qts too low for door speakers?

[Siguy 10+ year member]

I recently ordered a pair of Dayton DC160-4 speakers to replace the factory woofers in the door. However, it didn't occur to me until after I bought them that the qts specification is only .33... I don't know that much about q-factor and such, but I know that people recommend at least .5 qts for in-door woofers. What is the effect of having an inappropriate enclosure for these speakers? Will they still perform better than factory woofers, or should I return them and order a pair of 8-ohm speakers with higher qts?

Or is there a way I can make the door behave more like an appropriately-sized enclosure?

They're to be mounted in my Saab 900SE, powered by a 125W 2-channel amp, with a 250hz low-pass filter. The factory 2-ohm speakers don't sound terrible, but not great either, and one of them has a bit of buzzing to it (which I can probably fix, if it turns out to be just something rattling around...)

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[Why So Cereal? 5,000+ posts]

You'll be fine.

A lower Qts can point to a preference for ported enclosure but, to my understanding, it changes anyway once mounted even if just slightly....

In my Personal experience, even low Qts mids I've tried did very well in my doors with good seals...definitely better than stock

 

[Siguy 10+ year member]

I'm just wondering if I should have gone with something like this

GRS 6PR-8 6-1/2" Poly Cone Rubber Surround Woofer 292-426

Not as fancy, and also 8-ohm, but far higher qts, and much cheaper.

And how would I go about making "good seals"?

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Neither of those choices is optimal. The DC160-4 looks more like a small subwoofer with the Fs of 30.3 Hz and the FR of 30 - 4,000 Hz. The 6PR-8 won't give you much bass since the Fs is 75 Hz. A sealed or ported enclosure would help extend the bass response, but in a door you won't have that. This is a non-issue if you have a subwoofer.

As for "sealing" the doors, this refers to sound deadening treatments that specifically address the usual large access holes in the inner sheet metal. The door will never truly be sealed, but it can become a decent enclosure depending on your goals.

 

[Siguy 10+ year member]

So, what exactly makes the dayton woofers sub-optimal?

 

[Siguy 10+ year member]

Either way, I installed them, and they're definitely a significant improvement from the originals. Of course, that's no surprise considering that the rubber surround on the originals had completely rotted away. There wasn't really any... speaker... left of those...