I'm fed up with a combination of my tatty-looking boot blind and the tinny sound of my 6x4s in the stock location, so I've decided to build myself a parcel shelf and stick in some 6x9s. No sub is going in yet.

 

Thing is, I know nothing about the practicalities of parcel shelf building. However I do it, I'll butcher my existing blind to use the same mountings and central bar on which the shelf will hinge upwards.

 

Then I have 2 basic ideas- one is a solid shelf over the whole boot space. I guess it would be the best solution as a sound board, but the hatch gas struts would be too weak to hold it up if I strung it to the hatch.

 

Idea 2 is to have a solid shelf near the rear seat in which the speakers are mounted, but lighter material covering the rest of the boot, strengthened by metal L-shape struts or similar. Possible compromise on sound, but if the speakers are just pointing up at the hatch which-ever way I do it then does it matter at all?!

 

And lastly- what's the best material to use? I know the Saxo brigade all go for MDF so that was going to be my starting point. Also, would there be any benefit in angling the speakers to face forward at all? The sound would be directed towards the occupants, but then would I lose sound quality on the more elaborate mounting?

 

Or maybe I'm thinking to hard and should just get on with it... :slap:

thought about doing this myself, but my advice ( if you call it that !) is to invest in a really good set of components upfront and add a small sub in the back (10 or 12 " ) ...., as i have done..after all we are listenin to 2 channel stereo...imaging etc is so much better with one set, buy hey, good luck if you go ahead..

 

Mark

Mark

 

to be honest bud .. you are better off fitting decent components or 6x9's in the front, amplified prefferably .. the rear speakers are only there for "rear fill" the prob with doing a shelf on the zed is you would need a lot of supports as the rear trim is made out of plastic which could break/sag and even cause vibration noises

Fair do's. I already have components in the front, and damn good they sound too albeit lacking a little in bass.

 

Thing is, I like to be surrounded by sound and I don't like it when you've just got it all coming from the front; I imagine adding a sub in the back wouldn't change this much, just make things nice and bassy (not a bad thing mind! :D )

 

So I want the volume as a whole to be balanced around me, but the detail to be coming from my front components. If that makes sense. Ideally yes, I'll stick a sub in at some point but that's a bit off right now.

ZX Mad- Fair comment about shelf weight vs supporting strength & vibration there.

Fair do's. I already have components in the front, and damn good they sound too albeit lacking a little in bass.

 

Thing is, I like to be surrounded by sound and I don't like it when you've just got it all coming from the front; I imagine adding a sub in the back wouldn't change this much, just make things nice and bassy (not a bad thing mind! :D )

 

So I want the volume as a whole to be balanced around me, but the detail to be coming from my front components. If that makes sense. Ideally yes, I'll stick a sub in at some point but that's a bit off right now.

 

if youre lacking bass bud .. then try sound deadening the door .. youre probably losing it all through your outer door skin.. 2 layers on the door skin and 1 layer on the door is usualy enough to bring back the bass

Good point there- looks like I'll have to spend a bit of time getting the doors sorted first. Any particular type/brand of deadening material you recommend?