Turbo6

I recently sealed my front doors with a sheet of vinyl, then put U.Seal roof tape over that. It really helped reduce noise and made the pioneers sound decent. But I upgraded front speakers anyway. It barely sounds better than the paper woofers, likely because I'm not amp powered yet. Hopefully that helps!

Sealing those large and small holes in the door helped, but what about behind the speakers? I'm afraid to put foam or padding back there because if it gets wet it could hold in moisture and rust out the door. I've read threads about people's speakers rusting so I know it can happen if you're unlucky... and I am! lol So aside from dampening those holes, is there anything else to do on the door panels?

Which leads me to flush mounted speakers. I've searched and only seen a couple pics on the forum where guys have done this. Is it worth the time and trouble to build spacers to move the speaker closer to the grill? My thinking was it would obviously look better with the aftermarket grills, but does spacing the speaker off the door panel help or hurt the woofer's sound/performance? I would think you could aim them better for staging. It would take a lot of fitting and fabrication time to do it right though.

For anyone who's done any of this I'd appreciate input. Or if you just want me to stop posting questions tell me that as well.

YelloEye

iTrader: (3)

There are "cups" that they make for the back of speakers, small enclosures really. They'll isolate the back side of the speaker from weather.

riceburner

iTrader: (66)

an isolated fiberglass doorpod, though expensive, may be your solution

Turbo6

The biggest question is do these cups or "enclosures" sound good, or would it completely dampen the mid bass? Going from a big cavity to .05 cu.ft. would have to change something right?

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

the cups or whatever you want to call them make the speakers sound like ass

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

oh and the speakers dont sound better than stock because you went from a 2ohm to a 4 ohm speaker. so take the 15w or whatever the stock amp puts out and change that to 7w or so and ya. If you have an aftermarket HU you can do an amp bypass that should help. Also sound deadining inside the doors does wonders.

Check out my doors... full coverage with Second Skin Damplifer Pro covered by luxury liner pro

Also check out this thread on Useal
Vibration test results - P&S or not to P&S, that is the question... - Car Audio Classifieds

Turbo6

I dunno man, after I eat some taco bell mine has some serious bass!

I was pointing to the fact that some people stuff the door full of foam insulation. That would have to get wet though so it doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

I read that vibration test after I had bought a roll of USeal and did the front doors. The test did conclude that it at least helps versus nothing at all. For me, it was a test on sealing those gaping holes more than reducing door panel vibration. My volume doesn't go above 14 with me in the car so I'm not sure how extreme I need to get, though a quiet car is awesome! Does the dynamat and other brand name stuff have any odor to it? I noticed the stuff smells a bit like road tar. Maybe I can get the car sponsored by Febreeze!

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

with the foam you would just have to make sure its closed cell not open cell foam. but in most cases i would bet people use open cell foam to find a moldy smelly mess after a few years. Useal or anything really is going to help vs nothing but i just wanted to make you aware.

how extreme you need to get depends on what you are looking to accomplish. if your goal was to seal the chamber to make the speakers sound better then really any material will work to do so. i mean some better than others but still.

any good butyl product such as dynamat extreme or the second skin damplifier wont smell