HELP! Infinity Kappa 60.9cs tweeter mounting issue...

[shdowflare]

Hey all,

I've been trying to get the Kappa 60.9cs tweeter mounted for about 2+ hours now. Here's a photojournalistic summary of what I've tried to do to "squeeze it in there". Please provide any advice here since right now I've pretty much destroyed the trim piece with severe modification and need to get the final strategy ironed out on this one before ruining the other side.

TIA,
B

HERE WE GO!

So first of all here are some shots of the two side-by-side (OEM vs. Kappa):




BTW, the OEM Bose tweeter is really a Clarion:



Anyway, as you can see the Infinity tweeter is HUGE compared to the OEM. But was determined to get it in there. I had to make SERIOUS dremel mods to the OEM tweeter mount trim piece to even get the Kappa tweeter to come close to sitting flat. I even had to completely dremel out one of the posts that held in the OEM tweet. I also had to remove the small cone on top of the Kappa to help it get in there:







After I got it in there it was still not sitting as low as it needs to. The screw in front here was supposed to sit flush on top of that plastic column. As you can see this thing is really jammed in here, and won't go in much further.


It's still sticking out of the top slightly, so the piece is going to have issue when installed:


Looks ok from this angle but this is not looking good from the side shots:



Before I could get it on there, I had to remove one of the nuts holding the side view mirror, as it was hitting the MONSTER tweeter:


Now that it's on after removing that nut, it doesn't look bad here:


But these shots confirm it's not sitting flat all the way down. You can see that the tweeter is so huge that it's preventing the trim piece from sitting flush (sideways shot third one down just below):






Here's the passenger side, perfectly flush:

[shdowflare]

Any clues? If I have to move the tweeter, maybe you guys can recommend another good front door location that:

a) logistically fits without major modding
b) will enable the Kappa tweeter to properly contribute to the sound field of this component system

Thanks guys!
B

[blazeplacid]

maybe take the tweets out of the housing?

[shdowflare]

Are you saying the Infinity tweet housing?

[blazeplacid]

yeah, most tweets you can take the back off with no problem

its usually a flat piece underneath. May not be the case here.

[shdowflare]

Yeah it doesn't look like that bottom comes off too easily. You can see the speaker wires connect right through it too. In addition, the allen bolts for tightening the binding screws is right on that bottom plastic piece.

I had thought this kit (including the tweeters) was pretty much a drop-in (except the speaker spacers, of course)... guess I missed the mark.

[SWANLOVE]

I have been following threads concerning speaker replacement. I saw people had no trouble to fit kappa 60.7cs tweeter and said it was almost drop-in.

It was a little bit surprising you are having a hard time. So I searched the kappa manual.

According to the manual

http://manuals.harman.com/INF/CAR/Ow...v14Mar2008.pdf

you should be able to remove the housing and bring out the tweeter itself.

I hope that this will help. Keep us informed how this goes. Kappa is one of my candidate for speaker upgrade.

[shdowflare]

Originally Posted by SWANLOVE

I have been following threads concerning speaker replacement. I saw people had no trouble to fit kappa 60.7cs tweeter and said it was almost drop-in.

It was a little bit surprising you are having a hard time. So I searched the kappa manual.

According to the manual

http://manuals.harman.com/INF/CAR/Ow...v14Mar2008.pdf

you should be able to remove the housing and bring out the tweeter itself.

I hope that this will help. Keep us informed how this goes. Kappa is one of my candidate for speaker upgrade.

First of all, not sure if it really matters but, I'm running the 60.9cs (not the discontinued 60.7cs) component system. And I read both the 60.7cs and 60.9cs manuals and I didn't see anything that states it's fine to disassemble the tweeter if necessary. I think I'm just going to drill through the OEM tweet grille, and mount the Kappa tweets so they're sticking out just a bit. I will keep you guys posted on my progress for sure... thanks for the help!

[jdmgee35]

I had the same issue with my 60.9cs, so I didn't even bother getting them mounted where the old tweeters were. They made a special floating bracket and placed it above the door speakers.

[shdowflare]

Originally Posted by jdmgee35

I had the same issue with my 60.9cs, so I didn't even bother getting them mounted where the old tweeters were. They made a special floating bracket and placed it above the door speakers.

Nice. You have any pics of your tweeter install? I measured the monster 60.9 Kappa tweeters and I don't think they'll fit very well into the OEM location, even if I hole saw through and let them come all the way through the OEM grill. They are almost larger than the entire OEM tweeter grill/sail trim piece.

I had considered putting in the door near the other Kappa "woofers". Your post gives me more confidence in that solution.

[shdowflare]

Well, after switching gears my Kappas are completely installed! I had to mount them closer to the woofers up front, as they were way too big for the OEM tweeter location.

Here are some pics of the install...

Hole sawed the door:


Hole saw close-up:


Dremeled out the hole as it was a bit too small, then hand-sanded to get the right fit:


Inserted the speaker mount:


It's ready for a tweeter now!


The tools I used:


Woofer installed, time for crossover:


This will mount my crossover to the door:


Crossover is all taped up and ready for installation:


It's in there!


Tweeter is installed:


Speaker wire connected to the tweeter in the door:


More red 3M tape to hold the woofer terminals:


Terminal mounted:


Crossover connected to sound system and woofer:


Tweeter connected to crossover:


Everything is hooked up!


Finished product:


Finished product #2:

[EncoreCestMoi]

not a big fan of that tweet location. They are supposed to be mounted high for a reason but I understand why you had to go there.

I have the 60.7cs's. The tweets were a drop in for the stock location. No modification needed at all.

[shdowflare]

Originally Posted by EncoreCestMoi

not a big fan of that tweet location. They are supposed to be mounted high for a reason but I understand why you had to go there.

I have the 60.7cs's. The tweets were a drop in for the stock location. No modification needed at all.

They sound great! In fact, I can angle them up pretty far so the sound field comes up higher into the front of the cabin!

[hye_G]

BIG BUMP! do you even need to use the new tweeters or can u use the stock one?

[shdowflare]

I think you can use the OEM tweeters, but you might not be pleased with the results if running them with the aftermarket component woofers.

The 60.9cs component system comes with a nice crossover. This ensures higher frequencies go to the tweets and all low-mids go to the woofer. In the OEM setup, I believe the 6.75" door speakers are "full range" (e.g. get the entire frequency of the signal), while the OEM tweeters have an inline resistor which moderates the frequency and prevents frequencies below a certain point from reaching the tiny speaker.

If you do get this component system and opt to stick with the OEM tweet, using the Kappa woofer with the crossover might not sound great because the Kappa's crossover shift point frequency and the OEM tweeter resistor-determined frequency might not match up too well. You might be missing out on a certain frequency range of the sound signal. Conversely, if you instead skip the Kappa crossover and run the full signal to the Kappa woofer while keeping the OEM tweeters, I really don't know how it'd sound, as they're not designed to handle higher frequencies.

In either case above, you're not really running the speakers as they were designed to operate. I recommend following Infinity's guidelines. But if you're curious as to how it'd sound in another configuration, it doesn't hurt to try! Then you can wire up some other configs and compare them to find which appeals best to your ears. Feel free to give it a shot and let us know how it sounds!

Oh, one more thing.... if you want to keep the OEM tweets, I believe you can look into picking up a "full range" Kappa 6.75" speaker rather than a component system. My thought is that the "non-component" Kappa woofer might handle a full range signal more accurately.