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Navigation & Audio R56 speaker replacement how-to

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  #426  
Old 03-15-2009, 09:23 PM
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Has anyone tried putting a pair of Focal K series or Focal Utopia Be series in a 61/2 in the front? They are both same size . I am going to put a pair of Focal Utopia be Kit no. 6 in the front doors of my clubby.
I don't think the A pillars will support the tweeters with out some fiberglass work.
The tweeters should fit in the doors but that would destroy imaging.

I am mainly concerned about the driver fitting in the lower part of the door.

Thanks
 
  #427  
Old 03-15-2009, 11:21 PM
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Originally Posted by veg1515
Has anyone tried putting a pair of Focal K series or Focal Utopia Be series in a 61/2 in the front? They are both same size . I am going to put a pair of Focal Utopia be Kit no. 6 in the front doors of my clubby.
Does it matter if they fit exactly? Those are $3000+ speakers, right? You can't just stick them in the door and expect to get anything remotely approaching your money's worth. At that level, the weakest link is not the speakers but everything else inside your car. You're going to have to seriously reinforce the area around the speaker, deaden the door inside and out, and run wires for the crossover, so it won't be a big deal if you have to cut up the area a bit and fabricate a new mounting ring.
 
  #428  
Old 03-16-2009, 06:43 AM
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I want to keep my factory look without rebuilding my door panel. I am not so much concerned with making a mounting ring as I am will it physically fit.

Yes they are roughly $4000 speakers. The Focal Be was designed to use the door as a cavity , so just sticking them in a door is exactly what they were made to do. The crossover helps compensate for the fact you are sticking it in a car . I have them in a different car right now and they are magic.

I am not sure why anyone would put a aftermarket pair of speakers and not take the time to deaden the door so that is a given. Plus one of my favorite speakers add-ons called Dynaxorb will be going in; best $20 you can spend.

Thanks
 
  #429  
Old 03-16-2009, 09:20 AM
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I'd be woried ablout the utopias fitting or blocking the window from coming all the way down.

I don't understand your concern of putting the tweeters in the doors instead of the a-pillar. The door would be a better place SQ wise.
 
  #430  
Old 03-16-2009, 09:29 AM
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There should be room depth wise. I put in Polk MM6501's which are 2.61" deep. Per the utopia site the speakers you are looking at would 2.83" deep, i.e another 1/4" of depth. If there is a clearance issue with this extra depth you can fabricate a mounting plate to reduce the depth in the door.

But why don't you put the window down, take the door panel off, and take some measurements?
 
  #431  
Old 03-17-2009, 05:01 PM
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Getting ready for replacing the Rears

My Infinity Reference 6922i's arrived today after my debacle with Dealer Cost Audio (see here). I am targeting next weekend to do the install. Now I have to make up my mind about deadening - I was all set up to buy some RAMMmat, until my internet research turned up some issues with recent production batches. So now I'm leaning back towards Dynamat, or not at all. Decisions, decisions....
 
  #432  
Old 03-17-2009, 06:12 PM
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Thanks for all the advice. I am about to order the car and these speakers fitting in the door have a big weight on if I order the car.

As far as what Motormouth says about the tweeters in the doors. I do appreciate you input I am going to disagree the door is not the idea place for tweeters , ear height and in front of you is ideal . The A-pillar is the the best fit for this in a car. Putting them in the A pillar will raise the soundstage and improve imaging quite a bit. I realize this is not for everyone , and neither are $4000 speakers. I will be installing a single 8" Focal Be in the back as well.

Thanks for all your help!
 
  #433  
Old 03-20-2009, 12:14 PM
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Originally Posted by MotorMouth
There are probably some good 6x9's out there for bass but you might be better off making a round speaker fit.

The biggest problem I see with the tn-52 tweet is that you can't buy it as part of the polyglass line. You have to buy it seperately (and more expensively). I'm don't know for sure on this but the tn-52 may not fit the factory tweeter cup. The tn-47 fit pretty well.

I put the tweets crossover on -6db and the tweet is fine. It was pretty bright on the -3 setting though. At 0db it overpowered everything else.

I'd love to put in a set of Utopias (or even the polykevlars) but there is no way the bass driver and midrange would fit in the stock locations.
i know this is an old post. However i have the Kf series with the tn-47 tweeters, yes it's not harsh at -7, yes o is over , howeveri belive -3 is the best of both. When you go down the -6 i feel like they are some notes missing in music. Do you feel the same way about taht?
 
  #434  
Old 03-20-2009, 12:44 PM
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bmwproboi05 do you have any problems with the K series drive hitting the door panel when there is a good amount of mid-bass and volume?
 
  #435  
Old 03-20-2009, 12:51 PM
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I dont have it in a mini. However a friend of mine is planning on doing a stero in his r56 mini this week. we are gonna see if we can get them to fit, and ill let you know. From what i herd, and by the specs most likely going to have to sand down .1 of an inch off the door. I'll keep you guys updated, and pics on the install
 
  #436  
Old 03-20-2009, 01:41 PM
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Originally Posted by bmwproboi05
i know this is an old post. However i have the Kf series with the tn-47 tweeters, yes it's not harsh at -7, yes o is over , howeveri belive -3 is the best of both. When you go down the -6 i feel like they are some notes missing in music. Do you feel the same way about taht?
Nope, at -6 it is plenty bright enough. I dont' feel like i'm missing anything - if anything I hear stuff I don't normally hear.
 
  #437  
Old 03-21-2009, 11:27 PM
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Are there any 3-piece component sets that fit well in the stock locations, now that the Focal 165 V2 E is discontinued?

I'd like to replace the fronts (all of them), but I really don't want tweeters all over the place.
 
  #438  
Old 03-22-2009, 06:37 AM
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Why do you want 3 piece components?
 
  #439  
Old 03-22-2009, 08:35 AM
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Originally Posted by fishbert
Are there any 3-piece component sets that fit well in the stock locations, now that the Focal 165 V2 E is discontinued?

I'd like to replace the fronts (all of them), but I really don't want tweeters all over the place.
I picked up the Infinity 60.9cs for the 6.5" woofer and 1" tweeter. Then I grabbed the Infinity 42.7i and each speaker has 4 leads (2 for speaker / 2 for tweeter) - I'm just going to connect the actual speaker leads and call it a day. (for the fronts)
 
  #440  
Old 03-22-2009, 10:36 AM
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By adding the extra 4" speakers you are damaging your soundstage and imaging in the car . 3 way components are tricky to setup properly and the stock 4" location is a poor place to put a speaker. Leave out the 4" it will sound better. More is not always better!
 
  #441  
Old 03-22-2009, 12:01 PM
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Isn't there a 3.5" speaker there already?
 
  #442  
Old 03-22-2009, 01:06 PM
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Originally Posted by toolazyforalogin
I picked up the Infinity 60.9cs for the 6.5" woofer and 1" tweeter. Then I grabbed the Infinity 42.7i and each speaker has 4 leads (2 for speaker / 2 for tweeter) - I'm just going to connect the actual speaker leads and call it a day. (for the fronts)
When you install the tweeters, please take some pictures and post them!

I helped a fellow Mini owner replace their door speakers yesterday in his hifi MCS, but without disassembling the 60.9cs tweeters they were not going in the A pillar locations. He decided to stay with factory tweeters for now and replace them on a later date.
 
  #443  
Old 03-22-2009, 04:30 PM
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ok I'm not sure if they will fit in the OEM bracket that is behind there....I was planning on using some liquid nails or something if they don't fit - they're both 1" tweeters so...
 
  #444  
Old 03-22-2009, 05:10 PM
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what secures the OEM tweeters? everyone seems to use adhesives (hot glue, liquid nails, etc.)

are there any decent pictures of the tweeters and the pillar mounting?
 
  #445  
Old 03-22-2009, 07:06 PM
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Originally Posted by toolazyforalogin
ok I'm not sure if they will fit in the OEM bracket that is behind there....I was planning on using some liquid nails or something if they don't fit - they're both 1" tweeters so...
They may both be 1" but they are inside of some huge housings that dont easily seem to want to come apart, and there really does not appear to be room in the pillar lest one separate the Infinity tweeter from the housing. And since they were not my speakers I didn't feel comfortable trying to cut them out / apart without trying to get info from others who had perhaps had to deal with the same issue.
 
  #446  
Old 03-22-2009, 07:39 PM
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Yeah behind the A-pillar are these black "spider" leg sorta looking housings that don't appear to be able to be removed easily...I was planning to cut them out and glue the tweeters in there somehow...
 
  #447  
Old 03-22-2009, 10:42 PM
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Originally Posted by toolazyforalogin
Yeah behind the A-pillar are these black "spider" leg sorta looking housings that don't appear to be able to be removed easily...I was planning to cut them out and glue the tweeters in there somehow...
Just a warning that even cutting out the "spider" leg parts we (the other guy who's car I was helping with) both thought that there still might be enough room for the Infinity tweeters as is in their housing.

I'm going to call Infinity support sometime this week and see if they think the tweeters can be removed from the housing they are in. If one can get the tweeters themselves, then one could simply hot glue them to the existing A pillar panel in some fashion.
 
  #448  
Old 03-23-2009, 04:29 AM
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Focal has a access line of speakers that has a very small tweeter. They are super efficient and are in a whole different league than the infinity speakers at about the same price.
http://www.focal-america.com/
just look up the 165A1 speakers
The tweeter comes out of that housing you see it pictured in and is very tiny .

Most tweeters are made to be removed from the housing even if it is not stated
did you try twisting the tweeter counterclockwise?
If that does not work some times a grinder or a dremel is you best bet.
 
  #449  
Old 03-23-2009, 06:16 AM
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Originally Posted by aafflyer
Just a warning that even cutting out the "spider" leg parts we (the other guy who's car I was helping with) both thought that there still might be enough room for the Infinity tweeters as is in their housing.

I'm going to call Infinity support sometime this week and see if they think the tweeters can be removed from the housing they are in. If one can get the tweeters themselves, then one could simply hot glue them to the existing A pillar panel in some fashion.
Those tweeters are seperate when they arrive in the box. The come with 3 different types of mounting brackets so you can certainly hold them (or get them) apart from the housing... are you saying you are not holding cylindrical tweeters? or perhaps you're saying you want to open the cylindrical cases?

Also when you mounted the 6.5" woofer in the door from the 60.9cs components...where did you stick the "big connector" that was attached to the speaker....I was surprised to see that the speaker leads on that speaker already had something attached and all you have to do is put the + and (-) wire into the "big connector" and screw them in...did you just let it hang in the door? or tape it to something back there....I don't want it to hit the window - thanks.
 
  #450  
Old 03-26-2009, 06:56 PM
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I'm halfway there....

... at least with the interior deconstuction. I took tomorrow off to install the rear speakers and Dynamat. I decided to do a little bit tonight, and in less than 45 minutes I removed the backseat, the trunk parts and rear panels. Next up are pillars, and side panels. No problems at all thanks to all the excellent documentation by all you awesome NAM members who went before me. Only causality so far - a very stubborn push pin the got buggered up on extraction, and a nice gash on the finger (no idea how, just noticed it). I taped all the pins to the back of the panel it belongs to.

I had to leave the gaskets in place because I have to drive to the post office to get my rear "COOPER" badge. Since I'm a little ahead of schedule, I might try putting on the boot stripes on tomorrow also. But I shouldn't get ahead of myself...

I'm getting ready just in case I can work out a few days to attend the MOTD event!

I'll take some pictures in the a.m.
 


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