Rebuilding kickpanels.. need advise

[Troydb]

I have decided to try the Pioneer Premier TS-C720PRS in my kickpanels. My current kicks have CDT 6.5 HD's. When I built the kicks for the HDs it was my first time and they aren't aimed exactly where I want them. Also, they sound sort of "hollow" or resonating on certain tracks. It really sounds bad on Metallica's black album. They just have a real hollow resonating sound. The kicks are sealed so maybe I should have left them open in the back? Any thoughts?
Here's some pics of my current kickpanel setup:

Drivers side:



Passengers side:



Here's the questions that I am unsure of at this point:

- Where should each driver be aiming? The consensus seems to face the drivers side speakers at the passenger and aim the passenger side speakers at the driver.. Is this correct? Or should I aim them more towards the driver to driver and passenger to passenger?

- How can I avoid them sounding "hollow" or resonating?

- Should I make them totally sealed or leave the back somewhat open? I've heard of people drilling a large hole in the back of their kicks to let the speakers vent.

Any help/thoughts will be greatly appreciated!

[Rawr-DQ]

try stuffing them with polyfill, and yes aim passenger at driver, driver at passenger.

[kmanian]

^^x2

[mlstrass]

Why not put em in the doors as it looks like you have plenty of room?

[jellyfish420]

personally, i don't give a **** what the passenger hears. its my car! i have mine aimed at me, both sides. i would try polyfill for the hollow sound.
one suggestion though...your old ones are UGLY..it looks like a **** rock sitting on your floor. pop off that panel right there, strengthen it up a little w/ some glass. then build off that.

[ramos]

Part of your problem is the size of your kicks , they are way to small to be sealed for a 6.5" .

[TPABlazer]

I hear two thoughts on the aiming: each side to it's respective ear, or each side to opposite headrest. I'm not sure what is really better. Mine soud good and I aimed them opposite headrest.

[Immacomputer]

The sealed kickpods are your problem. Make them bigger and port them to around 70hz and you should enjoy those mids.

[Railrocker]

I usually pick a single point in the center of the car, in my standard cab truck it was the rear dome light. But maybe Ive been doing it all wrong, usually sounds good though.

[ramos]

See the thing about aiming is , it's different with every vehicle. I can sit here and tell you a starting point, but 9/10 it's not gonna end up that way after some listening tests. What works in one vehicle may sound like complete arse in another. I play with the aiming till I get the sound I won't by putting the drivers in baffles, then temp mounting them with some hot glue and wooden dowels, then stuff dish towels around the rear of the drivers and listen to them. Get your stage centered, it will sound low and **** as far as tonality goes while your testing. But you can get a pretty good stage image this way. There are other ways to get airspace besides making a big fiberglass rock sitting in your floorboards.

[Troydb]

There are other ways to get airspace besides making a big fiberglass rock sitting in your floorboards.

Well please tell me!

I am thinking about trying them in my doors. The stock location is about half way up the door panel and there is a lot of room to mount the tweeter flush and keep it close to the woofer. With an MDF baffle, I should have room for everything. I am just kind of worried about water/elements damaging the speakers. I'll just have to take the doorpanels off and see how dry it looks in there.

Does anyone have any tips or links for adding a 6.5" mid into the stock 5.25" location? Thanks!

[mile098]

The sealed kickpods are your problem. Make them bigger and port them to around 70hz and you should enjoy those mids.

wont that cause trouble in the mid section??this is not a 3way right?

[AcidicDreams]

Does anyone have any tips or links for adding a 6.5" mid into the stock 5.25" location? Thanks!

Make the hole bigger....














and make a baffle/adapter from MDF....

[mile098]

why did u put the tweet there, its the same thing as having a coax???

make a bigger panel, try somewhere around 7-8 liters and just fill it up if its too big...the only drivers that i know that work well in such a small enclousure are from Hertz, they too still need 2-3 liters and i doubt u even have that much...and the tweets in the a pillars, ull get a much soundstage

[Immacomputer]

wont that cause trouble in the mid section??this is not a 3way right?

Why would it do that? About a 1/2 an octave above the tuning frequency, the sub will act like it's in a sealed enclosure of the same volume.