So thanks to @theraymondguy and his thread "My take on fiberglass kick panels", I'm now questioning my long standing plan (that is on track to be executed this winter as part of an interior refresh and update) to add Bose kicks to my T/A.

These are being added to fill a rather substantial gap in the mid-bass range. I replaced my dead factory 4x6 ovals in the dash and quarters with Infinity plates that have a 4" round driver and tweeter. This is augmented by rebuilt factory speakers in the UQ7 Performance Sound system (subwoofers). Looking back, I would not use those same Infinity speakers in all four locations (like the factory did). I'd mix it up front and rear with maybe an improved 4x6 in the rear. But I think given the nature (size limitations) and locations of the factory speakers, I'd still be in this hole. So I was hoping that adding 6" round speaker in a kick panel location would help fill that hole (works well in my brothers 914). Not chasing perfection here, just improvement. If I have to step back an inch or so in speaker size, I'm not sure if the mid-bass improvement I'm looking for will be there. May have to mock this up and do some testing.

So, umm, asking for a friend. Like you, my friend already has a nice pair of 6" Infinity speakers he'd like to use. Lets suppose this car stereo neanderthal had planned to take the small squarish Bose kicks (ported) from a Camaro, and add some modern 6" Infinity speakers to them. Not having all the specs needed to make a "proper" calculation on cubic feet of space needed, I found an older post on an audio forum that suggested a 6" speaker would need roughly .5 cubic feet, as a rule of thumb. Plugging the rough dimensions of the smaller of the two Bose housings into a cubic foot calculator, I'm coming up with a fraction of that at .09 cubic feet.

1) So what is the sound impact of not having enough space behind the speaker?

2) How did these housings work in factory form with so little enclosure space?

3) Would a smaller 5-ish inch speaker work better in these (apparently too small) housings?

 

Do you have that much available real estate in the foot-well?
it's not just the airspace of the enclosure, but also the material needed to make the enclosure

 

I'm re-using a pair of Camaro Bose kick panels, with the Bose enclosure. It's a small "tuned" box with port. They will obviously have to be modified to accept a larger speaker.

Here's an old TGO ad for a pair that were for sale.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...hwood-tan.html

 

I see. Nice.
perhaps you can build out "rings” of 1/4" depth and keep adding until you like the sound and then finish it off to colour (or color for those south of the border) match the enclosure

 

Are those bose kick panels any good? My "new" 88, that I bought a few years ago has 'em, but they never worked. Assumed they were an upgrade in 88, but not something worth using NOW, in 2023. I was looking at a 5.25" or 6" in the door. Sorry for hijacking but it sounds like almost the same discussion.

I'll be following along with what you do here.

 

I'll have to add some on the driver side for sure...it's the shallower one, and the surface is not totally flat. It's flat in the smaller 4-5" surface where the original Bose speaker was, but drops away after that. So I'll have to build up that surface to accommodate the larger diameter speaker. Then once I've figured out how to accommodate the larger speakers, I'll have to add a touch more to create some sort of covering.

Not hijacking....I welcome the discussion. And I don't know what they sounded like new. I've never been in a 3rd gen Camaro with a working Bose system.

I would "guess" that your assumption is correct, that they were a nice upgrade "back in the day", but that the small drivers would be considered sub-optimal now. That's why I was going to stuff some 6" inch speaker in there. But I had not stopped to consider the potential enclosure volume issue. I just wanted them for the ability to maintain some sort of factory appearance. Obviously anyone who knows these cars well will know they are "wrong", and I'm not trying to fool anyone. I just want that factory-ish appearance.

Like the current system, which was an incremental improvement over stock made a few years back, I'll probably try these in the second iteration of the car's stereo system, and see if they are "good enough".

 

Interesting. ....I'll keep my eyes open for any progress you make. I'm going to be wiring the car for audio this winter while the interior is out as part of the LS swap, but I doubt I'll make any hard decisions as to final placement.

 

Pfff, that guy 😒.

In layman’s terms, cause there’s guaranteed to be someone smarter than me.

1. The claim that a 6.5” driver may require 1/2 cu ft is a bit excessive - but * IF * you’re running the woofer full range (80 Hz - 8KHz {Dyno Dave has deep pockets, buys good stuff}) a larger enclosure will definitely improve the low frequency performance. If mid bass is the goal and you’re willing to set a crossover (12 dB +) to block lower frequencies to get it, then you’ll be quite happy with a smaller enclosure like a kick panel. Attenuating the lower frequencies will reduce woofer movement and in turn make it act like a smaller woofer. It’s all about air movement, the smaller the enclosure the harder it is to move air into it.

2. The factory enclosures worked because the “woofers” were tiny.

3. Absolutely. Reducing the cone area has the same effect as enlarging the enclosure, extending the range of a woofer’s performance.

Attached pic will give you some indication as to what you’ll be giving up. Frequencies 150 - 400 Hz are what add the warmth/fullness of music.




Wehateinflation is a 20% for Q Logic, drops shipping too.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. It's a fascinating topic. When I was 16, adding a a J.C.Penney auto-Reversing cassette deck and some Jensen 6x9s in the deck made pretty popular among my car friends. When I added a 60W booster and some adjustable Pioneer tweeters, well, I don't want to brag, but it was pretty badass!

While times and my audio tastes have changed / evolved, I'm can still be pretty happy with what most audiophiles would consider garbage. Remember: Progress, not perfection.

 

The speaker on the right is whats in the bose kick panels. It looks like it has a tweeter, but doesn't sound like it does though. Im trying to make a spacer that goes between the two bose halves. The bose speaker on the left fits in the passenger side kick panel w/o issue. I was gonna cut the front half to install the that speaker on the driver panel, but the spacer idea sounds better to me.
I like the bigger speaker panels some are making, but the foot well space they use is too much for me, bummer.