My stereos always sound crap when compared to the car. What's the best kind of spec size and position of speakers? I think the head units are up to it, 55W x 4 and the speakers seem up to the job so on guessing the issue is position. I want to have some decent sounds in the crewcab, I don't mind hacking up the door cards to fit some decent speakers and am fitting new kick panels and rear door side panels but I've found in the past that the kick panel location is pretty rubbish. Does anyone have any advice or preference for speaker size, type and location? Do I need an amp and sub, I'd rather not but Id like to have decent sounds. Also, is it the way I'm fitting them, do I need something behind the speaker?
you'll never geta decent sound mounting speakers on the flimsy door cards and kick panels. need to be fitted to something solid
i've just got one of these http://www.clarion.com/gb/en/produc...er/SRV313/gb-en-product-pf_1172414886794.html from @sharpey on here, once it comes i'm hoping it helps my stereo sound a bit better.
The only reason you'll need an amp is if you want a Sub or crossovers to separate Bass, Mid range and tweeter. This also depends what music you are listening to. Ported bass box for drone or no port for punchy bass. For a good all rounder a good 6x9 speaker will do. have them nowhere a body panel as they tend to vibrate and rattle.
6x9 in the doors work really well If you position them right, you can get them screwed into the metalwork of the door
thought I'd wade in...for a half-decent sounding set-up, you need a decent head unit, matched to some nice drivers, in suitable enclosures, in the best practical position You only have to visit some of ICE forums to realize what lengths people go to to achieve great results. If you're after something with reasonable clarity and a bit of volume then 6x9 co axials are hard to beat for the money, but they work best in proper enclosures. For not that much more, you could have separate mids, and tweeters up front and 6x9s in the rear for some back fill, but you'd be looking at a head unit which could drive them properly. For a bus, I'd go for something like a Rockford Fosgate PBR 300 (really compact 4 channel amp) a pair of JL Audio Vr 5 1/4s in the cab doors, but as high as you can mount them, with the tweeters slightly above and 6x9s in the back. It's worth reading up about enclosures and how to treat your doors properly, because if you just sling them in you'll never get the best out of them....be warned...it's a whole new world. As for kick panel mounting....that's potentially the best position in a bus, but only if you make proper enclosures and have them angled towards the driver/passenger....basically, you want the most direct path to your ears, with all frequencies reaching your ears at the same time...this is why decent head units have separate time signal delay for each speaker (as opposed to a simple Left Right Front Rear Balance and Fade) As with all things audio....selecting matched gear and making sure it's fitted properly pays dividends....spunking £800 on a amp, head unit, sub and big drivers won't sound great if it's just thrown in. Most of the effort will be best spent treating the enclosure.... The other thing to consider is that very few Head units put out what they state, or if they do, it's close to clipping at about two thirds volume...you're far better by passing the HU's internal amp and sending the signal to a dedicated amp...the little Rockford one is amazing value for the quality and it's tiny...I've got a big old JL Audio slash amp for mine, but only 'cos it was going for a song...nice bit of kit though
Depends really what sort of music you're going to put through: bangin', sick or wicked? Do you regularly refer to people as "blud"? Enormous subwoofer is a good starting point,
So, what sort of kick panel fixture do people use. I've just got a couple of speakers attached to the panels with self-tappers in the pickup which sound pretty lame. Have got a sub under the seat though
I can barely hear my stereo over the racket the exhaust, intake, engine and various crappy door seals are making. I tend to to to @Mrs Top Banana Racing instead. Can you install something acceptable, cheaply?
If you've got a crew cab that may limit your mounting positions compared to some of us, and as already been said solid mountings and or enclosures are essential. Personally I'm not a lover of 6x9 speakers, I mean how many home Hi Fi's of any quality, or PA systems, club sound systems, restaurant speaker systems, use oval speakers? I'll tell you, none! We've fitted a half decent quality system in our bus for a real fraction of the cost of some, that has a very decent sound quality as well as a reasonably loud volume , without losing clarity. The front end of which we mounted the speakers in the bottom of the front doors, i.e. the usual position, but used 6.5" round Wharfedale home hi fi speakers ( rated at 6 ohms, which is OK for us as we are running separate amps, but your head unit will give it's best output into 4 ohm speakers, which pretty much all in car speakers will be), but the speakers are mounted on a solid ply board which is bolted on the inside of the door. Then the doors are lined with the Bitumen type stick on stuff, that Audio stores charge a fortune for, or you can buy from Wickes for a third of the price, as it's used as a flashing/patch up for roofing. Cut it into panels and use a mini roller to apply it. Most in-car speakers will have a tweeter, mounted in the centre of the speaker, ideally you want the tweeter a bit higher up at the top of the door or dash corner. We had separate tweeters, but didn't want more holes/clutter, so I made some little ally brackets, mounted them at the bottom of the speaker on the ply, bent them over the edge of the speaker cone rubber, allowing for travel of the cone in use, and stuck the tweeters on them and angled them upwards. Then the door cards were cut with hole in the same place, and a speaker grille was then screwed through the door panel and into the ply mounting board. Your doors then acting as a pretty solid speaker enclosure, which for your head units in built amp will be more than adequate. Oh and by the way, if you do get separate tweeters you will need a crossover to separate the high and low frequencies , most will come with something good enough, but make sure you have one or you'll blow you tweeters in a bout 4 seconds! That will give you a fairly nice sound, but for a bit of bass/ warmth to the sound you need a sub bass unit. Take a look at the back of you head unit, most have a pair of RCA/phono outputs for a separate sub or amp, either will do. You can then get a separate signal to a sub you can hide pretty much anywhere as they are available in so many shapes and sizes. Some have built in amps, some need one, but you can spend £50 to as much as the price of a 5 year old Ford Fiesta on one! Lastly if you buy in-car speakers throw the speaker leads away and buy a length of quality cable for about £12/£15, you'll be amazed the difference it can make. All of our system bar a few cables and the speaker grilles was second hand or stuff we had lying around, and I've spent a max of £150 for the lot! Hers a couple of pics;
hey @TheGazman ....you know if you 'sealed' the cab doors, you'll be surprised at the difference it makes to those drivers...if you made some 12mm mdf panels for the other apertures, with a routed edge so you can recess them in a bit towards the inner, sealed with a bit of dum dum, bit of closed cell foam stuck to the door skin, directly behind the speaker itself, bit of flashing on the face before the trim panel....sorted. I'm not a big fan of 6x9s either generally, but they're pretty good bang for your buck. Depends what you want to spend... 10 inch JL audio W3v3 sub in a homemade sealed box here...'kickin' as they say...or is that 'bitchin'?
Maybe a bit beyond what you are looking at, but this might give you some inspiration! http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...tall-gallery/98343-1978-vw-t2-bay-window.html
Mine sounds great with a sub and "normal" speakers, BUT you have to have it very loud to drown out the van noises and frankly it gets too noisy when you do this (for an old fart), so I rarely use it on the move.
Didn't have you down as a Sub fan @zed although you did post a link to that dub site the other week....(dub as in dub, not vee dub)
Just had a look at that thread....some interesting ideas....clearly pretty committed to having a good audio set-up. I'd question the validity of fitting a big central driver in the dash facing upwards towards the screen...you'd be getting mega reflection off this, and would have to back it off so much to hear the drivers in the top of the cab doors, it's a waste of a good dash IMO....still....looks like a top job on the doors and the rest of the install...hope he's fitting two alternators
