Mobile Monitor 6501's Ride Again

skrol

One of the speakers in my Volvo V50 just blew. Normally I would have ripped factory speakers out in the first week, but this car with the Premium Sound Dolby Pro-logic II system has been very impressive. The speakers are by Harman / Kardon, the head unit by Mitsubishi and the amp is by Alpine. Except for the speakers, the system is interconnected by a fiber-optic MOST bus. Later years they switched to Dynaudio speakers.

The front doors are 3-way with 6.5" woofer, 2.5" midrange and 1" soft-dome tweeter. One of the woofers just died after 11 years and 193K miles of high dB enjoyment.

I was going to buy a new set of aftermarket speakers, and still may, but then I found my old Mobile Monitor 6501's (MM-6501) in the basement. These are the ones from the late 1980's that look like any other vintage Polk mid-bass driver. I had these in all my other cars (1990 Daytona, 1994 Integra, 2002 Volvo S40) so why not the 2005 V50.

Volvo makes some pretty odd mounting brackets for their speaker but I was able to un-glue and pop the 6.5" woofer out. It looks like the Polks will fit perfectly. Just not sure how it will all sound together though but I just gotta play. If it sounds like crap then I'll buy a new set of speakers.

Stan

skrol

This is what I've got so far...

codycatalist

Those are some sweet car monitors! I thought the older Polk MMs had the silver face, I might just be thinking of the Momo line.

skrol

The MOMO's did have silver cones and I think thet were designated MM65xx. These predate those by a few generations.

These have doped paper cones like the MW65xx mid-woofer that we all know and love. A later variant had a doped poly cone but was otherwise the same. After these came the DB65xx, then the MOMO, followed by the more recent Mobile Monitor MM65xx.

They actually blended very well with the rest of the factory speaker system and have a more natural quality. The factory woofers produced a nasty peak around 40-50Hz that could add some real thump but could get wearing.

The downside to these old Polks is that the cones are not very stiff and have a hard time handling the factory 130W Class-D (by Alpine) amp. This is a fast amp with a bit of slam and can abuse speakers if not careful. If I decide to keep this car for a while longer (has 194K miles) I think I'll put something stiffer in but it sounds good for now and is plenty loud for a factory system.

skrol

One of the spiders were detaching from the basket. I reattached it with a little epoxy and it is really sounding nice with these old drivers.

A little sound deadening helps too.

skrol

Hit a deer and the car is totaled. Yanked out the MM6501's to go in the next car.

skrol

No the deer was totaled too. They usually don't last long even if they get up and run.

My son and I are fine though. My son commented that he heard the bang but didn't really feel anything. I attribute that to the Volvo crumple zone design.

shilmoe

I had a set of those speakers in the late 80s. Best speakers I've ever heard in a vehicle, period. I'm hoping the new series does them justice.

skrol

I had to pull them out of the car last Nov when a suicidal deer ran in front of me and the car was totaled. When I get some $$$ I plan to upgrade the sound system in my present car and the old MM6501 will go back in or I may try the new MM's.