The covers came from ebay, they were anodized gold when I got them and took forever to polish up! The centre badges are just some neat lapel badges I found, also on good old Ebay.
Correct ! Yes those piccies were part way through the install trial fitting all the stuff and before sound proofing etc was added to the doors.i don't think you can really completely seal the front doors as you have all the vents along the hinged edge allowing the doors to "breathe", but I know where your coming from!
I have a cheapie CD/MP3/iPod/SD Card head unit (by the previously unheard of Mutant brand), mid-priced speakers in the door cards and then two Hitachi speakers from an old surround system trim-taped into the overhead locker. Nothing fancy or scientific but they drown out the engine and road noise and can make huge sounds when parked up. If the passengers don't want to hear what I'm listening to they just close the locker door.
I have mine at either end of the bench seat. I'm about to put some in the front doors too. The main problem Ive found is that the sound is quite tinny unless you put some insulation behind the speaker otherwise it's a bit boomy. can take some pics at the weekend for you if you want.
if you go online and look for the specifications for your speakers, there's usually a reference to their 'displacement' ....this is the amount of air the cone will push in free air at a certain wattage...virtually all speakers (apart form weird membrane speakers like Quad etc.) work at their best when the volume of air behind them is matched to the volume of air they displace...too little and the cone will not extend fully....too much and the cone will over extend and 'bounce'. This is why those fancy-dan drivers in quality Hi-Fi set-ups have cabinets specifically designed for them. Smaller cabinets make use of a port tailored to allow a predetermined amount of air in and out at certain wattage. This applies to car audio in much the same way, but the big issue for vehicle installation is the number of additional factors you need to overcome, such as ambient noise levels, sound reflections, and reverberation of the vehicle itself...hence why much of the effort involved in these seriously expensive ICE set-ups is geared towards making the car as rigid and 'acoustically dead' as possible...Which ain't easy in a rattly old Type 2
for anyone interested in the whole audio thing this site is probably the best one stop resource I've ever come across Plenty of tutorials and product guides here as well
Put speaker on ya ass, a couple of guinessessssss and a curry, get a great sound then mate all night long.
My system rocks the van ,the amps put out around 1400 watts [not rms power though] .I have 9 speakers total -- 2 6x9 in custom pods behind the rear seats and 2 6x9 under the rear seats in pods at either end .Then i made a buddy type seat that houses a 12 inch sub thats ported ,then 2 component speakers 6.5 inch in the front doors and 2 4 inch mids under the dash at each end .These are powered by a battery hooked up to the van battery and then feeding a farad capacitor which feeds the amps a nice steady charge . The amps are located under the rear seat on a shelf so they dont take any room up and all cables are hidden .One amp supplies the sub and the other does the speakers .The reason i used 6x9 s is that they give a good range from high to low and packed in a small space .The 6x9s were placed under the seats as i found that due to the van size there seemed to be an empty spot and these fill it well.The only speakers running off the head unit are the 4inch dash speakers. My advise is use the thickest speaker cable you can get and good live and earth cable and connections .Always have the speakers on a sound surface and deaden the panels.For gods sake dont hook a sub up to your head unit as it just wont do the job [it will give sound but it will be like a dogs paw handshake] ,a small amp hooked up to the battery [fused ] and feeding the sub is cheap and easy to do.Using a sub helps the other speakers to do a better job of the mid and high range and try if possible to angle your speakers to a central point [it really makes a difference ] but the bass from the sub is non directional so dont worry .But seeing as you have a Crewcab a decent pair of 6x9 s will do well in the back and a pair of components in the front doors running off a single amp will give very nice sound and not be too expensive [around £160 ] all in .Easy peasy.
Given the general noise levels and acoustics in a van, the best location for speakers is actually "in your living room".
Thanks all some interesting choices there. Still don't have a clue what to do though! Keep em coming and I'll report back with my choices
Tbh my stereo only gets used when camped up I like to listen to the engine when driven Some great ideas on this thread though
I am going to be doing exactly this in my van... (I have had this same setup before in my youth and competed (and won) in competitions with it in an old Sierra. Where I found the money, time and energy I have no idea! Anyhow... I am going to sound deaden the cab doors (makes the world of difference to the quality) using dynamat. In the doors I will build some MDF spacers and attach these to the door metal securely then fit 6" drivers (bass only type speakers). In the kick panels I am going to sound deaden the front panel and build some custom enclosures using MDF, fibreglass, bodyfiller etc. They will be attached securely to the van as close to each side of the van as I can and angled up to an imaginary point between the ears of the driver and front passengers heads. I will stuff the enclosures with acoustic wool before mounting a 4-5"" mid range and a tweeter. In the back will be a sealed box 12" sub and another pair of mid's and tweeters for some rear fill (undecided on those yet). The whole lot will be split by an active crossover and powered by some decent amps. I have looked on ebay and gumtree and there is loads of decent kit to be had for cheap money, particularly older stuff so I think this can be done quite cheap. I will be using the head units internal amp to power nothing - it just is not going to be up to the job. Better to get a head unit with a high pre-out voltage. My head unit is 17 yr old and has no internal amp at all - just a high pre-out which is perfect for the above. Good luck with whatever you choose to do @Joker
Just re-read - a crew cab will be much easier to achieve sound quality in. I wouldn't even worry about rear fill speakers - the ones up front will do the job perfectly well.
@gbcamper ....do make sure sure that if and when you get round to building the kick-panel enclosures you post a thread with some 'making' pics....I know a couple of US companies do them for Bugs, but haven't seen any off-the-shelves' for Buses. @Joker ...did you have a look at that link i posted to the JL audio sub? One of these running off a small mono amp, plus a pair of quality separates (6.5s plus tweets) in properly treated doors will be as good as it needs to be in a crew cab IMO....but spend a bit of time reading around the subject....it's not as complicated as it first appears, and you will really appreciate your efforts
I can vouch for the JL Audio VR 525 CSi...if you're after small mids....they are the nads for the money (assuming you can get hold of a nos pair)....Having listened to Morel Elates I'd go for these but you might need to remortgage, or mug a Hedge fund Manager
I didn't understand half of that My music is typically referred to as rock or 'alternative' rock, and mostly pre-2000.
