[Theslaking]

I am curious if I will benefit from putting my Eclipse 8071/8062 6.5's in a sealed enclosure. I know that nearly all sub woofers benefit from a properly built and tuned ported box. What about 6.5's is there an enclosure solution that nearly all 6.5's benefit from? Only technical data I can tell you is the frequency response 50-20k and continuous power handling is around 125. The doors are braced, sealed, deadened (CLD, CCF, MLV). I have had these installed for years and have been satisfied. I took every thing out to re place window motors, door handles, wiring, etc. I then noticed how much space I have to make some small enclosures. So in my normal line of thinking I asked myself "can I make this even better?". So can I? By changing the enclosure only? My next thought was if these were designed to be door speakers will the lack of air space hinder them? Was suspension and mass something that was determined with the door cavity as the enclosure?

 

[bugsplat]

Are you also running a sub? I have not read good things about trying to push 6.5s that low. 50hz is not low enough to replace a sub and if you do play a 6.5 that low you are going to loose your midrange with a box tuned that low. It will sound muddy.

 

[Theslaking]

Yes I have a sub and I'm not running the mids that low. Probably more like 70hz- 80. Just stating the little tech notes available in the product brochure. I do like Muddy Waters not muddy speakers. Thanks for the input.

 

[garysummers]

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...llery/139236-mercedes-midbass-enclosures.html


This was by far the most significant upgrade made to the system.

 

[Theslaking]

That's a thing of beauty. I will just have to seal off the area where the glass sits when the widow is open. No door panel modifications needed. Thanks for the link and opinion.

 

[Orion525iT]

Some pods I am working on right now.

I have rebuilt the door pockets too as part of the pods using some of the original parts. The design is so crazy because they are made to fit around the bottom of the window and also not interfere with the window reg mech. They are small pods, designed for an f3 of ~150hz for the drivers I have. That is an atypical xover to midbass, but my system is designed for it. The main point is that there is tons of work involved. You may be lucky, it may be way more simple. Some will tell you not to do it, for that reason alone. But there are benefits.

 

[Theslaking]

I'm not afraid of effort or time. I own a construction company in Buffalo. Used to working hard and Buffalo's winters provide limited opportunities to work. That leaves me with time and a heated garage. Recipe for awesomeness. I just hate wasting time for minimal or no gain. I have just never listened to someone's vehicle with a great overall system that had 6.5 in any type of pod. My mids already sound better than most of the people I know. Which sq friends are very limited for me. Bunch of 40yr old bassheads. So I am trusting the opinions of the fine forum members here that my time will be well spent on this endeavour. Thanks for you pics. And I am lucky enough to have a 7" by 4" open cavity the full length of door below where the window stops.

 

[RandomBeat]

go for it!!!

 

[Orion525iT]

Winters in Buffalo...

If you have the space to work, it makes huge difference. I actually sourced two full doors to do this build for $100 total. If you have a way to do that, it might be worthwhile especially if you are not very experienced with fabrication. It allows for errors that you can correct for on your actual doors. Once done with the fab, I plan to strip them of parts, and send the shells to the recycler. I had to cut metal to make the pods work, and the pods have a flange molded directly to the door so that they will strengthen the area cut. I used epoxy because it will cure even down to the 50's and it will adhere to the PP plastic of the oem door parts. Working with polyester is much faster and less expensive if you have heated space.

 

[Orion525iT]

There are some experienced people who will say it's not worth it too. Just food for thought...

 

[thehatedguy]

If you are crossed 2x Fs of the speaker, then it really isn't going to matter much since you are crossing high enough that the enclosure isn't going to dictate the bottom end response of the driver.

 

[LBaudio]

I've done a few sealed and ported door pods in the past. Usually sealed range from 7-12 liters, ported at least 10 liters with 1.5-2" dia port. tunings arround 55-65Hz.
use a lot of damping materials inside of the box, brace it if possible. Output is in both cases quite higher compared to IB install, drivers are protected against elements. You will need some work with EQ, hi-pass arround 60Hz....

 

[Theslaking]

Thanks for the input and examples. I still wouldn't mind some more opinions.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...llery/139236-mercedes-midbass-enclosures.html


This was by far the most significant upgrade made to the system.

Totally. For the life of me I can't figure out why more people don't build sealed enclosures for their midbasses.

 

[Theslaking]

Totally. For the life of me I can't figure out why more people don't build sealed enclosures for their midbasses.

After all my research I can't either. It seems there is no downside. From everyone's opinions and reading it seems depending on your tuning and/or door treatment you don't necessarily reap huge benefits, but it seems most do and none have had diminished returns.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

After all my research I can't either. It seems there is no downside. From everyone's opinions and reading it seems depending on your tuning and/or door treatment you don't necessarily reap huge benefits, but it seems most do and none have had diminished returns.

Oh they're definitely a pain in the ass to construct! But the difference in dynamics is startling. Here's an example:

Up until 2006 I used infinite baffle for my midbasses. I built my first sealed midbass enclosure in 2006. When measuring the enclosure it was startling how loud it would get. With fifty watts of power, the enclosure was loud enough to be heard a block away. I was literally nervous that someone might call the cops. (When you measure a loudspeaker, it makes a crazy whistling noise and it definitely makes the neighbors pissed. It's a really irritating sound to listen to. Imagine a 110dB whistling noise, and you have the general idea.)

I literally haven't put a single woofer in a car door in eight years now. I'm just D-O-N-E with it.

Sealed midbasses also opened up my eyes to the possibilities of using much smaller midbasses than I'd been using up until that point. IE, I didn't realize how damn loud an eight can get until I put one in a sealed box.

There's a flip side to this though; it also opened my eyes to how much woofer you need for a dipole. (And a door speaker is a dipole, make no bones about that.) I used a fifteen inch woofer for a midbass in some dipoles at home, and even with all that displacement, I was *still* running out of steam surprisingly quickly.

TLDR: sealed boxes can take a crapton of power gracefully

 

[thehatedguy]

And sealed enclosures in doors are a major PITA to make and look good.

 

[Bayboy]

Takes the right vehicle to pull it off as well.

 

[Theslaking]

There's a flip side to this though; it also opened my eyes to how much woofer you need for a dipole. (And a door speaker is a dipole, make no bones about that.) I used a fifteen inch woofer for a midbass in some dipoles at home, and even with all that displacement, I was *still* running out of steam surprisingly quickly.

TLDR: sealed boxes can take a crapton of power gracefully

I will have a couple 15's to make up what I need to

And sealed enclosures in doors are a major PITA to make and look good.

Fortunately I won't have to make it look good as I have .4 cubes+ of wide open space in the lower door to work with. I definitely have no finishing skills!

 

[Orion525iT]

And sealed enclosures in doors are a major PITA to make and look good.

To me this a big issue. The reason I posted pictures was so one could get an idea of the work involved. But if you look at the last picture, the pods are in an embarrassing state. You can clearly see that they are not finished and there is still more sanding and filling to do. I had and fairly thick areas of fill to get the old door pockets to match the contours of the new positioning(old pockets sat right where the pods are now located). You can also see that the cuts I made in the original door panel are not exactly correct around where the door panel meets the dash. Those errors in the cuts will need to be corrected when I start work on the door panels I actually plan to use in the car.

There is all the work to make the pods, and then there is 10x (at least) the work to make them look good. I have made the work much more difficult by using epoxy because of the 8+ hour cure time between applications. But it was the only thing that would allow me to work in lower temperatures and would also bond to the PP (polypropylene) plastic of the door pockets. Once they are finished and wrapped, they will look pretty good, but I still have work to do...

The long of the short of it is that you need either excellent fabrication skills or a tremendous amount of patience to get it right.

Takes the right vehicle to pull it off as well.

I agree to some extent. Having the right vehicle at least makes things easier. I have seen pictures of door pods that I would never use in my vehicle. Sure they probably worked as intended, and it is no slight to the fabricator, but some are just so large and obtrusive and plain ugly. Gary's car looks amazing, but a very skilled fabricator was involved. Some might be so lucky that they can hide the pod behind the door panel, but those vehicles are rare.

BTW, my pods are tiny for my 6.5" at ~4.5L I can't imagine pods designed for a lower f3 or for 8" or larger drivers.

I totally agree with Patrick's assessment on the benefits. But again there is a huge investment in time and money to do them right. Enough warning on the effort involved?