6.5" woofers in 1st gen doors?

I just wondered if anyone had done this - 6.5 inch woofers in first gen doors. In the case that you were paying attention to what's available, those of us with 5.25" spots in the doors are limited in regards to what's available. The 6.5" offerings, in contrast, are all over the map. I have a specific driver in mind - the SI TM65 mkII, but it seems it won't fit without cutting or modding the door card. Any of you 1st-genners pull it off? What did you have to do to make it happen?

 

Let me know how they sound!

 

It may be a while, but you know I will. I started thinking I should go poking around junkyards, etc to try & find a cheap set of cards that I can work on over the Winter. I've talked myself right out of cutting metal, but working up a couple cards to accommodate more speaker in there might work out.

 

It was a while ago, but I put 6x8s on my 03 DC. If I recall correctly there was definite cutting of sheet metal inside the door, but no need to cut the actual door card itself.

 

So I just got my hands on the TM65 for the first time today. It's a lot smaller than I thought. It's also an amazing little woofer. I only got to play with it in IB, but it's an impressive little driver to say the least - powered by a homemade Class D with 175W available fed via a homemade tube preamp. I got to hear it side by side next to an Eminence Deltalite Neo 10 & the little 6.5 just OWNED the Eminence in both bass/midbass and clarity.

That was all it took. I ordered my TM65s just as soon as I got home from that demo. As soon as they get here the install will begin. One way or another these are going in, but I don't think they're going to take much modification. They're kinda dinky for a 6.5 but seriously strong and built like a tank.

 

I have 6.5s in my doors. The main issue with clearance is the window track. You can only have the driver so deep in the door before it contacts the window track, which is right behind the stock opening. I just made some spacer rings out of mdf and trimmed all the plastic out of the door panels behind the speaker grill. It is a tight fit, but it does fit.

 

Yeah, best I can tell, you have a good 2 1/2 inches to the track without a baffle or spacer.



The Flutes I'm pulling out are 2.64 inches deep and use a 1/4 inch cutting board as a baffle.



The TM65s are 2.3" deep . And still rock 9mm linear one-way x-max . For comparison the Flutes have 3.5mm xmax and make a nice amount of midbass. These TM65s are going to destroy my doors

 

In my first gen (97) i had to do that AND space out the window track itself, was able to squeeze out another .25" or so. Replaced the support bolt at the bottom of the window track with a longer one and wedged a spacer in there. You can't space it out too much though or the window doesn't roll down.

 

Their nice drivers... for sure and the tweeter is also really nice

 

The M25 tweeters are amazing. I've been using a set for the better part of the last year or so with those Flutes. The best way I can describe them is neutral - like they don't fit any of the categories such as warm, bright, airy, etc. Transparent would be accurate - they don't stand out in any way. That to me makes them exceptional.

The Flutes are slightly honky though and I can't seem to EQ it out. Very nice 99% of the time, but they have a couple sore spots.

 

Sounds about accurate.... there a few other tweeters i like along side them myself

 

Oh for sure. But at the $70 price point, nothing I know of can touch it.

 

sooo anything on the install? curious how you installed cause im either going to do the same thing or do 6x8 speakers

 

Nah, they just came in last week & I'm out of town on a work trip. Gotta wait 'till my foam gets here too, so it'll be next weekend at best before I can tear into the doors again.

Did get started on my new sub enclosure though

 

It's going to take a lot of work. I pulled the door card over the weekend & it looks like a complete custom 3-part MDF baffle along with cutting a bit of the tabs on the door card that hold the grille in place. A LOT of work. I'm probably changing drivers soon since I'm pretty sure I've damaged one of my Flutes' coils - looking like the Dayton Esoteric since I'm pretty sure I can get them in the doors. I haven't given up on installing the TM65s, but that will have to wait until work slows significantly. That means it will be late Fall at best before I can attempt it.

 

I got a chance to look at this a little more closely today







Seems like simply cutting out these pieces will let this happen





Err that and I'll need to make new baffles.



I expect that to be a little tricky, but do-able. Gonna have to watch the space in front of the woofers here as the surround is larger than the hole. Too hot to keep working on this today, but maybe I'll get 'em in before the fireworks go off?

 

Unfortunately this just isn't going to work like it has in the past. The flange on the driver covers the factory holes for the baffle and countersinking into the cutting board probably won't leave enough material.



This really is going to require some custom wood work...and is officially shelved until I get the time to do that. Time for new drivers. Again. Good thing I like buying speakers

 

Nice!! I heard these in Nick's own car (Nick of Stereo Integrity).. Get ready! Oh man! Those midbass drivers boogie.
I had the TM65 MkI's and I can confirm these are certainly a nice update.
Been lurking over here a little to consider a '13 Access Cab build I've put off now for a while.

 

Keeping an ear to the ground for this one. Should be something special if it's anything like your Civic.

 

So I decided to try the cutting board approach after all. This particular board is 9mm thick & retains most of its structural integrity even cut to this size. This seems like the perfect material for this application. If I'm wrong, then I'll try birch and make that complicated piece I was gonna make. But this might cut it. We'll see. Pardon the pun.

I'll need to re-tune when I do this & kinda want to get the Helix DSP in at the same time, so these won't go in today, but they're ready with the exception of drilling & countersinking holes and mounting nuts. I still need to cut the supports in the door card to clear the flange.