Enough mid bass or no?

[ashren315]

I have a 2013 Spark that I'm about to put a SQ focused install into. It has 4" speakers in the front dash so I am going with Focal ES 100 components. I'm wondering if they will give me enough mid bass for decent front sound staging or if I will likely need to add custom door panels with 6.5s. If I need the 6.5s would getting a set of Focal ES 165s be a good idea or would having that many tweeters be overkill and ruin the staging? I will also be using a 3Sixty.3 for my DSP if that helps any.

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[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Get the 3 way set. The 4in will not cover midbass

But buy them raw since you won't need the crossovers.

 

[ashren315]

Can you buy Focal sets raw? I can't find them that way.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Can you buy Focal sets raw? I can't find them that way.

talk to local dealers or some representatives from focal. Maybe even woofersetc would sell piece by piece.

 

[subzero 5,000+ posts]

I have a 2013 Spark that I'm about to put a SQ focused install into. It has 4" speakers in the front dash so I am going with Focal ES 100 components. I'm wondering if they will give me enough mid bass for decent front sound staging or if I will likely need to add custom door panels with 6.5s. If I need the 6.5s would getting a set of Focal ES 165s be a good idea or would having that many tweeters be overkill and ruin the staging? I will also be using a 3Sixty.3 for my DSP if that helps any.

After reviewing the vehical sound system speaker placement, I think:

Putting a set of focal 4inchers up front would sound nice. You can use a coaxial set or you can do a two way comp and have custom a-pillar tweeter pods built.

You should look into treating the existing dash pods, see how well you can seal the pods and if they are big enough for a nice deep sound. If not, you will need to think about doing a door mod for bigger drivers like 6.5" midbass. Or you can look at doing kick pods with a aperiodic membrane.

I would not use the rear speaker location on the strut housing and just add a nice sub. However, due to limited space, I would consider alternative sub locations or a small enclosure or even small subs like the 13ws, 5ws, 13ks, Or even IBUS 8 - Focal 8" Shallow 2 ohm Subwoofer

Or a 21kx in a sealed enclosure . Maybe even look at the space up front for up front sub enclosure.

 

[the727kid 10+ year member]

Just did one of these over the weekend. Kept thinking to my self I could probably make a 6.5" fit in the 4" spot without too much modification.

The rear fill is a JOKE in this car. The speaker just sits there, the sound waves are not separated with anything... and they are 4x6. I would not even bother.

 

[ashren315]

I have some old 6.5" woofers from an old Fosgate FNQ component set. I may just find a way to build pods for the doors and use them. They had really good mid bass in my Ranger.

The problem now is building pods for those doors on the 2013 Spark and still make it look as factory as possible. The design of those doors don't leave much flat space to start with. Any ideas?

And yeah, I'm probably just going to disconnect the rear speakers altogether.

I did have one other thought for an option. There is a bit of space behind the front of the center console. I had thought about adding an 8" sub in a small enclosure inside that area for the mid bass. That would keep the "factory" look, but would the soundstage be ok with one mid bass woofer in that location?

 

[subzero 5,000+ posts]

I have some old 6.5" woofers from an old Fosgate FNQ component set. I may just find a way to build pods for the doors and use them. They had really good mid bass in my Ranger.
The problem now is building pods for those doors on the 2013 Spark and still make it look as factory as possible. The design of those doors don't leave much flat space to start with. Any ideas?

And yeah, I'm probably just going to disconnect the rear speakers altogether.

I did have one other thought for an option. There is a bit of space behind the front of the center console. I had thought about adding an 8" sub in a small enclosure inside that area for the mid bass. That would keep the "factory" look, but would the soundstage be ok with one mid bass woofer in that location?

Factory look. Look into a good car audio fabricator that can build you / modify your doors to properly accommodate the desired speakers. Yes, it is all possible. probably set you back $600-$1000 depending on how the quality and ideas play out. But paying the money to have it done right so you never have to think about it ever again or redo it is worth the cost.