I have 1" speaker spacers to make the woofers fit, and they do i checked this afternoon. Now my main question is tweeter location, i dont want to do anything to custom so either down by the woofers somehow, or in the stock location. However I do think they are too big (2" in diameter) to cut the sail panel to get a flush fit, its close and i dont want to cut up a sail panel and not work. So I was thinking since i know focal tweeters are "bright" anyway could i mount it behind the sail panel and not cut it at all or would this just sound horrible?

And lastly, do the stock speakers (non-bose) have built in crossovers? Basicly is the wires that run to the woofer/tweeter the same? or is there a crossover hidden in the door somewhere? Trying to figure out how to wire my crossovers in the doors.

 

Stock speakers use the same signal wire to both with a capacitor for high pass to the tweeters. You won't be able to mount stock mounting for your outboard xover. There's a pretty decent amount of space in the doors you can likely use, though.

 

I have Focal’s mounted in the front doors. I used spacers as you are doing, and it works OK. The sound is very good, even without using door pods. The Focal model you are mounting has exceptional bass, so you must add some sound-deadening inside the car’s door. Neglecting doing this results in awful vibration.

The challenge, as you already know, is where to mount the tweeters. I can tell you for sure that you do not want to mount the Focals’ tweeters inside the sail panel. You can fit them, but the sound is awful. It’s way too harsh and too directional if you mount in the sail panel.

A much better position for the tweeter is the A-Pillar. I mounted the Focals’ tweeters in the A-Pillar and directed the sound towards the front windscreen where the sound from the tweeters bounces back towards the center of the car’s interior giving great highs to both the driver and the passenger without blasting either with a direct shot from the high frequency tweeter. This arrangement is about perfect and doesn’t require balancing left and right since the directional sound hits the center of the car’s interior.

This is a pic of my Focal tweeter install:



Here is a graphic showing the principle:



The concept uses the same principle that band shells use for outdoor concerts and concert halls use for indoors. The secret is bouncing sound to the best position for the listener. In the case of the Z car, it’s getting the high frequency sound to the middle of the car.

Hope this helps,

--Spike

 

Thanks Spike, that helps alot. Im assuming running the wire up the A pillar isnt too difficult? I will look into doing what you have done after i find some spare A pillars to toy with.

What did you use to cut the holes and make it look clean?

 

^^

Re> “I’m assuming running the wire up the A pillar isn’t too difficult?”

Yes, running the wires into the A-Pillar is easy.
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Re> “What did you use to cut the holes and make it look clean?”
After removing the cover piece, I taped it, rough-cut a hole smaller than what I needed, and then carefully “dremeled” to the exact dimension for a tight fit.


There is a very thorough description someone posted on my350z.com showing the mechanics of doing this with pictures. I tried doing a search, but couldn’t find it.

--Spike

 

I have the Focal K2Ps also, and an 03 Z. My woofers would not fit even with the 1" spacers. I ended up going with door pods. Check the fitment with the windows all the way down to make sure that huge magnet doesn't interfere with the window. As for the tweeters, I ended up boring out the sail panels and it just barely fits without extending over the edges if you can hit the perfect center spot. Good luck whichever route you end up going. You'll love the sound of the Focals.

 

^^

Focal 165 V Slim - Depth from wall: 56mm (2.2") fit in the stock door speaker position using spacers.

Focal 165 V2 - Depth from wall: 68mm (2.7") do not fit the stock door speaker position. You need to install this speaker in a door pod or kick.


Re> “You'll love the sound of the Focals.”
I agree. Focals sound great.

--Spike

 

These fit in the doors, no problem. You just cant use the stock mounting holes have to push the mount away from the window. I put everything in place and even put on the door panel and it all fits and window rolls up and down.