Speaker Size
 

What size speakers could I fit in my car? In the rear and the front. I do not want to have to cut out either the rear or front dash. I was looking at 6" X 9" for the back and maybe 6" for the front. Do you think this would work?
Thanks
Tim

I believe 4x8 is the size of the dash speaker I just pulled out. I held it up to the outlines under my rear deck and it fit perfectly. Good luck finding a modern speaker this size;)

You are talking about the rear correct? I was thinking about putting the 6" X 9" speakers in the rear and just putting them under the dash a little, but I don't think they would sound as good. What size are the ones in the front?
Thanks
Tim

Tim's benz-

I spent most of last summer totally re-doing my sound system- if you search threads I think I called it: 108 chassis sound system or something like that. Pretty much details my whole experience. Did 6 new speakers all under the stock factory grilles, so you cannot tell that anything different is in there.

I am still very happy with my whole job. New head unit, disconnected the fader, and did satellite radio too. Sounds awesome.

-JAS

What is the fifth speaker, and where is it located? I understand you have two 4" in the footwells and the two 4" X 6" in the rear dash and the two tweeters in the front center piece. What is the fifth one?
Thanks
Tim

He said 6 speakers -
The rears he put in are probably dual-units, that is, one woofer and one tweeter in them.

The fronts are 4x6, IIRC, the rears are an odd size - like 3x9 or 4x9 (or 10... don't recall).

The original rear deck speakers and the front center dash speaker are all three the same size, right, like a 4x8 or other such size that doesn't exist anymore.

If I remember correctly, I did a pair of 2-way 6x9's in the rear deck, a pair of 4" in the front footwells, then a pair of tweeters in the center front opening (it was just a blank piece of cardboard in that space from the factory, so I took apart one of the originals from the rear deck, and mounted the pair of tweeters in that, which then dropped right into the space it was designed for originally)

So, the car originally had 4 speakers with a blank in the front center spot-

I replaced all 4 under their original grilles, then did the custom mount of the pair of tweeters up front and center.

Why only a pair of 4" in the front? The grill holds a 4x6 stock... a (modern) 4x6 fits with a bit of trimming! ;) (You need to cut some of the metal frame out, they make the frames massively big to be "Universal" but they don't fit inside the smaller plastic covers)

I think that the 4" speakers would be plenty to have in the front, but if the prices are similar I might go bigger.
Tim

I picked up a rather good (used) pair of Kenwoods that I heard at Best Buy and liked... only like $20 with shipping on like an $80 set!

Where are you talking about putting 4x6's instead of the 4"ers?

I used a pair of 4" in the front footwell locations, mainly because I wanted to use all of the original interior trim pieces. The 4" fit in the space vacated by the original units, and then I was able to re-use the covers. I thought that using larger, modern speaker grilles would really look terrible in that footwell location (especially all of the swoopy, gen-x looking stuff that is out there now...)

-JAS

I love the asymmetry between the driver and passenger footwell speaker housings. Pass. side shown here-

My 70 280SE 6-cyl. (my 1st car, long gone) had only the center front speaker in the dash from the factory!

The 4 speaker set-up in this 73 4.5 was positively hi-fi by comparison!

I am very very pleased with how it sounds now. Fills the entire car, good quality sound without going crazy. The tweeters really add a nice touch, too.

-JAS

hey, jas2wa...
 

I am wondering about those 4" footwell speakers. My 4.5 had only the single speaker in the dash for the mono Europa. I intend to pick up at least a Europe II for stereo or a Mexico with the integral cassette. I have a pair of discrete Blaupunkt 4"x6" which will go in the rear shelf spots. Their grills are acceptably subtle.

I also picked up two 3" single speakers out of a MR2 which I was going to transplant under my original grill on the dash. Unfortunately, their magnets are too large to permit side by side mounting in a fabricated plate as I intended. Now I am thinking of utilizing the footwell spots for these but I have no grills presently. I see your 4" are in a bit of a housing -- are there actually holes in your locations to accomodate the magnets or are they true surface mount units?

I may be stuck with just using one of these 3" under the front grill and try to balance between the front and rear as best I can. My original 4"x8" is shot -- the paper cone pretty much is dust now!

BTW, been a while since I saw "vestigial" used in everyday talk (your post on the ebay 280SE with the gruesome 10 speaker outfit) :D

Any advice, insights appreciated. I did look at your thread from your installation process -- Enlightening.

kpb

kpb-

That's why I posted those pictures of the footwell speakers from my car- it seemed that not everyone was on the same page as far as what they actually were-

I think the 4 speaker set-up must have been an option. I have my original Becker but cannot remember exactly which model it is.

So, instead of the one center-mounted dash 4x6, there were the rears 4x6 and footwells 4".

They were certainly designed as an afterthought, or addition to the 108 interior beyond how it was originally designed- that asymmetry (and their construction) make that very clear...

So, the dr. side 4" sits in a cut-out in the sheet metal, so yes, the magnet fits in there, and the stock grille sits on top, protruding out a bit as you can see in the pic.

Then, on the pass. side, that piece of trim that bows out into the footwell is actually encasing the a/c blower, then the speaker is mounted to it, again with that protruding grille (looking somewhat 'vestigial', if you will...! :D )

I actually took one of the originals to Crutchfield with me, and found a 4' speaker that was similar in height (so i could mount it under that original grille.) The magnet depth was actually less of an issue, though it DOES have to fit against the blower motor/fan cage.

Does that help at all?

I wish I had taken some pics of the process as I was doing the whole thing, might have been very useful. Especially how I re-used the mount/base from one of the original rears to mount the pair of tweeters in, in the front center spot. (Still proud of that one, for a non-professional...!)