[magnat]

I am not real impressed with the front speaker placement of the XL7...
It fires all the sound into your feet..

I was wondering if people have installed Splits into the front of their GV and if so can they provide a Pic of where the tweeter has been mounted..
I really want to lift the sound stage up.... Instead of into my feet..

Oh and if anyone has instructions on how to remove the Surround around the radio would be AWESOME..

[fordem]

What year XL-7 or what do the a/c controls look like - horizontal sliders or three round knobs?

The problem with the GV front speakers is that they requires a driver with a shallow basket and a three hole mount - if you're willing to do a custom door panel and fab mounting rings, you can probably install any driver you want, but, I don't spend enough time behind the wheel to make it worth the trouble.

You can probably suface mount tweets on the horizontal ledge (above the stock speakers) facing upwards - the disadvantage is that they are exposed to moisture, the advantage is that the lower you can mount them the more closely matched they are distance wise to your ears and also closer to the mids/woofer.

In a couple of my other vehicles I have mounted the tweets on the kick panels angled up & back, but, after a while you'll come to the realisation that a moving vehicle is not an environment conducive to high fidelity sound, at which point OEM speakers and a decent head unit are all that's really needed.

[magnat]

Oh no.. I need a decent sounding system.. I spend too much time behind the wheel..
Oh and its the one with the Horizontal sliders for the fan and the push button for the various vent positions..
It has a set of Sony Xplod (First series, you know the ugly silver and red combo) 2-ways and it just fires into your feet... OEM Speaker will never suffice unless they are BOSE.

I like my Audio and in my 93 Vitara it was easy as the Speakers where in the dash so the sound stage was high... In this thing.. the Sound is fired into your feet.. If you have
a car full of people who you don't want to talk to you cannot hear squat as its fired into their feet which block the sound.

[magnat]

Done it..!
Clarion splits have been mounted in the stock woofer locations with a bit of Modification..

I surface mounted the tweeter in the top sail panel on the door.. Its done a great job of lifting the stage from your feet..

[fordem]

Top sail panel? Is that the little triangular piece behind the mirror?

The problem with that approach is your right ear is much closer to the tweeter than the left ear - the woofers are further way and the difference in the distances are not as great - you end up with near matched paths for the mids & lows, but the highs are offset to the right - you end up with the image "jumping around" - but - you're the one listening to it.

If you still need to get the surround off, it's held by three screws, two behind the ashtray and a third one in the center a little higher up.

[atari4x4]

nice sounding stereo > mud tyres

[magnat]

Yeah the little black triangle.. Its definately improved it 10 fold.. Instead of all the sound aimed at your feet.. If your an Audiphile then yes.. it will probably annoy you, but I can tell you it Raised the stage nicely..

Oh and the speakers were from my Old ride.. so Free upgrade !

[Chop]

Did they change size on the front speakers over the years in the GV's Fordem?

[fordem]

Doesn't look so - I've never looked to see what the 2006+ GVs have, but according to the Crutchfield website, they take 6½ in both front & back doors, the 98~05 take 6½ in the front door and in the rear roof.

[magnat]

The Thing I noticed was they indeed have a 3 Hole mount for the Speakers but mine came with a Large plastic watersheild.. which you could drill new mounting holes to.
I have not removed the back door speakers yet.. but will get to that some time in the near future...
There was 3mm of room between the back of the woofer and the window so if you do intend on fitting your own speakers make sure the window is in the down position before you start or else the window
will hit the back of the magnet and chip the glass..

[GeckoXL7]

I installed wood spacers in mine and have Philips HD 6.5" speakers, did have tweeters on each corner of the dash, and a long time ago, center beams and rear of car, but they have been removed several months ago, sound is still pretty good though, but agree does sound better with tweeters up high.

Once had a 5.1ch System had the center speaker where the ash tray is...

Havent needed to wast boot space with a sub woofer yet.

[magnat]

Today its replacing the rear door speakers with some fusion 2-ways.. don't get me wrong, the stock rear speakers have excellent mid-bass but they fall apart to quickly with any decent volume...

[GeckoXL7]

Yeah standards where clarion paper speakers, any decent volume would tear them apart.

I got alot more base after mounting the speakers to 20mm wood spacers which are sicaflexd and screwed to the doors. When speakers where mounted directly to the doors, bass was a bit poor and everything in the doors rattled. The wood spacers allowed me to put a few more screws around so it was tight, and bass was much more deeper, responsive and punchier. Has more bass now than when i did with the 5.1 ch and a 300w 8" subwoofer in the back.

Biggest pain was aligning it all up so the door panels would go back on.

[magnat]

Yep Clarion 20W dual cones... (There is a bit of information for the records)
Whilst paper is the best material to make a speaker out of, its not really durable in a 4x4..
Managed to get the Fusion 6 inch 2-ways in without a hassle.. Just have to fine tune it all..

[ninjamoses]

Thread gravedig.... but just curious if you are still happy with the tweeter placement Magnat now its been a few years?
Also curious as to where you mounted the crossover - I presume in the door somewhere would have been easiest?

Trying to fit some Pioneer D series splits into mine at the moment and can't figure out whether to go doors or dash for the tweeters. I like the sail panel idea as they are easily replaceable if I ever want to reverse it.

Thought I had the woofer install figured out but the door trim is about 5mm off from fitting, so need to have another crack at it to see where its hitting.

[murcod]

I've fitted Polk DB6501 splits in mine with the tweeters on the sail panels - been like that for quite a few years now. Very happy with the improvement (wouldn't be hard to improve on the stock speakers though!!!)

From memory I mount the cross over behind the door trim.

[magnat]

Yes the Tweeter placement has worked well. Its lifted the front stage nicely
Its also been handy having the Tweeters up high when the door speaker has dissapeared underwater (on more than one occasion)

The fusions had an inline passive crossover (Nothing more than a couple of capacitors wrapped in foam) so it was not hard to hide it.
I have seen some people mount the cross over under the part that sticks out for the Power window controls.. or where the Door skin comes out for the Arm rest.

[murcod]

magnat wrote:

or where the Door skin comes out for the Arm rest.

I think that's where I put mine. I thought I had pics, but can't find any.