alienx

Really nice work. It's great to see some people decide to go ahead and build what they need themselves.

I was wondering how everyone likes the sound of the stereo coming from the floor? I guess it is not that much lower han the door speakers, but they have a higher mounted tweeter to fill in the sound, and they are not tucked into a cave like the footwells make around the kick panels. What do you all think???

Nice job.

MSGarrett1

Well, I'm running the Diamond Hex 6"s in the stock location, so I still have the Diamond tweeters up high, though at -2db.

However, in other vehicles I have owned I have had a single pair of components in the kick panels alone, and they have sounded just fine. Sometimes I thought I could tell the sound was coming from my feet (maybe b/c I could see them there), and sometimes I really couldn't.

MSGarrett1

Sorry I had to add a little more. From a purely auditory physiologic perspective. In a perfect world, as long as the sound waves from the left and right are hitting their respective ears at exactly the same time, the imaging should be perfect, and you shouldn't be able to tell if the sound is coming from the floor or the ceiling or right in front of you. Your ears shouldn't be able to tell a difference.

However, we do not live in a perfect world. We do not sit in the center of the vehicle, and things like a car dash, a car's steering wheel, the glass in the car, etc. all act to color the music and interfere with the sound as it travels toward our ears. Things like digital time correction act to aid in correcting some of this--particularly the path length difference between the left and right speakers and the listener's ears. However, there are many other issues besides phasing concerns that are inherent in having the speakers separate from eachother and in varying path lengths from eachother and the listener. (We could go into a long discussion here). But all I can tell you is that I am happy with the setup the way I have it. I am curious to know what Nizl's car sounds like--he has Dynaudio 3-ways in kickpanels, with the largest woofer in the door. I don't think he has digital time correction, but his amplifier and speaker choices are impeccable.

alienx

Wow, I missed the other speakers in your posts. Must be hot.

I have to take some stereo money and fix some vandalism I found today after work. So my interior is on hold. But nice work on yours!

MSGarrett1

Sorry to hear that . . . . it's not too bad is it? There are few things I hate more in this world than theives and vandals.

alienx

Thanks for the condolences (SP?). I just got back from a $664 estimate. And that was the cheap guy.

Really amounts to a large door ding. but it is noticeable. and gouged the metal. And then there was a cigarette on the hatch that burned the paint (not included in the estimate).

What dumb asses people are. Not sure what I'm going to do, but the worst part, as I'm sure other people know, is that you are a victim and you can't do a damn thing about it.

Well, sorry for going off topic, but thanks for letting me vent.

Andy

MSGarrett1

Go ahead and vent, man. A few months back I had my truck broken into, and they stole my headunit, etc. They would have stolen more, (amp and the rest) if they had more time. I had an alarm and everything. Just goes to show you . . . if a thief wants your stuff . . . it's their's. But . . . the starter kill on my alarm preventing them from stealing the whole damn truck, which is what they really wanted.

Anyone2u

iTrader: (1)

Excellent post and write up. You have done a lot of people a giant favor! My installer couldn't believe how bad the factory door speakers were positioned (dmazyn's picture on page 1 of this thread illustrates the alignment problem) as well as the problem with half of the factory speaker grill "holes" being filled in. As you had said, Nizl's installation had the correct solution, but I'm sure it wasn't cheap. Better clear out your PM folder though as I'm sure the "How much would you charge me to build those kick panels?" inquiries will start to come in!

Also a little off subject (may interest anyone with the Alpine 7996), but Alpine finally shipped out their new processor (PXA-H700) out to my installer last Monday (3 months late!) so it should be available pretty soon. Nazar installed one for the Alpine rep last weekend and said it was an awesome unit!

MSGarrett1

Thanks, man. If anyone out there is considering doing a kickpanel setup themselves, I would highly recommend it. It's not that tough. You do need a few tools (drill, scroll saw, orbital sander), but if you don't already have them, hey, who can pass up an excuse to buy tools.

KJ-350

GREAT F)$*^@G POST! But dam I wish I came across this when it 1st went up b/c that's just about the time I started my doors! I sooo wanted to put my Diamonds (HEX's as well) in the kicks but every shop I talked to around here wanted like $500-800 to make the pair!!! And I wasn't sure how to even go about starting a little DIY project on them!

Your post is great, but at the same time really pissed me off b/c you made this look so dam easy man! Esp since I have a nice little "workshop" I built-up over the last 2 years. And there is a Home Depot seriously less than a mile from my driveway! I'm guessing approx $50-75 in materials and your spare time is all this took?? Rrrrrr...great post man, I love to see people take on their own projects like this!! "$500-800" from a shop....Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight! LOL To bad I just finished putting mine in

btw...if you care this is what I decided on for my HEX tweets etc

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=32797

Nazar

iTrader: (18)

Hello All,

Would anyone be interested in some kickpanels? If we were to offer it as an item that can be bought. It would be made out of fiberglass. If so, what would people want to pay for a pair of fiberglass Kickpanels? Keep in mind this would be a direct fit and swap with the factory panels, No mods to the car. It would propablt be for a 5.25" mid and tweeter.

Just gauging interest to see if it would be worth for us to get into this project. Please let me know...

Nazar

Bru

Im in for a pair if the price is right!

customexotica1

not a Z, but check out these kicks guys. Laser alligned for an awesome soundstage. We used the Focal 165k3LE for this application. Wrapped in vinyl for an exact match to the factory interior.

customexotica1

won't let my pics post. don't know why. files are not too big. so anyone interested in seeing them let us know and we can e-mail them.

KJ-350

i would still be interested in a set, how about some prices guys?

Nazar

iTrader: (18)

What would be the right price for all you guys?

MSGarrett1

KJ-350, very nice install. Must sound very nice.

As far as those of you out there still considering a kickpanel installation . . . I'd definitely jump on this Nazar bandwagon. I can personally testify as to the quality of the subwoofer enclosure his team built--most excellent. If the kickpanels Nazar is proposing building are even half the quality, they should be very nice!!

LBSOHK

nice , i just ordered a pair of 5 1/4 and will build me a kick panel , thanks !!

fastboud

god bless you for this thread!!! i have been in shambles for the past mont trying to figure out what to do with my install.
I guess this answered my question; the stock speaker locations ARE tremendous crap.
one question, did you configure the 3way crossover setup?

fastboud

im sorry, how did you configure the 3way crossover?