oatnet

Hey spider, you are observant!

Yep, Those are s-pods, loaded with crystal CSc50s's, powered by the previously unused rear channels on the OEM head unit. Having them up by my head really improves audibility at freeway speeds but the sound chamber inside the hoop is not really large enough for stunning low end, I really need to install a sub but don't know if I can do that with the OEM head unit. They are made by a local socal guy (pasadena?) if you do a search you will find them.

In the end, I am glad I installed them, but they were a real pain to put in:

1) The instructions recommend you pry apart the plastic hoops to run the speaker wire, but it didn't come out cleanly. If I were to do it again I would drill a hole instead, maybe in the top of the hoop, that I could plug later. OTOH the wires are completely hidden by the spod so as longs as I leave them in there is no issue.

2) The spods are hand-made so there are some quality control issues. The basically consist of the back pads (seen in the picture) with nuts imbedded in them, 4 long screws, and a metal plate in front that you mount the midbass and tweeter to. The nuts in the back pads weren't really lined up (see #3 below). I had to send the metal plates back to be recut because the hole for the midbass was more of an oval than a circle leaving a 1/4" gap along one edge. Then the tweeter holes in the replacement plates were cut way too large so I don't have them mounted very well right now, but I just let it go. The guy who made them dealt with me fairly though, sent me replacements promptly even before I sent the originals back, although by the end I could tell he thought I was being too picky, but HEY. I should also note that I asked for a custom cut that moved the tweeter holes to the extreme left (to be better centered around the driver) but I don't think that should affect the shape of the midbass hole.

3) They are hard to install. The trick is to run (4) 4"+ screws through holes in the front plate back and try to find the corresponding nuts in the back plate. Since the paths for the screws barely clears the hoops, this is a challenge; when the nuts are not lined up to be facing directly forward, it is a nightmare. In addition, I discovered that it is absolutely necessary to pack the chamber inside the hoop with acoustic foam or it just sounds like ass. Once the foam is in there, though, it is even harder to find the nuts in the back plate, and the foam grabs the screws keeping you from tightening them down. I ended up putting clear 3/8" tubing over the nuts in back and fed it through the foam. This helped me guide the screws to the hole, and kept the foam from grabbing, but there is still (1) screw whose nut was misaligned so bad I just couldn't bolt it down. I recommended to the maker that he include solid tubes in his design to simplify installation, I don't know if he did so.

Other issues: I think that the front plates are too thin and don't provide a good resonating surface for the speakers. The front covers, clad in nice blue leather, look great but when in place my speakers sound muffled, like I filled them with a pound of hamburger, so I just leave them off. I think seeing the mid-bass driver through the seat hole looks good though. In retrospect, with not using the front covers and having to worry about fitting under them, I would have left the drivers out when I installed the spods and surface mounted them afterwards.

Cost for the spods, shipping, tax, and leads for the rear speakers from the OEM radio came to $290. The speakers were $180. So all told it took about $500 and 9 hours to get everything done. Despite my complaining, now that it is done I am pleased by the results, and would recommend the spods to others as long as they aren't expecting factory-precision manufacturing. The hoops are a great location for speakers and it is definitely an uncommon mod.

JD

oatnet

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Convict

oatnet

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DragonHeart

DragonHeart

Yes,I have parking in Hermosa we have a garage,but we might be moving to S.Redondo in a couple of monthes......Regardless,I'd love to join the South Bay crew.....How many are you???

wanabe

one here...

Midnight Runner

florence and normandy.. i hear that's a nice place

DragonHeart

[QUOTE]Originally posted by oatnet

DragonHeart

oatnet,

I saw you cruisin down the Esplenade tonight........Around 6:30 ish......