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Any Car Stereo Guys Here?

Blown240

Monkey
Nov 19, 2013
443
290
I am going to put a stereo in my 61 Panel Truck. I want to get some feedback on the best way to do the speakers.

Here are a couple pics so you know what I'm talking about:





I want to put some speakers in the side wood panels. I am trying to figure out the best place to put them, and if they are far enough forward, if 2 speakers will be enough. I can get kick panels with speaker mounts too, but I don't think that will sound any better than in the wood panels.

The panels have insulation behind then, and I plan on wrapping the side panels in a thick fleece to cut down resonation.

Also, looking for a recommendation on speakers. I like the sound of older Boston Acoustics, but haven't shopped for speakers in years. Looking to spend $50-$80 per pair. The head unit I have is a nice Eclipse 50x4, and I will be running either a pair of Fosgate 8" subs, or a JL 10w3.
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
kick panels in the front are the ideal location for your mids with the tweeters mounted up higher somewhere if you go component speakers. if you just do a coax speaker, is there a cavity in the door for them? the van looks fairly big so getting a good sound stage will be tough. depending how much you want to spend in total, id focus on getting a good front sound stage and forget about the back. your passengers directly behind you will still be able to hear the music fairly well thankfully. if you do want to fill the back, a box for the speakers would probably be more ideal then sticking the speaker directly into the wood paneling.
whats the RMS output of the radio? 25w? what size amp are you using for your subwoofer?
 

Blown240

Monkey
Nov 19, 2013
443
290
Thanks for the reply. The head unit is 50x4 RMS and the I have either a 400 watt RMS Orion amp, or an 800ish Pioneer. But its hard to say if the Pioneer is really that powerful.

There really isn't a place in the door for speakers. Kick panels are the best option for the front.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,225
20,003
Sleazattle
The van is big enough that you could just have Mini-Kiss play in the back. Of course Kiss music blows so just find a midget cover band of your liking.
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
65,375
12,529
In a van.... down by the river
The van is big enough that you could just have Mini-Kiss play in the back. Of course Kiss music blows so just find a midget cover band of your liking.
Add in that the acoustics of that vehicle are going to blow goat-a$$... so a midget-Kiss cover band with all amps turned to 11 will probably be the only thing to works.
 

Muddy

ancient crusty bog dude
Jul 7, 2013
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907
Free Soda Refills at Fuddruckers
When time to build speaker enclosures, just be sure to use MDF and not compressed-sawdust particle board. And, build an internally braced sub-box. There's plenty of online resources to factor in adjusted internal-volume from bracing.
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
Thanks for the reply. The head unit is 50x4 RMS and the I have either a 400 watt RMS Orion amp, or an 800ish Pioneer. But its hard to say if the Pioneer is really that powerful.

There really isn't a place in the door for speakers. Kick panels are the best option for the front.
if its an Eclipse, its not 50w RMS, unless theyve changed their power output in the last few years. there are really no headunits that output 50w RMS that i know of. i primarily only dealt with Eclipse headunits with and without an amp inside. 50w RMS is a lot of juice for a small headunit to output and they have always had "under powered" units but still gave off some of the best sounds imo.
how many channels are the amps that you have and what models are they? chances are, youre better off using the Pioneer amp since Orion hasnt honestly made a good amp in well over a decade. if youre going to run the front speakers off of the headunit, look for a higher end coax speaker. at the price point youre looking at, most of the speakers will honestly sound the same especially running off of a headunit.
 

Blown240

Monkey
Nov 19, 2013
443
290
Thanks for the replies! Ya this thing is big inside. It makes for a great bike hauler:



I went and got the specs on what I have. Here are some pics:

head unit:





Orion amp:



The Pioneer amp is actually an MTX. I guess the pioneer went with my last car I sold. Here is the MTX, its not nearly as powerful as I remembered:





So I plan on running the speakers off of the head unit, and the subs off of amps.
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
run the sub(s) off of the Orion since its 400wRMS @4ohms (what ohm rating are the subs? are they dvc or svc?) and run the speakers off of the MTX amp. that unit only outputs 14w RMS and wont do front speakers any justice. youll have to turn the gains down on those amps since the headunit is a 5v pre-amp and not like your typical 4v.
 

Muddy

ancient crusty bog dude
Jul 7, 2013
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907
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run the sub(s) off of the Orion since its 400wRMS...
The MTX has 10db more signal-to-noise over the Orion, which is effectively 3-times more power to the speaker respectively, and also 166% louder. 100db for the Orion, but 110db for that MTX.
Yes it is 325- bridged vs. 400watts bridged, those 75watts are trivial. It is 1-watt standardized specification measurements (Industry Standard) which then exponentially increase w/ applied input-gain which then dwarf the 'big' number.
 

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
If you just want decent sound in there, that's pretty easy. Building fiberglass kicks and enclosures is easy. If you want to go into tuning and making everything sound good, that would take more work.

One 10w3 would sound fine in there for low end without being boomy.
 

Blown240

Monkey
Nov 19, 2013
443
290
Decent is good for now. Ive got to get the firewall and floor sealed up from the drivetrain swap. There isn't anything major, but there are a couple small holes that need grommets and such. Then carpet.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,931
13,129
Portland, OR
I put some Infinity 6.5's in custom kicks for my '66. I stuffed them into the vent hole and made a fiberglass pocket to protect the back side of the speaker. The tweeters were mounted in the doors. You could put a 2 way there. There are a few pre-fabs, but it so stupid easy. About $20 in resin, glass, and wood.







3.5's in the center dash



 
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Blown240

Monkey
Nov 19, 2013
443
290
JD - thats a nice interior! Do you still have that truck? I did some fiberglass buckets for the back of my 51 Chevy that I recently sold.

Kazlx - thanks for the link.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,931
13,129
Portland, OR
Put some dynamat or something in. It's worth it and not terribly expensive. Try a product called second skin. Cuts down on rattles and road noise.

http://store.secondskinaudio.com/damplifier-pro/

Also, use a router. Or angry beaver like JD lol
You can do peel and seal on the cheap.





Not as good as dynamat or others, but it's like $10 a roll. My whole truck was about $40. :rofl:

I did 1/2" closed cell industrial mat over that, then carpet. My interior was dead quiet.

 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,931
13,129
Portland, OR
I just gave up on my truck after not touching it for 4 years. Sad, but I need more than 3 seats. I'll be putting my time and effort into a '63 Impala sitting on a Corvette chassis once I get a little more space to work in.

The seats were '08 Cadillac DTS, the wheel was off a CTS. The white clock was from a Chrysler 300M and the tach was originally mounted on the column. I used a $20 white face gauge kit off ebay and made custom mounts for the tach and clock. I drilled 2 holes in the gauge glass so you can set the clock using a pin. :rofl:



I was real happy with how it was coming together. The wheel buttons would control my air ride suspension, it was pretty slick.

The interior was fawn originally. I reshot it with rattle can and it turned out awesome.

 
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kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
Yea there are a ton of different items out there. Dynamat is stupid expensive, but with a little Google-Fu you can find good options. It makes a huge difference though, especially on older cars.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,931
13,129
Portland, OR
Here's the "Caramel Latte" color on the glove box with the leather seats and the vinyl I used for the doors and kicks.

 

Blown240

Monkey
Nov 19, 2013
443
290
Ill do some sort of sound deadiner under the carpet in the front for sure. I would like to find something that I can use in the back on the floor. It has a wood floor like an old pickup. The thing is that I still need to be able to use it like a truck back there. I don't want to worry about loading muddy bikes, etc.

Maybe a rubber matt of some sort, and some spray on rubber under the floor. The sides in the back have fiberglass insulation with an aluminum layer, and the roof has 1/2 inch styrofoam of some sort. I think covering the sides in a thick fleece will cut down on resonance a lot.
 

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
If I remember right, you're local to me. Let me know if you need any help.

Yea they have sprays, liners all kinds of different stuff. I would use the stick on stuff on any sheet metal. Spray for weird areas and then a little insulation over. There's a place in Santa Ana called A1 Foam and Fabric that has anything you could ever want for materials. Foams, coverings, etc.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,931
13,129
Portland, OR
Just get a rubber truck mat for it. Stuff won't slide, you can hose it off, it cuts way down on the sound, and i easy.



They just toss in and pull out. Or you could roll in some bed liner if you are hardcore.