Bass in rear speakers - should I use dynamat or rubber baffles?

[bdragger]

Does anyone else have this problem? I just bought an '03 vibe (looks like moon & tunes, from what I gather: moon roof an 6 speaker stereo.)The front speakers play a full range (though muddy and tinny), but the rear door speakers only play bass sounds (and muddy at that).Is this the way the system was designed or did the previous owner modify/ mess-up something? (I'm leaning toward the latter, considering a couple engine mods...)I've got a pair of infinity 6.5" 2-ways from my last car that I'd like to drop in the back, but only if I know I can get the full range from the existing wiring...By the way, I've been reading through the posts - cool group. I just signed on as a member today...Thanks

[Jahntassa]

Remember...M&T or not, the only tweeters are up on the front doors. The back doors are your basic run-of-the-mill factory speakers, so they're only truely designed for midrange. Since I took out my rears about two days after I got the car...I can't remember what they sound like. Most likely it's the speakers themselves..but you never really know what the previous owner did...If you can, go ahead and hook up the infinity's, or at least one of them. It'll only take you about 10 minutes to get the door panel off so you can plug it in and see how it sounds with the new speaker.

[bdragger]

Thanks for the tip. I looked inside the speaker grill. Looks like the previous owner put some aftermarket 5" woofers in the back doors with some kind of cutoff to only lett bass frequencies pass through. (Sounds terrible, right?) Now my infinity 6.5" are like 2 1/8" deep. Will that fit in the back door panel?

[ragingfish]

You should be fine in the back door. It's the front doors that can become problematic, because the speakers can't be too deep or they'll interfere with the window operation.In the back, however, if it fits, and you can replace the door panel, you're cool.

[bdragger]

Should I get some rubber speaker baffles or dynamat to minimize door panel vibrations? If I do that will I get any more bass from my infinitys? Or should I just bolt the speaker directly to the door?Thanks again.

[Jahntassa]

I haven't noticed the need for dynamat in the back doors...but it never hurts. And yes, you can bolt the speaker directly to the door. You want to do the door instead of the door panel, because if you bolt it to the panel, and put the panel back on, it might not seal to the metal part of the door, thus hurting it's ability to create mid/low end.

[Mr. Poopypants]

Quote, originally posted by bdragger »Now my infinity 6.5" are like 2 1/8" deep. Will that fit in the back door panel?Mine fit just fine and they (if I remember correctly) are 2 1/4" deep.