Horrible sound from my component speakers

[Lite-On]

Hello all,

I'm trying to figure out some issues that I have with my current sound system.

I'm driving a Pontiac Bonneville from 1963.

Recently i've build myself some nice fiberglass kick panels, since I don't want to run them in my doors (I like to save my original doors from any cuts).

The kick have closed chambers, but the chamber is due space limitations much smaller compared to a car door. I guess the chamber size is approx. 5 liters / 0.18 cu ft without the speaker.

Components are Phonocar 2/805 Special Edition, running of a Phonocar PH4800 amplifier.

HU is Pioneer AVH-P5000DVD with a DEQ-6600 sound processor.

I have problems with this setup when it comes to sound quality.

Problem one is that my tweeters are very sharp at higher volumes. They are currently mounted on the dash @ on axis. I'm going to try off axis to see if it makes any difference.

The mid bass itself is also very "boomy" / hollow at frequencys between 125HZ - 200HZ, very very horrible. At some songs not noticeable, but with some songs it just have to skip.

I'm also loosing mid-end when driving - the faster I go (highway for example), the lower mids seem to be gone and the high-end of the components becomes even sharper. Could this be caused by the lack of any sound deadening in the car? When playing in the drive way with the engine off, it sounds much and much better.

EQ settings i've tried are flat, but also custom. I'm pretty much enable to filter out the boominess without loosing from frequencies

I've owned these component speaker for 3 or 4 years, but haven't used them much over the past years since I was redoing my sound system.

Before they have been playing in a ported box that I had mounted in the parcel tray. Although the mid-bass was pretty good, they never sounded good with that setup either.

I never had the opportunity to try them in a modern car door, so don't know how they would sound with that setup.

No subwoofer has been added yet, as my new box isn't ready yet. I just want to have my front stage sound right.

It could be that these speakers just can't be used in a small kick panel. In that case I think the only option is to find a different SQ speakers that can play properly in a kickpanel. But buying new speakers is the last thing I want to do.

Before I end up buying new speakers, does anyone over here has some advice / tips to tackle the problems I have with my setup?

[NathanW]

I highly recommend venting the rear of your kick panel pods to the exterior of the vehicle. It's very likely that the drop in frequencies between 125-200hz is due to an impedance spike caused by not having nearly enough air space behind the mid-bass drivers for them to operate properly. If you don't feel comfortable venting to the exterior of the vehicle at least fill the pods with poly-fill and drill a number of small holes in the back of the pods to relieve some of the pressure that's causing the impedance spike.

[gr8handogoatness]

I would fill with polyfil or acoustic foam first before trying other stuff.