Guest Anonymous Posted March 6, 2003 Share Posted March 6, 2003 i want to build some kickpanels for some Focal component speakers i have and was wondering if anyone has made them, or bought some from Q-Logic (do they even make some?) for a '75 280Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest polarity Posted March 6, 2003 Share Posted March 6, 2003 I havent bought anything for it besides some materials. I got all my info from people on this site.. Right now I'm in the process of building a box to go in the hatch of my 280ZX that will hold 4 12" subs. It will have the Z logo in the middle (plexiglass with neons under it so it glows blue) and two amps. The box will be fiberglassed over and airbrushed. I'm also going to make 2 small inserts that go on the floor (kind of a bridge from the sidewall to a part of the front) that will hold an 8 (on either side of the car) that will be by the passengers feet. This will also be glassed. I'm still in the process of building the boxes so I really dont have too many answers yet, but I know that some people here will chime in with some great ideas. I can always count on them to give me all the info I need (and some that I dont want to hear, but helps things come out for the best. Good luck. Billy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted March 7, 2003 Share Posted March 7, 2003 Blackout, Check out this web site: http://www.wes.nissanpower.com/photo.html Shows how to make kick panels. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rc's240z Posted March 7, 2003 Share Posted March 7, 2003 I have built custom kick panels for years, and built in several different solutions in a 240z. the difficulty in a Z is that there is very little room to build back into for your kickpanel compared with newer vehicles, so anything you build will stick out quite a bit. To create good imaging i suggest that you build a soft enclosure out of neoprene sealed with your midrange and tweeter mounted on a teardrop shaped piece of particle board. move it around untill you get what your looking for and that will give you an idea of the panel you will need to fabricate. you may want to consider a co-axial solution as well. Focal speakers are great speakers, but by my recollection they are very fragile. good luck and let me know if i can help you further. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 7, 2003 Share Posted March 7, 2003 thanks for the links and advice. i only have a little bit of fabrication experience, mainly spare tire well enclosures and molded radio bezels. i'm pretty sure i can do some kickpanels, but i'm scared of doing the imaging. for this reason i bought some of the q-forms for my accord to put my dynaudio's in. i sealed it with fiberglass to thicken it and close it up and they work great. i didnt want to pay $500 + to have custom ones made. so how do i know the imaging is correct? rc's240z, i'm glad to know i'm talking to someone with experience! would you happen to have any pictures? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flibuoy Posted March 7, 2003 Share Posted March 7, 2003 A bit off this specific topic, but figured speaker guys are here looking. I have an early 260 and keep looking at the tool recesses as a potential place for speakers...facing seatbacks through cutouts. Comments? john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rc's240z Posted March 8, 2003 Share Posted March 8, 2003 well, your not going to like my answer in regards to speakers behind your seats. It is probably the worst place to put speakers in a Z car for sound quality. you can put a sub there but it is a poor choice due to the fact that you want to be as far away from your subwoofer as possible. Example: Have you noticed that cars with lots of bass have better impact and definition about 10 to 15ft away from the car and sitting in the car? the bass is loud but feels more like air moving around you than rich tones of bass? this is due to bass wavelength maturity. a 30hz note sounds the best when you are physically 30 to 35 ft away from the source. Sorry about the rant...the best place for speakers in a Z are in the kick panels, for sound quality and imaging. Imaging: imaging is an illusion not unlike a magic trick...Good imaging will create a sound stage in front of you, you will be able to close your eyes and hear where the different vocals and insruments are placed across the front of your dash. This is achieved by placing the speakers as close to equal distance as possible, since we sit off center in most cars this is practically impossible. idealy (for imaging) mounting speakers where your headlights are would create the best image in most cars, but very impracticle. That being said with practice and music that you know very very well it is possible to experement with speaker placement in your car to create sound stage across the front of your dash... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flibuoy Posted March 8, 2003 Share Posted March 8, 2003 Points on sound quality are well taken and appreciated. These are run of mill coaxial 6x9 Panasonics. I am 58, having been a pro pilot all my life I can barely tell if a radio is on, never mind evaluate quality! I was thinking along lines of questions like is that panel double walled? stuff like that. john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 8, 2003 Share Posted March 8, 2003 thank you very much, well the imaging on the q-forms is very good in my (inexperienced) opinion, but i will try listen to a few select songs in the accord and try to get it to sound the same way in the datsun. this of course, will be some time from now as i don't even have floors in the datsun. thanks again for those words of wisdom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David K Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 Im building small tweeter and 3 1/2 mid pillar pods for my 280zx. The tweeter will sit halfway up and the 3 1/2 will sit in the pillar pod right down by the dash. They will look like boost gauges, etc. I have to figure out what material im gonna use. The speakers will be on both sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rc's240z Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 I dont meen to be rude BUT why have you chosen this location to install speakers? what do you hope to gain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David K Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 I dont meen to be rude BUT why have you chosen this location to install speakers? what do you hope to gain? Where the hell else am i gonna put them in a 280zx that will provide sound directly pointed towards your head and not some half assed location like down by your leg in the door, and look awesome at the same time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianz Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 Hey guys, I will try to take some picks of the kick panel boxes on my 240..... but a quick note in the mean time, if you have a 240 w/o AC there is room to fab boxes fastenned directly to the frame through the kick panel boards.....but on the later cars, I think there is a bunch of junk mounted in this area making it REALLY tricky to mount speaker boxes. As for imaging, I angled the front of the boxes such that the driver side faces the passenger and the pass side faces the driver. the boxes are sealed enclosures using madisound component speakers and sized specifically for the Vf of the 5.25 mids(check out madisound.com) I'm currently working on a sub for the spare tire bay.... This worked out really slick for me, but thats just me..... cheers, Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Want aZ Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 hey Ian, Got any pics of those enclosures??? Would like to see as a sound sys is important as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Purple240zt Posted March 11, 2003 Share Posted March 11, 2003 Guys been there done that.. ive experiemented alot with my system in my z. I ended up putting 6.25" cast frame vifa woofers in the doors for midbass, and vifa 3" soft dome mids in my kicks with morel tweeters. The vifas dont require an enclosure and are very skinny. Works like a champ and i dont notice they are there. I do compete sq btw. My system is as follows. Clarion 9255 (McIntosh deck in cognito) Butler tube driver line driver, crossover, and amps I used the balanced cables and i dont have any noise. Eclipse subwoofer mounted in the fiberglass box in the spare tire well. This system is somewhat unobtrusive, sounds good and looks cool. BTW, i have focal/morel in my acura cl and they havent blown yet (although i have a pair of extra focal mids incase) the morel tweets can take serious abuse and get loud when called on! Ill try to take pics if anyone posts in interest! Thanks guys - Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest polarity Posted March 11, 2003 Share Posted March 11, 2003 please take and post pics. I would love to see the setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 Evan Purple240zt damn, you have some nice equipment there. that is a good idea using the 3 way setup. please post the pics when you get the chance. i will be pushing my focals with an a/d/s amp and most likely a 10 inch IDQ with an older xtant of some sort.. possibly another 2200ix. i currently have dynaudio 240gt components and a single jl 12w3 in my accord powered with an xtant 2200ix for each. i love that amp. but.. anyway. PLEASE post pics! i would love to see 'em. anyone else with pictures of kick panels in the datsun z's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Purple240zt Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 Ill try to get the stuff finished (its apart for a little finishing during winter) the plan is to finish the kicks so they are paintable and make em black, purple or whatever. The setup I had in there wasnt the prettiest thing in the world but mighty functional. The back looks badass, but the kicks are getting finished, and im molding the door pod into the door panel, then for vinyl. Ill post some pics, but dont expect the taj mahal... yet at least LOL. Have you guys seen any lit on the new eclipse decks for 03', they now offer a deck with 16v balanced out, full dsp, and all processing including tone in the digital domain. Best part.. 549 retail! I cant wait to get one, too bad employee purchase for eclipse sucks! Rockford now has an SQ line of amps out, they have built in DSP's that offer delay etc... cool part being you can delay tweeters seperately from the mids etc.. very trick. They are cashy though! Later skaters - evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Purple240zt Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/evan240zt/lst?&.dir=/Car+pictures&.src=ph&.view=t These pics show my old audiobahn alum12 sub (which is f/s btw) Evan I will get more updated pics sometime in the near future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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