# Show off your kickpanels!!!!



## SouthSyde

There used to be a thread where everyone showed off thier kickpanels, but i cannot seem to find it. So anyway, decided to start a new one. Just trying to get some new fresh ideas for a killer 2-way kick! 

thanks


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## newshades

I know its not kick panels but it in the door


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## gymrat2005

A simple 2 way. I designed them to try and somehow minimize a little of the diffraction off of the baffle. That's why I have the edges rounded off of the speaker mounting flanges. I have a lot more tricks in store as far as stopping under dash reflections through absorption and stuff. Almost every hard or flat surface will have some type of treatment, except for the windows...not much I can do there. My imaging has improved in leaps and bounds with this kick setup, a good quarter way up the windshield on pretty much every recording. They are aimed about 4 inches in front of the head unit, which if you continue on that line it brings them face high anywhere from nose to ear depending on seat position. Had to relocate trunk release on drivers side, which was no biggie, just flipped it upside down and mounted it under dash. So now instead of lifting up, I jut pull down. Also dead pedal had to be removed, again no big deal. As you can see in the pic, I kind of cheesed out and used my old Dyn MD140 grill for my L4's, but it does it's job by protecting the speaker. I'm thinking of having some bars milled out of brass to match the L1 Pro SE's, but I have other things to do first.


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## Se7en




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## gymrat2005

^ yum...esotar goodness!


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## Robb

These arent mine, but a veru nice 3 way CRX setup !


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## Se7en

gymrat2005 said:


> ^ yum...esotar goodness!


gymrat,

How are you liking those ProSEs?


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## AVIDEDTR

Here are a pair of Hybrid L8's vented outside thru the fender with Scan AP vents. The cabinets are about 10lbs ea with loads of lead shot, fiber-filler and milk shake. 1/2" T6 aluminum Baffle. 1" solid T6 Aluminum grills from Tom at "12v"


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## gymrat2005

I actually like them a lot man. Because the L4's play so high, I'm only taking the tweeters from 8k and up, but they are extremely smooth, and very detailed. I've been really happy since putting them in. I planned on using them as a stepping stone until I can get some Eso 110's, but after installing them, and listening to them, I won't be in a hurry to change them out any time soon. I have other stuff to do first.


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## gymrat2005

AVIDEDTR, what is the rest of the front stage? I only ask because I don't see any A-pillars or anything in there yet. Those Hybrid designed grills look BEEFY!!..lol. Are you running kimber interconnects, or speaker wire? PBJ, Hero...4/8TC, PR?


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## AVIDEDTR

gymrat2005 said:


> AVIDEDTR, what is the rest of the front stage? I only ask because I don't see any A-pillars or anything in there yet. Those Hybrid designed grills look BEEFY!!..lol. Are you running kimber interconnects, or speaker wire? PBJ, Hero...4/8TC, PR?


^^Thanks...Tom is the designer at 12v Electronics Home Page

The rest of the front stage is the L4 and L1proSE...and yes I used Kimbers' 8TC speaker wire for my RCA connector. I soldered the 16 wires directly to the P01's connector (like Doitor did"_copy cat_" ) My speaker wire is AudioStream - TimeLine TL6 MKII - tri wire 16 gauge.


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## gymrat2005

AVIDEDTR said:


> and yes I used Kimbers' 8TC speaker wire for my RCA connector.


Geez, it never even crossed my mind to use that wire for interconnect. I bet that single braided construction works killer for noise rejection. I might have to copy that as well...lol. Did you do the mod yourself? Any pics you could PM me? 

Not to keep getting OT but I'm curious as to what you cross your L8's at on the high end and your L4's on the low end? No problems blending those drivers that far apart?


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## AVIDEDTR

gymrat2005 said:


> Geez, it never even crossed my mind to use that wire for interconnect. I bet that single braided construction works killer for noise rejection. I might have to copy that as well...lol. Did you do the mod yourself? Any pics you could PM me?
> 
> Not to keep getting OT but I'm curious as to what you cross your L8's at on the high end and your L4's on the low end? No problems blending those drivers that far apart?



I had to add tinned copper braid over top the wire then soldered a 16ga wire to it and grounded it to the radio/car chassis. L8's play to 31.5hz to [email protected] L4's play [email protected] to [email protected] and the SE's do the rest. Midbass is right on the dash and it's playing full range right now since I'm officially subless for the month.


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## audioaddict

AVIDEDTR said:


> Here are a pair of Hybrid L8's vented outside thru the fender with Scan AP vents. The cabinets are about 10lbs ea with loads of lead shot, fiber-filler and milk shake. 1/2" T6 aluminum Baffle. 1" solid T6 Aluminum grills from Tom at "12v"




Nice...

You really gotta start a build log. I'm liking what I see so far!


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## AVIDEDTR

Here is what the car looked like at Springbreak nationals:
SQ Honda Fit kickpanels - Spring Break Nationals 2010 - Pics & Vids - Car Audio and Electronics


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## spmpdr

Heres my kicks nothing special, dayton rs150 6" in homemade ap vent ,jl audio crt 050 tweeters and some custom marbilizing on the grills,they match the door panels quite nicely!!!


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## ungo4

This is what I started with:




























This is what I ended up with:


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## SQ_Blaze

Se7en said:


>


How high up does your sound stage get with the drivers firing straight across like that? 

Is the stage high? 

It that only possible by using a DSP like the Bit One?

Sorry for all the questions.


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## hooptiesaregreat

Been in hiding for a while, but stopped by while looking for some gear for a buddy. Here's my kicks (note that I took the "bose" sign off the door promptly following this pic):


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## d5sc




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## Mless5

^ lovely!!!


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## Se7en

SQ_Blaze said:


> How high up does your sound stage get with the drivers firing straight across like that?
> 
> Is the stage high?
> 
> It that only possible by using a DSP like the Bit One?
> 
> Sorry for all the questions.


No problem. The stage height is very good without use of DSP. I attribute this mostly to the characteristics of the drivers and less the install itself.

During initial testing, this is what sunded the best (2 seats).


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## B_Rich

I'm no professional or expert by any means, just your average 19 year old student having some fun with his speakers. I do love doing this though and hope I never get out of the hobby.

My first set I ever built:






























Second set I built: (went for more leg room with these)





















And the third set I've built for 8" midbass (I probably will never go back to 6.5" midbass)








































As you can see, the kicks for the 8's aren't done yet. School kinda gets in the way of that.....


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## filtor1

Keep the pics coming! This is good motivation!


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## Mr.Lovr

'87 t-type GN . matching grills go over it also


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## filtor1

Mr.Lovr said:


> '87 t-type GN . matching grills go over it also


Very nice. Do you have a pic with the grill installed? Also is there any issue created with the back set mid.


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## bafukie

my previous setup:


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## impact

these were my kicks in my 99 camaro. DLS Iriduim 8's, I modified the metal behind the woofer which let the woofer channel into the rocker panel and create an enclosure for the 8's.


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## gymrat2005

among all of the kick panels shown so far, there is definitely one thing missing from almost every single one of them (including my own)...steam cleaned carpets


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## SouthSyde

Wow!! very nice works!!!


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## audiogodz1

impact said:


> these were my kicks in my 99 camaro. DLS Iriduim 8's, I modified the metal behind the woofer which let the woofer channel into the rocker panel and create an enclosure for the 8's.


That is exactly what I want, but I cannot do kicks in my car. Lexus put the fuse blocks on BOTH sides in the kicks.

They are very close though in the edge of the doors, I just can't have kicks like I want.


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## bkjay

Nice! love the pics guys.


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## bkjay

Hey audiogodz I see your lanzar tag.The opti 150 was my first real amp.


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## cAsE sEnSiTiVe

These days the speaker combo is Scan 12m/D2905...


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## sam3535

H-Audio Trinity's


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## SouthSyde

cAsE sEnSiTiVe said:


> These days the speaker combo is Scan 12m/D2905...


how did you cover with carpet like that? that is so stealth!


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## shawnk

Several different kick I've done over the years. Even had to scan a few pics..lol


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## Melodic Acoustic

sam3535 said:


> H-Audio Trinity's



The Trinity work pretty well in the kicks ha Sam3535?








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Not my car, but a fellow Diyma member's, that I did the kicks for. It's a Nissan Xterra and without any TA or tunning the sound stage is about 2" above the dash.


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## Se7en

H-Audio - AKA - Here-I-Come said:


> The Trinity work pretty well in the kicks ha Sam3535?


They sound pretty great too!


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## thehatedguy

Sure you can do kicks in that car...there is a **** load of room down there once you move the fuse blocks.

Plus you could do 8s in the floor/fire wall pretty easy for midbass and some other speakers in the kicks for midrange.

<- has an 01 IS300 too.



audiogodz1 said:


> That is exactly what I want, but I cannot do kicks in my car. Lexus put the fuse blocks on BOTH sides in the kicks.
> 
> They are very close though in the edge of the doors, I just can't have kicks like I want.


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## impact

gymrat2005 said:


> among all of the kick panels shown so far, there is definitely one thing missing from almost every single one of them (including my own)...steam cleaned carpets


yup and mine was prob the worst haha. I took that pic not even thinking about it until later on and now I don't have the car anymore so I can't take nicer pics, boooooooo


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## mennitti

Wow, some great work here in nice rides. My "how to" is in the Tutorials forum, if anyone likes this style.


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## Mr.Lovr

filtor1 said:


> Very nice. Do you have a pic with the grill installed? Also is there any issue created with the back set mid.


 Its not my car though mine is very similar . he won iasca titles so no issues I would imagine


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## ErinH

Steve Cook of Audio X in Florence, Al built mine for me about a year and a half ago. They are vented to the outside of the car and house a Scanspeak 7” revelator for midbass. 
He inititally had them covered with black carpet, as he couldn’t find anything to match my OEM carpet. Last year I ordered automotive carpet for the front of the car and covered the kicks with the new carpet so there would be no seams.

Here’s a picture of them opened up while I was adding clay to get some mass to the floor, and also a picture of them covered up with the new carpet.


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## doitor

Still not ready, but no one said to post pics of fully done kicks.



















Those are HAT Legatia L8's in the kicks.

J.


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## pneffkell

Hey all. Thats my Xterra Marks showing off. 

First off, big ups to Mark for all of his help. After a little tuning I am blown away by the trinity in the kicks. my sounds stage is hovering above the dash about 2-3 inches and instrument location is very nice. 

After correcting a snaffu with the RCAs being backwards on the bit one. Time alignment really has this thing dialed in pretty nicely and we still have not spent any real time tuning it yet.


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## SouthSyde

bikinpunk said:


> Steve Cook of Audio X in Florence, Al built mine for me about a year and a half ago. They are vented to the outside of the car and house a Scanspeak 7” revelator for midbass.
> He inititally had them covered with black carpet, as he couldn’t find anything to match my OEM carpet. Last year I ordered automotive carpet for the front of the car and covered the kicks with the new carpet so there would be no seams.
> 
> Here’s a picture of them opened up while I was adding clay to get some mass to the floor, and also a picture of them covered up with the new carpet.


how did you make the carpet cover your whole kicks like that? i think i want to do that with my car..


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## ErinH

I ordered a few runs of carpet from a carpet dealer online and then just rolled it out in the front of the cabin and trimmed where necessary. That's it.


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## EEB

bikinpunk said:


> I ordered a few runs of carpet from a carpet dealer online and then just rolled it out in the front of the cabin and trimmed where necessary. That's it.


Did you just put the unbacked carpet on top of the old carpet?


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## SouthSyde

bikinpunk said:


> I ordered a few runs of carpet from a carpet dealer online and then just rolled it out in the front of the cabin and trimmed where necessary. That's it.


just regular carpet?


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## ErinH

EEB said:


> Did you just put the unbacked carpet on top of the old carpet?


yes

80" Wide Superflex Ozite Automotive Carpet

My issue with this stuff is that it mars easily. If you have floormats, though, you're fine.


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## sam3535

Se7en said:


> They sound pretty great too!


Even better now that I've had some time to spend listening/tuning. I was actually home ten straight days at the end of March! Woohoo!

BTW, anyone looking for a grill to work with the Trinity's; I trimmed the **** out of a DLS UP/UR 2.5 grill set and they fit like a glove.


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## T3mpest

bikinpunk said:


> yes
> 
> 80" Wide Superflex Ozite Automotive Carpet
> 
> My issue with this stuff is that it mars easily. If you have floormats, though, you're fine.


How thick is the carpet? I want to know how high you could run your mids before it becomes an acoustic issue...


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## SymbolA

4" midrange in kickpanel


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## SouthSyde

sam3535 said:


> Even better now that I've had some time to spend listening/tuning. I was actually home ten straight days at the end of March! Woohoo!
> 
> BTW, anyone looking for a grill to work with the Trinity's; I trimmed the **** out of a DLS UP/UR 2.5 grill set and they fit like a glove.


LCH? lake charles? id love to demo a set of trinity if you ever come to houston...


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## sam3535

SouthSyde said:


> LCH? lake charles? id love to demo a set of trinity if you ever come to houston...


I'm there at least once a month for business, but am usually in meetings all day then back home. I'll be there later in the spring/summer for some competitions so I'll let you know the schedule. PM me to remind me.


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## ErinH

T3mpest said:


> How thick is the carpet? I want to know how high you could run your mids before it becomes an acoustic issue...


I dunno... maybe an 1/8" thick.


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## SouthSyde

sam3535 said:


> I'm there at least once a month for business, but am usually in meetings all day then back home. I'll be there later in the spring/summer for some competitions so I'll let you know the schedule. PM me to remind me.


sounds good..


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## SQ_Blaze

Not to thread jack, but how do you all think it would sound if I had a passive 3-way with the 6.5" in the doors and the 2" dome mid and 1" dome tweet in the stock kick panels facing straight towards each other?

I would eventually move up to active with TA in a few months.


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## Qyota

I'd build kick panels, but I really need all the foot space I can get. I use the dead pedal all the time.


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## 2DEEP2

Grills are made from a single 2d jig for both sides.


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## Mic10is

2DEEP2 said:


> Grills are made from a single 2d jig for both sides.


whats behind the grills?


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## JayinMI

SymbolA said:


> 4" midrange in kickpanel


Peugeot? In Illinois? Not 20 years old? How'd you pull that off? 

Jay


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## StickToRhythm

In fabrication by the awesome Bing


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## StickToRhythm

Some more


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## StickToRhythm

speakers in


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## StickToRhythm

And kicks installed


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## cAsE sEnSiTiVe

SouthSyde said:


> how did you cover with carpet like that? that is so stealth!


It's actually acoustically transparent material covering the kicks. Yes, I love that it looks completely stock. Not a clue as to what's in there. Big kicks have their place I suppose, but there's something to be said for plenty of leg and foot room.

The speakers have a VERY strong steel grill over them, and you can hit that area as hard as you care to, with nothing the worse for wear. Peace of mind.


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## SymbolA

JayinMI said:


> Peugeot? In Illinois? Not 20 years old? How'd you pull that off?
> 
> Jay


IL - Israel


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## SouthSyde

cAsE sEnSiTiVe said:


> It's actually acoustically transparent material covering the kicks. Yes, I love that it looks completely stock. Not a clue as to what's in there. Big kicks have their place I suppose, but there's something to be said for plenty of leg and foot room.
> 
> The speakers have a VERY strong steel grill over them, and you can hit that area as hard as you care to, with nothing the worse for wear. Peace of mind.


do you have a link to where i can buy such material?

thanks


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## cAsE sEnSiTiVe

SouthSyde said:


> do you have a link to where i can buy such material?
> 
> thanks


here ya go


Stinger CLOTHCHAR Acoustically Transparent Carpet Grill Cloth - Stinger Electronics - Icom, Laird, Pulse/Larsen, Polyphaser - Kollman Radio Electronics


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## SouthSyde

hey thanks alot... ill be ordering some..


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## Mic10is

SouthSyde said:


> hey thanks alot... ill be ordering some..


you can also just use unbacked trunk liner, basically same stuff Bikinipunk posted


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## Damo98

you guys can do kicks so easily.... 

damn right hand drive australian cars.... we have accelerator pedals in our way.. 

some unreal kicks there guys..


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## SouthSyde

Mic10is said:


> you can also just use unbacked trunk liner, basically same stuff Bikinipunk posted


heyy mic... what do your kickpanels look like nowadays?


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## the other hated guy

my old Accord RIP


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## B_Rich

^those look really nice.


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## naiku

These all look great, are there any readily available DIY's on how to create kick panels? or some info as to why to use them? I feel like I have read they are good for staging, but other than that am not sure why else I would want to use them. 

I have an A4 and as far as I can tell a reasonable amount of room in the kick panels, but obviously I don't want to tear my interior up without really having any idea what I am doing.


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## bassfromspace

naiku said:


> These all look great, are there any readily available DIY's on how to create kick panels? or some info as to why to use them? I feel like I have read they are good for staging, but other than that am not sure why else I would want to use them.
> 
> I have an A4 and as far as I can tell a reasonable amount of room in the kick panels, but obviously I don't want to tear my interior up without really having any idea what I am doing.


Tearing your interior up is the best way to learn.


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## SouthSyde

the other hated guy said:


> my old Accord RIP


those are sweet!!! i bet you had to hack alot of metal...


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## RattyMcClelland

Damo98 said:


> you guys can do kicks so easily....
> 
> damn right hand drive australian cars.... we have accelerator pedals in our way..
> 
> some unreal kicks there guys..


x2. Finding it very difficult to get my kicks on axis and clear the accelerator. Just wont happen. Around 30degree on axis is best so far with most of the metal hacked away.
But some excellent example here.


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## naiku

bassfromspace said:


> Tearing your interior up is the best way to learn.


While I completely agree with you, the car would not be the only thing getting torn up if I were to go right ahead with pulling the car to pieces, pretty certain my wife would not be best pleased!! :laugh:

Think I will go search around some more for some build threads.


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## Mic10is

SouthSyde said:


> heyy mic... what do your kickpanels look like nowadays?


What they look like until Sunday sunday sunday!!!!


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## ErinH

I did some work on mine earlier today. The scans were starving for air... I was choking the pole vent and it was causing me all sorts of issues. Sad thing is that it took me a year to realize it. I brought them out about a 1/4" and built new covers for them with some bombproof perforated aluminum. They're now better than ever and when the kickdrum kicks, you feel it in the chest. Finally, I'm making headway.


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## Hernan

X-pods at the kicks:



For testing, adjustable.


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## bassfromspace

naiku said:


> While I completely agree with you, the car would not be the only thing getting torn up if I were to go right ahead with pulling the car to pieces, pretty certain my wife would not be best pleased!! :laugh:
> 
> Think I will go search around some more for some build threads.


If that's the case, I recommend you first strengthen the PIMP HAND.


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## bsptaco

StickToRhythm said:


> And kicks installed


Is that a Tacoma? If so nice kicks!


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## AAAAAAA

In an fj-cruiser


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## naiku

bassfromspace said:


> If that's the case, I recommend you first strengthen the PIMP HAND.


Sound advice! fits with the line in your signature nicely as well!!


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## bassfromspace

naiku said:


> Sound advice! fits with the line in your signature nicely as well!!


Indeed!

If I don't dick around, neither should you.


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## 2DEEP2

Mic10is said:


> whats behind the grills?


Just for you Mic 

Kicks routed from 1/2" thick 6061-T6 Al.
Held in with 12 M6 bolts using inserts.
Both kick are 100% symmetrical using the same jig.
Inserts riveted to steel reinforcement welded into the car.
I started with the car frame as the enclosure but that was an uncontrollable noise problem, so I made that little hole to outside of the car a much bigger hole. 

NC Bridgeport used for the 12 bolt holes. 

Cut, tune, listen, cut, tune, etc until it sounds right.


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## GlasSman

bassfromspace said:


> If that's the case, I recommend you first strengthen the PIMP HAND.



Don't do the install on your main ride.


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## SouthSyde

AVIDEDTR said:


> Here are a pair of Hybrid L8's vented outside thru the fender with Scan AP vents. The cabinets are about 10lbs ea with loads of lead shot, fiber-filler and milk shake. 1/2" T6 aluminum Baffle. 1" solid T6 Aluminum grills from Tom at "12v"


where do you buy lead shots from? i went to home depot and they had no idea what i was talking about...


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## AVIDEDTR

SouthSyde said:


> where do you buy lead shots from? i went to home depot and they had no idea what i was talking about...


I used tire weight or lead fishing weights. Go to a fishing supply store and order a boat load.


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## ErinH

a gun/ammo store.

online is probably the best (cheapest). My local store didn't have any. I wound up going with BBs, which is somewhat close in density to lead. Besides, if you're talking about "10 lbs" of X, then 10 lbs is 10 lbs. You'll use more of the stainless steel BBs, but it'll still be 10lbs... and a heck of a lot cheaper. 
You can get BBs at wal-mart.

Edit: Fishing purposes... I didn't even consider that. Good call.


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## AVIDEDTR

bikinpunk said:


> a gun/ammo store.
> 
> online is probably the best (cheapest). My local store didn't have any. I wound up going with BBs, which is somewhat close in density to lead. Besides, if you're talking about "10 lbs" of X, then 10 lbs is 10 lbs. You'll use more of the stainless steel BBs, but it'll still be 10lbs... and a heck of a lot cheaper.
> You can get BBs at wal-mart.
> 
> Edit: Fishing purposes... I didn't even consider that. Good call.


Erin ^^ is right. BBs work great too...especially in a kick panel application. However the lead tire weights I found to be the best - IMHO


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## SouthSyde

thanks.. will be looking for them tomorrow...


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## SUX 2BU

First set of kicks I ever had. Built in 1994, in an 88 Mustang GT:


















Second set: 1997 Avenger ES, built in 1997:








Grille was projected forward a little and then chamfered for a bit of a different look:









Built these for my daily commuter, a 1990 Daytona, in 2002. The car was somewhat of a beater so no the interior isn't perfect. These were the first I built myself. The trim baffle material is aluminum:
















Finished backside of grille:









I sort of have a build-up log of those on this page:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/307882/2

You can see I use the same shape for all of them. Anybody know where that shape came from?? It was an audio product that was available in the late 80's from a very well known car audio company but the product itself was seldom seen.


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## SouthSyde

went to academy and was looking at weights for fishing and it wouldve cost ALOT to get 15 lbs... so went to walmart and found 4k counts of bb for $4, so got some of those..


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## ErinH

could've gotten your BBs from academy. That's where I bought mine.


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## evolution7tt

passenger side. HAT L4









Driver's side...


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## SUX 2BU

Bingo  Rockford 'Eggs' were the form for the shape. The patterns I use are actually a little larger than the RF Egg grille due to the 4" mids I've preferred to use.


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## na_rsx

any chicago guys good and glassing, need some nice ones done on my doors


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## necrophidious




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## redgst97

BBs....


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## Frijoles24

redgst97 said:


> BBs....


why bbs?


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## SouthSyde

more weight, damping, and its cheap...


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## less

Here are my latest concoctions. They're mounted very firmly on home theatre syle mounts that allowed for easier initial adjustment and they are as far to the side walls of the car as I could make them... although I'm considering cutting some material to make room to allow them to drop in futher since every inch futher out seems to make as big of a difference in the stage as anything I've ever tried.





Decided to add my old glass kicks that probably look nicer than what I use now, although I prefer the sound of the new setup better:



Design wise, they were cutout from sheets of 3/4"mdf - clamped & glued with tightbond 3 - sanded on a stationary disc sander to even the edges and round everything as widely as possible. I used the smallest body high end tweeter I could find and made the front baffle as small as possible to avoid the baffle becoming a sound source and coated them with several thin coats of rubberized rocker panel coating. 

I routed the speakers to inset them and hand chamfered the back to allow for free flow of air behind the drivers. Its a modified sealed configuration but the idea was not my own and was shared in confidence. When time permits I will be using a sand and fiberglass resin mix to add mass and minimize "cabinet" vibration - its also cheap. I've applied dynamat in some places too.

Overall, it seems like the principal so common in home installations - point the drivers on axis at shoulder height in a equal triangle with the listeners ears, often isn't the best way to do things in a car... and it took me a LOOOONG time to believe that. It seems like purchasing drivers with great off-axis response and unusual off-axis mounting seems to do better at creating a wide, high stage that isn't what i call "speakercentric" (when the speakers seem to stand out instead of melting into a open wall of sound).

Anyhow, great post... I love seeing what all my creative brothers with the DIY addiction come up with and there are some really nice looking installations here so far.

Less


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## JayGold

redgst97 said:


> BBs....


Please enumerate, do you glue them in the mold and then pop the BB frames out?

From there what do you do?


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## SouthSyde

thanks everyone for the ideas!!!!


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## SouthSyde

i reallllly need to paint those grills black and re do the grill cloth tho.. hahhaha


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## TheDavel

08 Tacoma-


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## raamaudio

Though they were not actually finished, had to carpet them and the console as well as the rear instead of having the mini Recaro seats, moldend console cover and kick panels, they imaged incredibly well, good enough to beat a world champion with 

And good enough for 7 pages in Mobile Entertainment Magazine


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## thehatedguy

That was one good sounding truck Rick. I will never forget how solid everything stayed in front having your head a foot away from the subs.


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## QuickGLX




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## circa40




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## less

Bump for one of my favorite threads. More SQ passion per post here than most any thread in the community!


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## minibox

d5sc said:


>


wow...beautiful integration. How do they sound?


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## raamaudio

In most situations the mids need to be aimed like most aim them, much more angle back and up. BUT, I have heard some incredible installs where they were not aimed that way, in BMW's.

Other factors involved besides path length differences, console size as in how big, how much it can block, depth of the foot wells, tweeter location, etc......

The main key in kick panel installs is getting the most you can out of the location of all drivers. I have heard a few amazing systems with no TA or EQ, very friggin rare but if you maximize the physical aspects the tuning is much easier and logically should be better(of course that is not always the case, I have heard insanely good systems with horrible speaker locations, apparently but not sonically that is

Very nice kicks by the way

Rick


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## less

There aren't any here that aren't well done, but the bmw above and the tacoma are particularly nice... although they've taken different approaches. What drivers in the Tacoma Notthedavel? Seems like I should recognize them but I don't.


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## TheDavel

They are diamond audio "hex" components- 4" and thanks for the complement!


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## SUX 2BU

The BMW ones do look very nice and integrate beautifully. I'd be a little concerned about not having a baffle to connect the speaker to the grille, which may allow sound to escape and reflect behind the trim panel. I want to do a similar kick panel to this in my truck. I love how nice and flat it looks. I've always used mids and tweets on the same plane, angled up and I've also always had rainbow effect. I want to try just putting my 7" mids down in the kick, with a very shallow angle if any at all and tweets up high either in the dash or the a-pillar.


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## Mic10is

OLder Install




















Original Install































Most recent but no pics of speakers


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## minibox

wow. Fine work. And I've heard great things about how they sound. I hope to listen myself sometime.


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## nubz69

NotTheDavel if you ever what to sell those and they fit the manual Tacoma let me know. Those would look sick in my xrunner. I haven't seen a pair of kick pods with acrylic inserts in quite some time.


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## RattyMcClelland

No kicks to show off but i move my tweeters from my temporary pillars into the kicks with mids in doors and im still shocked at the width. I had no width in the pillars but in the kicks i can now hear right (RHD)driver side cues.
I want to hate kick tweeters but they work. 
Will put the mids in there too and see how ambience tweeters work up high. 

Currently the tweeters are in tennis balls in the kicks stuck on with butyl rope. :laugh:


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## cgarnes

Built these to go in a 71 Chevy Truck. Held the Polk SR6500 Components.


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## supra400hptt

2008 GTI


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## TheDavel

nubz69 said:


> NotTheDavel if you ever what to sell those and they fit the manual Tacoma let me know. Those would look sick in my xrunner. I haven't seen a pair of kick pods with acrylic inserts in quite some time.


I actually sold them about 2 years ago to another member here- I think for $300 w/a matching center channel and speakers included plus trade for his kicks... he actually got a very nice deal because the speakers were around $550 a pair retail and about $1000 for the kick's if I were charging a customer at a shop...


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## cheesehead

Great looking kicks!

Those of you using the perforated grating where did you find this? What gauge are you using?


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## brett

this is my mtm experiment back in 07 for my sts. i used some speakers that i already had. optimally, i would've hand picked the drivers and crossover but i didn't get that far and these still sounded pretty good. and yes, i know the dust cover was missing; it didnt effect the sound. but, fun build nonetheless!


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## ALL4SQ

Finally finished the changes to my Kick panels tonight. 
Using Hybrid Audio L4SE Mids and L1Pro Tweeters. 









Ended up Forming perforated steel for the Grills. 
The Vinyl work and the fit and finish of the trim panel was all done by Hzemall Customs. 









A view of the Passengers side finished Kick panel. 









With the grill removed you can see the new enclosure. 









A stretch velvet Grill cloth like material was used to wrap the new enclosure. With grills on its really hard to see the velvet material. 









A baffle was made using my new Blade Runner. It took me a couple attempts to get the hang of the blade runner, after getting the hang of it I found I really liked it. 









A view of the back side of the baffle. Threaded inserts were used for mounting the speaker to the baffle. 









An angled router bit was used to clear away material from the baffle that blocked the back wave of the speaker.I'm not sure this makes a big difference but I didn't see any harm in giving it a shot. 









Used a Laser pointer to aim the new mids to the same location the previous mids were set at. I haven't had a chance to get the system up and running so I'm hoping the same angles will work. 









The L4 has a 3.5" vent to the wheel well area, with really fine select products grill material to keep the bugs out.
There will be a few inches of space between the plastic fender well liner and the vent. With the new kicks I can use standard wheel well liners without any modifications. 

Looking forward to finally getting it all back together over the next few weekends. 

Thanks


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## subwoofery

ALL4SQ said:


> Finally finished the changes to my Kick panels tonight.
> Using Hybrid Audio L4SE Mids and L1Pro Tweeters.
> 
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> Ended up Forming perforated steel for the Grills.
> The Vinyl work and the fit and finish of the trim panel was all done by Hzemall Customs.
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> A view of the Passengers side finished Kick panel.
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> With the grill removed you can see the new enclosure.
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> A stretch velvet Grill cloth like material was used to wrap the new enclosure. With grills on its really hard to see the velvet material.
> 
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> A baffle was made using my new Blade Runner. It took me a couple attempts to get the hang of the blade runner, after getting the hang of it I found I really liked it.
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> A view of the back side of the baffle. Threaded inserts were used for mounting the speaker to the baffle.
> 
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> 
> An angled router bit was used to clear away material from the baffle that blocked the back wave of the speaker.I'm not sure this makes a big difference but I didn't see any harm in giving it a shot.
> 
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> 
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> 
> Used a Laser pointer to aim the new mids to the same location the previous mids were set at. I haven't had a chance to get the system up and running so I'm hoping the same angles will work.
> 
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> 
> The L4 has a 3.5" vent to the wheel well area, with really fine select products grill material to keep the bugs out.
> There will be a few inches of space between the plastic fender well liner and the vent. With the new kicks I can use standard wheel well liners without any modifications.
> 
> Looking forward to finally getting it all back together over the next few weekends.
> 
> Thanks


What car is that? That's some huge kicks. 

Nice work BTW  

Kelvin


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## ALL4SQ

subwoofery said:


> What car is that? That's some huge kicks.
> 
> Nice work BTW
> 
> Kelvin


Thanks, Its a 1990 Ford Thunderbird SC. You can use the link in my signiture to see more of the install. 
The kicks actually are pretty close to the same size as stock. Maybe just slightly larger.


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## subwoofery

ALL4SQ said:


> Thanks, Its a 1990 Ford Thunderbird SC.
> The kicks actually are pretty close to the same size as stock. Maybe just slightly larger.


20+ year old car... I kinda knew that from the kicks size lol 

Nice stuff. 

Kelvin


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## Commissionmip

I'm looking for someone in the Philadelphia area to make me some custom kick pods for my 07 Grand Prix.


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## nepl29




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## bak2life

> ALL4SQ Website


I really like the work on your SC.....NICE.


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## SSSnake

Mic/d5sc/others with midbasses flushed into kicks,

What are you guys seeing in terms of freq response linearity with those moutning positions. I like to flush my mids/midbasses into the kick for stage width but I am experiencing some HUGE swings in FR due to contructive/destructive interference in the lower midbass (+30db at 160, -18db at 320, +8 db at 640) with this type of mounting. I believe that I will be forced to use a sloped baffled in the kicks to change the geometry enough to minimize some of these effects. I am not wild about this solution because stage width will likely suffer and I have a 6 speed manual tranny. This puts my foot very near the mid if I use a sloped baffled. Just looking for inputs before I dig into this rebuild and find out there was something else I could have done...


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## Mic10is

SSSnake said:


> Mic/d5sc/others with midbasses flushed into kicks,
> 
> What are you guys seeing in terms of freq response linearity with those moutning positions. I like to flush my mids/midbasses into the kick for stage width but I am experiencing some HUGE swings in FR due to contructive/destructive interference in the lower midbass (+30db at 160, -18db at 320, +8 db at 640) with this type of mounting. I believe that I will be forced to use a sloped baffled in the kicks to change the geometry enough to minimize some of these effects. I am not wild about this solution because stage width will likely suffer and I have a 6 speed manual tranny. This puts my foot very near the mid if I use a sloped baffled. Just looking for inputs before I dig into this rebuild and find out there was something else I could have done...


I honestly dont remember Much. I had a peak at 160 but nothing that wasnt manageable.
nulls arent a huge deal to me when looking at the response, espec between 250-400. most cars have a suck out at that point.

Did you make an underdash panel covered in foam to break up reflections?
I had it when I did just kicks in my BMW. was simple 1/8" hardboard with 2" acoustic foam covered in suede grill cloth. made a big difference.

also play around with varying amount of insulation behind the driver, absorb as much of the backwave as possible. I use dense fiberglass insulation. Polyfill requires you use a ton to equal the same density-so just get some yellow insulation or rockwool or something along those line

mine also vented outside so I didnt have much if any internal enclosure resonance build up


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## Miniboom

Maybe it's me, but I think the Stratus has the worst door speaker solution I've ever seen. A huge lump of plastic over very little metal surface... no rigidity at all!  Only 60mm depth to the window, and not even 10mm space under the stock grills. Crap!

So... I had a little rattles with the stock speakers, and was a little nervous of how it would sound after my little upgrade. And behold... Despite a lot of deadening, my doors sounded as they were falling apart when I put in a pair of W6-1139SI's! Also, the stock grilles wouldn't fit in a million years, so hard modding was needed to make it look decent, and extreme modding was needed to make it sound right! 

I had to get the most of the space I had available, and wanted to be 100% sure there was NO rattles going on, even with the W6 playing with no HPF. 

So, the solution became some left-over MDF, a jigsaw and lots of glue, and I made my first kick panel install ever, or at least as I remember atm. Not very happy with the final looks of it, but it sounds sweet, very transparent and they image well.

Success! 

Allthough a visual FAIL!


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## ecbmxer

sam3535 said:


> H-Audio Trinity's


Those are sweet! How is the Trinity in the kick? Do you have tweeters too?


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## ALL4SQ

bak2life said:


> I really like the work on your SC.....NICE.


Thanks
Hzemall Customs up in canada had a lot to do with the finish work.

I have my first show this weekend with the car. Looking forward to getting out and having some fun.


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## Commissionmip

ALL4SQ said:


> Thanks, Its a 1990 Ford Thunderbird SC. You can use the link in my signiture to see more of the install.
> The kicks actually are pretty close to the same size as stock. Maybe just slightly larger.


THATS HOT!!!!


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## Mic10is

Mike, I finally looked at your T-bird install-Nice work buddy. Lots going on behind the scenes


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## SSSnake

I have an underdash panel but it is not currently covered in foam. I have the foam on hand (for just this reason) but didn't believe that it would make that much of a difference at 160 hz. It is easy to try so I will give it a shot. I had planned on making it significantly thicker in the junction between the underside of the dash and center console. I had planned on giving underdash horns a shot (again - first time in this car) but they may not fit with the foam and a horn...

It could be a backwave problem as these things have a huge motor and it is very congested in the kick behind the speaker. I do have them stuffed heavily with polyfill but I will switch to fiberglass and see where it ends up.

Thanks for the suggestions!


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## Mic10is

SSSnake said:


> I have an underdash panel but it is not currently covered in foam. I have the foam on hand (for just this reason) but didn't believe that it would make that much of a difference at 160 hz. It is easy to try so I will give it a shot. I had planned on making it significantly thicker in the junction between the underside of the dash and center console. I had planned on giving underdash horns a shot (again - first time in this car) but they may not fit with the foam and a horn...
> 
> It could be a backwave problem as these things have a huge motor and it is very congested in the kick behind the speaker. I do have them stuffed heavily with polyfill but I will switch to fiberglass and see where it ends up.
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions!


foam+ horns= bad idea

foam will absorb higher freqs and kill the dispersion pattern


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## SSSnake

> foam+ horns= bad idea
> 
> foam will absorb higher freqs and kill the dispersion pattern


I meant foam under the horn body (to tame the midrange interference) not in the body (although I was going to try it in the body as well for HOM elimination). 

I tried horn in the body of a OS horn and didn't notice much difference (other than attenuation - the pattern seemed to hold pretty constant). I haven't tried it in my IDs.


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## Frank Drebin

bump for anyone else who wants to share!


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## jtaudioacc

Here's mine I just finished. Takes so long for me to do anything to my own car with work and all. 



















HAT L8SE in 2004 Scion XB. Vented into the running board of the uni body.


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## DAT

I can not seem to find my older pics of my kicks, but here is the before and after pics , when i had HAT L1, and L3's.


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## ALL4SQ

jtaudioacc said:


> Here's mine I just finished. Takes so long for me to do anything to my own car with work and all.
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> HAT L8SE in 2004 Scion XB. Vented into the running board of the uni body.


Wow! That's some really nice work fitting L8SE drivers in kicks that really don't look like they take up much space. Nice.


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## SoundJunkie

These currently house my Focal Utopia Audiom 6W mids in my Toyota FJ. Built VERY solid and coated in Linex to match my amprack and protect them from big feet! I used an extra pair of Focal KRX grills to protect the cones. TLR's tweeters are up in the A pillars and those are HAT L8's in the doors.

Sorry about the pic orientation! Rotate them all 90° clockwise. I can only do so much from a "smartphone"!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk


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## less

Time for more updates! Post up your work please.


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## vactor

damn, this makes me want to redo the install in my G37 and S2000 soooo much!! i miss having a good kick panel install. processing only does so much. JEALOUS!!!


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## basher8621

The goal was to keep the front stage looking as stock a possible.


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## vactor

basher8621 said:


> The goal was to keep the front stage looking as stock a possible.


what car and speaker combo is this?? i'd love to put a 4" jbl GTi Coax in mine!! damn, i gotta do that this summer.


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## basher8621

07 Dodge Caliber, HAT L6SE, L4SE, L1 Pro SE


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## TheDavel

Those look great, color match the grills/cover them in color matched grill cloth and they will blend awesome-ly... keeping that factory look you are after... Nice job with em-


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## D-Bass

These are just a couple work in progress pics. I got a few spare factory center channel grills I am modifying to use original parts in a new way in these kicks. It's a nice quarter-column design. wrapped in factory vinyl. They are actually almost done. I just want to get some basic tuning and levels set before I actually put the grill on. I'll try to get some more recent pics when I get back home from florida, in a few days.


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## Lou

Se7en said:


>


i love this idea bro,thats where i am putting my mids at in my scion ,it looks totally unmolested from the outside unless you are looking directly at them,how does it sound with them there?how much airspace do you have for that mid?do you have any pics of ther build process?thanks if you can answer any of my questions.


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## jtaudioacc

Some Audison Thesis


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## daudioman

jtaudioacc said:


> Some Audison Thesis


I'm your classic lurker (except in classifieds) but I had to compliment this 3 way kickpanel install! Very clean and great craftsmanship. Just enough flash while being understated. 

I personally might have toned down the silver on the grills or covered them with some matching grill cloth, factory fabric etc. But that's because of where I live and people wanting my equipment more than me ;-(

Anyway job well done!


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## JT34237

Bump


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## Bluenote

Anyone hear have pics of Midbass positioned on the firewall? Ive been throwing that idea around because I want to keep my dead pedal and the kick panels in a Lincoln LS are fairly shallow. I have good clearance under the brake pedal but not sure if thats a good location for an 8-9" driver. Thanks


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## abusiveDAD

always love your work JT


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## mires

Back from the dead. Never get tired of looking at kicks.


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## The real Subzero

we need more examples.


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## edouble101




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## BEAVER

Wish I had more room in my kicks. I'd save a bunch on deadening my doors. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## AAAAAAA




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## The Performer

The misses car. 
http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o469/The_Performer/scion tc/2013-02-17_19-59-02_382.jpg
http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o469/The_Performer/scion tc/2012-11-26_23-03-19_961.jpg
http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o469/The_Performer/scion tc/2013-02-11_23-09-41_907.jpg

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk


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## papasin

I guess I never posted these on this thread. Had them now for almost a year. The usual JT magic.


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## mires

Looks awesome Papasin


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## theoldguy

Before










After


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## vivmike

Some of those floormat's are horrible. LOL! You CAN also get custom cut mats, ya know.


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## Carlton8000




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## jtaudioacc

base for the back with vent hole and mounting bolt.









beginning of fiberglass.









mounting









more front glassing.


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## SSexpo03

Stock kickpanel fits to protect the speakers.


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## Offroader5

jtaudioacc said:


>


To make grills like these, are you just using a round wooden blank with rounded over edges to pound the mesh around as a mold?


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## TheDavel

Offroader5 said:


> To make grills like these, are you just using a round wooden blank with rounded over edges to pound the mesh around as a mold?


To achieve great resutls you would need to make a two part template/mold and run everything through a press.


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## jtaudioacc

Offroader5 said:


> To make grills like these, are you just using a round wooden blank with rounded over edges to pound the mesh around as a mold?


these are actually the Gladen grills that you can get with the speakers minus the ring. there's a small indent in the center you can't see that matches the phase plug thing in the center of the driver. pretty nice looking in person. press fit grills, depending on what you are doing, can be done how you say. probably not going to be exactly perfect. for small lightweight stuff, you can just do two parts and pound it in with your hands or a hammer.

you can see how the mobile solutions graduates do it in SIS/Michah's build log of that Mercedes.


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## 805 puppit

Would that happen to be a second generation Tacoma? And if so, what type of speakers do you plan on using? I'm planning on doing a similar install on mine just curious.


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## SSexpo03

805 puppit said:


> Would that happen to be a second generation Tacoma? And if so, what type of speakers do you plan on using? I'm planning on doing a similar install on mine just curious.


Yes, the speakers are ESB.


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