Enclosure inside the Door

[SacredTanakh 67]

I bought 2 aurum cantus ac165/50c2c to go in a 2 way active setup (morel 378s for tweets). The speakers are not made to run infinite baffle, but I figured I could make something work.

I'm not quite sure dimensions yet for the door, but at first I was thinking of using those 6.5 foam speaker baffles that seal the speaker.

I am doubtful that these will give them enough space or will be optimal but Id rather they be sealed in a tiny airspace then free air.

I am going for sound quality in my front stage, so I want a more permanent better solution to this.

Any tips on going about making an enclosure?

 

Also to note this will be in a new chrysler 300 so I don't want to cut up the doors or anything like that. I want to keep the stock door panels completely intact.

 

Thanks guys

[lithium 358]

no, that wont work. thin foam is not an enclosure and the volume would probably be too small anyways. if you knew you couldnt run them IB why did you buy them? 

Edited October 5, 2013 by lithium

[///M5 2,833]

Haven't. Played or modeled those but if b doesn't work there are a ton of other drivers you could use. An enclosure WILL require cutting up the car.

[SacredTanakh 67]

no, that wont work. thin foam is not an enclosure and the volume would probably be too small anyways. if you knew you couldnt run them IB why did you buy them?

Well them not being designed for IB was more of an after thought, the rest of the specs on the woofer seemed to match up with what I wanted.

I realize the foam won't be ideal, but better then free air and risk bottoming them out and having absolutely no midrange. I haven't taken the door panel off yet, so I'm not sure how hard it would be. I really like these woofers so making them work in my application would be great.

[SacredTanakh 67]

Haven't. Played or modeled those but if b doesn't work there are a ton of other drivers you could use. An enclosure WILL require cutting up the car.

to what extent do you think I would have to modify the door to make a simple sealed enclosure? Even if the enclosure is just big enough to get decent response I'll be happy. I was thinking of using a cardboard tube and some resin, if I can get enough length. I need to do some measurements.

[liljestrand 244]

I am currently using a sonotube for a sealed enclosure for some 8" b2 subs for midbass.  Overkill, prolly but I like it.  Anyways I didn't cut the door but i did do build outs.  When I redo them I will be cutting the stock speaker holes out to fit the sonotube so that its sunk into the door.  Kind of a pain on long trips when you can only have your left leg in one position.

[SacredTanakh 67]

I am currently using a sonotube for a sealed enclosure for some 8" b2 subs for midbass. Overkill, prolly but I like it. Anyways I didn't cut the door but i did do build outs. When I redo them I will be cutting the stock speaker holes out to fit the sonotube so that its sunk into the door. Kind of a pain on long trips when you can only have your left leg in one position.

That's actually exactly what I was thinking. Thanks for the post!

[///M5 2,833]

Well them not being designed for IB was more of an after thought, the rest of the specs on the woofer seemed to match up with what I wanted.

That sentence makes no sense. One or two specs are basically useless, you have to consider them all. When you do, the alignment something is geared to play in is included. Not really possible to be all perfect for something but not do it at all.

Definitely a fair amount of modification. Think of the last bookshelf you saw with a 6.5. FAR from trivial. It'd be WAY cheaper to throw those away and buy something else if labor is a cost. Not saying I'd throw anything away, but resell to buy what works.

[lithium 358]

only option i can think of is building kick panels. or sell and buy the right woofer the for job. 

[SacredTanakh 67]

Well I see what your saying application wise, I did see that but I assumed It wouldn't be too much trouble and it'd be worth the gains. I've never tried a 2 way active setup so I'm experimenting with it a bit. I'm also know expert on specs, I looked for fairly flat response, with similar sensitivity, and frequency response that would complete the range I need. Looking at it that way if the speakers were paired in a home application I think it would sound great. But that's from my non expert position. I keep looking at woofers and the only ones I see that seem even close to the morel 378 are also not made for Infinite baffle either. Also for cost I would be doing it all myself, and I'm willing to put time into it, I have all the tools I could possibly require. Cost I don't think is big on making it work, but I could be wrong. I see what you guys are saying, it would be easier.. But I really like this woofer. I'm down for the extra effort.

[altoncustomtech 773]

I agree with the others, there will be a lot of modification needed to do it right. The only thing those foam ones are good for is protecting a speaker from the elements and they do that at a small cost to accurate response from my limited experience with them.

I'm slowly making plans to do about the same thing in the future with the Jimmy. My plan is to build ported enclosures for a pair of 8" mid bass speakers utilizing the current hole in the door panel for the tweeter as the location for the port. I'll have to cut away some of the door to make room for the enclosure to slide into the door cavity and the enclosure will bolt to the door. I planned on sealing them with resin and bed liner to protect them from the elements as well. My plan was to make the enclosure with a step out where the port and mid bass would be flushed up to the door card. The enclosure would be nearly as tall as the door cavity and as wide as can fit between the front of the door cavity and the window track (approximately 9.5") and the back will curve with the outer door panel to get as much volume as possible.

My point is that if you're willing to take the time to plan it out well and put in the effort on the custom work I don't see why it couldn't be done. At the same time I know it would be much easier to sell them and buy a driver that better fits the goals AND the application. Either way I look forward to the build and am very interested in how it turns out if you do go through the trouble of stuffing enclosures into the doors.

[SacredTanakh 67]

I agree with the others, there will be a lot of modification needed to do it right. The only thing those foam ones are good for is protecting a speaker from the elements and they do that at a small cost to accurate response from my limited experience with them.

I'm slowly making plans to do about the same thing in the future with the Jimmy. My plan is to build ported enclosures for a pair of 8" mid bass speakers utilizing the current hole in the door panel for the tweeter as the location for the port. I'll have to cut away some of the door to make room for the enclosure to slide into the door cavity and the enclosure will bolt to the door. I planned on sealing them with resin and bed liner to protect them from the elements as well. My plan was to make the enclosure with a step out where the port and mid bass would be flushed up to the door card. The enclosure would be nearly as tall as the door cavity and as wide as can fit between the front of the door cavity and the window track (approximately 9.5") and the back will curve with the outer door panel to get as much volume as possible.

My point is that if you're willing to take the time to plan it out well and put in the effort on the custom work I don't see why it couldn't be done. At the same time I know it would be much easier to sell them and buy a driver that better fits the goals AND the application. Either way I look forward to the build and am very interested in how it turns out if you do go through the trouble of stuffing enclosures into the doors.

Of course Alton, you decide to go a step forward with ported I don't think I want to go as far as ported though, sealed will be enough for me. I'll take a look at the doors without panels and see what I have to work with. If it seems to much I might try a different woofer. But I've covered quite a few brands with no real good candidate for infinite baffle with the 378.

[///M5 2,833]

I thought you didn't want to modify your door or kick being it is a "new" car. If that is the case no enclosure will work.

[SacredTanakh 67]

I thought you didn't want to modify your door or kick being it is a "new" car. If that is the case no enclosure will work.

I didn't want to but realized if I didn't it definitely wouldn't work out very well, so I've been looking at the door panel and it's actually shaped pretty well for what I'm thinking. I also realized the 300 has 6x9s for door speakers, which isn't really a bad thing actually cause I have to do slightly less cutting. When I do start on modifying the door I'll post pictures and such. In previous installs on other vehicles I've rushed some things, and this time around I'm going for quality. Should be nice.

[Quentin Jarrell 671]

Never instal a pair of speakers that were designed for infinite baffle in car door and expect them to perform as they would in an infinite baffle environment. A car door is not infinite baffle it is a shitty leaky sealed box with a baffle that resonates nearly as much as the speaker that's mounted to it.

I don't know how or why exactly because it is beyond my realm of knowledge but a factory door replacement speaker has much different design featured than a transducer made for infinite baffle, sealed, and ported.

[SacredTanakh 67]

Never instal a pair of speakers that were designed for infinite baffle in car door and expect them to perform as they would in an infinite baffle environment. A car door is not infinite baffle it is a shitty leaky sealed box with a baffle that resonates nearly as much as the speaker that's mounted to it.

I don't know how or why exactly because it is beyond my realm of knowledge but a factory door replacement speaker has much different design featured than a transducer made for infinite baffle, sealed, and ported.

Well on that note, maybe using these sealed was better anyway.

I also listened to these woofers on my home system and was very surprised at how good these sound, even without using a crossover.

[ncc74656 2]

fiberglass is your friend?

[SacredTanakh 67]

fiberglass is your friend?

I do plan on using fiberglass when doing this, if that was your question. Not really sure if it was or not though.