Looking at putting a set of the HAT Clarus 6.5" 2-ways in the doors. They look to be a pretty deep mount (78.5mm / 3.09"). Has anyone used these speakers in their doors or have another set that is as deep mounted? I've heard the door depth can accept up to a 3.5" mounting depth.

Also, does anyone know how much space between door structure and door card there is to play with (for mounting rings)?

Lastly, has anyone raised the tweeter mounting location to the a-pillar? Is/was it a vast improvement over the high position mount on the door card?

 

I have a set of MB Quartz 6.5's in the door and they were a tight fit because of the window track. They are listed at 2.5" top mount depth. Not sure if I could have gotten a 3.5" in there. I'm using the stock speaker mounts. I think you could probably make them fit with custom brackets.

 

Don't the A pillars have an airbag behind them? I don't think you want to mess with that. I have read that if you remove the A pillars molding, you have to buy new molding. It cannot be replaced. I don't know if that is try, but it is what the repair manual says.

 

I've got Imagine I61-2 in the OEM locations. The midbass required a baffle for installation. The mounting depth of the driver is 2 11/16”.

Off the top of my head, I think the baffle is 1.25" thick.

I can post pics if it would help.

 

Hey, if you have pics that would be cool to see your install. Sounds like they may be a tight fit.

A-pillars sound like they are out of the question.

 

You can do the A-pillars, its just a lot of work (not that I have done it but from what I have seen other folks do). That would definitely raise your soundstage.

Here is a crappy pic of a baffle with the window track behind it. The baffle is 1.25" birch, I had it made by a guy in central california.


Here is the driver side with the midbass mounted.


Do you plan on doing any vibration dampening / noise blocking?

 

Those look nice. I've used birch baffles in my fiberglass boat sub enclosure. They are rock solid.

I am planning on dampening and sealing off the entire door to avoid cross contamination of front and rear signal waves.

Were you able to retain the factory grills or did you use the HAT supplied grills once the baffles were installed?

 

Ah, the grills.

Right now, I don't have the factory grill on the tweets because of the press-in install I did. When I remount the tweets, I will use the factory surround but cut out the grill portion and replace it with TBD material.

Similar with the midbass. The OEM grill fits, but I don't like the hole pattern and material. I won't use the HAT grill.

I may paint the outer parts of the grill in my interior color (space blue), I may not. My grills will likely be black or a dark grey.

 

I'm pretty stoked now. You've helped me solidify my ideas. HAT Clarus - check.

Now I think I'm moving away from retaining the factory HU with an interface DSP and moving towards the CDA-117 with Imprint. Are you running Imprint on your 9887? I think a DSP is just overkill for a simple 2-way active w/Sub setup. I just was really hoping to retain steering wheel controls and OEM appearance in the install.

 

Where are you going to put your crossovers?

I am not running Imprint. The only processing I am doing (if it can even be called that) is time alignment to center the stage for the driver position. What are you using to maintain your steering wheel controls, the PAC or AXXESS?

 

Change of plans - looking at the 9887 now. Internal crossovers paired with a PDX - 5. Still need to investigate steering controls. What are you using?


Just got a notification that the HAT Clarus are en route. BTW, great deals direct through HAT via DIY forums. Scott is takIng care of awesome pricing.

 

Scott B. is a great guy to deal with and makes great speakers to boot... as for the steering controls i would go for the axxess by metra as the PAC units I've installed in many a car all have issues down the line or just don't work at all

 

Yeah Scott is a great guy to deal with. My Clarus set arrives next week. I ended up finding a gently used 9887 that includes the PAC-JACK, so we'll see how that works out of the gate. Have you used the Axxess interface in a Mini before? Their website states the kit has not been tested for use in Mini's.

 

There's at least 2 other NAM folks trying the AXXESS, grradams and gtg836b.

They may have had success.

 

@SD no i have not installed one in a Mini YET as i am still looking for one to buy... i did test drive a 2004 S (6spd) JCW 40th anniv and I loved it but I feel they want entirely too much for it 84k for 14.9k and it has the dreaded fan resistor issue i will keep looking and if it is still there when i get my funds right i will make them drop the price and give me a warranty if they want 14.9k for it