I'm thinking of adding plate speakers to the rear firewall around shoulder height to the sides of the seats. Anyone ever done this successfully?

Been thinking about it. Can't be that hard. I hope if you do they are Harman Kardons (I know, I know, its not spelled the same).

iamchappy has done it, he used stainless steel mixing bowls as cavities to mount rear speakers (woofers) behind the seats.

I kindda have rear speakers, I made a center console mount for 2 3.5" up-firing speakers. Actually works quite well.

Thinking about rear speakers too. I would like to see photos.

hmm..... Lets see some pics. Sounds like a nice "add" to mine as well. I planned on building a custom console for my coffee. Could do speakers while I'm at it...
I'm putting my fliip-up TV in after it gets back from the paint shop.

I put 2 8" Quart Subs in the firewall behind the seats, this is the second time i've done this with a 914, i use stainless steel mixing bowls for the enclosure. The subs are sealed enclosure type most are not. You can see the bowl in the engine compartment fits with room to spare even with this engine. I know i have some pictures of the bare engine compartment with the firewall but this is what i could find, i bet there are some n my build thread.

I put 2 8" Quart Subs in the firewall behind the seats, this is the second time i've done this with a 914, i use stainless steel mixing bowls for the enclosure. The subs are sealed enclosure type most are not. You can see the bowl in the engine compartment fits with room to spare even with this engine. I know i have some pictures of the bare engine compartment with the firewall but this is what i could find, i bet there are some in my build thread.

Subs I can see, but rear speakers I just wouldn't bother with.

You would have speakers two inches behind your head blaring. You would either drown out the front speakers, or have them turned down so far they didn't play.

Acoustical issues aside, I wouldn't do it.

Doesn't anybody just listen to their exhaust anymore?

Very hard to drown out my exhaust note, engine is very loud......

if yoiu re-seat the car, say with mazda miata seats, they are offered with built in speakers inide the headrest. that would be another option. maybe speakers could be adapted to the stock 914 seat too????

Nice mod Chappy

I typically listen to the drive train, but I do pop in a CD every now & then. The speakers in the door panels actually work pretty good, but I do have a couple of 10" subs laying around collecting dust. I've thought about constructing some sort of form-fitting enclosure in the trunk

Fieros did that too, and they're a pretty compact (and surprisingly decent) seat... designed for a small mid engined car at that.

Also, the later year Fieros have 4x6 speakers in the b-pillars. I own an '86 Fiero GT and I just replaced them. Not sure if mounting speakers in the b-pillars of a 914 is doable.

Chris
(auto_cran)

No, I added megaphones to my tailpipes and sold the audio system to a pawn shop

I saw the Miata seats and thought that was a great idea.
I was also looking at some small high $$$ mids. Too much $$$.
Now, after seeing the plate speaker idea I am drifting that way.
I took a quick look at my back pad and it looks like they may fit well.
It even looks like there is room for individual R & L channel for driver and passenger like the Miata.

My Back pads are not in great shape but they are not something I would want to cut up.
For my WRX car, I have thought carpet but don’t want to glue it to the bulkhead. I was going to make a F/G back pad shell to carpet.
I almost got in to that group buy but wanted to incorporate some custom work including speaker bosses in the shell. I have satalite tweeters in my A pillars now that are working great.
FYI, for anyone with a F/G back pad shell in the mail, I am sure this would not be a hard DIY.

Can you record your megaphones to CD for me?

Exhaust is fun for about an hour. After that it is boring as shit. Nothing better than some good tunes on a road trip, it make the whole experience that much better!

I bought one of these things for giggles.
Click to view attachment

It plugs into the cigar lighter receptacle, derives your engine's varying RPM from voltage fluctuations and transmits the sound of a V8 engine to your stereo receiver ... then you mount a couple of weather-proof speakers somewhere under the rear fenders and ...

I used to think that Chappy's mixing bowl system was ghetto, but for some reason I like it now

Recaro/Scheel used to sell a headrest that had built in speakers in it as well. It would mount in place of their 914 styled headrest on their seats.

I can't say that I've seen a pair in at least 20 years now. The Fiero seats could be a reasonable alternative.

It makes more sense to put smaller speakers closer to your ears than to fill your car with large speakers, amps, $$$$, and weight. No?

What options are there that are not prefabricated in other cars? I like the idea of the Recarro/Scheel setup.

Honda S2000's also had Speakers in the seats from 06 on

Depends. Are you trying to get tunes into the car, or are you looking for some actual sound quality?

You wouldn't go to a concert and stand with your back to the stage. That's what you are doing acoustically when you put your main high frequency speakers behind you.

You also aren't going to get much in the way of mid bass (or anything under 400 hz) from a 4 inch speaker. You are leaving a serious hole in the frequency response. 400 hz is way too high for most subs to play.

I think for those of us that are resolved to have adequate sound in our cars, subs with headrest mounted high and mid would be doable.

Can It be?
Nobody?

I think Chappy's mixing bowls are great but don't think I need that much base.

"It makes more sense to put smaller speakers closer to your ears than to fill your car with large speakers, amps, $$$$, and weight. No?"

Driving home I could feel it.
I just can't say how much of a difference it made to move a little sound to the "A'' pillar.

It would not take much to make my drivers seat a 4.1 head set.

I still like 2 channel but I am drifting back away from the plate speakers.
I thought they made smaller ones. I still think they would work well for you.
You would need a grill.

I found this discussion:
http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diyma-...ail-panels.html

That lead me to Hybrid Legatia L3 on the high end
http://hybrid-audio.com/products/05-legatia.html

and others mentioned as well as a Kicker DS350.

I have all but written off the "B" pillars. Even considered the roll bar.

I started aimlessly laying up a back pad shell. See where that takes me.

That will work, but it may sound odd.

I am not real sure why you think that you need larger speakers and more watts to keep the speakers in the stock locations.

A 6.5 inch coaxial speaker can play a wider frequency range than a 4 inch can. You are going to be lucky to fit a 4 anywhere behind the doors. The wider frequency range will allow you to use less speakers, not more.

I have heard the L3's. Personally, I'm not a fan. I know a lot of people running Hybrids, and they usually don't do a lot for me.

If you want to hear them, I know a guy in the South Bay that I could hook you up with. Mind you he is Team Hybrid, and has more hours tuning his system than most here do building their cars.

Good luck with the back pad shell. I'd love to see that. I could use some FG skills.

I am still tossed in speaker setup.
Seems two small full range in the seat is best with R and L channel for each seat.
Not wanting to change seats. The more conventional way is something like the plate in the back pad.
I would think that is going to limit any detection of a RR channel for the driver.
If I do a custom back pad I would have far less limits.
I figured the mid is what I am missing the most.
I can't see a 3'' full range in the seat being of a very high quality but I may try something like this in the back pad:
http://www.clearwateraudio.com/cwc3d.html Still they would need grills.
I am up for any suggestions.
With all that said, if we could come up with a good set up to mount speakers behind the seat, not in the seat and not in the back pad for the 2 channel set up, I would be up to fabricating an inclosure.
Possible production to follow. It could not harm any of the OEM 914 parts.

It will likely sound strange. Putting the left so close to you and the right relatively far and off axis is going to drop its efficiancy a lot. Grab a couple of computer speakers and tape them to the back window as a test run. See if it works for you.

I am thinking the 4 small Clearwater speakers like the head rest speakers but move them back to the back pad.
I think, I have some computer speakers I can wire to find best location and fade.
Its a good test

If they are in the back pad, put some work into angling them so you only hear the speakers on your side.

If you are in the drivers seat and hearing your left on your left side, and on the right ear you have your right speaker and the passenger's left, it will play havoc on your hearing.

Your brain does weird things when it gets input like that and it doesn't know how to process it.

I installed a stereo and speakers in my car. Then I removed it. Rather listen to the engine with the top off.

The RS is far too loud for a conventional stereo. An iPod and sealed earbuds do the trick. Much cheaper (something that should really resonate in this community).

I'm just going to stick with my AP pods w/ 6" JL 2 ways and an 8" 8w3 in a custom footrest box. 4 way amp w/2 channels bridged for the amp. If that doesn't put out enough sound to cover the REAL music from the engine, I'm better off conserving my hearing with a quieter muffler.

I was pretty happy with it before even without the sub. Ohh, and my blow off valve WILL be ducted back into the intake.

I used to have a Kharman Hardon till I got the 914. Just fabricated up a fiberglass footpad to mount a sub. Now I need a cupholder

I did that PC speaker test with some little 1w speakers. I found you don't need much but it was greatly dependent on axis and distance.
I made a rough back pad shell and have four of these VX-S35B speakers on order.
There is not much of a spec sheet so I am not sure what I will get. http://www.vidsonix.com/vxmarine.html#marine
This may turn out to be over kill with 50w max but my head unit puts out 22 RMS and I liked the 95Hz - 18KHz .
That will be another thread.

Looking for speakers, I may have found another option to the plates speakers, motorcycle speakers.
VX-M883BP or VX882FRB : http://www.vidsonix.com/vxmoto.html#moto
There may be a good way to mount these with out harming the OEM back pad. Maybe mount from the coat hook hole, something like that...

I have been in a few wrecking yards recently and found Fiero speakers in both. I didnt buy them as I think what you are doing is most likely better.