Improving bass weight on new front speakers

[alexbaker1989]

The dealer-fitted Pioneer front speakers in my car were suffering from foam rot, so I decided to replace them with something better, as the Pioneer's were the cheapest the original owner could have chosen, so not worth me re-foaming them.

Anyway I settled on some Helix 5.25'' coaxials with adjustable tweeter angles, so I can have them firing at a nice angle. They also have some small external crossovers which I need to mount somewhere.

Fitted the speakers today and noticed that there's a small gap all the way round the baffle where the speaker mates to the car. I don't mean that the mounting hole is too big, I mean the speaker doesn't quite sit flush when screwed all the way in. Although there's lots more clarity up front now, bass weight is obviously worse as I'm getting cancellation of lower frequencies.

Is it best to make up some foam gaskets to solve the problem and get an air tight gap, or is it easier to use some dynamat? I'll try sealing the big gap used for cables at the same time too.

[alexbaker1989]

Just a quick update on this... my new speakers came with mini crossovers with tweeter protection. Finding somewhere to fit them was fiddly, but it gave me an opportunity to tidy up the new speaker wires in the foot wells. I removed the small plastic trays below the speaker mounting holes and secured the crossovers to the metal in their place - means fewer cables running through gaps into the speaker hole. Everything is all cable tied to the existing loom now which looks good.

I've ordered a pair of Roadkill fast rings to get a better seal between speaker and mounting surface, so once they arrive and are fitted I'll post pics. They're a three piece set with a foam disc to stick behind the speaker for deadening, then a gasket to mate to the surface and finally a ring that sits between the outside of the baffle and the kick panel. Should improve things a bit...

[alexbaker1989]

OK (realised I'm speaking to myself here as this doesn't seem like an interesting topic for most).... managed to get the fast rings fitted this afternoon.

Forgot to take pics! But as above, I cut a disc to about an inch thick and stuck against the back of the inner wing, directly behind the speaker magnet. Then cut a gasket to just under an inch and stuck to the back of the speaker, and another about the same thickness around the front side of the baffle, around the outside of the screw holes.

Fitted the kick panels and put everything back together - fits nicely and not too tight a squeeze at all. Looks nice and factory which is a bonus. Stuck some tunes on to test and wow - what a difference! Bass weight is fantastic considering the size of speaker / space to play with. There's loads more bass than I could ever have expected.

Thoroughly recommend trying these out - takes 5 minutes a side and much easier than using sound deadening pads. All you need is a pair of scissors.

[biffer]

Thanks for taking the trouble to do this write-up, The sounds in my car are very 'bass-lite' even with the bass-adjustment wound to near max.
I did have some Focal jobbies fitted that put out some half-decent bass but they stuck out too proud fom the metalwork and so made fitting the plastic trim over them difficult.
Here's hoping i can eke out similar improvements with what sounds like an easy afternoon's DIY.

[boxclever1753]

Really interesting read, dude.

I'm about to get into sorting out lack of bass in my convertible so will be using Dynamat and all sorts of gaskets to better mount and insulate component speakers, will google those Helix speakers now

[alexbaker1989]

Glad it was useful! I'll take some pics if I get a chance over the weekend.

Here are the speakers I bought: https://www.bassjunkies.com/e-5x-2.html

I got them from an independent car audio place but there were only 2 left in stock. Helix still make a similar speaker which I think is a bit cheaper, but Focal coaxials should probably do the job for a similar price.

The fast rings really negated the need for me to use any Dynamat. I think there's a point of diminishing returns if you deaden the sound too much in such a small space, as you just want to absorb certain reflections and reduce resonance, but past a certain point you'll end up damping the bass.

[boxclever1753]

The fast rings really negated the need for me to use any Dynamat. I think there's a point of diminishing returns if you deaden the sound too much in such a small space, as you just want to absorb certain reflections and reduce resonance, but past a certain point you'll end up damping the bass.

Good point, I'll have a look at the limited space inside the side pockets of the convertible (rear factory speaker position) when i pull out the factory kit. I've used JL components in my E46 convertible and love the sound so will be weighing those up too if they come in or near factory size.

[biffer]

Turns out this makes a really wothwhile improvement - bass is noticably more apparent and the overall sound has more 'warmth'
My car only has a small 4x20 watt amp inside the centre-console so i wasn't expecting much if any change.
I tackled all 3 areas mentioned, but used foam and offcuts of material that i already had lying around.