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Posted by: Mikey914 Feb 16 2016, 11:15 AM

Like the title says. I've been looking at making the speaker pods, but this is a big project. To even think about starting I would need to do at least 100 sets. The tooling is quite expensive, and I'm not sure there's enough demand to support it. In all honesty 200 sets may cover the tooling, but unless there is a big enough demand this could be a dead end project.

Your thoughts?

Posted by: Steve Feb 16 2016, 11:39 AM

If they could work with standard 4x6 speakers and retain the stock look, I would be buy a set.

Posted by: Mikey914 Feb 16 2016, 12:01 PM

We were looking at bone stock, just like OEM. The tooling on these is expensive enough that we wanted to test the waters to see if this would pan out.

Posted by: tweet Feb 16 2016, 12:02 PM

Hello Mark,
I am aware that you are always looking out for the little guy, but perhaps your price point may be off. When Porsche still sold these, I believe they were about $200/ side. AA sells crappy repop for $99/ side and $125/ side used. If you made a faithful reproduction, I believe $100 set is still very reasonable. After all, how many parts can you buy at Porsche these days for $45 (two parts)?

Posted by: Chris914n6 Feb 16 2016, 01:14 PM

There is a bigger market for stock look grilles that fit standard DIN size speakers.

There is absolutely no reason to sell these for 1/4 of competitors price. A fair price covers investment and a decent return.

Posted by: Andyrew Feb 16 2016, 01:22 PM

Mark,

I agree, $45/set is too cheap.

I would think anything under $100/set would have buyers looking for an OEM look chomping at the bit.

Posted by: tygaboy Feb 16 2016, 02:47 PM

I paid $45 for a used set with (minor) imperfections. Would gladly pay 2x for these!

Posted by: mepstein Feb 16 2016, 03:32 PM

if they are really nice, $100 a set is a great price.

Posted by: r_towle Feb 16 2016, 03:46 PM

stock repo grills still cannot fit a readily available speaker.

Your morph acquisition gave you the larger fiberglass ones, and he was selling a few of those to solve the issue.

Seems that those who want decent tunes would be looking for a decent bolt on solution versus a compromise of crappy speakers in a tiny stock shaped grill.

I did a larger grill, can be unbolted.
I did a center console armrest with two more speakers in there, plus the amp.

When I do it again it will have larger front speakers, a custom door pocket solution, and a sub at the passenger footwell.

Those are the types of solutions a person who likes music in the car might be more interested in seeing.

Rich

Posted by: jmill Feb 16 2016, 04:19 PM

$100 and modern speakers.

Posted by: 80cap Feb 16 2016, 04:27 PM

I would be in for 100.00

Posted by: hcdmueller Feb 16 2016, 05:33 PM

I'm in for a set that fit modern speakers.

I was debating modding my factory ones for a new set of speakers. Unfortunately they are starting to crack and I am afraid to touch them.

Posted by: 914Sixer Feb 16 2016, 05:44 PM

Modern configuration +1. 5x7 with metric pattern has long gone by the way side. I saw AA is selling the 5x7 reproduction 914 speakers on Ebay.

Posted by: JoeD Feb 16 2016, 07:12 PM

would be great if they'd fit today's speakers, but I'd buy a set either way.

Not sure you make anything I haven't yet bought or don't plan to buy soon...

Posted by: zambezi Feb 16 2016, 07:19 PM

I would also pay 100/set if they fit a decent modern speaker. I would then sell my originals to someone who really wants the true original configuration. I think there are still enough good originals out there for those that want to stay correct, but the market for a repop is more leaning towards a factory look, but reconfigured on the back side to fit a current speaker.

Posted by: Mikey914 Feb 16 2016, 07:21 PM

This is pretty much what I was thinking that the stock OEM profile is very limited with that type of speaker. Really would have to do something that looks pretty gosh darn close to stock may be slightly larger to accommodate the more modern speaker with a larger magnet. That way you can get much better sound and I think I'd only have to increase it by maybe a half an inch which might not be noticeable. I do have the fiberglass ones that fit very well for a six and a half inch round speaker. But I really like the stock look, as I'm sure many others do too I want to play with this one a little bit more and probably will have to bring the price of more than $45 a pair to make a pencil out.

Posted by: r_towle Feb 16 2016, 08:46 PM

I agree, 1/2 to 1 inch may all you need to make something fit.
I can't remember what I did, but I got some modern speakers in ther with a spacer...and crushing the tube.

Posted by: Chris914n6 Feb 16 2016, 11:59 PM

I think a 5x7 would fit flush if the mounting nuts were moved to the far corners. Right now they are in the way of even a normal 4x6. Changing the housing might not be needed.
You also have the height issue on the drivers side with the trunk release, so 5x7 might be too tall anyways.

Posted by: porschetub Feb 17 2016, 12:53 AM

Good replys here for Mark I think the price thing is sorted eh,the remake to modern speakers is the only way to go but there are real issues with magnet size...most are large,go smaller and there is a less gain over stock size.
Should Mark or others suggest a 5 x 7'' that would do the job?,I don't know as I'am sans heater and have fiberglass ones for for Blaupunkt 6''.
Imo the show guys would be a small part of sales so really a mod to larger speakers is the way to go.
Can Mark "tool up"(ha ha) for less numbers and make a run for the higher price..don't know.

Posted by: Mikey914 Feb 17 2016, 01:05 AM

Thinking that if I could make a stock looking one and allow for the additional space, it would be the best way to go too. I have ot do a little playing around to see if it can be done.

Posted by: Darren C Feb 17 2016, 01:59 AM

Mark,
Keep the speaker grills stock. This will increase your market as you can sell to the guy’s who want originality as well as those who are not so bothered.
I had the misfortune to get caught out buying AA repros. They were astonishingly poor quality and a complete waste of time and money. In the end I made a good pair from individual secondhand ones I found on ebay.
To get modern speakers to fit I made some aluminium adapter plates.
http://s265.photobucket.com/user/DarrenLCollins/media/914%20cubby%20amp%20speakers%20mount%20007_zps1oyp1fzz.jpg.html
Standard speakers fitted into adaptor plate.
http://s265.photobucket.com/user/DarrenLCollins/media/914%20speaker%20mounts%20005_zpsm6pv4057.jpg.html
I then covered the face with black speaker cloth before fitting into the housings so that the speaker cones couldn’t be see through the slots.
The answer is keep the housings stock and offer maybe sets of laser cut adapter plates to fit different standard speaker sizes (5x7, 4x6 or 4x4 for example)

Posted by: Zimms Feb 17 2016, 07:43 AM

The adapter plates look great. Nice work! The adapter plates would also solve problems for those of us that do not need the speaker grills, but want new speaker options.

Posted by: billh1963 Feb 17 2016, 09:34 AM

Yes..someone should make those!

I found some templates on this site a couple of years ago and made adapter plates out of very thin plywood. They worked good but aluminum would be better!

On topic...I would be interested in a set or two of speaker grilles

Posted by: Chris914n6 Feb 17 2016, 01:49 PM

The problem with adapter plates is you give up almost 1/2" of back space, meaning anything with a decent sized magnet won't fit so good.
Bigger magnet = better depth of music.

Posted by: billh1963 Feb 17 2016, 02:01 PM

Infinity speakers are a good fit with the adapter plates

Posted by: Darren C Feb 17 2016, 02:01 PM

No Chris that's not so.

With a 2mm aluminium plate you give up 2mm of back space NOT 1/2" the adapter plate would need to be 1/2" or 13mm thick to do that.

Also if you mount the speaker in front of the plate you actually GAIN space not lose it!

The adapter plates I made fit just fine Chris, no scare mongering required, here’s a couple of photos, taken during my restoration, to show them in the car with NO issues

http://s265.photobucket.com/user/DarrenLCollins/media/914%20speaker%20grilles%20fitted%20001_zpsbugeezld.jpg.html

http://s265.photobucket.com/user/DarrenLCollins/media/914%20speaker%20grilles%20fitted%20003_zpsc77np0gn.jpg.html

Posted by: Chris914n6 Feb 17 2016, 05:27 PM

Darren, don't make this personal. I'm just stating facts.

This is what I'm referencing, mine. Notice the flush mount. I'm a big fan of Infinity Kappas, but these little speakers have half the richness of the 6.5 or 6x9 in my daily.

If I was making these I would move the nuts out of the way or to a standard spacing so current speakers would mount without mods or extra pieces.

Posted by: siverson Feb 17 2016, 06:34 PM

I used a wooden plate to mount those same speakers in my car.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&showtopic=217713&view=findpost&p=2125402

-Steve

Posted by: Darren C Feb 18 2016, 03:39 AM

Hi Chris,
Apologies I didn’t intend to make anything personal? Maybe its my British "matter of fact" approach.
Just trying to be helpful, factual and provide a solution to benefit all.
I think the issue here is where you try to fit the biggest speaker you can within the stock housing. The stock housing has its limits.
If you would like to install larger speakers then a custom housing is required.
My advice ( in line with Mark’ s original request in this thread) is that the answer is to make a stock housing with maybe several thin (2mm-3mm) adapter plates to fit 3 or 4 moderate speaker options.
Any other larger deeper speaker would need a custom build to suit. Since you couldn’t mass produce a custom “one size fits all” I think it would be better to keep it stock and leave custom builds to the owner.

Posted by: Darren C Feb 18 2016, 06:52 AM

Just looked at your pictures in the link Steve...that's exactly what I was trying to explain! Fitting the speakers in front of an adapter plate gains you space.

Great example ;-)

Posted by: Mikey914 Feb 18 2016, 10:42 AM

Wow, they look great. So maybe just some minor modifications to make an adapter plate fit better would help.
Mark

Posted by: siverson Feb 18 2016, 11:22 AM

> So maybe just some minor modifications to make an adapter plate fit better would help.

That would make sense. Maybe just include a pre-cut/mountable "blank" adapter that can be cut out for whatever someone chooses.

It would be nice to somehow fit a 5.25" speaker back there behind a stock looking grill, and I think it might be possible...

-Steve

Posted by: wes Feb 18 2016, 02:31 PM

I'm watching and very interested.