How to fit rear speakers
Discussion
For anyone interested in fitting additional speakers in the rear here is my attempt.
I considered cutting holes in the rear panel but wasn't convinced I could fit a pair of 6x9s in so opted to make a "box" of MDF Its not too deep and tilted upwards to direct the speaker to head height. Its wedged in tight and held in place by a long strip of velcro on the back batten.
The whole thing is covered in matching carpet although it looks darker due to the shadow of the overhang above it.
This coupled to an amp in the boot and I can have the stereo at full volume with very minimal distortion.
Next project is to see if I can fit in some mid-range/tweeters in the front somewhere to bring the music forward as it does now sound all behind me.
Rear view showing batten (at an angle) with velcro strip.
Paul
ps. Ever wondered why TVR put in those 4inch speakers?
Its to provide a convenient hole for when you want to pull wires through from the back of the car to the front.
>>> Edited by paul-wh on Tuesday 4th June 23:47
I considered cutting holes in the rear panel but wasn't convinced I could fit a pair of 6x9s in so opted to make a "box" of MDF Its not too deep and tilted upwards to direct the speaker to head height. Its wedged in tight and held in place by a long strip of velcro on the back batten.
The whole thing is covered in matching carpet although it looks darker due to the shadow of the overhang above it.
This coupled to an amp in the boot and I can have the stereo at full volume with very minimal distortion.
Next project is to see if I can fit in some mid-range/tweeters in the front somewhere to bring the music forward as it does now sound all behind me.
Rear view showing batten (at an angle) with velcro strip.
Paul
ps. Ever wondered why TVR put in those 4inch speakers?
Its to provide a convenient hole for when you want to pull wires through from the back of the car to the front.
>>> Edited by paul-wh on Tuesday 4th June 23:47
Thanks Bizzbozz,
It wasn't too arduous a task to make or fit. I havent bothered with any sound deadening material. Not sure if I need to.
The amp is a Genesis Profile amp which has 2 channels so I am limited to just running the rear speakers off this. The speakers are MB Quart DTC169 - 6x9s
which are 3-way speakers. The amp and speakers were recommended by the car audio shop and I had no reason to doubt them. I am impressed with the sound from them. The other day I was listening to an Alanis Morisette song and I could hear a background noise which I first thought was yet another creak from the car but was actually a bit of background guitar I hadnt been able to hear before.
The only bits of carpet that need pulling away are a small part of the top right corner of the upright piece at the back of the rear shelf so that you can drill a hole to pass the speaker cables through to the boot. You also need to pull away the piece behind the lift up flap in the boot to expose the drilled hole. Lastly, the right side of the piece at the front of the passenger well to expose the entry to the battery compartment and to feed the remote switch-on/RCA wires up to the head unit.
The amp is held in place by 3 big pieces of velcro at the bottom of the front wall of the boot to the left of the fuel tank. The speaker wires can then be hidden behind the carpet covering the fuel tank. The power/ground/remote switch-on/RCA cables can be fed behind the edge of the carpet that covers the left side of the boot. They can then be fed over the left wheel arch and by removing the rear left speaker you can then direct them down behind the panel through which the seat belt runs (and disconnect the speaker at the same time!). Next, undo the allen bolt at the bottom of this panel and put the wires behind this (my last pic was taken before I did this) to make sure the wires were tight to the wheel arch so as not to risk getting in the way of the seat belt. This then puts them in an ideal position to feed them to the floor slightly behind the carpet to pass along under the edge of the floor carpet to the left of the passenger seat. If you lift the floor carpet in the passenger footwell which is held on by a velcro strip then there are a couple of grooves along which you can run the cables and tape in place using insulation tape. This means no bumps in the carpet. Lastly you can run the wires up behind the carpet in the passenger footwell, pass the ground and power through the rubber bung to the battery compartment and the rest up behind the shelf, twist them once around the corrugated heater tubing to stop them falling down and then along to the hole behind the stereo. Fitting to the stereo depends on your head unit.
Back to making the MDF box front, following the advice of a thread on the Yahoo Tuscan Owners forum I made a template out of cardboard and then asked a cabinet maker friend to cut the shape out of MDF but to cut the top and bottom lines at an angle of about 30 degrees so that when in place it was angled upwards. If you go for the same method of securing the box to the rear wall using a batten screwed to a piece of wood either side of the speakers and one in the middle then when you put it in place you will probably find that the rear wall is concave and so you will need to screw a smaller batten to the main on to fill the gap. You can then attach the velcro to this.
I haven't fitted front speakers yet as this is proving a problem but Andy Moore has fitted Bose cube speakers which fit on the shelf. Once I have sorted out a low frequency filter I shall try an experiment with my Bose speakers.
Paul
It wasn't too arduous a task to make or fit. I havent bothered with any sound deadening material. Not sure if I need to.
The amp is a Genesis Profile amp which has 2 channels so I am limited to just running the rear speakers off this. The speakers are MB Quart DTC169 - 6x9s
which are 3-way speakers. The amp and speakers were recommended by the car audio shop and I had no reason to doubt them. I am impressed with the sound from them. The other day I was listening to an Alanis Morisette song and I could hear a background noise which I first thought was yet another creak from the car but was actually a bit of background guitar I hadnt been able to hear before.
The only bits of carpet that need pulling away are a small part of the top right corner of the upright piece at the back of the rear shelf so that you can drill a hole to pass the speaker cables through to the boot. You also need to pull away the piece behind the lift up flap in the boot to expose the drilled hole. Lastly, the right side of the piece at the front of the passenger well to expose the entry to the battery compartment and to feed the remote switch-on/RCA wires up to the head unit.
The amp is held in place by 3 big pieces of velcro at the bottom of the front wall of the boot to the left of the fuel tank. The speaker wires can then be hidden behind the carpet covering the fuel tank. The power/ground/remote switch-on/RCA cables can be fed behind the edge of the carpet that covers the left side of the boot. They can then be fed over the left wheel arch and by removing the rear left speaker you can then direct them down behind the panel through which the seat belt runs (and disconnect the speaker at the same time!). Next, undo the allen bolt at the bottom of this panel and put the wires behind this (my last pic was taken before I did this) to make sure the wires were tight to the wheel arch so as not to risk getting in the way of the seat belt. This then puts them in an ideal position to feed them to the floor slightly behind the carpet to pass along under the edge of the floor carpet to the left of the passenger seat. If you lift the floor carpet in the passenger footwell which is held on by a velcro strip then there are a couple of grooves along which you can run the cables and tape in place using insulation tape. This means no bumps in the carpet. Lastly you can run the wires up behind the carpet in the passenger footwell, pass the ground and power through the rubber bung to the battery compartment and the rest up behind the shelf, twist them once around the corrugated heater tubing to stop them falling down and then along to the hole behind the stereo. Fitting to the stereo depends on your head unit.
Back to making the MDF box front, following the advice of a thread on the Yahoo Tuscan Owners forum I made a template out of cardboard and then asked a cabinet maker friend to cut the shape out of MDF but to cut the top and bottom lines at an angle of about 30 degrees so that when in place it was angled upwards. If you go for the same method of securing the box to the rear wall using a batten screwed to a piece of wood either side of the speakers and one in the middle then when you put it in place you will probably find that the rear wall is concave and so you will need to screw a smaller batten to the main on to fill the gap. You can then attach the velcro to this.
I haven't fitted front speakers yet as this is proving a problem but Andy Moore has fitted Bose cube speakers which fit on the shelf. Once I have sorted out a low frequency filter I shall try an experiment with my Bose speakers.
Paul
Cheers Jarrett,
I bought a pair on Friday. I wired them straight off the head unit and they sounded very good however they distorted at about half volume so I put one on the amp and this was much better. Doesnt look like my head unit is up to it so I am going to have to get an amp.
Cheers
Paul
I bought a pair on Friday. I wired them straight off the head unit and they sounded very good however they distorted at about half volume so I put one on the amp and this was much better. Doesnt look like my head unit is up to it so I am going to have to get an amp.
Cheers
Paul
Hi Jarrett,
After visiting the car audio shop to see about getting another amp to power the tweeters, the guy there suggested wiring them across the rear 9x6 speakers running off the amp rather that buy another amp. I am glad to say that they worked however when I placed them in the same position as yours they wernt very audible.
As they are running on the same channel as the rears I am not able to fade to the front tweeters to make them louder so I have ended up moving the tweeters to the right of the radio for the left channel and at the front of the parcel shelf to the right of the steering wheel for the right channel. Bringing them closer to me compensates for the lack of fader control and as most of the time it is just me in the car, I am not that bothered if sound isnt going to be as good to anyone sitting in the passenger seat.
Obviously, if the head unit can power the speakers on its own without distortion then it will be possible to fade to the front to increase their volume if required.
Paul
>> Edited by paul-wh on Thursday 20th June 18:15
After visiting the car audio shop to see about getting another amp to power the tweeters, the guy there suggested wiring them across the rear 9x6 speakers running off the amp rather that buy another amp. I am glad to say that they worked however when I placed them in the same position as yours they wernt very audible.
As they are running on the same channel as the rears I am not able to fade to the front tweeters to make them louder so I have ended up moving the tweeters to the right of the radio for the left channel and at the front of the parcel shelf to the right of the steering wheel for the right channel. Bringing them closer to me compensates for the lack of fader control and as most of the time it is just me in the car, I am not that bothered if sound isnt going to be as good to anyone sitting in the passenger seat.
Obviously, if the head unit can power the speakers on its own without distortion then it will be possible to fade to the front to increase their volume if required.
Paul
>> Edited by paul-wh on Thursday 20th June 18:15
Jarrett,
I can see why your stereo cost just under a grand now.
I sometimes wonder about power ratings. My head unit is 30w per channel so I cant understand why the tweeters, which are rated at 50w, distort at around 50% volume. I would have expected it at a much higher volume.
The main reason for going for my Clarion head unit was because it is metal (the dashboard in my Chimaera was aluminium) and it is MP3 compatible, although it is only the CD player in the head unit which will play MP3. The changer in the boot can only take normal CDs. I have been told that Kenwood systems can take MP3 CDs in the CD changer so I guess in time most manufacturers will go down this route so if I ever upgrade my stereo, I shall make sure that it can power the tweeters sufficently
Paul
I can see why your stereo cost just under a grand now.
I sometimes wonder about power ratings. My head unit is 30w per channel so I cant understand why the tweeters, which are rated at 50w, distort at around 50% volume. I would have expected it at a much higher volume.
The main reason for going for my Clarion head unit was because it is metal (the dashboard in my Chimaera was aluminium) and it is MP3 compatible, although it is only the CD player in the head unit which will play MP3. The changer in the boot can only take normal CDs. I have been told that Kenwood systems can take MP3 CDs in the CD changer so I guess in time most manufacturers will go down this route so if I ever upgrade my stereo, I shall make sure that it can power the tweeters sufficently
Paul
Dohhhhh! Gadget boy here.
Had a look at the mStation at www.6thplanet.com and couldnt resist it. By next week I will be the owner of the 60gb version too.
Graham, Where did you fit your hard drive?
Paul
Had a look at the mStation at www.6thplanet.com and couldnt resist it. By next week I will be the owner of the 60gb version too.
Graham, Where did you fit your hard drive?
Paul
Hi Steve,
From a look at the website it looks like you get a fair bit of info on the track/album displayed on the control pad. It also says you can create various playlists. Hopefully I shall fit next week. Then I will have to buy another one to fit the other half of my CD collection on!
Paul
From a look at the website it looks like you get a fair bit of info on the track/album displayed on the control pad. It also says you can create various playlists. Hopefully I shall fit next week. Then I will have to buy another one to fit the other half of my CD collection on!
Paul
Cheers Graham,
I had a look at the empeg site. Not a bad looking unit. I still want to keep my Clarion head unit as I have the DAB tuner in the boot so for me the mStation is the better bet feeding it into the aux input. I like the idea of being able to change the hard drive of the empeg though. I wonder if this is possible with the mStation.
Paul
I had a look at the empeg site. Not a bad looking unit. I still want to keep my Clarion head unit as I have the DAB tuner in the boot so for me the mStation is the better bet feeding it into the aux input. I like the idea of being able to change the hard drive of the empeg though. I wonder if this is possible with the mStation.
Paul
Gassing Station | Tuscan | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff