Speakers (JBL6452)

[zcacogp]

Chaps,

I made an amazing discovery with my S2 this weekend. I fitted some JBL6452 speakers a while ago and was never that happy with them. They rattled annoyingly whenever I turned the music up, meaning they never sounded that good. However this weekend I happened to take the speaker covers off ... and discovered that this eliminated the rattle altogether! You can now go really quite loud and it sounds very good indeed! I was told that they were reasonable speakers when I bought them and, coupled with a decent head unit and an old-skool Rockford Fosgate amp they sound as good as I would expect. I'm happy! []

However this brings me to the conundrum. The speakers (JBL6452) never fitted that well at the outset, and I had to make some small spacers to mount them on as they didn't fit back into the doors far enough. They were done in a bit of a rush quite a lot of years ago and never worked that well. Here are some photos.

The question is, how can I improve on them? Has anyone else fitted this model of speaker to their 944? If so, how can you make it fit backwards into the door slightly further? Or is it impossible? If this IS impossible then what is the best way of spacing the speakers out from the door without them looking rubbish and running into the bottom corner of the dashboard (as mine do)?

All help appreciated - thanks.


Oli.

 

[ChasR]

I shall be keeping an eye on this since I shall be changing the speaker arrangement of my 944 somewhat.

Was your issue with space all those years ago down to the window channel running behind the speaker magnet? If so, one idea is to possibly remake another baffle but to plane it down so that an angle is present (the top of the speaker would be level with the doorcard, with the lower half of the speaker protuding out as it is). From the top anyway it should not look that naff .

I guess you could always convert to the 10 speaker upgrade but in all honesty the plastic mountings for the 2 drivers (mid range and mid-bass speaker) are fairly naff IMO. I plan to possibly remake mine out of ply and to allow the speakers to sit in a recessed baffle. I believe on another forum an audio installer did something vaguely similar in a 968.

 

[zcacogp]

Chas,

To be honest I can't remember why the speaker didn't fit that far in; it could have been fouling on the window runner or possibly it was just that the hole in the inner skin of the door wasn't big enough. I need to take it out and have a look to see what's going on. I also need to re-think the baffle situation as the current one isn't far enough away from the speaker cone, hence the rattling as the cone hits the grille at larger excursions.

I've looked at the 10-speaker thingummies and they do indeed look pretty simple to make. However I'm reluctant to go down that route as I find the door bins very useful and don't want to give them up! I think you should be able to get a good sound with some well-installed 6x4's. There is a rule in car HiFi that 20% of the quality of the end result depends on the kit and 80% depends on the installation, so I'll re-install the current speakers and keep my fingers crossed.


Oli.

 

[Hairyarse]

That's an interesting find Oli, I would never have thought of trying that!

Nice to see you back around by the way, hope all is well with you []

 

[zcacogp]

Andy,

Thanks ... I don't think I made any major discovery. Oh, you mean the one about the cones hitting the grilles? Yes. Not sure why, it just occurred to me while sitting in a traffic jam (while on the way to a wedding rehearsal where I was Best Man to my best mate. And - shocking bit coming up - I was more chuffed about the improved noise from my speakers than I was about old JamFace getting married! How terrible is that?)

(I was gone. I don't know where. But I'm back now. Thanks for your kind words. Has anything changed while I was away? We're still talking about 944's, right? And no one's yet disproved the fact that the S2 is the superior model? No? Good ... let's carry on as we were ... ) []


Oli.

 

[ChasR]

Well, it depends what you mean by superior. I was under the impression the Turbo was superior in every respect (my car does have a problem though. It seems to hesitate below 3,000rpm, no idea why...)!

 

[A5DSR]

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Mine are a similar speaker and don't catch or rattle, seem to remember fixing the grill on with silicone sealant to give them an extra mm or so.

 

[zcacogp]

Darren,

Thanks - that's an interesting picture. Yours are a similar speaker but by a different manufacturer (Alpine?) which probably explains the difference in fitting. However what is VERY interesting is that your speaker cover is some way clear of the corner of the dashboard, whereas mine overlap the corner of the dashboard. Is the picture taken with the door slightly open and at an angle?

ORIGINAL: ChasR
Well, it depends what you mean by superior. I was under the impression the Turbo was superior in every respect (my car does have a problem though. It seems to hesitate below 3,000rpm, no idea why...)!

Oh dear Chas - you're labouring under a sad misapprehension there. I had hoped for better of you ...


Oli.

 

[tref]

Where is John Sims when you need him? John? I see a nice little niche for you here 3d printing speaker spacers!
(Can I have a set too please - my grilles don't fit over mine either!)

 

[Hairyarse]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

Andy,

Thanks ... I don't think I made any major discovery. Oh, you mean the one about the cones hitting the grilles? Yes. Not sure why, it just occurred to me while sitting in a traffic jam (while on the way to a wedding rehearsal where I was Best Man to my best mate. And - shocking bit coming up - I was more chuffed about the improved noise from my speakers than I was about old JamFace getting married! How terrible is that?)

(I was gone. I don't know where. But I'm back now. Thanks for your kind words. Has anything changed while I was away? We're still talking about 944's, right? And no one's yet disproved the fact that the S2 is the superior model? No? Good ... let's carry on as we were ... ) []


Oli.

Seems fair to me Oli, you need to get your priorities right and I'm sure your best mate won't mind!

Not much has changed no, still talking 944's although I don't have one any longer []

Oh and Chas as you saw picked up on your superior comment. Re-think of small font size needed, it's just not small enough!

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: Hairyarse
Oh and Chas as you saw picked up on your superior comment. Re-think of small font size needed, it's just not small enough!

Ah, but the words in that small font size were carefully chosen ... no-one has yet disproved the superiority of the S2; it's undeniable fact! When you get a replacement you'll be able to buy one and sample the greatness for yourself. []

In all seriousness, I'm glad you managed to sell your turbo as I know you were keen to. Are you going to make another foray into the world of 944 ownership, or just vicariously enjoy the brilliance of the model by hanging around on this forum for evermore?


Oli.

 

[Hairyarse]

LOL, I did sample the joys of the S2 - a nice car but the Turbo is where my heart now lies! []

It was more necessity rather than keen to sell the Turbo - and shortly afterwards circumstances changed to mean I probably didn't have to! Oh well, it's just a car!!

Yes, I do indeed intend to be behind the wheel of another 944 (Turbo, the fastest and best of course, maybe even red so it's even faster) as well as just hanging around here, I just need to hold off a few months and know for certain all is going the right way at work and then will be on the search for the 'keeper' - again!! In the meantime, I'm getting the time to get stuck in to finishing off my MK1 Golf GTI [8D]

 

[A5DSR]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

Darren,

Thanks - that's an interesting picture. Yours are a similar speaker but by a different manufacturer (Alpine?) which probably explains the difference in fitting. However what is VERY interesting is that your speaker cover is some way clear of the corner of the dashboard, whereas mine overlap the corner of the dashboard. Is the picture taken with the door slightly open and at an angle?

The speaker in an Infinity something or other if I remember correctly. I'll check how close it is to the dash when i get home.

 

[zcacogp]

Darren,

Thanks ... if you could see how close the gap is between the speaker and the dash I'd be grateful. If you could also check the overlap with the dash I'd be interested to hear more; the dash usually overlaps the corner of the speaker quite considerably in a 944, but doesn't seem to in your pictures.


Oli.

 

[Monkeythree]

I don't have those speakers in my car because it has the 10 speaker setup fitted (ooh, get me). But i noticed yesterday after removing the door card (in a wild wiring chase) that the door pressing has the necessary cut-outs and mounting holes:

With the door closed, it looks like this:

So in other words, if you use the correct mounting hole and fit the speaker into the cutout, the top corner will be obscured a little by the dashboard.

Hope this helps.

 

[zcacogp]

M3,

Yes, that's the situation. Thanks for the photos. The dash should overlap the speakers by a little bit - hence my surprise at the photos from Darren (above).

As it is, I did some very careful measuring of depths and whatnot and the speakers were too deep, but by much less than the thickness of the spacer I had made. So I made some new spacers from some perspex I had knocking around and used them instead. I also put some filtering capacitors in line with the main drivers and re-sprayed the mesh covers, and cut the plastic frame of the covers back in a circle such that there is no way the speaker cones, even at full excursion, will catch on them. And the end result is a fair chunk smarter - it looks like this now;

A slightly lousy picture put it's an improvement. I have yet to try the speakers out to see how they sound with the new installation, but given that they are more firmly attached and I paid more attention to sealing the front from the back, and put some capacitors in, it should sound a bit better. All I need is a reasonable journey without Mrs zcacogp and some good CD's! []


Oli.