Well after seeing Tim's MDF door mounts in his thread and some deliberation I decided to have a go and make my own poor imitations :P So far I'm pretty damn happy with them.
http://www.arach.net.au/~matthius/Unpainted.jpg
http://www.arach.net.au/~matthius/Mdf.jpg
They're 12mm thick MDF cut out using my old mans 18v electric jigsaw, basically just traced around the original mounts and removed bits I thought unnecesary. After cutting them I marked out all the holes and drilled them, the speaker screw holes just big enough to start the screws and the door holes a clearance fit as the screws tighten behind the door skin in little plastic brackets.

Once cut I gave them a quick coat of primer to give them some semblance of waterproofing and then coated them in Black for the fun of it. There was a couple of bits on the back side of the mount that I sanded down a bit to help with sealing as the door has a few different depths.

To actually seal the mount on the door I used All-clear(what can't it do :P) basically just ran a big bead around where the original foam/rubber seal runs and once I screwed the mdf down I could see it at least somewhat squished all the way round meaning at least for the moment I have it sealed, yay.

Now the main reason behind me trying this out is I got a hold of a Zapco Studio 300x amplifier recently and this will be the first time I've driven the Focals as they should be, even with a little MRV-340 alpine the door mounts were sloppy and I could hear them once the speaker started working. So I was worried what would happen once I gave them some power, for anyone interested the stats of the amp are as follows.

150 watts/ch @ 4ohm, 20hz-20khz
230 watts/ch @ 2ohm, 20hz-20khz
S/N ratio >105dB
Crossover range : 30hz - 720hz
Crossover Slope : low pass 12dB, 24dB/octave - high pass 12dB/octave
Damping factor : >700 @ 4ohm

And it looks like
http://www.arach.net.au/~matthius/Zapco.jpg

My stereo at the moment consists of the following.
Head Unit : Alpine CDA-9835
Front Stage : Focal Utopia 165w
Rears : Pioneer TS-A6995
Sub : Response 10" carbon fibre
Sub amp : Response 4x100rms
Front amp : Zapco Studio 300x 2x150rms

Before anyone thinks it, yes I know my sub/amp combo is a bit piss poor lol but as the funds come I'll be upgrading it. I'm looking at getting a Vibe blackair 12" in one of their Ported enclosures, whats everyones thoughts on this ? any recomendations over the vibe, I've yet to hear a negative comment about them hence my eagerness to try one.

So far I've had an excellent run buying audio gear nearly everything there is second hand and the only issue I've had is the 4x100 response is a bit muddy I think it's been over driven in a past life.
For the deck I paid $400 brand new(mistake from the shop)
: Utopias $425
: Zapco $350
: Pioneers $150
: Response $220(probably to much in hindsight, it's the old model)
: Response Sub $100(new, basically cost price)

So my advice to anyone who's not fussed whether they have the latest and greatest model or not is to go second hand, keep your eyes open, have a good look at whats for sale and research everything and you'll get your stereo a whole ****load cheaper. Ohh and do as much as you can yourself :P

Can't wait to get it all wired up, just in the initial testing on standard mounts the focals sound insane and almost render my sub useless.
Cheers for reading if you got this far :redface:

Matthius

Well done, looks good once installed.

They look much better than my doors!!

I am going to have to go along the same path as you have Matthius.....I am going to make my main baffle out of 18mm MDF, and then bog it all together to the door frame. I'm going to run the supplied grilles, and use a spacer, but angle it back by sanding it to about 5mm thick on one side, graduating it smoothly to 18mm (full depth) on the other side.

Basically will unscrew the factory grille, put the spacer behind, trim screw tags for the factory grille between the spacer and the mid-bass driver. This way it can be returned to stock if need be....

I will take full piccies when i get around to dooing it. Need to buy some tools first.... mainly a jigsaw.

I'm also going to cover the service holes as much as I can with the 10mm MDF.... and bog it all up. Once that is done, some spray/paint on deadener on the back of the trims, and we will see how it sounds. If it needs more, will introduce dynamat or something.

I've come up with a good idea for something to stop rattles (keeping your trims away from the farme and under pressure).... you need that PVA Foam... they use it for those camping rolls that you sleep on in your sleeping bag.

It's alot firmer that the open cell foam like on an acoustic tile, you could just cut up one of the sleeping rolls that you buy from Big W or something... they are about $12-$15, so its very cheap. They also make those gardening knee mats outta them, that is almost an inch thick compared to a sleeping roll that is about 10mm thick.

You just need to cut it up into pieces that will isolate the trim from the door frame.... say 3cm or 4cm squares. It will also dampen any vibrations.

Have you seen Tim's mounts Mitsimonsta ? they sound a lot like your idea, but you've gone further with the change to your own speaker grill, lookin forward to seeing it :) ohh and the bog in hindsight would have been a good idea, much more substantial than the all clear I used :bowrofl:

Matthus

Have you seen Tim's mounts Mitsimonsta ?They are the BIBLE dear Matthius!!!!
Tim's are very solid mounts..... nary an echo or resonance to be found in them. If Tim ever had a crash (god forbid), I reckon the doors would be in very good nick with all the bracing etc he has done to them.


they sound a lot like your idea, but you've gone further with the change to your own speaker grill, lookin forward to seeing it :)I'm just going to use the grilles that came with my new speakers. See the thread I started within the last month about 'new audio puchases' here: http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26782

See what I plan to do here: http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26904


ohh and the bog in hindsight would have been a good idea, much more substantial than the all clear I used :bowrofl: Bog is much stronger yes... but the all clear will actually isolate and dampen the MDF from the door somewhat, which may not be a bad thing. I'm thinking of getting that foam self adhesive weatherstrip that you put around door jambs to stop air coming in around the door frame to help isolate the MDF from the door panel directly behind it as another rattle preventative. Will still be screwed in very tight however!

Remember that any flexing of the mount you put the speaker on will cause a loss of SQ and SPL due to the driver's energy being dissipated by the flexing. The virtually pure solid mount wil not flex, therefore all the energy being pumped through the speaker will be converted to sound pressure waves rather than moving that useless piece of white plastic...... Less power required for the same output :cool:

Oh, and make sure that All Clear is an acid free formulation... otherwise it WILL cause rust where is touches metal.

I used an acid free formulation to seal around my subs: http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17603

I know about the acid free silicone from my aquarium hobby days....fish don't like it... can lower pH levels etc etc

They look much better than my doors!!

I am going to have to go along the same path as you have Matthius.....I am going to make my main baffle out of 18mm MDF, and then bog it all together to the door frame. I'm going to run the supplied grilles, and use a spacer, but angle it back by sanding it to about 5mm thick on one side, graduating it smoothly to 18mm (full depth) on the other side.

Basically will unscrew the factory grille, put the spacer behind, trim screw tags for the factory grille between the spacer and the mid-bass driver. This way it can be returned to stock if need be....

I will take full piccies when i get around to dooing it. Need to buy some tools first.... mainly a jigsaw.



GMC electric tools man :) soo cheap, the one I used from my old man is a 4 in 1 set with 2 batteries, has a drill, jigsaw(4 blades) an orbital sander and a torch. Basically everything you need to make door mounts ;)

Matthius

Yeah, or the supercheap auto $19.95 jobbies.....if it breaks, you just buy another and you still havent spent 50% of a makita jigsaw!

or the bunnings $15 jobbies, if they break you take them back and get a replacement.

hehehehe we went thru 4 jigsaw, 2 circular saw, 6 sanders and 2 drills building the house in rocky. i love 12 month replacement warranty.


Tim

Can anyone get me pics of splits installed in a TR, including tweeter position and also crossover position?