will be astonished what they would sound like off of a 4 channel amp.

I don't know too much more about that connection on the power in the trunk other than it being back in that spot, bojangles on the other hand knows all about it and he could help you more on it. I pmed him if you don't hear from him today try pming him.

 

Thanks again for your help.
Since I am going to have to tap into the wires up front anyway, I might as well put a 4 channel amp in and do all the speaker wires at once from behind the head unit. It's been a while since I installed amps so I am kind of looking forward to it. Back when I used to be into high endcar audio, it was so easy to go buy a good head unit with pre-amp RCA outs to run to the back to the amp. Leaving the stock stereo makes it a lot more difficult to have to run 8 speaker wires to the trunk and then 8 more back up front again. Hmmm, maybe I can sacrifice the glove box and do it all in there. Then I'd only have to run one set of speaker wires to the back for the sub. That would have to be a small amp though which makes the effort not worth it.
Anyway, thanks again. Off to CC to get an amp.

Paul

 

Wait before you go and buy an amp! If your going to mess with getting a 4 channel amp you might as well get yourself a 5 channel amp and that way you only have one amp for everything! Check into the kicker zx7005. Thing is a nice amp cea rated and puts out over 400rms at 2 ohms. Get this sub and box and your all set! BTW I like the color of your car!

 

That does make a lot of sense. That is the way to go. I have to do this while leaving room in the trunk for...(drum roll please)..golf clubs and sometimes hockey equipment. Anyway, thanks again for your help. I will order the amp today and put the rear door speakers in tomorrow. Hopefully the amp arrives next week at some point andI can get to work on that.

That blue is a good color for the X. I think I remember reading that it was exclusive to the sport version only but I may be wrong about that. Jag has done a good job with the paint as well. Everyone always comments on how the car shines and how deep the blue looks.

Well, thanks again aquill1

Paul

 

The only other thing I could recommend if you're trying to hang onto space is get a couple of pioneer shallow mount subs and put them in the truck/shallow mount boxes. I hope you aren't going to order from those links I gave you they were just for showing you about them. If you do order from them call them on the phone and order to make sure they have everything in-stock. Mind you if you go with that amp or a 4 channel and wanted a sub in the back you'll have to run a power wire from the battery back, you won't be able to run off of that wire in the trunk (unfortunately.)

To get the best possible sound IMO a 5 channel amp is best for both worlds to help complete the package and not take up a great deal of space. I guess it all depends on what you want to spend and how far you want to get into things as far as the install goes! Keep us updated and make sure ya pm me with the results if I don't notice...

 

 

I forgot you did that buck...yeah that is what I was trying to talk him into doing! Did you watch them do it buck? Was it too hard to glass that in?

 

BuckMR2, that looks awesome. I bet that sounds incredible. Wish I had fiberglass skills. Thanks for posting those pictures. There isn't a whole lot of custom stereo shops where I live so I doubt very much anyone around here has the skill to pull that off. After seeing your pictures though I am going to check around.

bojangles, thanks for the help on the wires in the back and the tip about the relay. I don't have the navigation package so my amp only needs to be on when the radio is on. I would think that one of the wires on the cd changer harness can accomplish that. I will have to take a meter to it and see.

Aquill1,orderedthe amp from amazon. Thanks again for all of your help.

Paul

 

Hey man no problem, thanks for helping him out bo I couldn't remember all the specifics on that.

What sub you going to get paul?

Most shops could fab you up with those pillars but they will rape you. If you want to learn how to glass yourself I'll supply you a link to a really informative site to pretty much tutorial you through the thing.

 

Not sure on the sub yet. I know the manager at Circuit city well so my thought is to get the amp, hook it up and have it ready to go, then go over to CC and let me try a few out to see which sounds best and takes up the smallest amount of room. When I returned the component speakers he said it wouldn't be a problem to try out the subs.

As far as learning to fiberglass...I doubt I will be trying to make those things myself. It's not that I am not handy, it's just that I have too much on my plate right now to get involved with that. I would love to learn that though and will definitely look into it someday soon. I appreciate the offer for the tutorial though. I watch how they do it on "Unique Whips" and always think to myself, "If those clowns can do it, anyone can." I am sure there is a good amount of skill involved but when I see those guys spray painting a dashboard of a $100,000 mercedes, I just have to laugh.

Anyway, I just put the rear speakers in the doors. I think it was harded to get the rear door panels off than the fronts. Amazingly, I only broke one clip out of all 4 door panels. I hope I never have to take those off again. Sounds better now, but quite honestly, without an amp, there isn't a huge difference (excpept for the highs) between the factory phillips and the polk db. It is definitely less "tin" sounding though. At first I thought it was a huge difference, but after listening for a while now, it's not as much as I first thought. Looking forward to installing the amp.

Paul

 

How do you plan on putting power to the speakers from the amp? I'd personally be wanting to run some real speaker wire to them but hey...Yeah try some subs out and see what you like. Hopefully you get a deal on the stuff because kicker is pretty expensive at cc. Polk are pretty decent priced and sound decent.

 

Aquill,
No I didnt watch them do the fibreglass as they had the car in their shop for a few days but they were good enough to take pics every step of the way.
I found the amp makes a BIG difference to the volume...like listening to your CDs on an old walkman to being there live in concert!! and the Focal speakers mean the volume can be heard crisply and clearly at all levels right up to 35 with no distortion.The positioning of the speakers helps with the depth of the sound.
Good luck

 

Yeah I hear ya on the sound when the speakers are amped! I hooked a set of no name brand 6.5 components up to a cheap virtual reality labs 4 channel amp we had and it was amazing the sound the speakers put out on a cheap amp that probably didn't put out 50watts rms. I never really thought about amping speakers until I heard a cheap amp hooked to cheap speakers! This is the amp I want in the near future if/when I can afford it! It actually puts out many times just under a thousand or more rms at 1 ohm on the sub channel! Rockford Fosgate power 1000...That thing is the ultimate 5 channel amp.

 

They had a one of those at the Soundshop that did mine.
I think only a few were in this country?? (uk)

 

They had that particular amp? How much did they want?

 

Hey Aquill1, Did you ever look one ebay for that amp? HERE it is on ebay for $469.

What I meant about the amp and trying the subs out at Circuit city was that I would have the amp already hooked up to the 4 speakers in the doors and have the wires ready to go to a sub so that I can try them out. In other words,the amp would have power and be working before I ever made it to CC. Then when I got there, just hook the sub up and see how it sounds. I will probably run speaker wires to the trunk and back from somewwhere after the speaker wires exit the door an into the car. So where the rear speaker wires from the doors enter the car is somewhere in the b pillar, I would cut them and run the wires to the amp and then from the amp back up to the b pillars. I would then do the same for the front. All of this would be done with "real" speaker wire.

Today I wired a power source from the battery to the trunk. It's not connected on either end yet. Tomorrow I will investigate the cd changer for a remote switch wire so that the amp turns on and off with the radio.

Paul