# Install of my Phoenix Gold RSD 6.5's...



## lunchmoney (Dec 27, 2007)

First, here's a picture before the install, with Infinity Kappa 6.5's... these have got to go. The tweeters are way too bright and harsh, and bass output is weak. Wish I'd done more research before installing them. Currently there is one layer of Damplifier Pro covering the entire inner and outer metal door skins, with a second layer behind the mids. There is also Overkill foam on the outer door skin, again with a second layer behind the mids. The large plastic panel to which the speakers are mounted currently have no deadening. Also note the stock speaker brackets. These are also coming out, making my own baffles...










Here's a pic of the PG RSD 6.5's... mmmmm... yummy...










Here's a pic of the beginnings of the baffles. I used 1/4" ABS. I would have used thicker, but I was worried that the upholstered panels would interfere. Note the brass threaded inserts, these are for the speakers to mount to. Used an arbor press to get them in. The holes were cut by using a rotary table on a milling machine...










Here I traced the shape of the baffles by using some translucent marker paper...










Baffles cut out with a bandsaw...










One layer of Damplifier Pro applied to each side of the baffles...










Silicone sealant applied to the panel to create a seal against the baffles...










Baffles mounted to the panels...










Filled a large hole with a piece of plexiglass... silicone and screws... this hole was covered with a flexible piece of closed cell foam, no idea what for. Figured I'd replace it with something rigid...










Damplifier Pro on the back of the panels...










Speakers mounted. They had their own gasket, so that was easy...










Another pic. You'll notice that some of the Damplifier squished out under the baffles... unfortunately I had to tighten the baffle screws down more than I wanted to, in order to get the panels to be dead flat and get a good seal against the baffles... I would have like to have been able to NOT tighten them down as much, to allow the baffle to be "decoupled" better, but oh well...










Panel back on the car... note where the crossovers are mounted... I simply used heavy duty automotive double-sided tape. Obviously there is no Damplifier under them, they are on bare sheet metal. I know that this is a secure way to hold them, because the Kappa crossovers were held on in the same way, in the same place, and I needed to use a panel removal tool (like a small crowbar) to get them off. 










All buttoned up, looking bone stock. This is a plus here in Windowsmash, USA (Providence, RI)...










Forgot to take pics of the tweeter install, although not much to tell. They are in the sails, held in with good ol' hot glue. I'm happy with how they sound in the sails. I was worried that they'd be too loud and in-your-face like they were with the Kappas, but this is not the case. They sound great, and I get to keep the car looking stock.

The speakers sound amazing... night and day difference over the Kappas. The PG tweeters are not at all overly bright or harsh like the Kappas were, and yet are still very detailed. Love 'em. And the bass response of the PG's is FAR better than the Kappas. Hard to believe that they're the same size.

The doors are dead quiet now... adding Damplifier Pro to the plastic panels really made a nice difference, and I think the baffles really helped too. Much less vibration is translating through the plastic panels now.

BIG THANKS to sterlingsharp1, tcguy85, daverulz, chuyler1, Anthony at Second Skin, npdang, bikinpunk, and everyone else here who helped me out. This was simply not possible without the knowledge and advice aquired here. In all my time on the internet, with all my various hobbies, this is by far the best forum I've ever been a part of.


----------



## rekd0514 (Sep 24, 2006)

Good job and thanks for taking the time to make the review.


----------



## birdie2000 (Jan 27, 2007)

Simple and clean. I like it!


----------



## DaveRulz (Jun 22, 2006)

Great work dude! Those adapters are slick! I'm proud of you


----------



## elminster (Jan 9, 2007)

very nice, hope I have that much patience when I do a couple installs around here


----------



## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

Nice. 

It's good to see PG has several high performance products for the rediculously low prices they're available for.

If they only beefed up the RSD amps to the XENON performance level or better they'd have a killer lineup.


----------



## syd-monster (Jan 7, 2008)

Good work, can I ask what car this is?


----------



## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

looks nicely installed. glad you like the RSD's and i'm happy to help you out with your decision. good luck with the system if you keep going.


----------



## lunchmoney (Dec 27, 2007)

syd-monster said:


> Good work, can I ask what car this is?


2004 Mazda 6s


----------



## lunchmoney (Dec 27, 2007)

DaveRulz said:


> Great work dude! Those adapters are slick! I'm proud of you


Thanks bro...this is all thanks to you... or all your fault... haven't figured out which yet


----------



## customtronic (Jul 7, 2007)

Pretty nice looking and good attention to detail.


----------



## ANT (Oct 15, 2005)

Yeah.. Attention to detail is awesome!

Good job man
Glad Second Skin could be apart of your install!

ANT
www.secondskinaudio.com


----------



## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Good deal.


----------



## Dr.Telepathy SQ (Nov 17, 2007)

First time I've seen this Lunch!! Well, I've seen the pics, but the thread. Looks damn good my friend. I'm so proud of you!!!! 
And you're a good person to match


----------



## placenta (Feb 2, 2008)

thanks for the review. im still skeptical because of the $80 price, but everyone seems to love them. think they go lower than 80Hz smoothly?


----------



## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

placenta said:


> thanks for the review. im still skeptical because of the $80 price, but everyone seems to love them. think they go lower than 80Hz smoothly?


they are great. i have mine on 300 watts per side active and they sound great. they will play lower than 80hz well but if you plan to use a good amount of power definitely cross at 80hz/12db to keep them sounding clean. could probably get away with around 60hz at 24db though too.


----------



## placenta (Feb 2, 2008)

ah i actually ordered the pioneer PRS for a bit more money, but it was a close decision. i just had to try them since everyone says they go very low.


----------



## AzGrower (May 30, 2005)

Nice use of the threaded inserts. Whenever I install those type, I just put them in a vice and slowly tighten them in (I dont have a need for an arbor press)

Glad to see you didnt try using a plastic grommet or something silly like that.


----------



## lunchmoney (Dec 27, 2007)

AzGrower said:


> Nice use of the threaded inserts. Whenever I install those type, I just put them in a vice and slowly tighten them in (I dont have a need for an arbor press)
> 
> Glad to see you didnt try using a plastic grommet or something silly like that.


Thanks... the abs plastic seems to be a great material for the brass inserts: strong enough to really hold them, but not brittle such that the material cracks... I experimented on a scrap piece first, trying different sized holes until the inserts pressed in just right.


----------



## rich52490 (Mar 31, 2008)

Very nice speakers, I was considering a pair for myself


----------



## xkill (May 3, 2008)

Great. I'm gonna be installing a pair of the smaller 5" RSD in my E36 BMW M3 later this month.


----------



## BlackSapphire (Apr 16, 2008)

Great job! I just finished buttoning up my doors last night as well.

You guys with access to things like milling machines and such make me sick though.


----------



## lunchmoney (Dec 27, 2007)

BlackSapphire said:


> Great job! I just finished buttoning up my doors last night as well.
> 
> You guys with access to things like milling machines and such make me sick though.


...with a rotary table... the ONLY way to cut a big hole in something


----------



## lunchmoney (Dec 27, 2007)

xkill said:


> Great. I'm gonna be installing a pair of the smaller 5" RSD in my E36 BMW M3 later this month.


Can't fit the 6.5's?... do it if you can find a way... the mid-bass is fantastic.


----------



## moop (May 3, 2008)

i think i'm about to order a set of these along with a set of the 5.25's for my car.. are they really a great bang for the buck ?.. i'll be powering the front two with a PG Xenon x200.2


----------



## Dignan1443 (Apr 2, 2008)

Hey man excellent job on the baffles. Those speakers look awesome. I have a Mazda 6 as well (2006), and I have a few questions, as I am currently installing my system-

I am planning on using 1/2" MDF for my baffles. Seeing that you had to use 1/4" ABS has me worried about what I had planned for my car. DId you use ABS because of the limited clearance allowed by the plastic door panel? There is a perpindicular plastic ridge that follows the shape of the stock 5x7" on the inside of the door panel. I have heard on Mazda6 forums that cutting this off with an exacto knife will provide some more room. Did you try this? 

Also- You said you glued the tweeters in place in the sail panels. Did you have to play with their aiming? 

Do you have pics of the deadening you applied to the plastic panel inside the door? 

Where do you have your amps mounted?


----------



## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

moop said:


> i think i'm about to order a set of these along with a set of the 5.25's for my car.. *are they really a great bang for the buck ?*.. i'll be powering the front two with a PG Xenon x200.2


yes, simply put... they are sick especially considering the price. i have mine run active on an insane amount of power and they love it and sound awesome.


----------



## garvinzoom (Mar 23, 2008)

Hey lunchmoney, are you driving a Mazda 3? Looks like my Lava orange 3 door jamb anyway...


----------



## lunchmoney (Dec 27, 2007)

Dignan1443 said:


> Hey man excellent job on the baffles. Those speakers look awesome. I have a Mazda 6 as well (2006), and I have a few questions, as I am currently installing my system-
> 
> I am planning on using 1/2" MDF for my baffles. Seeing that you had to use 1/4" ABS has me worried about what I had planned for my car. DId you use ABS because of the limited clearance allowed by the plastic door panel? There is a perpindicular plastic ridge that follows the shape of the stock 5x7" on the inside of the door panel. I have heard on Mazda6 forums that cutting this off with an exacto knife will provide some more room. Did you try this?
> 
> ...


Yes, I was definitely concerned about the thickness of using any 1/2" material... prior to the install I did a little test using an unfolded paper clip, just gently poking it in at various places on the grill until it touched the speaker surround, pulling the paper clip out and then looking at how much depth there was... it looked like 1/2" was gonna cut it close... particularly since I was adding damplifier to the thickness... you MIGHT get away with 1/2", but it would be awfully close... and the implications of being wrong when you put the door back on would be hideous.

I did cut off the standing ribs, which requires a dremel tool... I removed mine because they were buzzing. Even with these ribs removed, I'd be VERY cautious about using anything 1/2"... again, you MIGHT get away with it (it'll be very close), just make sure you analyze it very carefully.... removing these ribs has nothing to do with how close the speaker surrounds are to the grills, as these ribs go around the entire speaker... I'm pretty sure that it's the speaker surrounds that are closest to hitting.

I prefer to use plastic anyways, since you avoid the whole moisture absorption issue... you can get 3/8" thick HDPE cutting boards that will do the trick, but again I'd analyze it carefully before going with anything over 1/4".

I did not play with the aiming of the tweeters, just put them in at the same angle as the stock tweeters... I actually ordered some new sail panels for $40 (not too bad, right?), and when I get motivated I'm going to frankenstein them together (neatly of course) with the RSD's surface mount cups... then I'll be able to angle them however I like, with some adjustability there even after I install them, since the tweets can rotate in the cups.

I have one Infinity 5-channel amp mounted underneath the rear deck (4 channels bridged to run the PG's, 5th channel running the sub)... some say this is a no-no because of heat issues... but here's what I did to make sure it vents heat well... the amp is mounted to a piece of 3/4" mdf... this mdf has a huge hole in it, 1" smaller than the amp all the way around... all of this is then mounted under the rear deck directly underneath the gaping hole where the stock sub used to be... thus heat from the amp can vent right up through this hole... it's been in for 7 months, no problems so far.

The only pic I have of the sound deadened plastic panels is in the original post here... I only did one side, the side facing the outside of the car.


----------



## lunchmoney (Dec 27, 2007)

tcguy85 said:


> yes, simply put... they are sick especially considering the price


x1000

Mine are run passive, fed 120w rms a piece, and I'm thrilled with them. Hard to believe how inexpensive they are. Quality isn't always expensive.


----------



## lunchmoney (Dec 27, 2007)

garvinzoom said:


> Hey lunchmoney, are you driving a Mazda 3? Looks like my Lava orange 3 door jamb anyway...


2004 Blazing Copper 6s


----------



## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

lunchmoney said:


> x1000
> 
> Mine are run passive, fed 120w rms a piece, and I'm thrilled with them. Hard to believe how inexpensive they are. Quality isn't always expensive.


go active and you'll love them even more.


----------



## moop (May 3, 2008)

so when you go active, do you feed a full 200W to the tweeters, and 200w to the speakers? (200w just an example)


----------



## garvinzoom (Mar 23, 2008)

lunchmoney said:


> 2004 Blazing Copper 6s


I was only three off, LOL!


----------



## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

moop said:


> so when you go active, do you feed a full 200W to the tweeters, and 200w to the speakers? (200w just an example)


you'll be using 4 channels of amplification. you could use whatever amount of power you like. tweeters don't need much though. mids on the other hand could use as much as you can get. 

for example the amp i am using is a 4 channel with staggered output. 200 on 2 of the 4 channels and 100 on the other 2 channels. 200 per mid, 100 per tweeter. you could go with something like this or just use a regular old 4 channel. but 2 of the channels won't be pushed nearly as hard.


----------



## Duce2k (Mar 18, 2008)

Great install man, I might be going with those comps when I do my install


----------



## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

moop said:


> so when you go active, do you feed a full 200W to the tweeters, and 200w to the speakers? (200w just an example)



Also keep in mind that many tweeters are 6 OHM compared to the woofers 4 OHM impedance so if you're using a 100 x 4 amplifier thats rated at 4 ohms you'll be giving the tweeters considerably less.


----------



## lunchmoney (Dec 27, 2007)

Duce2k said:


> Great install man, I might be going with those comps when I do my install


Incredible speakers for the money, you won't be disappointed.


----------

