In Car Stereo and Speaker Upgrade Advice
Discussion
Hi All, I've done a bit of search but I can't really find what I'm looking for so my apologies if this has been asked before.
I'm doing a bit of a restoration to an old motor and while the entire interior is stripped out I wanted to upgrade the entire stereo system. The car in question is an old Volvo 940 Wentworth. It originally came with tweeters at each corner of the dash top and a speaker in each rear door. It has the provision to put a speaker in each front door too as fitted to those models with the 'premium sound system'.
Anyway, my plan is to replace the dash mounted speakers, fit new speakers to the front doors, replace the speakers in the rear doors and then a larger diameter woofer in the underfloor boot compartments on each side of the rear of the car, plus of course all of the wiring.
First of all, does this make sense and would it work well enough?
Secondly, if it does make sense, what is the best way of connecting it all 8 speakers to the head unit?
What would be the best sort of amp to use and what would be the best way of wiring it all together? I'd really like to see a wiring diagram or layout detailing the best way of plugging everything together.
I looked at those under seat active sub woofers a few people have mentioned in other threads but the way the heater ducting an seat wiring runs under each front seat they wouldn't work too well. Plus my plan is to keep it all looking stock and have everything hidden behind the standard factory grilles and away under the boot floor.
Again, my apologies if this has been asked before, I've never really done any in car stereo stuff other then swapping out head units and putting in new speakers and wiring.
I appreciate any advice offered!
I'm doing a bit of a restoration to an old motor and while the entire interior is stripped out I wanted to upgrade the entire stereo system. The car in question is an old Volvo 940 Wentworth. It originally came with tweeters at each corner of the dash top and a speaker in each rear door. It has the provision to put a speaker in each front door too as fitted to those models with the 'premium sound system'.
Anyway, my plan is to replace the dash mounted speakers, fit new speakers to the front doors, replace the speakers in the rear doors and then a larger diameter woofer in the underfloor boot compartments on each side of the rear of the car, plus of course all of the wiring.
First of all, does this make sense and would it work well enough?
Secondly, if it does make sense, what is the best way of connecting it all 8 speakers to the head unit?
What would be the best sort of amp to use and what would be the best way of wiring it all together? I'd really like to see a wiring diagram or layout detailing the best way of plugging everything together.
I looked at those under seat active sub woofers a few people have mentioned in other threads but the way the heater ducting an seat wiring runs under each front seat they wouldn't work too well. Plus my plan is to keep it all looking stock and have everything hidden behind the standard factory grilles and away under the boot floor.
Again, my apologies if this has been asked before, I've never really done any in car stereo stuff other then swapping out head units and putting in new speakers and wiring.
I appreciate any advice offered!
Hi Bob,
It's very tedious to type out everything about what you'd like as there's multiple ways of doing things, installing products and choosing suitable ones etc!
Where in the UK are you based?
I'd recommend talking to a reputable and experienced car audio dealer/installer to talk over what you'd like and get an idea of costs depending on what you'd want.
Many owners want 100% 'stealth' for when it comes to classic cars which I fully understand. The good news is nowadays there's a lot of really small and high performance car audio products which better fit in with keeping everything looking oem and untouched. These products are of course modestly higher priced than the entry level of products.
When installed correctly and well, you'll get a fantastic sounding setup and I'd say for a price level that may well pleasantly surprise you !
Cheers, Dennis!
It's very tedious to type out everything about what you'd like as there's multiple ways of doing things, installing products and choosing suitable ones etc!
Where in the UK are you based?
I'd recommend talking to a reputable and experienced car audio dealer/installer to talk over what you'd like and get an idea of costs depending on what you'd want.
Many owners want 100% 'stealth' for when it comes to classic cars which I fully understand. The good news is nowadays there's a lot of really small and high performance car audio products which better fit in with keeping everything looking oem and untouched. These products are of course modestly higher priced than the entry level of products.
When installed correctly and well, you'll get a fantastic sounding setup and I'd say for a price level that may well pleasantly surprise you !
Cheers, Dennis!
First off, I'd not put speakers in the rear doors - assuming you're looking for sound quality rather than sheer volume. Good quality in car stereo world involves creating a clear well focused image of the music preferably about eye level or just below and ideally "placed" somewhere out on the bonnet. You should be able to point to where the various instruments are. This is called staging. Rear full range speakers make this VERY difficult to achieve. The sub can go in the back as bass is fairly non-directional (although in a big/long car, you may need to use time delay processing to get the bass to arrive at the driver's seat at the same time as the higher frequencies from the front).
Massive power is not required - good speaker mounting and sealing makes more useful difference, IMO. I'm running 2 x75w up front and 1 x 300w sub in the rear, and that's louder than I usually want to turn it up, and far louder than my better half ever wants it
Pay particular attention to clipping - this is how nice speakers die. If you go to a pro fitter, they should set it up for you, but when they tell you never to go over a certain volume on the HU, believe them!
www.bcae1.com if you want to learn more (much more)
Massive power is not required - good speaker mounting and sealing makes more useful difference, IMO. I'm running 2 x75w up front and 1 x 300w sub in the rear, and that's louder than I usually want to turn it up, and far louder than my better half ever wants it
Pay particular attention to clipping - this is how nice speakers die. If you go to a pro fitter, they should set it up for you, but when they tell you never to go over a certain volume on the HU, believe them!
www.bcae1.com if you want to learn more (much more)
As defilade has said,I'd go for a decent pair of components up front perhaps with the tweeters mounted in the stock positions on the dashboard and a sub in the boot. this can be driven by a decent four channel amp with two of the channels bridged to drive the sub.
Wiring wise, a fused live power cable from battery to the amp. Shorter ground from the amp to the body somewhere. A smaller switched live wire from the stereo to the amp to tell it when to turn on. Then two pairs of phonos from head unit to the amp one each for each pair of speakers / sub. Then speaker cable from amp to speakers. Obviously this is a simplified guide.
Wiring wise, a fused live power cable from battery to the amp. Shorter ground from the amp to the body somewhere. A smaller switched live wire from the stereo to the amp to tell it when to turn on. Then two pairs of phonos from head unit to the amp one each for each pair of speakers / sub. Then speaker cable from amp to speakers. Obviously this is a simplified guide.
Gassing Station | In-Car Electronics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff