Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio Placement: Rear Doors vs. Rear Deck??

So, I am not impressed with the speaker placement in the Contour. My main concern is not the front speakers right now. My questions will be for the rear channels. I have always experienced a "hole" in the music that seems to come from the passenger rear seat. I have played with balance levels and even attempted a crude rear fill crossover (Deck high pass set to 200 hz - amp low pass set to around 3 khz. Nothing seemed to help.

UNTIL, I experimented with speaker placement! I took some old coaxs and made crude encolsures for them out of cardboard and duct tape (Homer: Mmmmm, Duct Tape!). I opend the fold down rear seats enough to squeeze the boxes in there so they would sit level with the rear deck; as if they were in the rear deck. I thought it sounded much better. And actually went to the stereo shop to buy JL Audio XR650-CX coaxs with seperate crossovers. Told the dealer that this what Iwas doing and he said don't do it. That the factory locations are "optimized for imaging". I actually told him he was full of it because the rear door grills don't even cover the rear speakers and the front door speakers are in the middle of the door. "Well, that's my opinion with 10 years of car audio experience!" he says and walks away.

What are your thoughts?