speaker review

[94touring]

Recently redid the 20 year old stereo system in my rx7.  Aside from the new deck and door speakers, I added a small sub.  I have to say for the size and price I'm pretty impressed.  When I redo the mini I'll be putting one of these in.

http://www.rockvilleaudio.com/RW8CA/?page_context=category&faceted_search=0

[MiniDave]

Why? Anything over city speeds I can't hear anything but engine noise, road noise and wind noise.....not to mention everything is already rattling and buzzing in Buzz as it is!

I can see it now, Jim pulls up to a light, stereo thumping, doors blowing in and out in response to the bass....... ;D

[94touring]

Yeah I hear ya, pun intended.  I have to really crank up the stereo in my mini at 70mph to hear it.  I do a lot of city driving slow enough I like a nice stereo system. 

[MtyMous]

That's a genius solution. I'm trying to have a completely hidden stereo option in Tink. No head unit, nothing but an aux port under the dash where you can't see it, Etc. It'll be interesting to setup, but I'm hoping that with the addition of all the sound deadening I'm putting in, it will be substantially quieter inside.

Time will tell, but thanks for sharing.

[94touring]

It fits in the spare wheel well in my 7.  In the mini you could easily mount it under the rear seat on the underside of the seat panel to keep it out of side.  It has the feed to adjust base and I've yet to have to go over half it puts out so much. 

[MPlayle]

If you plan on just using an Pod as your audio source, you could go with something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PLMRMP3A-4-Channel-Waterproof-Amplifier/dp/B003K154IE

[94touring]

That's a neat idea.  Only downside I see is there probably isn't a way to adjust treble and base, unless I suppose you put in an equalizer. 

[MPlayle]

I did a basic search (google) for "iPod amplifier" to find that one.  There are some others that have more advanced features including bass/treble control and even remote control.

[94touring]

If I could find one with adjustable treble/bass/low inputs I'd probably do that and ditch the deck.  95% of the time all my music comes off my phone. Then just hide it under my seat. 

[MPlayle]

Check out some that are in this Amazon search:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/176-6038998-8499249?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=iPod+amplifier

[94touring]

I was looking through those earlier actually.  Only thing is they all seem to use a 12v wall outlet. 

[MPlayle]

The key feature is that they are 12V.  You can get the correct size plug at most electronic supply places such as Fry's and make a direct power line from your car's fuse box.  (I would have suggested Radio Shack, but they are no more.)

Something like this:

http://www.frys.com/product/7726868?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

[94touring]

Just an update.  Cameron I remember you saying no head unit and something hidden.  Well it's easier than I realized.  All you need to do is get an aux to rca cable and go from your phone straight to an amp.  I tore out the cassette player in the mini and tried it out on the super old crappy amp that came with my car.  After putting in new 6x9's I was blown away by how much better it sounded, as well as the simplicity of it.  It's only a 50 watt 2 channel amp so I ordered a 4 channel 400 watt Kenwood amp today.  My plan is to have the 6x9's as well as two 4" speakers mounted under the dash parcel shelf.  The amp can be adjusted to equalize the fronts and rears.  So probably turn up the bass on the 6x9's which already have a nice thump, but would over power the 4"s up front.  I also ordered a aux splitter to be able to run rca cables to the two sets of rca inputs on the amp.  I'll have more pics when it's all done.  You can see what I've already done in my 74 build thread. 

[MiniDave]

When I got Buzz there was a radio under the dash and two loose boxed speakers under the rear seat, I removed all of it.....mostly because the only time I could hear it was when I was parked!   ;D

I rarely listen to the radio when driving, it's too annoying.

[MtyMous]

Awesome, Dan. I've been back and forth on having audio or not. I'm leaning towards it. I'm still struggling with how to hide the front speakers and still have good audio quality. I'm very interested to see your build. Thanks for the update, too.

[94touring]

Here's a pic of the cables you need.  Then the amp just sits under the seat and the aux cable is right there to plug into your phone.  If you have a 2 channel amp then you don't need the splitter to run the 2nd set of aux to rca.  I tried to run all 4 speakers off the 2 channel amp I have but it just doesn't work, at least not on this old amp. 

[94touring]

Been going back and forth on a few ideas.  I'm happy with the 6x9's and was going to mount 4" speakers on the dash shelf.  However I'm about to aquire a free rookie dash that needs refurbished and I'd like to use it and utilize glove boxes.  I want to retain the air vents so can't put the speakers there.  One option is to mount the speakers on the shelf but facing downwards, so they're not blasting into the back of the dash.  However, I'm also wondering if I need the 4's at all and if I would rather do a shallow 8 inch sub under a seat.  The 4 channel amp I ordered would run the 6x9s on 2 channels then bridge the other 2 channels to the sub.  I think I'll wait and see how the new amp sounds on the 6x9s and maybe test fit the 4s to see if I need them.  The old amp turns out is a 1997 model and puts put 25 watts per channel, and surprised me the speakers sound as good as they do as is. 

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Stupid question, but have you seen how MCM approached the issue?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvKelVcqlsw

http://www.gbcarparts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=AC-spkbox&cat=10

I currently have some rear shelf speakers, and that's it, but was debating fitting some up front somehow.

[94touring]

I've seen those but not a fan.  I like the clean look of no door bins.  Didn't want to hack up the rear parcel shelf either.  Speakers in the rear bins would be an option but doubt I need 4 speakers behind me. 

[John Gervais]

Stupid question, but have you seen how MCM approached the issue?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvKelVcqlsw

http://www.gbcarparts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=AC-spkbox&cat=10

I currently have some rear shelf speakers, and that's it, but was debating fitting some up front somehow.

I installed a pair of 3" Polk DB351 coaxial speakers under the dash.  I had a pair of Phillips surface mount speakers that came with the car, so I opened them up and removed the dried-out paper speakers and carefully ground out the case to accommodate the Polks.  Prior to installing the 3"ers, I had only a pair of 6x9 Clariontriaxial speakers under the rear seat; it was ok, but pretty muddy.  With the addition of the 3"ers, it's much, much better, but I've been considering adding a thin subwoofer for a couple of years now. 

The short list is either the Alpine PWE-S8 or the Kenwood KSC-SW11 - can't decide yet, and finances have become tight on the unemployment budget.

[TJF]

After having no audio system in my Mini for over a decade, I installed an amp and two speakers under the rear seat and two more speakers in the center console I made. I just have a USB bluetooth dongle connected to the amp's inputs and just play music from my phone. There is no bass/treble/fade/balance control but it sounds good enough and I had no problems hearing it at freeway speeds last April when I drove to the Mini56 and back.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

After having no audio system in my Mini for over a decade, I installed an amp and two speakers under the rear seat and two more speakers in the center console I made. I just have a USB bluetooth dongle connected to the amp's inputs and just play music from my phone. There is no bass/treble/fade/balance control but it sounds good enough and I had no problems hearing it at freeway speeds last April when I drove to the Mini56 and back.

Would you mind posting some pics? Particularly of the console.

[TJF]

Here is my console template that I made out of coroplast to refine the shape.

[TJF]

Then I made it out of masonite. I ended up covering it with a layer of fiberglass. That part didn't go so well, because I tried to cover it all with a single piece of cloth. Then I didn't want to sand the spots that needed sanding, so I just sprayed the whole thing with some Eastwood Elastawrap that I got for free. I doubt I'll ever go back and make it pretty. It has two cupholders, 3 USB ports and a standard 12 VDC power outlet, plus a little place for my phone. Oh and two speakers on the sides.

Here is a picture from when I was test fitting it. Like I said not pretty, but it is functional. I used a center console plan I found on the internet somewhere as the basis to start from and then modified it as I went to get what I wanted.