[nathanm]

Am I correct in assuming that most car speakers are designed to work in free air?  Because to my reasoning the trunk and door cavities of my car are most likely WAY too large of a "cabinet" for such small (6" & 4") drivers, and is probably not even airtight.  So I am assuming the drivers are not getting much back pressure from the car itself and that perhaps car speakers themselves are designed with this in mind, right?  You know, all that Fs and Vas malarkey etc.  Go ahead and give the technical answer, I will attempt to grasp it in my best laymans fashion.

Could I conceivably place them in a sealed or bass reflex cabinet and get a tighter sound out of them?  Why would I want to do this?  Well because the POS things are buzzing and rattling back there and they can't go loud enough to cover the road noise without sounding like they are gonna explode. (underpowered amp too I suppose...) Frankly I am too lazy to tear my car apart again, coat all the surfaces with vinyl sheeting and caulk the living hell out every gap, as would be the most prudent route.  But I am willing to tear my car apart again to take the things out, put them in boxes and set them on the back seat if need be. Dammit, I miss my derision-inducing, factory-issue, paper whizzered cones and their wicked ass efficiency!  Aftermarket speaker-shilling bastards, they lied to me!

[Carlman]

I know for a fact that car speakers are designed to be sold.  So, since you bought them, you have experienced the full depth of the 'design process' of an aftermarket car speaker... from what I've experienced...

Honestly, some speakers are clearly not designed to be free air.  One such example is Polk's $200 mid-line series with 6.5" drivers and separate tweeters.  In a display case they sound OK because the volume of the cube they're in is small and good for them.  In a car door, though, they dissapear sonically.  

One of the few sort of reasonably priced speakers that don't do this is Boston Acoustics.  I guess they thought about it a little more... I don't know.  

So, if they're anything like my wife's Polks, they will benefit from both better amplification and an enclosure.  Q-logic makes enclosures that are pre-fab'ed for some cars.  

If you can leave the speakers securely mounted to the doors, it makes it easier to live with... less crap in your car to deal with... and if they're not very securely tied down, they become projectiles in an accident.

Lastly, one thing to consider is XTC foam baffles from Crutchfield.  They help speakers sound better and they're cheap.  I haven't tried them on the Polk's yet... it's not my car so, I don't really care.  

Best of luck on your quest for car audio wisdom.

[nathanm]

XTC foam baffles - I HAD those installed, recently took them out.  Just the ones on the front door, though. Those things effectively reduce your 'cabinet size' to almost nothing, the effect of which was completely annihilating the bass response, but making the mid and upward frequencies louder.  I am not so sure it is an improvement though.  I think the squawking mids in the front actually cut through the ambient noise better. I did try cupping them behind the rear drivers after I had bolted them in and it was like a total bass shut off switch!  Nope nope nope...

I'm actually entertaining the idea of removing my rear seat entirely and putting two 12" pro audio woofers in its place with two horn tweeters sitting up on the rear deck.  Maybe have one of those slanty carpeted cabinets in the trunk or something.  The Nak puts out 35 watts which isn't a lot, but I think more efficient speakers would be preferable than messing with more amps and wires.

The drivers are allegedly good, although there's enough treble headroom there to cut your head in two pieces.  It just sounds to me like they are pumping their little hearts out into a mass of loose air.  My first beater car had a better sounding stereo, even though it was just a stock radio w\no tape deck or CD player.  Hmmm.  I would probably leave the fronts in the doors but I think the rears would benefit from an enclosure.