was: Bose Woes. LAC! now: spkr upgrade

[Eric_R_Kissell at email.whirlpool.com]

The following relates to the audio system in my 1986 5000cstq. I removed
the components from a previous installation in another car and combined
them with reasonable priced other components to get a better-than-stock
sound in my 5000cstq without huge cash outlay.

The deck is a pretty decent Sony CD/radio.

I believe I used 6.5" woofers without tweeters in the rear deck for
midrange fill via a band pass crossover. IIRC they fit fine. Something in
the back of my mind makes me wonder if they were 6.5" or something
different, but I do not remember them being any special size. I drive the
rear deck speakers from the radio amp REAR outputs because these speakers
are just for midrange fill. Then I can use the radio fader to adjust the
level of rear midrange fill. I did not want tweeters in back because I like
the soundstage in front of me.

I used 5.25" separates for both the dash and the front doors. I disconnected the
stock small speakers in the front doors and mounted the tweters for the
separates higher up. For the dash I made little wooden tweeter mounts which I
attached to the dash with 2-sided tape up near the corners where the A-pillars
and dash meet. The tweeters on the door are obviously aimed towards the opposite
side of the car, so I aimed the dash tweeters more towards the center to improve
the soundstage. Both the dash and door speakers are coming from a 4x50W amp
located under the rear deck, but I use an electronic crossover prior to the
4x50W amp to separate the high pass dash and front door channels and the low
pass subwoofer output. The RCA connections from the FRONT channel of the radio
go into the electronic crossover, which works with the fader to adjust the FRONT
dash/doors versus the REAR radio amp outputs going to the 6.5's in the deck that
I mentioned above. I use the adjustments on the electronic crossover to reduce
the signal to the dash speakers so they do not overpower the front door
speakers.

Bass comes from a 1x100W amp driving a Bazooka tube. It sounds pretty good but
not as good as a true subwoofer. However, it is easy to remove if I need a bit
more space in the trunk. I did not attempt to get window rattling low end, but
rather I desired decent low-end fill which I feel I achieved.

Note, the rear door speakers are completely disconnected due to my desire to
improve the front soundstage.

HTH,
Eric Kissell

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: was: Bose Woes. LAC! now: spkr upgrade
Author:  "Chris Dyer" <chrisdyer at hotmail.com> at INTERNET
Date:    5/15/2002 8:29 PM
[snip]
NOW, back to Audis: I have an '87 5kcstq w/5.8 million miles, and I'm
thinking of upgrading the spkrs. It looks like there are 10 total? 2 in
dash, 2 ea. fr. door, 1 ea. rr. door, 2 on rear deck. Have I miss counted?

Also, what are the sizes? According to Crutchfield, the deck ones are 6 1/2"
and doors are 5 1/4". But there are smaller component(?) paired up w/the
fives on the front doors, unknowns in the dash. Anyone?

Last for you car audiophiles, is it worth upgrading ALL 10?! What have y'all
done? Maybe unhooking some, and just upgrading rr deck and fr. doors' will
be an inexpensive improvement...then again, maybe not.