Kickers 6*9 - How to sqeeze more bass?
 

Hi,

I am facing a relatively small problem with the new pair of 6*9 Kickers 6930. They went as rear replacement in my Impala and therefore almost perfectly fit the original openings. I am still breaking them in, but it seems that they lack bass response. With 70RMS per speaker I was expecting them to deliver deeper and louder bass.

I took a look from underneath (o boy you can sleep in Impala's trunk) and saw a lot of gaps there, so the top and the bottom part of the woofer are sharing same "air space"

I've installed 6 1/2 components in the front doors completly sounddeadened and the bass response is amazing. The front actually delivering more than 75% of the bass than rears.

Well, here is the question. Make the rears work in the enclosed environment (make boxes for them) will increase bass output? Kicker however suggests that these speakers are designed to work in open air.

Anyway, will try to figure out myself, but if anyone has any advice/recomendation to share - will really appreciate it.

Thanks.

Close up all those holes..cover them with dynamat type material, and use some expanding foam to seal off the rear deck from the trunk as much as you can. Guaranteed bass...I always do this and my systems play without my sub on with very good bass response.

you're having cancellation issues (rear wave meeting up with the front)
Do as the post above suggests and it should help

the fronts are putting out 75% of the bass as they are 75% closer to you ;)

Thanks guys. Have to get dirty again :-(

rear fill FTL

Hey Jalat, I am not sure what are you talking about (fill FTL) but the picture of the sub on your profile asks for respect ;-)

Anyway I just got from home depot got some expanding foam and filled all gaps directly or indirectly between trunk and rear panel. Really messsssy and sticky stuff this foam is :-(

Did not do speaker holes yet - seems to be delicate task, need sun light :-)

SSSSSSSSSSSSSssssSSSsssorrrryyy, the finger got stuck to the keyboard :-)

FTL = for the loss
basicall saying that i am against rear fill.

my avatar is a midbass speaker from focal's $180 000 home theatre speaker tower. i think it looks cool

Thanks for the plain language :-)

Anyway I am going to kill all the holes. I just gave a run with "half-way-done" insulation and already see (hear???) the difference. Will seal it as a SUBMARINE tomorrow :-)
As for the sexy sub - i trust ONKYO. But this heck of a different story. In a nutshell:

Panasonic Full HD home Projector scratched to tremendOOOOOus 150 inches screen
Feed by Toshiba A2 HD DVD & Sony PS3
Onkyo (is it 605????) with 5.1 complete set up. And all these in 20 * 12 feet room with high ceilings :-) Pulled all baseboards to make wiring invisible. All through wall plates. Sweet :-)

Sorry for OFF TOP :-)

Well - we are done. As it was advised all holes are filled with the expanding foam (such a sticky substance - wear gloves please) from inside of the trunk.

The rear deck openings somehow were sitting on the edge of the speaker;s rubber band so I did trim them and nicely sealed with the same expanding foam. Very delicate work. Speakers were covered with heavy duty clear plastic to protect them as foam inevitably would expand onto the woofer surface. Waiting for all this stuff to dry out to remove plastic + gently trim = test the results.

Thanks for the advice.

Could you post some pics, and possibly what you did in more detail.
I'm thinking of doing the same.


You'll have to give us a final update on how well this worked for you.

Worked for me.
 

Njord, sorry no cam avaialble as I've left it at my friend place. It is a relatively easy task. Take two black cans of expanding foam "Good Stuff" - they are for bigger gaps/holes and spray in them. Before you do that consider few things:

1. The foam does expand. You might put some pressure on things you do not want to put pressure on. Some sort of wiring/switches whatever it might be. In my case it was tiny trunk light lid. The expanding foam can easily pull a tiny wire or a switch.
2. The dried foam is hard to remove. If you buried wiring/switches you might have a problem later with replacing or even running new cables in the trunk through the holes which were available before the foam party :-)
3. Important - wear gloves and protect eyes. This foam is the ugliest think I've ever worked with, with the exception of my boss :-)
4. So following the above - have fun and fill up as many holes as possible !!! One TIP here. If you have a powerful flashlight, wait until dark outside and put it on the rear deck - you go in the trunk and fill the gaps you see the light is coming from first. As a lot of holes are not air-space-connected between trunk/cabin. But I filled them anyway :-)
5. Speakers surroundings was a tricky part - which I would never attempt again. The job was nicely done and speakers now are tightly insulated by the foam, but having razor sharp utility knife cutting excessive well expanded foam within few mils of the woofer surface - is wrong. For that reason I am not sharing ideas in this particular regard - as I can blaim only myself for poor planning in a first place. I reiterate - do not do it the way I've done it. (If u drive Impala - I can share ideas how to do it differently, if u drive another make you will have to deal with accordingly)
6. Wait for few hours and trim with the utility knife.

Bottom line:
1. 15 bucks spent on foam
2. Black jacket is ruined with the sticky foam :-(
3. Will take another few days to get this sticky shXt from my hands :-(
4. Good luck with trying to remove rear deck now :-(
But most importantly:
5. The sound in general and bass deepness in particular does worth the effort. For 15 bucks and 1 1/2 hour of :stroke: - in my personal opinion you are getting obviously better sound as much as you could reasonably expect out of 6*9s.

Will I do it again? Yes.
Will I recomend to do it? Yes.

Thanks to all who shared ideas here :appl:

:-)

curious to know exactly what you did with "5. Speakers surroundings was a tricky part"
Please tell me you didn't foam around the basket of the speaker, sealing the back of the cone off from the rest of the trunk...
If it's just around where the speaker is mounted (I dont know why there would be gaps here, i'm talking about the actual "cutout" of the mounting hole) then why not use a product easier to apply and more dense, like clay?
Anyway, just wondering what ya did :)

Yeah it can be a little messy the first few times you use that "stuff", but it's worth it! Rear fill ftw!!

Aussie1978
Well, too bad I have no camera to make pics avaialble....


Please tell me you didn't foam around the basket of the speaker, sealing the back of the cone off from the rest of the trunk... No, I did not. The rear surface of the speakers is pumping air in the trunk, they are not enclosed from the back/underneath.

1. Speakers are sitting on the rigid plastic ring. Plastic ring is sitting on the vehicle body/metal. There are no problems here as it perfect fit. No gaps to insulate.
2. When I was putting the rear deck back on top of the mounted speakers I took a look to see if it all fits. I found that the rear deck opening does not exactly match the speakers outter edge shape. And yes this is replacement 6*9 to new 6*9. Why? I dont know. It is almost like the woofer rubber band is 6*9 but the rear deck opening is 5 1/2 * 8 1/2 :-(
3.Rear deck opening edges were almost touching the surrounding rubber band of the woofer. If woofer pumps - the edges would inevitably get in contact with the rear deck openings. You know what friction will do.
4. For this reason the rear deck openings curve was trimmed/widened to ensure there is no contact between rubber band edge and rear deck per se.
5. Now if have 1/2 inch gaps.
6. Now we have to foam them

Some updates here: Now with the day light I did reevaluate the "project". No need to use sharp knife. The foam could be gently removed by your hands, no harm for the woofer.

I think the challenges explained above is my praticular case with my particular make. However the general approach might be used in insulation or improving insulation for other makes.

And yes, yes, yes - the bass response is much greater. Much.

Clay - is not expnading and most likely very vulnerable to heat and direct sun light. I assume it would crack/fall apart eventualy, while the foam is realy-realy tight, sticky and fills all gaps including those you do not see.

the fronts are putting out 75% of the bass as they are 75% closer to you

Who said I don't have a driver? :-)