Tweeter To 3.5" Coax Swap

[Mike07SE]

Just did a little speaker mod today, borrowing from something that I had done with my Grand Cherokee (which had an almost identical speaker setup) prior to getting my 4R. I took out the factory mid/tweets that are in our doors and replaced them with a set of Infinity Kappa 3.5" coax's that I had kicking around. This may not be for the faint of heart for some as it required me to do some denting (deliberate metal bending) with a hammer to get it to work, and mild cutting to the factory tweeter bracket. I only did the passenger side so far (getting dark and the Big Game is on), but I will do pics and a followup when I do the other side. So far I gotta say that this is a HUGE difference in sound. Fading back and forth from L to R, the factory setup sounds muffled now compared to the strong midrange and high output that I now have. Only downfall I noticed is that the replaced speaker distorts a little at max volume, but I can surely attribute this to it being 4ohms vs. 8 for stock, and the magnet requires a lot more juice to thump, but at 60 and below it's great. This I hope to solve when I get the new Kenwood DNX8120 coming out in March. I plan to have the front 3.5"ers run by the head unit with a set of bass blockers on them and have the door speakers replaced being run off of a seperate amp.

To be continued....

 

[Mike07SE]

Quick follow of pictures. I'll try to fill in descriptions later

 

[Mike07SE]

 

[A/V1]

WOW! Very nice. That looks great! I see what you mean by "denting" now...

 

[Mike07SE]

Thanks! Just got home from work and spent some time listening to a variety of music, and I just can't believe the difference this made so far. The soundstage now seems like it's more level with my head whereas before it seemed very low. I went ahead and put bass blockers on that I grabbed at Best Buy that are rated at 300Hz. This seemed to round off the install nicely as I did this with drivers side this time and listened to the difference between it and the pass. side that I did yesterday without it. With them both on they sound great. Now hopefully these will sound even better when I get them hooked up to the replacement headunit and new door speaks run off of a seperate amp.

 

[hkccool98]

very nice! did u use the same holes on the factory tweeter bracket to mount the 3.5 inch coaxial?

 

[Mike07SE]

No I had to drill new holes with sheet metal screws slightly offset to the factory holes. The 3.5" basket is just a tad bigger than the factory speaks.

 

[andyman32392]

is this with a basic speaker system or the optional jbl synthesis

 

[Mike07SE]

This is with the basic system, but will work either way. You'll definitely love the improvement. Just be sure to get the bass blockers.

 

[BADOOGA3000]

does the bass blocker prevent bass from coming through the tweeter or just block bass all together?

 

[Mike07SE]

It blocks the unnecessary frequencies from overpowering the speakers. You have the 6x9 in the door to take care of that.

 

[GREENMONSTER]

Great Job on the installation. Does the tweeter run on a seperate channel, or does it tie into the 6X9 like seperates do?

 

[Mike07SE]

The factory speak/tweet I believe had a resistor on it (bass blocker) but don't know where the heck I put them to double check. So I'm assuming, almost positive, it was on the same channel. Otherwise it works great!

 

[SamNavy]

Mike, nice post from a couple years ago. How much room would you say there is between the tweeter and the grill. Would there be enough room to use a couple washers to lift the speaker up on the bracket a little to make it less necessary to dent the frame. How much room is there without having the tweet in physical contact with the grill.

Do you know the exact model of those Infinity's?

I was thinking that an extra bit of spacing on the speaker combined with a slightly less deep speaker might negate the need to dent the panel.

 

[Mike07SE]

Mike, nice post from a couple years ago. How much room would you say there is between the tweeter and the grill. Would there be enough room to use a couple washers to lift the speaker up on the bracket a little to make it less necessary to dent the frame. How much room is there without having the tweet in physical contact with the grill.

Do you know the exact model of those Infinity's?

I was thinking that an extra bit of spacing on the speaker combined with a slightly less deep speaker might negate the need to dent the panel.

I see that you have an '05. A buddy of mine with an '04 did this without me around and said that he didn't have to put in as much work as I did (no denting). As far as the door panel grill to tweet goes, you will have to dremel off the round plastic flashing on the grill to prevent it from rubbing the new coax. You'll see what I'm talking about when you have it off.

As far as the type of speaker, I'm not sure exactly. Just that I know they're Kappa's made before Infinity went to using 2ohm speakers. I think they've gotta be going on 4-5 years old now, and only been using them for the past 2!

 

[audiqtr]

nice work...
What's the stock tweeter size (size to fit into OEM bracket)?

 

[Mike07SE]

Guessing, I'm saying around 2.75" - maybe 3".

 

[riverwolf]

nice work...
What's the stock tweeter size (size to fit into OEM bracket)?

It's not a standard size. It's a *full range driver with a 65mm cone. I forget what the spacing between mounting holes is. If you've got the rear speakers instead of the backup mirrors, they're real easy to access if you want to get measurements...same drivers as the front doors/center dash. The rear grills just pop out with a slim screwdriver.

*It does have a cap acting as a highpass while the 6"x9" is allowed to run full range with no filtering. Based on using the center speaker for my bluetooth output, I'd guess the 65mm drivers are playing down to somewhere in the 150-200Hz range.

-Brent

 

[audiqtr]

^^Good Looking out^^ Thanks.

 

[v8 4wd]

great write up.....
in order to not have to create extra room by denting the door - would you happen to know the overall depth the speaker would have to be?