[S.T.U.V]

If the OP truly has a 3,500 watt amplifier, none of this will matter, anyway. That much power will instantly destroy a 6x9" speaker or any other size that can be mounted in a vehicle's door. That's more total power than many movie theaters use to fill tens of thousands of cubic feet with bone-jarring sound levels. The interior of a vehicle is only a few hundred cubic feet.

3500 MAX POWER.... So actual power per how ever many channels the amp is is wayyyyy lower...

 

[Reclipse]

LOL this is quite amusing,
**Are you going to list the product model #'s your using on this?

1st. Pioneer 6x9's that handle 3500 watts (nonexistent) the old Kevlar Revs are pry the last decent pioneers worth a damn and they were 250 rms. Still wont compare to a "OK" set of 6.5-6.75 components. There's probably 2 or 3full range speakers that exist that can handle that power

2nd. Really curious what kind of 3500W Amp. this is. Majority of these high output amps are Class D (Subwoofer Amps) with plenty of distortion. Really curious of RMS on this..

3rd. WHY? I can say yes you can do this but your going to trash your door panels for nothing, they will never seal right so unless your going free-air or sealing and dynomating the inside of the door. Then id/when you do this and realize factory sounded better you made swiss cheese of your door.

What is it you wish to accomplish out of this?

Its funny how people think that big power amps/speakers will automatically sound better. Sorry people big power typically means higher distortion

 

[K-Dog7469]

Five way speakers with only one input......
Nice.....

And I completely missed the 3,500w claim.
I use to work in live sound. You know doing concerts and what not. Our best professional amplifiers were 1,500 bridged mono into 8 ohms. 2,300w if we dropped it into 4 ohms. ( if I recall correctly ) This was into a true four way system.

Had I seen that claim sooner, I would of had a different approach to this thread.

 

[rollinhonda]

I focused on the installation issue. It was the only part of the post I could conjure up a reasonable response.

 

[Carsmak]

Pictures please...

I personally can't wait to see the final product. Everyone owns there own truck to customize/mod how they see fit.

I can't wait....

 

[coolbob]

I believe that Quality is more important than Quantity, but if you disagree you might be interested in these.

Here's some 6-way 6x9 speakers

And a 10,000 watt amp

 

[Dnick]

Cminke,
You are not going to be able to use your 6x9s .... they must have melted after having been so severely torched here! ! ! LOL :act024:

 

[Cminke]

as i am still new to car audio i am always looking for FACTS that can help me out and after looking at the 4CH amp i had picked to batch the RMS of the speakers, i had defs messed that up looking for a new amp now, im lucky i didnt buy it yet, had it on order but it has been pending payment, the 7x9's are my brothers and if your opinion is to drop them and go with 2 good 8" componant speakers id rather opt for that, assuming i dont have to do major modifacation. what im hoping to make come custom fiberglass holders and fit them to the door. advice?

 

[Cminke]

im looking for quality and loudness but it has to have quality or im not intrested, now that ive seen what yeh all have to see, i like th idea of 8" speakers, but will they fit/ be good enough? im also looking for something that if in gonna need to cutsom it.. that it looks good too if im droppin cash i wanna be able to show it AND here it. lit it be heard and seen, BUT i dont wanna **** up and make it look trashy.

 

[S.T.U.V]

The quality of the finished product depends 100% on your knowledge and skill level. Or how deep your pocket book is. If you have no knowledge of working with fiberglass I would stick to something direct fit.

 

[coolbob]

Cminke, Don't take this wrong, but I'm not sure if you are really looking for advice or having a little fun at our expense.

"Bigger" and "More" are not better for volume or fidelity (or your budget).

If your budget is tight and you are keeping the stock stereo, then just get four good 6.75" two-way speakers and install some Dynamat in your doors while you are installing the speakers. Crutchfield.com has good quality speakers, good prices and good advice.

If your Ridgeline does not have a sub-woofer, then you have lots of options for adding one, just search for what others have done. Four 6.75" speakers, dynamat and a Bazooka sub will be cheaper then four good 8" speakers, a lot less work to install and will probably sound better.

6.75" component speakers (6.75" woofers with separate tweeters), a good quality 5-channel amp and an quality sub that will fit under (or behind) the rear seat can really sound great.

Bottom line, installing four 6x9 or 8" speakers in the doors is going to require a lot of fabrication, won't necessarily sound great and if you haven't done this kind of work before, there is a good chance of you really screwing up your doors. Sell/give away whatever gear you happen to have and buy components that will fit without modification.

 

[K-Dog7469]

What is your budget?
Ball park.

By far you will never get better sound quality than with a nice component system. A nice crossover, a few amps, speakers, it all adds up super fast.

If I can jump on my soap box yet again. Pardon me for assuming, but I will assume you are young. If I can get you to understand one thing wile you are young is to protect your hearing. No one dumps coin into a fancy sound system with out loving music. If you love music, and you want to enjoy it for many years to come protect your hearing.
One big lie that a lot of car audio guys seem to buy is " Its lower frequencies so it doesnt hurt as bad. " No, 110 dB @ 100 Hz is still 110 dB. It is every bit as damaging as 110 dB @10k. Yes you will FEEL it more, but excessive decibels are excessive decibels no matter what.
I worked in live sound for many many years. I practiced "safe sound" as much as possible, but not all the time. With out question I have holes in my audio spectrum. If we are in a noisy restaurant, you might as well not talk to me cause I am not hearing much of what you say. I am only 45. I should not have this level of loss.
The other big lie is " my ears are used to it, or my ears get used to it " No, you are loosing your hearing. Ringing in your ears after high volume exposure is a sign of permanent damage.
Get some ear plugs, and or keep the levels moderate. Get a decibel meter from Radio Shack to see what you are subjecting your ears to.
Be safe.

 

[IanRTL]

I have to jump in here and say that trying to fit 6x9's or 8" round speakers in the front doors is a BAD idea. As was said, you'll need to do some major modifications to the sheet metal to even make them fit. Even then, the mounting depth in the doors would limit the size of speaker you can put in there. You would also run into issues with contacting the power window equipment and glass. My best advice to you would be to find a really good component set for front speakers. You'll have a 6.5" mid-bass woofer, a dedicated crossover network and a separate tweeter. You'll be able to gain the best sound out of these by doing a LOT of sound deadening in the doors using a quality deadening product and by using clean, steady power from a quality amplifier. Let me first say to not make the mistake of getting caught up in the wattage game. There is no real standard for measuring wattage output. Visonik can say their amp can put out 3000 watts while JL Audio will claim 400 watts - the JL will blow the Visonik out of the water as far as power and sound quality EVERY time. Spend your money on quality equipment and deadening. What are you overall goals for the audio system in your truck? You need to set a budget first, and then we can start recommending products that will fit it.

 

[Cminke]

budget is about 1000 grand right now but im flexible as i hope to have this as a coulpe week project. i was considering a blow though for subs in the trunk (maybe some 15's) or keep it to just under the back seats. a few things to keep in mind is i do have a nice set of high quality crossovers, EQ's and a a digital mixer and i have the nav screen and want to retain as much of the stock LOOK, with adding in some power and quality. my only problem is, my items are pro audio products and im not sure about the compatibility with a deck and amp. im also looking to buy off amazon.com (they have a huge selection surprisingly) im eager to learn and taking in everything you guys are mentioning. thanks a ton!

 

[Cminke]

a few i noticed were

Alpine Spr-60 6.5 Inch
JL Audio C2-650 6.5 inch
O2 OM6300 6 1/2 inch.

 

[Cminke]

and the
Rockford Fosgate R1675-S R1 Prime 6.75-Inch

 

[IanRTL]

So you have an RTL w/ stock nav? You do have many options. Judging by the want for 15's, I'm assuming you want some big bass. I would highly recommend sticking with a pair of downfiring 10's in an enclosure under the rear seats. A really good pair of 10's will hit down to 25-30hz where the range of human hearing bottoms out. 15's are extremely power hungry. You can make better use of your amplifier's power by using 10's. As far as the door speakers, I would stick with a set of component speakers that are dedicated for mobile audio. The ones you mentioned are great options, but don't overlook the Polk Dxi6501 and JBL GTO609C. They are both very good systems with high efficiency drivers and are less expensive than the others. Another thing you may want to look into is the JL Audio Clean Sweep. It's a sound processor that takes out all of the built-in processing or equalization done within the factory head unit. You then have full-range, clean signals going to your amps. If you do quality speakers, the Clean Sweep, amps, subs and enclosure, you're likely going to be in the $1500 range just for equipment and supplies.

 

[Cminke]

is the RTS w/ nav screen full range front and rear?

 

[IanRTL]

is the RTS w/ nav screen full range front and rear?

The RTL w/ nav has the four door speakers, a set of tweeters in the dash and the stock 8" sub behind the passenger seat. I'm not for certain on this, but I would certainly venture a guess that there is at least some equalizing and filtering that is done within the stock head unit. The sub is probably passed at somewhere around 80-100hz and the tweeters have a passive crossover built in to them that filter out the lower frequencies that could be harmful to them. I haven't had the stock head unit in so long that I don't remember is there is an option to turn off the subwoofer. If there is, that usually sends a full range signal to the door speakers.

 

[zroger73]

The RTL w/ nav has the four door speakers, a set of tweeters in the dash and the stock 8" sub behind the passenger seat. I'm not for certain on this, but I would certainly venture a guess that there is at least some equalizing and filtering that is done within the stock head unit. The sub is probably passed at somewhere around 80-100hz and the tweeters have a passive crossover built in to them that filter out the lower frequencies that could be harmful to them. I haven't had the stock head unit in so long that I don't remember is there is an option to turn off the subwoofer. If there is, that usually sends a full range signal to the door speakers.

Yes, the subwoofer turns "off" when adjusted one "click" below the lowest setting. Full range frequencies are always sent to the door speakers regardless of whether the subwoofer is on or off or what level it is adjusted to. In other words, turning on the subwoofer does not cut low frequencies from the doors speakers. The head unit does have a low-pass filter on the subwoofer output. Bonus information: The subwoofer output is a summed and low-pass filtered version of the rear speakers. If you fade all the way to the front speakers, the subwoofer output goes to zero.