Installing Door Speakers - Where?

[SilverSurfer]

Hello all!

I am getting ready to replace the speakers in the rear section of my 280Z 2+2 and thought about adding two more smaller speakers in the doors near the front ... or somewhere else, if possible ... to have a decent, four speaker system. My question is, where would you install these speakers? I currently have the inner door panels off and I don't see a convenient place to install speakers, though there is a circular indent near the bottom toward the front of the door (the side that hinges to the car body). This is an indentation, not a cut out. Can I cut this out and install a speaker there? If I do, would it interfere with something, such as the raising/lowering of the window?

 

So, yeah, if any of you have any suggestions where to place two speakers toward the front of the car, that would be great.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Jarvo2]

Don't cut your door cards!!  Take a look at putting speakers in your headrests (http://jarvas240z.blogspot.com/2014/08/miata-seat-speakers.html) or possibly pick up a set of mounts from MSA (http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/classic01a/50-1293)

[SilverSurfer]

Thanks, Jarvo2! I like the mounts in your second link! That looks about perfect.

 

As far as the door cards, I have a few extras for each door ... so I wasn't too worried about that .

 

Definitely don't want them in the headrests. My seats still have good, original leather on them.

[cbuczesk]

_{He has a 280Z and those MSA mounts are for a 240Z. The ECU is in the way on the left side. I building a 240Z turbo for a friend and the only real option was to cut the door panels and modify the door. I put them as far forward and down low as possible. The window crank needs to clear the speakers.}

 

_Chuck

[SilverSurfer]

_{He has a 280Z and those MSA mounts are for a 240Z. The ECU is in the way on the left side. I building a 240Z turbo for a friend and the only real option was to cut the door panels and modify the door. I put them as far forward and down low as possible. The window crank needs to clear the speakers.}

 

_Chuck

 

Thanks for pointing that out (about the mounts). I should have read instead of just looking at the pretty pictures.

 

I was wondering about installing them here:

 

[Chickenman]

This is a problem I'm dealing with on my 280Z as well. Have the MSA rear T/L box and some Pioneer 6 x 9 speakers, but it really needs something up front as well.

 

Miata seats may work, but I don't like the cloth finish. I wonder if they come in Black Leather?

 

My Audi A4 has a component speaker system and they place small Mid-Range speakers and Tweeters up high in the front door, with 6" rounds in the rear Parcel shelf. It sounds really good.

[SilverSurfer]

For now, I am opting for two small boxes in the hatch area, each with a 6x9 speaker. That will get me through the rest of the restoration of this vehicle. After that? We'll see ...

[Redwing]

What about getting mounts and place them in the outer corners, off the floor, in the front foot area? That is where I put them in my Redwing. Looks good, sounds great.

Oh, I had enclosed speakers, guess that would make a big difference tho. Hmmm...

Jai

[siteunseen]

These 4" Pyles fit perfect in the spaces below the quarter glass on my 280.  They came from Walmart for about $20 and are loud enough to overcome the exhaust howl.  It needs more but without cutting anything, it sounds okay.  I had a trunk box out of a BMW I had with 10" X-plodes laying in the rear of the hatch, but my dog likes to lay back there so they had to go.

[Jarvo2]

Miata seats did come in black leather, or you can get leather cover replacements.  I picked my cloth seats up for $45 with sliders included! 

[charliekwin]

I'm still a long ways off from getting an audio system in my car so I haven't done any investigation into the feasibility of this yet, so the following suggestion may be a non-starter, but I'd try the dashboard first.  There are number of 3" wideband drivers out there that do surprisingly well.  They're small enough that it might be possible to either drop them into the dash and have them fire off the windshield or stick them in the corner of the windshield to create a pseudo-horn.  Cross over at ~120hz and use a 10" sub in the back to handle the rest.  That, at least at the moment, is my eventual plan whenever I get that far.

[Kurbycar32]

I bought some custom fiberglass door cards with built in speaker holes for my 260 which was already cut up by a previous owner.  My speaker system consists of 5-1/4" speakers in the doors, 6x9's in the toolboxes and an 8" sub in the spare tire well.  I am really picky about audio but am not quite audiophile status which is why i tried so hard to get a nice system installed, but it ended up being overkill.  From my experience my best advice is to get a pair of 6x9's behind the seats and fire them up toward the ceiling with a slightly forward tilt before cutting up your car.  The 6x9's in the toolboxes didn't require any modifications that weren't reversible: I simply removed my toolbox doors and built a wooden frame for the speakers using the toolboxes as speaker boxes.  Should i want to return to stock i only need to pull the wood out and re-mount my toolbox doors.  After all was said and done i found the front speakers werent making much of a difference in sound quality because the 6x9's were closer to my ears.  It sounds like audiophile blasphemy but try it out before cutting up your doors.