6.5" MOMO comps in a Subaru Outback

Airplay355

I need to get a pair of 6.5" momo comps into a subaru outback limited...So far the biggest hastle is finding a way to get the speakers to fit in the stock opening. What I mean is that they are too deep because the front window drops down and would hit the speaker.

I could use the supplied spacer, but then how do I know that the woofer won't be touching the door panel after I close everything up? Couldn't I damage the surround or the cone if the woofer was beating itself against the door panel?

Should I just listen for vibrating and if there is none I'm safe?


Another thing...I know polks speakers are rated to be fine for water but how about ice? This car will be in maine throughout the winter so I'm afraid snow on the window will melt, find it's way into the door panel, onto the speaker and then freeze. My 5.25" momo comps survived winter in another car but the window in that car did not drop down right behind the speaker. Should I be worried or will the speakers be fine in the door?

I think I might just take some thin foam and make a 3 sided baffle with the bottom open. That way if water did get in, it wouldn't collect in the baffle and water wouldn't run from the window onto the speaker. How's that idea sound?

exalted512

I've had to put washers in the bolts on the window track to space it out in subaru's before to clear speakers, along with a spacer. I've never had any problems of it hitting the door panel, but you'd just have to be really careful and do the best you could to make sure it wasnt hitting, as it will damage the surround.

I dont have any experience with ice, so i couldnt tell you if itll harm em or not, but, you can buy some of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/XTC-6-1-2-Acoustic-Foam-Speaker-Baffle-VXT652-1-pr_W0QQitemZ290227559072QQihZ019QQcategoryZ50552QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

Just make sure you cut out the lower half so they don't act as an enclosure.
-Cody

Airplay355

Thanks Cody.

What do you mean you put washers in the bolts of the window track? You pushed the track farther back out of the way?

Mike B.

In most cars you can remove the lower window track/frame bolts, on the inner door and "space" the widows track back from 1/4" -3/4" from the inner door with washers without it binding up . It a trail/error kind of thing , dont go too far or the window will bind/break. Sounds scary, but its really easy once your in there.......

Airplay355

Ohhh I get it now. Thanks Mike.

How will I know if the surrounds start hitting the door panel and how soon after that happens is something going to be damaged?

Oh yea and how did you wire components in the previous subarus you've worked on? Should I just use the stock wiring or fight with wires to get them through the rubber tube in the door jam? That's what I did on my mazda protege and it worked out fine, but the subaru seems like its meant to be more watertight so everything rubber is doubly thick and doubly sealed (atleast compared to the mazda lol).

Mike B.

On the surrounds you just have to measure the door panels/grilles stand off from the sheet metal and work backwards. Its been awhile working on a "subie", but I think the supplied spacer will work. You should be able to see through the factory grille with a flashlight, and check that the surrounds are not hitting the grille.
Also if needed ,twist and remove the "beauty" cover off the magnet to gain a bit of clearance in the door.
In several cars I've had to remove mold castings off the back side of grilles to get clearance, but cant remember on a Subaru . It will be audible if the speaker is hitting the grille, and as long as you dont continue playing it ,all should be fine...

I almost always used the factory wires,( unless I got $$ for rewireing), on most simple systems its not worth the hassle to fish wires, or risk damaging plugs, small guage wires,..Mount the X-over under the inner door panels arm rest area( may have to trim some foam), and mount the tweeter in the "factory" location near the door pull...

exalted512

^^^^

Airplay355

I was going to put the XO in the car because putting it in the door voids the warranty (or so I thought). I think I'll still be able to use the factory wires though, atleast I can use the factory wire from the speaker to the XO and then use new wire from the XO to the HU. That will probably be easy I think. I'm gonna try it all tomorrow, so hopefully it works out. Thanks for the help guys! I'm sure I'll have more questions once I start doing things.

Mike B.

As long as the x-over is between the door panel and plastic barrier, your fine. NEVER put it inside the door cavity......
good luck, if I cant sleep I'll check in ....

Airplay355

So I got the HU in perfectly fine...I put the crossovers between the wiring harness I bought from crutchfield (which is clipped into the stock wiring harness) and the wires from the back of the HU. Turned everything on and the stock speakers already sounded much better then with the stock HU.

So I pop the door panel off and here's where my troubles start. First of all, the stock woofer is held in place with 3 screws in a triangle pattern, so now I'll have to drill some holes to get the spacer to fit. No big deal, but just more work.

Next problem is how the hell are these things wires? The tweeter has a red wire with a yellow stripe and a white wire with a black stripe. So I wired white to black (on the momo) and red to red. (I clipped the stock plastic connector off). The woofer has two red with yellow stripe wires going to it and two white with black stripe wires going to it.

Here's what really confuses me. The speakers only work if I twist the two sets of wires going to the woofer together. I twisted red to red and white to white. This lets both speakers work, but they barely put out any volume. It's like barely audible.

I know everything past the HU is fine as the other stock speaker in the door works great (even with the polk XO wired into it).

So how should I wire the momo speakers so they work?

Airplay355

OK so my problem gets worse. I hooked up the XO right to the back of the HU and then right to the speakers, just to make sure that nothing was wrong with the speakers. THEY BARELY PUT OUT ANY VOLUME! The HU is fine because the stock speaker in the other door is working fine and sounds much better then the polk speaker. What's wrong with my speakers?

The wiring isn't f'ed up because it's directly hooked up, no stock wires used. It goes HU --> wires on back of HU --> crossover --> wires to polk speakers.

Are these polks just not meant to be run off a HU?

Airplay355

So after talking with someone at polk, apparently I need an amplifier to use these speakers as a HU just doesn't have the balls to really make them work.

Anyone have an amp they want to sell that will work with these? Or does anyone know of a 2 ch amp for around $100 I can buy?

Greg Peters

Airplay355 wrote: »

So after talking with someone at polk, apparently I need an amplifier to use these speakers as a HU just doesn't have the balls to really make them work.

Anyone have an amp they want to sell that will work with these? Or does anyone know of a 2 ch amp for around $100 I can buy?

They're right- the Momo's won't do much powered off only a head unit.

You have four of them? I guess you'll be amping the fronts using a 2 channel amp...that budget doesn't leave much room to work with. About the only real deal on something worth having for that budget would be:http://www.cadencestore.com/ProductCart/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=58

I know these are marine amps, and yes they do work well in a car...the reason they are the price they are is because the heatsinks arrived from the supplier in the wrong color (silver instead of white), so Cadence is blowing them out super cheap.

You could get one of these: http://www.cadencestore.com/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=58&idproduct=479 to power your front speakers,

one of these: http://www.cadencestore.com/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=58&idproduct=480 would do a nice job on all four, but the Momos really shine when powered towards their RMS rating, and that would require more power than you've budgeted for.

Airplay355

Thanks for the suggestions greg...No, I only have 2 momos...the speakers in the rear doors are the stock speakers which can be powered off the HU but will most likely be turned way down as I don't like rear fill that much.

I finally figured out a way to get the wires through the rubber boot so I could have the XO's inside the car and so I didn't have to use the extremely small and crappy 22ga wire.

I was thinking of getting one of these to power the momos? I've heard people say these are good beginner amplifiers and it doesn't seem THAT expensive. http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?i=489HA1000&search=Profile%20VENDORID489&searchdisplay=Profile

What do you think?

Greg Peters

Airplay355 wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions greg...No, I only have 2 momos...the speakers in the rear doors are the stock speakers which can be powered off the HU but will most likely be turned way down as I don't like rear fill that much.

I finally figured out a way to get the wires through the rubber boot so I could have the XO's inside the car and so I didn't have to use the extremely small and crappy 22ga wire.

I was thinking of getting one of these to power the momos? I've heard people say these are good beginner amplifiers and it doesn't seem THAT expensive. http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?i=489HA1000&search=Profile%20VENDORID489&searchdisplay=Profile

What do you think?

The Profile would do rated power (or close enough to it)...as far as entry-level amps go, they're about as good as they get for $109. I believe there was an outlet online selling refurbs for way less (if you like to live on the edge ).

Refurbished, direct from Profile : http://www.profilecaraudio.com/amplifiers.htm

Airplay355

I most certainly do like to live on the edge. Thanks so much for showing me that page! For $45 and a 1 year warranty who cares. If it only lasts a year it's still worth the $45...atleast I think so. And in a year I can get something nicer and send it to sub duty or something. Thanks so much again!

Now if only fishing for wires was easier...

Greg Peters

Airplay355 wrote: »

Now if only fishing for wires was easier...

They do make a special tool for the job, but I've successfully greased up a coathanger (after bending a tight "U" shape in the end) and fished wire through those weatherproof boots in the doorjambs before. For really tight boots, skip the bend and tape your new speaker wire tightly to the coathanger before pulling it through.

Airplay355

Luckily for me the boot isn't very tight. I was trying to do it without any grease and holy **** what a pain it was.

As soon as I greased everything up it slipped right through. I did in 15 minutes what I had been trying to do in 3 hours. oops

Airplay355

Got the passenger side door done this morning Both XOs are going to be inside the car just like I wanted and now it will be easier to add an amp. I'm not going to even bother hooking up the MOMOs until I get an amp because they don't even work off the HU power.

I bi-amped them with the HU just to see if they actually did sound better with more wattage and they certainly did, but even biamped the HU doesn't have enough power for them.

Now I'm off to the dealership to pick up the storage pocket I ordered. After that I'll put the dash trim back on and be good to go

Airplay355

Woo I got everything in today and it all looks great The storage pocket fits perfectly (after a very tiny modification) so everything looks like it's meant to be that way!

I need to modify the stock cover for the tweeters so that it covers the momo tweeters. The momo tweeters are too big to fit under the the stock cover, and without the cover things look a little half assed. I think I could dremel out a round part so the tweeter will fit through. the only problem is that it won't fit perfectly. Could i use body filler or some kind of moldable plastic to make a smooth perfect enclosure?

Have you guys done this before and what product to you recommend?