Show me your speakers

[outriding]

Im planning the audio system I will install.  Speakers on the front doors are the best location, but I have to cut a hole out.
Show me where you put your speakers.

[Jeff]

I'm going through the same exercise and am thinking I may put all five in a box across where the back doors were. Need to do some research yet.

[Rogue Trooper]

It'll sound crap Jeff. Put your sub down the back and perhaps a couple of mid-range but you definitely need a couple of mid-range and possibly tweeters up the front. Nothing stopping a few in between either. 

[outriding]

I found this in the gallery... excessive for my taste.

[outriding]

[Jeff]

Thanks Rogue, Two in the doors then, and I'll look into tweeters.

[cfjeff]

Before you cut the doors up, I've had my front speakers in the doors flush, but on the open road i struggled to hear them, even with full interior and rattles silenced. Next try a few years later decided to have another crack at fixing the problem. So i decided to make a speaker pod to mount them at right angles facing them upwards. This improved the sound but was still difficult to hear clearly, and the other problem was the dust and crap collected. I continued with this setup for number of years. With the latest rebuild of the body and consequently interior rebuild I decided to have another go at solving the problem. This time I decided to abandon the door mount theory and go to front kick panel. the result is a huge improvement and both me and my wife can now hear the sound system much more clearly even on the open road.

 I know it is a bit more work to do but I have found it worth the effort. If you want to know how i made the kick panels then let me know, I'm more than happy to help. There will be some pics in my gallery under interior album of the finished article.

Hope this info is of use,


Cheers Jeff

[Jeff]

Thank you Jeff. That's valuable advise as I have never set up a proper sound system before.

I hope this these replies are also helping you, Outriding.

[BlackBedford]

There will be some pics in my gallery under interior album of the finished article.

Giddyup, we're waiting.

Regards

[Warren]

I have had wagons of different sorts for years and I have found that an economical way to get good sound is to first understand how sound works.

High frequencies

These work in a straight line and travel the least distance, they also carry most of the stereo signal cues, the things that tell your ears where the instruments are in the spacial sense.

Mid freq

Travel further and fill the sound stage - carry most of the warmth of the music.

Low freq.

Travel the furthest and reinforce the feel of the music.

In theory the wave pressure from sound only passes your ears once, but due to surfaces you often get an amount of reflected sound.

If the reflected sound is of the mid to low freq it does not matter as much as the high freq's

So how does this apply to a box on wheels ?

OK the system I use is:

1 - Get a good to excellent quality head unit - the best you can afford - with a 4 way split and high (20 watts or so) out put power (most standard units will put out about 4 watts).

2 - a pair of good quality remote tweeters, these are usually about 2 inches in dia and an inch high.

3 - a reasonable pair of 2 or 3 in one speakers say around 6 inch ones

4 - a cheaper pair of 8 to 12 inch 2 way speakers.

OK so how does it fit together.


The Head unit is mounted anywhere convenient to the driving position, in the case of the beddy in a overhead console or on the dash some where.

The remote tweeters are mounted in each corner of the front parcel shelf/dasn board - so that they point up toward the windscreen. This allows the reflective surface of the windscreen to be used to bounce the Hi freqs up toward your ears.

The Mid range speakers are mounted in the front doors or kick panel pointing in-wards and back-wards if possible.

The cheaper larger 2 way speakers any where in the back pointing in any direction, these will act as the sub woofers.
 
So in this con-fig, the remote tweeters supply all the stereo imaging info almost directly toward your ears, the mids fill the sound out and give the warmth and body, and the subs pump a lot of air giving the pressure ques to the body so you "feel" the bass.

In one of my beddies I use the enclosed box type speakers, meant for the parcel shelf in the back of a sedan, on set mounted onto the kick panel below and as high up as they will go and a larger set mounted inside the door frame at about ear height.

The use of the fade and front and back allows you to move the "center" of the stereo image around abit and playing with the treble and bass will get the sound you like.

All this can be done without spending a squillion, and get good results.

the basic layout can be added to using splitters and amps if required, but you don't have to spend a large sums of money to get good sound.

The hardest car I had to do this in was a convertible, but I got good clean sound at up to 120 kph using 2 10 inch subs behind the back seat some mids mounted under the front seats, and another pair in the kick panels and the remote tweeters on the dash.

Warren
attached is an example of the remote tweeters