Stereo

[Guest SMR610]

I know this is probably an old topic but has anyone got any bright ideas on where best to mount some speakers.I want to keep the boot area clear so I can carry around the hood and sidescreens, you never know it might rain occassionally.

Also CD multi changers, something else I know nothing about, taking into account

the some what sporty ride of a Robin Hood would a multi changer work ok or is this a bad idea (security aside).

 

Thanks in advance for any advice given.

 

Allan

[Guest trevor hooley]

i build alot of car audio installs for the local 'boy racers', and you brought up a couple of valid points

 

1. Speakers- Unless you can locate them near the seat you will not hear them in a hood. On my exmo i've to JBL G40 6x9 mounted on the boot lid these are very shallow speakers designed to operate in a 'free air enviroment' ie they use the space in your boot to amplify the sound. Filling the boot doesnt affect quality too much.

 

2. CD Changer- Unless you go for a top quality one by a firm like ALPINE forget it, generally the more you spend the better it will be in a hood, this is because they pre-read the disc for say 20sec infront of where you are listening to. this means if you hit abump the music dosent skip, because before the twenty seconds are up the disc should have re-located itself. In my opinion i really wouldnt bother with a changer.

 

3. Head Unit- My hood runs a kenwood indash single cd, it doesnt skip unless you hit a really big bump and then only momenterialy, this drives the afore mentioned speakers, which seems to be loud enough for people outside to hear.

 

hope this helps

 

karl

[Guest SMR610]

Thanks Karl,

I won`t bother wasting my

money on a changer then.

[Guest ash]

this was my answer to the problem

i first saw a simmilar install in a dodge viper !!

it wont win any sound offs but it gives you something to listen to at the lights but when your in full flight you can't hear a thing!!

[Guest ash]

another picture......... work in progress

ps 6 x 9 speakers set vertically won't fit!!

[Guest SMR610]

Cheers Ash,

I`m working on a similar

speaker fitment at the mo.

 

Allan

[Guest trevor hooley]

may be nothing, but remember to keep speaker wires away from other electrical wires (inc rear loom) to help minimize that annoying interferance. and try to use decent speaker cable not the bell wire that comes with most speakers as standard, trust me you will notice the difference.

 

anybody thought about fitting a small two channel amp to run their speakers off ??? where could you put it??

 

karl

[Guest Mr Pid]

Ive fitted a small two channel amp to run the two 6x9's in the rear shelf which are either side of the boot.

 

I located it underneath the boot after building a second layer so could run the wires underneath this as to not protrude from the top of the outside of the car.

 

It is a very tight fit and the fins on top of the amp do leave a slight imprint on the carpet in the boot but without it i doubt i will be hearing anything at all.

 

Ive got a single cd player that will be going in the dash as well as there is no room for a washer bottle in my boot let alone a multi changer.

 

I will be fitting a couple of speaker on the side panels and some in the dash along with some tweeters by the top of the seats eventually- i could probably squeeze another amp on the back of the seat panel inside the boot.

 

I think neil gale has got a pretty substantial stereo in his 2B?!?

 

HTH

 

Stu

[Guest cjbailey]

I will be transferring the stereo from my laguna when (eventually, in many years) I get that far. It is an MP3 player, they are brilliant - 14 CD quality albums on 1 CD!!! No need for a changer!

[Guest trevor hooley]

Mr Pid,

 

Be carful about the cooling to the amp, if youve built it under the boot floor hows it getting the supply of air it requires to keep cool. When i do boot installs like that we fit two computer fans, 1 draging air in the ther draging air out. I wouldnt fancy having it overheat above a petrol tank !!!

 

karl

[ibrooks]

Just a thought on head units - In my Mini I used to use a personal MP3 player which fed into a car amp which drove normal speakers. The player is a tiny thing because it uses smartmedia cards (there are smaller ones available too). It also has a basic equaliser and it reads the ID3 tag of the track so you get a display showing artist and title. When you leave the car it goes in your pocket and the only clue that there is a stereo is the speakers (if they can be seen). I'm intending the same setup in the Hoods as it means I only need one player and it just goes in the car I happen to be driving (OK I still need an amp and speakers in each car).

 

Scan have been selling a Napa player recently which uses 8cm CD's for storage and will play either MP3's or normal audio from them. It's a little bigger than my unit but does pretty much the same stuff and the storage media is cheaper (assuming you have a CD-Writer to write the CD's). Last time I looked it cost about £30 including the dreaded. 5 CD's cost £3.50. Only problem is that it's pink.

 

Doing this you just have to be a little careful that the device uses a "normal" jack plug for the headphones where you can plug the amp in instead. Some of them have remote-controls in the wire and so more connections. If this is the case then it's a soldering iron job to interface them.

 

Iain