Stereo Stuff

[Paul Clark]

Installed a single din size head unit that has both cassette and CD.
Installed 2 4" speakers in the middle of the dash.
Put in 2 6" speakers in the kick panel speaker mounts.
I don't like it.
What's the 1 (one) addition I can make to have it sound better?
Hope I'm not sounding impolite, but I'm really not interested in what setups everybody else has unless they involve an addition or improvement to what I already have. What I have now stays. Too many hours in it to change. Hope you know what I mean.
Guessing a subwoofer under the seat would help more than an additional amp, but I dunno.
It would be appreciated if brands and model numbers would be included with any suggestions I'm lucky enough to get.
Thanks

[Lightspeed]

im guessing you don't want to be breaking any windows so im gonna suggest one of the infinity basslinks. its a single subwoofer with a built in amp all in one nice little package, it should fit nicely under your seat. should give you all the bass you need. if its highs your looking for just grab a set of tweeters and hook em up.

[barn9]

Hey Paul, check out RodDoors.com for some speaker pods they offer. I was just looking at them earlier today (Tracy Focht told me about the site).

[Xzavior240]

ok here goes. this is something I know a little on but not so much as to car stereos. most of what I know is live band systems but it works the same basically. if your gonna add a sub hopefully your radio has the sub out plugs on it. if it does just run a set of cables out of it. there should be a left and right run those to an amp. brands and part numbers depend somewhat on what your looking for. mainly the stuff is bought because thats what brand they want. so they search that company and find something they like. personally Ive heard audiovox and Aiwa stereos at wal mart that sound better then some of the kenwood and pioneer and other brands. anyway run those down to an amp. put a sub under the passenger side and one under the drivers and you should be set as far as thump. some 8's are good. Ive heard 1000 watt amps ran through 8's I prefer 18's but in these trucks you dont have room. well unless you want to loose the part about hauling anything besides speakers in the backwhich isnt a bad idea for show trucks. I assuming you talking a daily driver though. I do know that with low profile boxes 10 12's and some 15's fit under the seat anything biggers numbs your @ss with the vibration and also the sound doesnt escape the seat right in my own personal opinion. you may also want to try an eq. it helps set the sound better then just the treble and bass knobs on the stereo.your stereo unit may have one on it I dont know what you have. but it does help. and also Im not positive but I believe there are some eq's that have amps in them and some without so you might want to check. the longest lasting I have had were kenwood speakers from a pa system shoved in at last moment just so there was some sound. but the one that sounded the best was a brand I cant even begin to spell let alone pronounce.
hope I was a little help on it,
Dan

[RON WOODGEARD]

PAUL,

You didn't tell us what you have now. Ask any STEREO EXPERT, When you are working in an area like OUR TRUCKS, you have no acoustics. Unfortunately we have rattle boxes instead of an acoustical environment. There is no insulation to dampen the road,engine,and natural vibration levels. If you really want @ss kickin TUNES, you're going to have to do some insulating, DYNAMAT, or something on that line, and all over. I purchased a BLAUPUNKT SAN FRANSISCO, for mine (still not in yet) It has the ability to LISTEN TO ITSELF, and correct the feed going to all of the speakers. I have 4-4" speakers behind the seat in the body panel under the window. One on each side is RIGHT/LEFT. I have the kick panel speakers (infinity) But my speaker magnets protrude too far back to mount them. (I'll have to change them.) I have a 6"X9" in each door.(pioneer 3-way) And two 10" ROCKFORD FOSGATE, subwoofers, in boxes behind the seat where the tank was, 2-1" tweeters on the rear of the rear view mirror,(also infinity) The system with a CRAIG, CD player sounded good when not on the road. When on the road with the pipes talking, it sounded just so-so. (because of outside noises)
So far I coated the inside of the body with SPRAY ON truck bed liner,and put new factory floor insulation (carpet underlay) Now I'll do the door sheeting insulation and the same on the rear of the cab.

I heard abouyt some stuff that comes in rolls, and it sticks on to the trunk and other areas. I need to check with CRUTCHFIELDS, I'm sure they'll have it and know of others also.
If you come up with any other proven methods let me know,please. I love good tunes, along with outrageous exhaust.


RON

[Palf70Step]

Roddoors.com has some really nice stuff. They had a booth at the Crusin the coast meet. I may be visiting them later when my truck gets closer to that point. Seemed like a good group of folks and materials seemed to be real good also...least what they had on display.

[BOSS]

I have a set of thier pillar mounts with the tweeters in them.They fit nice but havent hooked them up yet(waiting to get everything in first).One thing though the guy at the show where i got them was very pushy,trying to get me to buy it all(everything they had for our trucks)think next time i will just order through the internet....................James

[Paul Clark]

Great replies! Lots of stuff to check out. Keep 'em coming.
I make my living with playing/writing music. Realize it's a 30 year old truck with a fairly loud exhaust. Just want stuff to sound good and full. Don't want a thumper. ($3000 stereo with a $3 tape/CD)
Have a couple of tweeters with crossovers that I could add to the mix. Seem to have plenty of highs already, though.
6" kickpanels are Coustics 2-ways. Dash mounts are the foreign Infinities 2-ways.
Like I said - many thanks for all the suggestions.
Paul

[XXL]

One more thing... you didn't really say what you didn't like about it. I'll speculate that you don't have clarity and definition. Unplug the center speakers. Popping speakers in "any ole' hole" is no way to stereo imaging. Sure, people do center channels all the time, but those require discrete electronics and proper placement... and that ain't it. I realize you don't want to take backward steps, but this one is a pretty good idea.

BTW, I don't want to get into any audio flame wars about who knows best. I speak from 20+ years of car and home audio experience. I have built a number of award winning systems, was an IASCA judge for many years (and did NACA before that). I used to own an audiophile loudspeaker manufacturing company whose products made Stereophile's "B list" and yada yada. Utlimately NOTHING above matters. What matters is that if you like the way it sounds, great. You're the one paying for the stuff!

Good luck with it,

Kenneth

[J]

Dynamat Dynamat Dynamat... This stuff works. My deck just got stolen like two nights ago but until then it sounded good! I put 6's in the doors and tweets in the dash and 10's under the seat it sounded good. But add dynamat everywhere you can stick it and you will be really surprised. With the break-in I just had I'm thinking about doing something really fancy when I replace all the components. Maybe I'm just dreaming.

[jmil1974]

Well, XXL is right on the money but I can give you 3 pieces of advice to bank on:
1. Dynamat or http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...865508881&rd=1
2. Sub(s) - Without a sub or subs you'll never have truly full, balanced sound -- especially in our trucks whose inherent noises can blot out lots of lower midrange and "upper" bass. Having subs and a cross over, or at least bass blockers, will allow each speaker to give you more output since they'll be working in the frequencies they're designed to.
3. Amp(s) - have a decent amp running all speakers. Without reasonably clean power, your speakers are on borrowed time.

I have an Alpine HU and 35x35 amp running Boston 6x9s. It's quite adequate and sounds phenomenal for what it is. 6x9s, while not known for accuracy, have the most bass of any full range speaker and my bass is only adequate. 2 best ways to blow speakers.
1. Trying to get too much volume from not enough power (like cranking it with HU power only). ALWAYS better to have more (clean) power. Overhead can actually save your speakers.
2. Trying to get too much bass from speakers not designed to give lots of bass (i.e. trying to make 6.5s pound).
Get amp power to all speakers. NO HU will give more than 15-20 watts per channel - period. No matter what the face says, they just can't give more than that from the space they have except in brief, useless spikes.

Good luck,
Jason