speaker placement in kick panels for 1972 Chevelle

[steele6794]

I'd like to add speakers to my kick panels for either an active 2 or 3 way setup.  I've never fabricated kick panels before and do not have the time so i'd like to use kicks with speaker mounts built in.  These are the two options i've seen and i'm looking for thoughts on how either will sound or if one is better than the other and why.

 

^^The above pictures shows one option.  The speakers will be mounting inside the above pictured plastic housings and then they will be mounted inside a space used for fresh air vents.  They reuse the stock kick panels and look great but I am not sure how the midbass/midrange speakers would sound inside those plastic housings and if they would be suffocated.  I suppose I could cut the backs off but I may be worried about exposing the speakers to any moisture/rain/car wash water even though im not 100% any moisture even gets there.  The other issue I see is how far under the dash the speakers will be mounted.  Is that a terrible location? 

 

^^This is the other option.  There is only enough clearance on the drivers side to mount extremely low profile speakers so I would have to use a spacer to increase my driver options.  The speaker placement on these would be further forward and not under the dash as much.

 

^^This isn't a panel I would use but included this picture to give a better view of both options.  The first option I mentioned would be mounted where the vertical vent is on the above picture so you can get some scale of how far under the dash it would be.  

 

What is the best way to go?

[MG88]

Just from my estimation using the photos,  the first/top choice would sound better because the back of the speaker seems to be more isolated from the front, and more rigidly mounted. This should sound better overall from judging the photos. I might add some cotton insulation to the enclosure to reduce the echo.