Replacing rear speakers worth it?

[bluevolume]

I'm doing some soundproofing in my Ex, and while i have the doors apart I wanted to ask a question.

I have a simple system in there, I've put in an Apline 9805 HU, some new Pioneer TS-A6870R 6x8's in the front, and some older Pioneers in the back (not sure what they are, 2-way's with the white cones). The sound from the front isn't bad, but the back speakers are horrible. They don't have much volume to them, and the bass comes out really distorted.

Is it worth replacing those speakers with the same type I put in the front? Or is this just a result of bad acoustics in the back of the vehicle? Any suggestions would be really appreciated -- but I am trying to keep this as simple and cheap as I can.

Thanks,
Blue

 

[jeff96]

if you have an passover in your cd player just cut the bass out from those back speakers or get some bass blockers and toss them on those back speakers. No need to get new speakers just keep the bass away from them and use them for rear fill.

 

[bluevolume]

If I do that, should I get better speakers for the front? I've done some searching through old threads and everyone seems to say that Pioneer 6x8's fall behind in bass response.

 

[FexplorerV8]

nah, stick to the ones you have if u want bass get a single 10 and an amp, cutting bass from the back speakers is a good idea since they would work really good as mid high speakers.

 

[barrettd]

Along these same lines, I've got a 5-channel amp powering my fronts/rears/sub. Should I set the crossover to High Pass on the rears? Right now I've got Full Range on all 4 speakers. It sounds like you are saying it will sound better with the rears set to high pass. Correct?

 

[bluevolume]

nah, stick to the ones you have if u want bass get a single 10 and an amp, cutting bass from the back speakers is a good idea since they would work really good as mid high speakers.

The subwoofer thing isn't an option for me. I use my Ex for hauling equipment and can't have anything in the back.

I used to have a bandpass box with 2 15" fosgate's and a 1000 watt alpine amp in my old Ex -- I'm not looking for anything like that again, just want to have decent sound.

 

[expo5.0]

you should either move your front speakers to the rear and buy a cheap set of 6.5" components (around $130 or so)

or you should just fade the sound up to the front and forget the rear speakers.

i hate rear fill- and don't usually worry about rear speakers much in my installs (although i am in my truck now because of 5.1 surround, but definitly not in the stock locations or even i the doors), i would really hate rear fill though if it involved only mids and highs. the only time it sounds remotely right to me is if its adding a little mid bass to the mix. setting the crossover or bass blockers or whatever to remove the bass will stop the distortion, but in my opinion will just make the overall situation worse. thats why i say fade it to the front, or just replace and move around the speakers you have.

 

[FexplorerV8]

yes it would, the speakers on the doors will never give u good low end sound 'bass'

 

[FexplorerV8]

Along these same lines, I've got a 5-channel amp powering my fronts/rears/sub. Should I set the crossover to High Pass on the rears? Right now I've got Full Range on all 4 speakers. It sounds like you are saying it will sound better with the rears set to high pass. Correct?

yes it would, the speakers on the doors will never give u good low end sound 'bass'

 

[barrettd]

I'll be on the road for an hour or so today. I'll try it out. Thanks for the tip!

EDIT: My mistake. The fronts/rears were all set to High Pass already. It should now be completely obvious I have a lot to learn...

 

[expo5.0]

well- i only have 6.5s but my doors certainly provide good bass in the 70-200hz range.

 

[terdrocket]

Expo - Are you running those 6.5s in 4 ohms each w/ a crossover each, or do you have them piggybacked on the same channel to the same crossover?

I found by adding another mid to my mix on the same crossover (one in the door, one in a kickpanel) made for some great midbass, but muddied up my focus. I have been thinking of re-installing the mids in the kick panels on separate crossovers and seeing how it goes.

your $.02 ?

 

[bluevolume]

you should either move your front speakers to the rear and buy a cheap set of 6.5" components (around $130 or so)

or you should just fade the sound up to the front and forget the rear speakers.

Can you suggest a specific set of component speakers?

 

[expo5.0]

i run two sets of 3 way components up there- so each 6.5 has its own crossover, the top speaker of the 3 in the door is a 4" underneath a 6.5" grille.

good cheap components would be the lowest model from clarion, jl, audiobahn (maybe avoid their worst set), mtx, mbquart, etc. basically the cheapest ones you can find that come with an outboard (obviously) 12 db per octave crossover and from a good brand.

jl has- TR650CSI
mbquart- DSE216
clarion- SRS1685

There are many others. If i had to buy some cheap ones i'd buy those clarions. I have 3 sets of very similar clarion components in my truck (for my rear 5.1 channel in the truck, and everything but the sub for the behind the truck 5.1 stage.

 

[expo5.0]

terdrocket- i reread what you wrote and realized i didn't really answer the question. I used to run just one set of the 3-ways andi had door and kickpanel locations, i found that the imaging was adequate. If you reinstall the mids in the kicks would you still be running it all of of the same amp?

i'll be a bit honest and say that without my plII processor and other adjustments i make in my hu the imaging in my truck is merely ok. Oncei get everything running and set the width i want of the soundstage and width of the center channel etc. i love the imaging- however what that means is that i haven't been completely happy ever with the door location in conjunction with the kickpanel location without using outside imaging help (and seperate amps).

I'm not sure all that helps at all, but i can see the change your proposing making a positive difference in your truck.

 

[savant]

The subwoofer thing isn't an option for me. I use my Ex for hauling equipment and can't have anything in the back.

I used to have a bandpass box with 2 15" fosgate's and a 1000 watt alpine amp in my old Ex -- I'm not looking for anything like that again, just want to have decent sound.

Just because you need your hauling space doesn't mean you don't have room for sub. For example, this guy mounted his on the rear ceiling of his bronco:

http://irace.net/bronco/bronco-med-24.jpg

And you can find several retailers that sell custom sub enclosures that fit in the space where that silly little cargo netted area is in the rear end. This is one example of that type:

http://www.cardomain.com/item/MTXFEX10T45

That's what I actually intend to get eventually, a custom 10" sub box with a built-in single channel amp. Won't take up any cargo space, but will make the sound much better.