Viking Ranger time for you guys to help out

COuld you post a picture of the door panel?

I can do anything as far as cutom "pods" or "buildouts" or "door integrated" enclosures, or whatever you want to call them. But usually The car needs to be on site for the job to be done properly

 

A center channel can sometimes ruin the imaging of a car, and other times make it come alive. But usually in my experience it does not justify the work involved. My suggestion to you is simply get the front stage done the way you want it, and then do some critical listening. If you feel you want or need a center channel, then get a cheap 3.5 inch speaker, put it in a small enclosure (dampened tin can) and wire it up mono with a switch in line with it. Experiment with placement, and turn it off and on for instant A/B comparisons. Also, inverting phase to it can have some "interesting " effects.

A center channel is very difficult to ACCURATLY make sound good. One more thing, I have found over the years tht it should play in the area of approximately 800Hz-5KHz, again just a good starting point.

Overall, worry about the center channel last, you probably wont even need it most likely!

 

But you have to think that all those systems were disigned with the help of computers and some genius math guys to figure out the placement, timing, etc. Probably way out of most peoples capabilities on their own.

 

I'm going to agree with The Viking on the centerchannel. A center can fix alot of problems for example if a sound stage is to wide (because the speakers are mounted in the doors), a center will narrow the sound stage but then it adds a whole new problem. Position across the stage is good from left to center but then from center to right its all bunch together.

Centerchannels need a little work to get right. For me, larger speakers make the best center (6-1/2) but nothing that makes highs. For me (your car will be different) the center covers up to 1200Hz. No high pass filter. And its out of phase (270-degrees). I took a little experimenting to get it right. Three 18dB per octave filters, two 12dB per octave filter and one 6. Thats just to find the right crossover. But for me it was worth it.

To do custom work I would need the car, sorry. If I remember right the Bose pod has a slightly larger than standard 4-inch opening in the pod. I kind of remember a slight gap all the way around a normal 4-inch speaker when put in the Bose enclosure.

I need to see a pic of the Bose pod, would it be possible to mod it so that a 6-1/2-will fit. I would like to keep the enclosure if at all possible.