Any interest in aluminum door speaker mounting plates?

[AutoVation]

I was thinking of making some up for myself but would not go through this effort unless there is other interest. Price would be around $100 (not sure on exact price until the first set is made). I am just thinking twice about putting wood mounting plates into my door. It's an aluminum car and I think I would rather have aluminum in it.

I have not done the research but is there a sound advantage between going with wood, aluminum, or plastic?

 

[Deuce B]

MDF seems to work best.

Even when using spacers, metal or plastic just don't work as well. And you do not want to mount a speaker directly to the inner door skin like most OEM speakers are. I think using metal or plastic is about the same thing, just pushing the driver farther out from the door letting the window clear the back of the speaker.

 

[Zennsx]

Mdf is the best low cost preference for speaker cabinet building because of its mass and lack of voids . Although, all of these mdf plates use the free air from the internal aluminum door as its enclosure. Hardly scientific or if only by chance matched to a speaker. The OEM enclosure has a tuned self contained port design for maximum efficiency. I thought about making a custom enclosure similar to the Bose system out of aluminum and having an active speaker system design similar to the Bose but I'm not sure theres enough space. The OEM system is very efficient considering the very small speakers it uses. Sounds like a good winter project.

 

[zetoolman]

I agree with Deuce B. MDF works the best. I am thinking of making a sealed enclosure door plate. But, I do not know if it will be an advantage or not to the speakers. They seem to all be "free" air set ups. I have looked at producing sealed ones, a lot of work!!

But for now, the MDF is great!

 

[Zennsx]

Zetoolman,what is the crossover point from mid to sub on your systems?

 

[zetoolman]

Zetoolman,what is the crossover point from mid to sub on your systems?

The 4 ch amp has a built in crossover. I have it set to low pass for the sub. I think at about 80 hz.

 

[Vega$ NSX]

I agree with Deuce B. MDF works the best. I am thinking of making a sealed enclosure door plate. But, I do not know if it will be an advantage or not to the speakers. They seem to all be "free" air set ups. I have looked at producing sealed ones, a lot of work!!

But for now, the MDF is great!

I have sealed enclosure plates that I made myself. I couldn't tell any difference from the sealed plates to free air ones from my (VERY) untrained ears... I'm no audiophile. Maybe someone who knows a lot more about stereo equipment could point out some differences, but I just couldn't tell and it probably wasn't worth the extra effort in making the plates sealed. Just my thoughts (though they may not be worth anything. :smile: )

 

[D'Ecosse]

Sorry this is all deviating well away from your initial question Tony. I think MDF is a better medium - aluminum will transmit waves along it.

There is a big difference between free air & infinite baffle. Mine are set up with IB and have all the holes in the door effectively sealed up by the dynamat, but the rear of speakers have the original cut-out in the door to work into. The volume is not critical for mids compared to subs, they are not moving nearly so much air.
One thing to avoid is the equivelant of "free-air", by allowing a medium for the sound waves to come around the front of the speaker giving cancellation to those from the front side - hence the "infinite" baffle requirement. It's not really necessary to create a sealed enclosure out of the door skin - only that the immediate surrounding area of the speaker plate is sealed to prevent the waves coming around.

 

[Zennsx]

I like to build a self contained door system without using a sub altogether. Using a ported design. If theres enough room which ,maybey there isn't.
If anyone thinks it wouldn't sound good ,listen to a set of good quality powered studio monitors with a low mid 6" speaker and a hf piezo driver.