surface mount car speakers

Does anyone have suggestions on make or model for surface mount car speakers? Or suggestions on how to mount or use regular car speakers, what type of housing to use, etc? If anyone can point me in a direction. I've been looking up speakers for the last month on line. The best I've come up with is Pioneer... but I'm looking for something better looking and better sounding.

Thanks,
David

I have MB Quart (sp?) installed on each side in my kick panels. Don't sweat it - cruising on the highway you won't be able to hear the radio anyway.

My stereo setup could easily be heard at 70+ miles an hour on the freeway. It consisted of 2 Bostons in the back panel, a 10 inch Bazooka under it and Altec Lansing tweets on the kick panels.
You can see pictures under the files "Members/Therons Vintage".
-=theron

Okay, I'll amend my first post - make sure you have LOTS of amplifier power (or an auxilliary amp) and speakers that can take all the power. Then crank the volume way up and you'll probably be able to hear the radio at 70 mph.

Speaker placement is the most important thing. I didn't run seperate amps and the stereo deck was only 25watts per speaker. The bazooka tube was self amped. I never ran the stereo at over half volume. The music was easy to hear because of the rear speaker location.
-=theron

My engine, trans, and exhaust sounds combined are probably a lot noisier than Theron's car was. Top down, I can hear the radio (30 amps per channel) around town at 40 mph or less, but at 70 mph I might as well turn it off.

My son and I are debating this very matter now as we finish the Red Speedster (to be black).

Anyway, here's my position. Two 6x9 triaxes (maybe coaxes) in the front hole in the doors. Two high fi tweeters on the rear posts near the outer sholders. One mega base box in the middle in the package tray. The Stereo will be no receiver and three moderate amps under the bonnet and driven off of a portable CD player that's always removed from the car. I see a 100 Watt amp bridged to 200 amps driving the single center mounted base. Another 100 watt amp driving the two 6x9s (probably Infinity quality). A small amp driving the two small hi fi tweeters. Of course we will need a mixer to drive to all three amps.

Paul sees a molded stereo chest that fits into the rear package tray. This chest will house it all with plexi covers. Again, a single center base, two large 6x9s, two tweeters and a tuner and deck, again with the amplifiers. He wants to show the amps through clear plexi. He sees the top of the chest molded with Russ's hard tonneau cover, and a custom dished front curved to fit the two seats.

We will see.
Jack

I have two small tweeters mounted on both sides of my dash near the edges of the windshield. They are powered by two seperate amps. As you sit rather low in speedsters the speakers are near ear level. Its seems to work well for me. Tim

I'm sure that speaker placement will make a difference in a Porsche replica: I just didn't want speakers visible in the doors, dash, or rear parcel area. The kick panels wound up being a compromise location that I can live with.

May mount one of those 3' wide speakers inside a hardtop :-)
True story - my wife and I were on Rt90 in NC last monday, 70 mph, BMW X5, windows up AC on and I could hear (feel) the base from a van 6 car lengths behind me. Ya gotta be stoned or stone deaf to travel like that.
ed

Ed, I was behind a BMW 325 convertible at a light a couple of weeks ago and the top surface of the trunk lid was oscillating in time to his boosted bass. It's a good thing that most modern paints are flexible.

My IM must be noisier than most, since I have to wear ear plugs on highway cruises. If I do any extended driving, with the top down, in the 70 to 80 mph range, without ear plugs, I'm bagged after a 2 or 3 hour drive. With ear plugs in I feel fine after the drive. In any car I've had in the past the stereo was always on but with the IM it just doesn't seem to be that important. I have considered earplug style headphones with an MP3 player.

In my younger days.....

I had a '87 Cavalier with 2 - 12" Subs in the trunk a couple of 6"'ers in the doors and some little tweets in the pillars. About 500 watts. Sounded great, very clear, obnoxious if I needed it, the little car rattled like crazy outside (nothin' duct tape & bubble gum couldn't fix)

My freinds and I had beer can races across the roof :)

Remnants of that system are in my Dakota now. I rarely play it loud, but its nice to have when some punk pulls up next to me at a light with his "music" blasting.

My point? Car audio is like any other hobby, costs money, can be fun and frustrating at the same time, and is as much black art as it is a science.

Lots of good books out there on the subject. Audio stores can help, unfortunatly, my experiance with car audio store employees, for the most part, are snobbish and not helpful unless you are there to drop a few grand.

A few tips I've learned.

- Noise Killer or Dynamat every where you can.
- Don't go cheap on wires (Power, patch cables, etc.)
- Power doesn't blow speakers distortion does.
- A cheap 12" sub is crap next to a quality 10" or even an 8", cone movement control is key to good bass (big magnets lots of power)
- Look at RMS not peak when comparing amps
- Watts are like money, you can never have too much.
- More power may not mean louder but will definatly be clearer.

My $.02

Jerome

I looked at your Theron's pictures, concerned the ones mounted in the back seat might get damaged... also, do they give you enough quality highs and lows? I do like the tweeter location.

Still thinking I should go with surface mounted speakers behind the passenger seats... I think it provides more room to store things and are better protected.

I thought they were more choices for surface mounted speakers. I guess Pioneer is the only and best maker. I thought Jensen, Blaupunkt made surface mounts... does anyone know of any other high end speaker manufacturers that might make surface mounted speakers (website, phone number)?

Anyone have other thoughts or pics showing how they get great sounds?

Check out www.crutchfield.com for ideas.