Car Audio (Van)

What kind of music do you primarily listen to?

Man I listen to everything but r&b.

This is the space I'm working with.

Have you looked at what you can install in the doors? I'm guessing a 4x2 like you have may be your only option, but if you can upgrade to even a 5 1/4" round speaker, your options for good speakers get much better. You'll increase the bass doing just that.
If you are looking to add some deeper bass to round out the sound, put a subwoofer enclosure under that bench seat and you're done. Even a single 8" sub will make that van sound better.

Man, way back in the day in my '79 For Econoline i had a system that could set car alarms off, there was like 14 speakers and 1000 watts LOL It was a fun little hobby to work on. This was like '87-90'ish.

Oh ya it was also all Pioneer, deck+12 disc changer, i actually still have those, and a ton of other oldschool misc. parts.

Let me know what you come up with and how it sounds, i have to do something with my van without going all crazy, but want some clean sound, i dont need another earth shaker.

ocscottie wrote:

Man, way back in the day in my '79 For Econoline i had a system that could set car alarms off, there was like 14 speakers and 1000 watts LOL It was a fun little hobby to work on. This was like '87-90'ish.

Oh ya it was also all Pioneer, deck+12 disc changer, i actually still have those, and a ton of other oldschool misc. parts.

Let me know what you come up with and how it sounds, i have to do something with my van without going all crazy, but want some clean sound, i dont need another earth shaker.

Pussy!

Markee wrote:

This is the space I'm working with.

The acoustics in a van should help, but i would throw either 2 x 8" or if there is enough room, 2 x 10" subs under that bench seat. Then, like others have mentioned - upgrade the door speakers and then mount 2 either 6 1/2" or 6x9 in that back wall so all your mids and highs aren't just coming from the doors.

There are no door speakers, just some 4" up in the dash and those ones I added to the head liner.

Markeebro, in my opinion, you should find a starving stray cat at the local repository. Smear just enough cat food around the van and then lock the starving feline inside. Van will be cleared out in no time.

Harry Backmon wrote:

Markeebro, in my opinion, you should find a starving stray cat at the local repository. Smear just enough cat food around the van and then lock the starving feline inside. Van will be cleared out in no time.

You're getting closer and closer to getting a cat in the mail! lol

Motox627! wrote:

The acoustics in a van should help, but i would throw either 2 x 8" or if there is enough room, 2 x 10" subs under that bench seat. Then, like others have mentioned - upgrade the door speakers and then mount 2 either 6 1/2" or 6x9 in that back wall so all your mids and highs aren't just coming from the doors.

Leaning towards this route. 10" sub under the seat and 2 6x9's mounted behind the front seats. 4 channel amp.

One sub under the seat

kickpanels or door pods with 5 1/4"

one four channel amp big enough to run the doors in stereo off one pair, then bridge the other for the sub

check your wiring gauge

Try not to get 6x9's if you can.

Also, try to put the non-sub speakers in front of you.

KDXGarage wrote:

One sub under the seat

kickpanels or door pods with 5 1/4"

one four channel amp big enough to run the doors in stereo off one pair, then bridge the other for the sub

check your wiring gauge

Try not to get 6x9's if you can.

Also, try to put the non-sub speakers in front of you.

Reason to avoid 6x9s? I've actually never had them

The main thing is to try to get the main (stereo) speakers in front of you. 6x9's aren't usually a "mounted in front of you" size.

There is no reason to avoid 6x9 speakers. Literally half the cars and trucks on the road have them in the doors......

Motox627! wrote:

There is no reason to avoid 6x9 speakers. Literally half the cars and trucks on the road have them in the doors......

No. They do not. That statement is incorrect..

Im with KDX, a component set sound so much better than 6x9's, not even a discussion IMO.

Any non-circular speaker (6x9) will stretch at the limits of its travel and thus distort the shape of the cone slightly. It can lead to lower fidelity reproduction. Get any round coaxial speaker set, or better yet, some separates.

At the least i'm going with a 6.5 component set with a 10" sub.

Bounced the idea around of just doing 4 6.5 and 2 tweeters. My ram1500 doesn't have anything special in it from the factory and I think it sounds great.

Markee wrote:

At the least i'm going with a 6.5 component set with a 10" sub.

Bounced the idea around of just doing 4 6.5 and 2 tweeters. My ram1500 doesn't have anything special in it from the factory and I think it sounds great.

If Paul Thede made speakers, he would be talking to you. ""The best you've ridden is the best you know." :-)

If you can bear it, skip a second pair of main speakers.

two tweeters
two woofers
one subwoofer
one amp

Look into co-axial speakers if you are worried about mounting and not having to fool with mounting a tweeter.