Speaker mounting question

[ElementalDragon]

Ok.... here's my dillema. I've been really eyeing this one set of Component speakers to have installed in my Smart. The only problem is that the woofers have a mounting depth of 67mm. Going by the Polk Audio DB651's which seem to fit..... the speakers i'm looking at are roughly 9mm deeper. Since i'm assuming this would probably interfere with the window operation..... does anyone know if it's possible to get them to fit somehow? maybe adding something between the outer ring of the speaker and the door panel to give it that extra depth that it needs?

Seeing as curiosity would probably raise some questions, the speakers i'm looking at are Hertz Hi Energy HSK 165 2-way Component speakers. Not on the cheap side..... but my '09 Brabus wasn't really cheap either.

[sharkdog1986]

You could always have a set of acrylic or aluminum spacers made to shorten the depth.

[ElementalDragon]

Might ask the place that i'm gonna have install them if they have something that would accomplish that. Hopefully doing such a thing won't make it look odd.

[NCC1701]

I had a set of JBL 660 GTis installed. In order to avoid the window mechanism, they were top mounted. They're something like 9 mm deeper than the DB651.

[JimDantin]

What's wrong with the DB651's? Have you heard them in a Smart? They work very well and fit perfectly. Of course they ARE much less expensive!

[ElementalDragon]

Well..... like i told the manager where i work when i mentioned it to him. If i had a car with more speakers, like my old Durango that i put 4 Pioneer 6.5" speakers in the doors, plus had 2 12" subs in the back, high quality speakers wouldn't be much of an issue (which those Pioneer's weren't expensive either). But seeing as it only has the spaces for two woofers, two tweeters, and the underseat sub, i'd rather not skimp on the speaker quality. Those HSK 165's seemed to put out quite a nice thump on their own, and i think i'd rather get rid of the tweeters in the dash than just buy a slightly better quality speaker for in the door to just mask the screech of the stock tweeters.

[sato7]

Elemental... you can fit a sub behind the glove compartment... there is a huge area there ready for a sub box. Oh by the way JL now has a custom box and 8" woofer that fits in there.

[ElementalDragon]

Well, they got the speakers to fit in the doors just by bottom mounting them. Only thing is i'll probably need at least a different head unit, since for one it'd provide quite a lot more customization for sound levels, as well as probably provide more power for the speakers. The guy at Mobile Edge was tellin me about ones that he had with bluetooth, 2 USB connections for things such as external storage or iPod's, auxiliary input, etc... for $250.... and i'm just standin there thinking "..... i just bought $400 speakers after just getting the car..... for the time being i'm looking at the sub-$100 head unit range".

[NCC1701]

Originally Posted by JimDantin

What's wrong with the DB651's? Have you heard them in a Smart? They work very well and fit perfectly. Of course they ARE much less expensive!

I have heard the dB651s. That was my first upgrade from the stock speakers. And, they are a very substantial upgrade, indeed! While I'm not familiar with the speakers being considered by the OP, I can say upgrading from the Polks to the JBLs was another substantial upgrade! In fact, more substantial than the first upgrade to the Polks.

It seems to me it just depends on how important the sound is to you. I wouldn't consider spending $2K on a set of wheels. Others do just that. Different strokes.

[ElementalDragon]

Well..... the Brabus wheels suit me just fine. haha. Though, it wouldn't be bad having the same size wheels on the front and back, but hey.... why fix what ain't broke? (says the guy who just spent $400 on speakers to replace non-broken stock speakers)

Gonna have to wait a bit til i decide to buy a different head unit. cash is kinda short right now.... or at least cash that i can spare to spend on stuff other than the car payment and insurance.