Well like the tittle says.....has anyone put 6x9 in the front door of a base RX-8. I looked on the search function and I mostly see people doing the swap to 6.5. I understand that it may sound better with components in the front but I am not looking for that as a response. I am looking for any pics of anyone who might have done something like this before and what they used to make it fit.

 

So what response you looking for? Bass?

Just because a 6x9 is larger doesnt mean its gonna give out more bass than a 6x9. Especially in a door.

 

I will let you know Saturday night Picked up a couple of Eclipse 6x9 component systems for about $85 each. They used to retail for much more but Eclipse got out of that business so they're being cleared out. Should be room in the doors...I hope!

 

I absolutely agree with you. I guess on the other hand I was looking for a bit more punch....mid bass. I don't plan on running any subs in the trunk. I don't want a box back there. So I was trying to get as most of the audio range as I could with just replacing doors and rears and adding an amp. I figured just about anything I put in the door will be better then what is there now.

 

Which components did you get? I am more worried about the depth then anything else. I imagine I will have to make some spacer rings or something if it hits the glass or any moving parts. I looked for about 4 hours yesterday and couldn't find posts of others doing this to their vehicles. Is it that bad of an idea?

 

they will fit... I have these in my front doors.. if you have the bose system however they WILL NOT work unless you connect an aftermarket amp to them...

see my thread from the install

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-interior-audio-electronics-24/merry-xmas-me-shinka-stereo-install-209570/

 

Sad to see Eclipse go but, unfortunately, they did it to themselves. They used to be a small name that made high quality equipment. Then they decided they'd try to compete with the big boy brand names in the mass retail market. They signed a deal with Circuit City and started producing cheaper quality equipment and selling at low prices. Well unfortunately it didn't work out for them. Circuit City going under may have had a little something to do with it, but I doubt it (They had deals with Kicker and Polk too, but you didn't see them fail). I think their brand name was too small for their previous brand equity to carry over. Your average retail consumer had never heard of Eclipse. But after seeing only these lower quality cheap pieces of equipment, they quickly formed an opinion.

 

How deep are the Eclipse if your remember? I have a base system so I am not worried about the BOSE amp and all that other jazz. I was mainly concerned about the physical size. How do you like the 6x9 up front? I am thinking of using a set Tang Band for the rear

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=264-837

I know they say 8ohm but if I run them parallel into 4ohm it should be ok. I don't want rear fill just a little extra kick coming from the back so I am going to use the amps LPF. What to you think? I looked around and a few people have used them in vehicles with success. Do you know of any other 6x9 subs? If we can call them that.

 

Two speakers at 8 ohms powered by two channels or two speakers 4 ohms powered by 1 channel is the same thing. You just lose stereo imaging.

 

So are you saying to not do that? They will just be playing low frequencies anyway so will I be able to tell stereo imaging back in the rear deck from the front of the car?

 

If you're going to put a 100Hz LP filter on them, then no. You probably won't notice the fact they're both on one channel. However, my comment regarding power output stands. It's the same amount of power. 2 channels @ 8 ohms or 1 channel @ 4ohms.

 

I see...your right. You have any recommendations on the rear then. It sounds like I should be able to do the 6x9 in the front with some fabrication/modification. So I want to get a little more bass in the rear deck to help the low end. Can I run shallow 8" subs in the rear deck? I'm open to suggestions before I

 

Purchase the rear items......I apologize for the break in response. Stupid phone....lol.

 

They are Eclipse SC6900s. Obviously enough depth as Corn proves and good to know where to mount the crossovers from your pics! Love those speaker adapters, by the way!

Was going to go with MB Quart until I came across the Eclipse and just couldn't resist the fact that I could get 2 Eclipse sets for the price of one MB. Firebird - I certainly do recall when the Eclipse line first came out - very pricey stuff!

 

JohhnyG - I think my install might be a little bit harder cause the speakers I ordered are deeper than the eclipse. I guess I will find out when they arrive. Looks like your will drop right in.

 

Find a 6x9 without a tweeter. Just a mid-bass/mid-ranger driver, rather than the 2-way/3-way/84-way. CDT and Image Dynamics both make one. Probably ~$125/pair. Or if you want to cheap out, you could probably just clip the leads to the tweeter on a 2-way. Keeping these high frequencies from behind the listeners head will help with the overall soundstage greatly.

 

OK cool I will look into your suggestions and see what I can find. I appreciate the recommendations man.

 

I only got around to test fitting one of the Eclipse 6x9 woofers in the door but I can confirm that there is TONS of room available. Considering how much the Bose speakers stick out, and how much depth is available in the door, I would suggest that pretty much ANY 6x9 would fit.

The tweeters fit perfectly in the sail panel too. I cut out the stock speaker's "grille" entirely and used the mounting cup that came with the speakers for flush mounting (just as cornholio had done). Looks stock. I'm happy. So far only the rears are hooked up but I'm already very pleased with the sound and surprised by the bass they put out. I'm just using the amp built into my Clarion NX501 HU. No sense in making my tinnitus any worse (a cautionary tale there for you younger folks )

The Eclipse SC6900 are $82 on eBay...no need to go looking anywhere else! Happy to share who I bought from as the service was first rate...just not sure if this is allowed.

 

Look into Polk's MM series 6.5s, or their SR series 6.5s. The MM series will 100% give you the mid bass punch you are looking for, at a reasonable price. 6x9 Speakers have the fault of not being 100% circular. What does this do? Well many people claim that it inhibits the sound a bit. I never really noticed it when I had full ranges in my old car, but was deffinitely a big difference once I stepped up to my first components. For the MMs, you wont need a sub either. I have been mentioning that the cabin of the 8 is small enough to the point where you really are fine with a well powered component system. Just give your amp full range to the speakers, and you'll be good to go (Like I always say as well, a good time alignment head unit will help too because the bass will hit you all at once and sound great and crisp to your ears).

 

I've heard that argument many times and honestly haven't seen any objective data to back it up. In reality, a speaker is simply a vibrating diaphragm. It's a surface pushing air back and forth. Provided equal surface area, I don't see why a circular shape would sound any different than an oval. Years of arguments on the subject, and not one iota of proof.

And time alignment was a cool feature many headunit manufacturers used to include. But for whatever reason, it slowly disappeared. I used to own a Pioneer that had 6-channel time alignment. And I know Alpine used it include 4-channel on their "Bass Engine" Plus or Pro or whatever the different tiers they had. It was a cool idea, but the industry didn't stick with it for some reason. I honestly can't even tell you one headunit that still offers time alignment that is currently in production.

Even if we were comparing apples to apples, personal opinions of how much punch is "enough" will vary. As for ANY 6.5" component set giving enough low-end punch to negate the need for a subwoofer, I sincerely doubt that. Even though Polk's Momo line is very good, we're installing them in a less-than-ideal infinite baffle configuration. So though the drivers may be capable of outputting some surprising punch by design, we're simply not going to see any stellar performance while slapped in our door panels.

 

Hey guys just wanted to give everyone an update. I ended up ordering a set of Soundstream SST6.9, and hoped for the best. When the speakers arrived I was a bit worried because the magnet structure looked so big. In any case I took the door panels apart and went to work. These speakers were much to deep and wide for the existing hole in the door. I ended up taking that Tarantula looking speaker grill and cutting the the Tarantula out of it. I used that as a spacer and with some nice long screws was able to mount it to the door. The only other problem I had was that I had some plastic on the door panel itself that needed to be trimmed as well for the door panel to fit back on. All in all it was not bad and I had the car back together in a little over and hour. In case anyone is wondering about the speakers here are my impression on them. When I first got them out of the box I have to admit that I was not very impressed. They LOOKED cheap to me and I have gone thru my fair share of speakers in all of my vehicles. So needless to say I was a bit worried about them. I had no choice cause the car was apart so I mounted them. I have been playing them in my car for a little over two weeks and they sound amazing. I got the kick/punch from the low end that was missing and mid's and highs just sound so clean and smooth. I would of paid twice as much for that speaker as I have bought way more expensive stuff in my past that did not sound nearly as good. About the shape of the speaker I don't know if it's me or not but I can't really pick up what everyone is talking about. I don't hear any distortion like some in other forums have suggested. I have had several component speakers and these things for sure have better low end then any 6.5 component I have ever used. With the exception of a set of Boston Acoustic Pro's that I put in a friends pathfinder. In any case I will be ordering a set for the rear of the car and a 4 channel amp to compliment the speakers. All in all I can't believe what a difference the two speakers have made in this car

 

Yeah I understand what your saying in that first paragraph. I havent really seen much to back it up either.

As far as the headunits go, you can still buy pioneer units with TA. they're expensive though, prolly $400-500. If you browse crutchfield and check em out you'll see a couple models that still do (or search a specific model on ebay).

And your right about the bass being the person's preference, but I would stick by 1 set of amped components being the most "musical" setup. Am I saying dont get a subwoofer or something? No. Im just saying the cabin is small, so you can deffinitely get a good kick out of a good set of amped components, and get by like that. And then maybe put a 12'' for low musical fullness. But your right, its all in the person's opinion. However, I would deffinitely not spend the money on both front and rear speakers. 1 set in the front. Otherwise you wont get the nice crisp sound of everything, youll be getting blasted by fullranges from every side with frequencies cancelling each other out. At a concert, a band produces an amazing sound. Are their speakers all around you? no, just in front. Thats the feeling I like from my speakers, a concert in front of me.


But, thats just my 2 cents. Like firebird said, its all personal opinion. I guess with full range 6x9s you get a great midbass kick at least due to the added size, so you'll at least get what your looking for there.