Wagon Speaker Location - Ideas???

I'm really not happy with the stock speaker locations in my wagon. I like all kinds of music, except Rap, whining, nasal singers, oom-pah-pah and some of the dirges from the 15th Century composers.

I want to hear it all, not just bass and boom box stuff.

The Fairmont/Zephyr/Mercury Cougars are fairly well sound deadened and rattle-free, but they just don't have the speakers well placed.

I was thinking of putting a pair of 6" X 9" 3-way speakers above the tailgate, pointing forward and tilted down from straight ahead by about 10 degrees. The 3" dash speakers are 40 watt 2-ways (mid-range and tweeter).

I was reading up on the Chrysler Infinity radio from the late 80's, where they had the door speakers amplified for the woofer/bass range. Hard to find, but still around in the Junkyards.

I plan on using the 1986 Dodge Dayton AM/FM/Cassette radio because it has a 5-band equalizer and a swizzle-stick sound switch to give you better distribution and the 2 traditional knobs, as well as front/rear fader, and station presets. Nice radio. Much nicer than the amplified Ford Premium Sound that was offered for Fairmonts.

Has anyone done any experimenting with better speaker locations?

As it is, I modified the rear cargo speaker panels to move up from the stock 15 watt 4" X 6" 2-way units to the 160 watt JBL 6" X 9" 3-ways. The dash speakers are Sony or JBL 40 watt units. The radio pushes at 15 watts per channel and I've got a 50 watt amp if I need it.

My big beef is with the rear cargo speakers. I'd have to drive with the rear seat down, to get a bit more clarity. They just seem to entertain each other, which is a shame for the $150 value.

 

Take it to a local stereo shop. Not a best Buy but a small localally owned shop. Those kids can do just about anything. They can add them in and make it look semi-factory

 

I have to get an Immobilzer installed soon, and my favourite Ford dealer suggested I go to this high-end certifed installer who also happen to be a small highend auto stereo shop. That's sort of my last ditch option. I just wondered if others had tried and conquered the 'sound in a drum' problem.

 

That's one of the 1" tweeters! Slick idea.

 

The most ideal location for front speakers is in the kick panels down by your feet. Yes they are in the way 90% of the time, but that gives you the best equalized sound for the dront speakers. The distance is 47% right and 53% left in the distances they sound travels. I used to build competition systems at PJs Autosound and Autoguard Accessories. Tweeters or high frequencies travel in a speciffic direction, mids use both direction and soundwaves to distribute the sound, where bass is nothing but moving air and can be placed either facing you for one effect or cornerloaded, facing rear and bounding off the rear wall and traveling foward to you. Where corner loaded is the best for bass. ou want to keep your highs as equal a distance from your ears from left and right as possible and mids are a little more lienant.

The old Chrysler sterios are garbage, no matter if they were Infinity or not. They had a amplifier located usually in the rear of the car to increase the power of the rear speakers, unless you have this componate and all the wiring, you wont be happy.

Now if you were to buy a newer sterio head unit, good luck finding cassette players, they are yesteryear technology and if you dont have CDs, its time to step it up or dont even bother. Find a headunit with the easiest to use features that you can understand. DO NOT buy a headunit with less then 45wattsx4 of power. You will not be pleased with the sound. My Panasonic is 45x4 and has 1 control kob. You use it to control the volume and push it to access the other features and turn the knob to adjust. I pulled the stock sterio unit from my Roadmaster because the CD player didnt work and installed my Panasonic. I was blown away with the difference in sound quality. The stock was rated at a pathetic 10x4 of power and now the speakers actually produce some sound. The quality is very pleasing. I dont have a bass system and with 2 toddlers, I wont have. The Bass is just enuff to produce a light thump and the mids and highs are plenty crisp. I decided to upgrade the front speakers because the passenger door 4x6 had a torn foam surround. I picked up a set of Sony Xplode 4x6 3 way composites and WOW, even better. Next I will be yanking the rear 6x9s and upgrading them to Xplode 6x9s.

In conclusion and from years of sterio experiance, upgrade the headunit first. Get a NEW one not some worn out junkyard find with no more power then the original. Remember your Faimont has a single DIN sized radio and yes, they do make direct plugin wiring harnesses for your car.

 

Blackfoot, I didn't expect guidance from a Pro, much appreciated.

One more thing. What's a good control to move the sound off center. The Swizzle stick lets you shift the balance to one corner or a whole side or somewhere between front and back.

I'm not rookie to circuit boards or a breadboard and I can build one, if it makes sense.

My big issue with the new head units is you have to take your eyes off the road to see which button your touching or what station you're on. The old 2-knob set up makes more sense to me.

Any suggestions?

 

Fader and Balance. On about every headunit has both a fader and balance control.

Fader controls the fade of output to the front and rear, the more you adjust it to the front, the louder the fronts will be and the quiter the rears will be and vise/versa.

Balance does the same thing except left to right. You can send signal to only the right rear by fading to the rear and balancing to the right and on and on to eact seperate speaker channel.

 

Here's a picture of it. Mine has the black face, but its the same. First unit on the righthand side.

http://www.allpar.com/stereo/infinity-guide.html

 

That's why I like the above unit. It still has the Fader AND the balance controls and then that 'stickshift' control. It's not the Infinity model (mine). It's called Ultimate made for Mitsubishi, and formatted for the early/mid 80's Mopars.

 

Is this going in your Fairmont? Have you measure this unit compared to the dash location in the car? I believe the Fairmont uses a single DIN unit and ths Chrysler is a DIN and a 1/2, basicly the DIN is the standard size of around 2" tall and the DIN and a Half is 1 DIN size and a 1/2 of one added to the height, Bacily around 3" tall. Double DIN is 2 standard DIN sized units, approx 4". (My measurements are just guesses)

That stick does the same thing as the 2 seperate controls of a Balance and fader, but they are built into one. They are not very precise and alot of them start to get, how do you say this correctly, messes up with age and use. Digital or Dial is the only way to control the sound. Digital is the most precise and a dial is the next best step.

This is the same radio I have removed for many customers in the past, they are just fancy lookin, nothing special. A EQ is a nice feature, but alot of new headunits have a built in EQ or atleats preset EQ settings for like Rock, Jazz, Country, POP, Classical etc....

 

I'm building a custom dash for the Fairmont. I don't like the Mustang gauge layout. I've got a Futura Sport wheel, that gives me a better view of gauges (if they were there, instead of idiot lights.) So I figured I'd redesign the layout and build an aluminum backplate. The glovebox is too small, and too tight to the wiring and relays - you can't change them without taking a whole bunch of the car apart. I've had off down to the firewall and rebuilt it - its plastic.

Also plan on building in a Cassette/CD/DVD storage space.

Also, I don't have the original radio. I've got a Sanyo installed, but I can't stop it from scanning radio stations. I've got a Panasonic with the LCD all screwed up, because I hit the brakes too fast and a piece of lumber squashed it. And Toshiba with a bad Cassette mechanism.

 

Here's a site that I use as a reference for auto-radio and electrical issues.

http://www.the12volt.com/

 

That site is awsome. I have used it many a time in the past.