# My attempt at a 3-way setup....



## Toys7505 (Jul 1, 2008)

Well, I have been lurking for a while and already have a decent foundation in my car: Alpine W205 w/ H701, JL Audio A6450 & A1400 amps w/ 2 Fosgate 10 inchers. My doors are stock Pioneer 2-ways from Lexus. I thought I would try a 3-way setup as I have not done so at all. Have had plenty of 2-way setups over the years (A/D/S 325is components, Alpine SPX-F17M components just to name a few). 

So I went w/ CDT Audio 3-way from Woofersetc. I know I have to modify the doors to accept and have done fiberglass work before but don't what position they should be in. Hopefully you guys can look at the pics and help me decide......

I'm not going to keep the tweet in the sail panel but rather high up on the door as possible. Here are the pics so far.......









Simple Lexus door setup w/ 6.5 low in the door w/ tweet in the sail panel
















































Do I keep the panel tilted upward so that I can raise the soundstage of the midrange or keep the midbass and midrange on the same level along the bottom of the door? Anybody have some suggestions? Would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.......


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## theothermike (Dec 20, 2006)

upward angle along the door / dash seam.... u already answered your own question. it will raise ur sound stage.


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## Toys7505 (Jul 1, 2008)

*Update - more pics *

Ok so I had a few hours to fart around with today and decided to spend it on this project. I took the plunge and cut my door  Never have done this before.......
Anyways, here are a few pics. Still in the mock up stage.....








I removed the old speaker, used it as a template and put a 1/2" spacer to push the baffle a little farther out......








And here is the baffle mocked up in place. I think it's gonna fit pretty well.....








And just a close up.......
That's all the time I had for today. Hopefully I'll be able to update next week.


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## Mless5 (Aug 21, 2006)

Good start! Would love to hear it when you're done.


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## Toys7505 (Jul 1, 2008)

Alright so here is an update from today. I had a few hours to play with and thought I accomplished alot.
Finally figured out the mounting scheme getting everything level w/ the mid-bass and mid-range. 








Here you can see the spacers I used and the ever foaming Gorilla glue to hold a couple of them together 
















Here is a mock up of the (almost) door put back together w/ driver's in place
















All I had was black grill cloth, so I used that and stretched over my panel








And after some fiberglassing, it's down in my basement to do some additional work. This picture looks funny as it shows the panel uneven but in reality it doesn't dip as bad as the pic shows......








When I get more time next week, I'll update again....Thanks for lookin'


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## matdotcom2000 (Aug 16, 2005)

Looks pretty good cant wait to see the out come


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## Toys7505 (Jul 1, 2008)

Ok guys here's an update.......I've pretty much like where everything is and sounds (H701 brings my soundstage to LIFE!!).

Anyways on to the few pics I have......









I know I still have some sanding to do, but i had to redo the entire panel. In my first attempt (look back up at the beginning photos) you will see the black speaker cloth wrapped higher and lower on both sides. I didn't like it as well as the MDF baffle I made. I didn't recess it enough to hold a grill cover when finished. So back to the drawing board and finally got something I liked.









Here you can get a good idea how it's gonna look. The tweeter mount doesn't stick out as bad as the pics makes it out to be. And the filler is less than an 1/16 - 1/8 inch thick. It will be wrapped in OEM vinyl so my sanding doesn't have to be 100% perfect.......









Here's my tweeter mount with no filler applied yet, it was getting dark out and I had to stop for the night......









Just another shot of the tweeter, I actually made a MDF cup for it to sit in. The supplied hardware to attach these tweeter's was pure CRAP so I had to think up something else.....









Here is where the driver's side sits. All that has been done is grile cloth fiberglassed on and awaiting some filler and sanding.......









Here is a better shot of the MDF cup I made for mounting the tweeters......









And 1 final shot of the passenger side door while sitting in the driver's seat...

Let me know what you guys think........
Your feedback is welcomed.


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## tr0y_audi0 (Feb 13, 2007)

I think your on the right track with the way your doing it..
the only thing that is bugging me is the tweeter placement..
I think it will make your stage way to close to your face.. & imaging my suffer.

But over all looks nice.. Keep it up


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## arrivalanche (Jun 27, 2008)

you really shouldnt have done the tweeter like that without striping the vinyl off first. you should have disassimbled the door and pulled the material off and started fresh.


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## Toys7505 (Jul 1, 2008)

tr0y_audi0 said:


> I think your on the right track with the way your doing it..
> the only thing that is bugging me is the tweeter placement..
> I think it will make your stage way to close to your face.. & imaging my suffer.
> 
> But over all looks nice.. Keep it up


Thanks for the kind words.....I'm actually having great sucess with my tweeter placement. It's kind of hard to tell but they are firing slightly torward the windshield. I aimed them specifically at my rear view mirror. With my H701, voices sound like they are eminating (sp?) from the center of the dash.


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## Toys7505 (Jul 1, 2008)

arrivalanche said:


> you really shouldnt have done the tweeter like that without striping the vinyl off first. you should have disassimbled the door and pulled the material off and started fresh.


Appreciate the feedback, although I have never had any vinyl coverings peel or pull away by just applying on top of the original OEM vinyl. In the past, I"ve just scuffed it up real good so that the next layer has something to "bite" to.


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## arrivalanche (Jun 27, 2008)

its more that it will most likely flex and crack eventually. how are you going to finish it by the way? paint? or are you going to disassemble to door panel and re-wrap it?


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## Toys7505 (Jul 1, 2008)

arrivalanche said:


> its more that it will most likely flex and crack eventually. how are you going to finish it by the way? paint? or are you going to disassemble to door panel and re-wrap it?


Exactly, door will be dis-assembled and re-wrapped w/ OEM vinyl (both colors)
Haven'y had any cracks yet and the doors pound w/ the mid-basses.


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## M-Dub (Nov 29, 2006)

Actually your tweeter placement just gave me a *Eureka!* moment.
I've never been a fan of tweeters in doors, but I have just seen the light!

If the tweeters have a very poor off axis response, and are crossed over high enough, and are angled similar to this, you can use the windshield reflections to your advantage. 

I bet it stages very well.

I'd like to experiment with this in the future.


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## [email protected] (Jul 27, 2009)

I am getting ready to do something similar to this in my civic, nice to see someone else take the plunge first!


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## Toys7505 (Jul 1, 2008)

Alright.....well it's been a while since I updated and posted on this thread. The winter really was the culprit here as I don't have a garage to keep building. So I have to wait for the weather to break and it has, although New England just had 8" of rain dumped on us in 48 hrs. Yup, had water in the basement (finished side of course) and have 3 dehums and 5 fans going right now. Anyway, I thought I would post some pics of the rest of my system as well as the battery terminal upgrade I did last weekend.....









I decided to try out Knu's terminals and they seem to work for me pretty well. I did have a problem w/ the positive one as they set screw stripped out that holds the terminal to the post. Called Knu and they had another sent out in 3 days - no charge to me!! Great Service.....









Here is a pic of the main fuse (0awg wire) that runs to the trunk and a smaller 8awg fuse holder that runs to an additional fuse block/terminal strip for all the 12v accessories I'm running - both courtesy of Knu.









Just a shot of the dash w/ my Alpine W205 installed. I think it looks OEM....(shoot - shoulda cleaned the screen, oh well)









Just a shot of how the trunk looks when you open it. I still have plenty of room to store stuff,etc...









Here is what's behind the sub box when you move it out of the way - 2 JL amps tucked away......









Just another trunk shot. The whole amp rack and underside piece attached to the package tray is all one piece and can be removed very easily w/ everything still installed. 

I hope to have more work done to my door panels in the next couple of weeks. I have color matched OEM vinyl to recover my doors. And I'm working on the glove box for the Alpine CD Changer I have....stay tuned.....


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## HiVi Guy (Jan 16, 2010)

Nice work! Looking forward to more pics and progress.


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## Ankit69 (Oct 13, 2009)

how much power are you feeding the door speakers?


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## Thrill_House (Nov 20, 2008)

Dude im loving this install, cant wait to see more!


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## Toys7505 (Jul 1, 2008)

Ankit69 said:


> how much power are you feeding the door speakers?


roughly 75w to each speaker (tweet, midrange, and midbass) - plenty of power. My midbass really has some kick @$$ punch and the way I have tuned so far, all my bass comes from upfront.


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## Toys7505 (Jul 1, 2008)

HiVi Guy said:


> Nice work! Looking forward to more pics and progress.


Thanks! It's a labor of love....


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## Toys7505 (Jul 1, 2008)

Thrill_House said:


> Dude im loving this install, cant wait to see more!


I'm loving it too! Can't wait to get some free time to work on the doors and finish them. Thanks......


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## e36bumpin (Mar 20, 2008)

Such a nice and clean install. Any finished pics of the doors?


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