Front Speakers

[Oiluj]

Attached is a pic of my “temporary” front kick panel speaker mounts. (Ignore the sawdust, I was cutting & fitting). They have 4” Pioneer, 3-way speakers mounted on wood spacer rings. The kickboards themselves are made of 1/8” thick paper composite board covered with upholstery vinyl. The wood rings are covered with vinyl tape.

My plan for this winter is to make similar kickboards with the speakers on angled spacers that project the sound out & up about 15 degrees from the plane of the kick panel. This will provide better high frequency sound to the driver & passenger. I also plan to add 3/8” radius between the spacer and the kick plate for aesthetics. (See attached 3D model sketch, *not to scale*).

In the rear I have 5-1/4” Pioneer 3-way speakers mounted behind the panels in the original location. For the passenger side, I made a mirror image of the stock speaker mount on the driver’s side. While not as good for sound, I like having the cargo area looking “stock” and uncluttered. No sub-woofer, as I’m not a fan of over-amplified bass.

I’m not going for premium sound, just something that reproduces the tunes reasonably well. It’s driven by a Pioneer AM/FM/CD/MP3 deck that I’m mounts in the original radio location.

Now I just have to play a bit with the equalization and balance to optimize the sound. All-in-all, I was surprised by how good it sounds!

kickplate.pdf

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Wow, that is VERY clean. superb job man.

[Zs-ondabrain]

What size speaker would the production kick plates be for? 5-1/4"?

I like the idea if you could reproduce them easily and sell the pair for $30? or close to that.. Great idea.

[geezer]

I share your view on a mediocre sound system for a Z. When I bought my Z it had this rear panel mounted with these rear speaker grills mounted in place of the tail light access covers. I always thought this idea could be improved on allowing for better speakers. I really like your 3D model sketch for the front kick panels. I think something like that would be great popped out in plastic with a set of matching rear panel grills.

[Oiluj]

What size speaker would the production kick plates be for? 5-1/4"?

I like the idea if you could reproduce them easily and sell the pair for $30? or close to that.. Great idea.

Dave,

My next-gen kick plates will also be for 4" speakers, because there is so little room behind them for the magnet. I'm not planning on producing them, just making a set for my car.

I'm planning on making mine using paperboard, plywood, (for the ring), and epoxy filler for the radius blend. It's labor intensive, but I can do it in my garage. Then I'll paint them with textured black paint.

Once I get the design finalized, I'd be happy to pass it on to you if you want to produce them. I think the best / cheapest way to make "production" parts would be thermoforming, and at $30/set could be profitable. If theormoformed, any suface texture of your choice could be achieved.