Paul Dortkamp

When I purchased my S4 in 2004, the original sound system had been removed and replaced with an Alpine head unit. I lived with that for a couple of years and then added an amplifier which improved the quality by using the Hi pass for the front and the Lo pass for the rear.

The rears were a very generic looking 6.5 inch speaker mounted into the original speaker holders, the original speaker had been removed and the replacement was screwed to the casing.

I looked around and came across the Earthquake Sound Shallow Woofer System (SWS) and thought that the 6.5 inch unit may fit in behind the original grille. There was a fair bit of work involved in removing more of the casing, I remember hammering and bending a little of the metal inside the opening to give enough clearance inside the cavity. I also made up some supports to hold the units to the body rather than the liners. The downside to this installation is that at high volumes the cones will move enough to touch the speaker grilles. After some over enthusiastic volume levels the RHS speaker stopped working and the amp kept on tripping out, so I disconnected the RHS rear sub and lived with the restricted dynamic range.

I recently installed Hans' new door speaker kit, upgraded to a new Alpine head unit CDE-135BT and a new Soundstream Picasso Nano amp PN4.320D which fits into the original spot.

I reconnected the SWS units including the RHS one which is now working. The addition of the subs to the Hans door speakers extends the depth of the sound considerably, giving a warm rich sound. They retain the stock look of the car and the spare tyre.

I will post some pictures that I took.

The installation of the SWS units is not a simple drop in replacement, it required a decent bunch of tools, much thinking and plenty of patience.

Randy V

Sounds like a winner!

Paul Dortkamp

Thanks Randy, Pics coming soon

Paul Dortkamp

This is what was there when I purchased the car, you can see the edge of the small speaker.


Much of the holder had to be removed.

See how much was removed to fit the SWS in and also where I cracked the plastic

This is a crummy picture trying to show one of the supports

Paul Dortkamp

The SWS mounted

With the cover on. Due to the damage to the casing, had to add a screw to keep the cover on.

S4ordie

that is a very smart installation Paul. How does it sound?

Randy V

What is the rectangular hole with the black plastic surround insert located just below the speaker?

I don't think I've seen that feature before.

FLYVMO

Randy,

The male seat belt buckle goes there, sort of a "storage slot" so the buckle doesn't fly around when the belt is not in use.

Cheers!
Carl
90GT Project

GUTTER-BOY

Hi Randy V,

That rectangular hole is the seatbelt strap holder. You place the metal clasp on the seatbelt (you can see it in the photo) in there when they are not in use. It looks "cleaner" than laying loose (like in the pic) or having the lap belts buckled and not being used.

77tony

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...oogle_shopping

Paul, How do they sound without a specific size enclosure? T

Paul Dortkamp

Hi Randy, yes the seldom used seat belt buckle holder for the rear belt.

Hi Tony, as you noted, no specific enclosure size was attempted by me. Also no sound deadening or filler in the cavity or on the body.

Sound of course is subjective, but to me the dynamic range is extended to much lower frequencies and sounds much richer and more full.

I have the subs connected via the "Rear" ports on the head unit and then through the amp with the low pass switch on (80Hz only). So I am getting more mid than I would like through the subs. I am considering connecting the "Rear" channel of the amp to the "sub" RCA sockets to see if this connection will cut out the extra mid range sound.

77tony

Boston Acoustics was very specific on the dimensions & materials used to build the sub-box enclosure for the 10" sub that I installed in the 94 (rear seat delete). Do like your idea Paul for the pair of 6.5" subs in the "B" pillars, but there is little room for proper enclosure's, and will need a spot for the amp to power them. In the 80, might just go with a self amplified 6" diameter bazooka tube strapped & wedged between the hatch floor & tool tray. There will be no amplifier to hide, and the black bazooka tube will disappear into the black rear hatch area. T

Paul Dortkamp

Yes Tony, the lack of a proper enclosure is a compromise by using the existing fittings. For the 80 you have a clean sheet.

RKD in OKC

When I redid the sound system in my 90 GT... JL Audio had a 6 inch sub which a local stereo shop fitted nicely in the 6.5 inch B pillar location. they made a custom grill surround that matched the interior and raised the speaker mounting about 1/4 inch. It was enough to clear the back of the sub and increased the enclosure area enough that they sounded great.

It has been a long time and I cannot even find a reference to the 6 inch subs today. Also the amps were driven by a Rockford Fosgate surround sound processor that had a sub output to a separate amp for each channel and subs. The left/right front door and rear deck speakers were Infinity Kappa 4 and 1 inch component sets. The amps and surround were built into a false floor for the rear deck whose total thickness was the 2 inches of the amps.

Ready to start on the stereo in the GTS so both the amp and b pillars sound very interesting!

Paul Dortkamp

I tidied up the installation and connected the 6.5 inch subs to the subwoofer RCA outputs on the head unit rather than the "rear" outputs.

Here are some pictures of the installed amplifier. I used an 8 way automotive connector to assist with the cable matching. The unused cables for the other rear speakers are tucked under the amp. Amp is secuerd by two short screws at the top into the side rail. Cable tie is to stop the connector rattling around.

The car is a RHD 1990 S4, I have not removed the handbrake.