Additional Stereo Speakers

[Richard and Rhonda]

My hearing tests would say that money spent on stereo speakers is wasted, but no matter, boys and their toys.

Anyway, at the Austin get together, I heard the subwoofer that Tom had installed and also the Focal speakers for the car stereo. The sound quality was much better that what I was getting with my setup, even though I have high end component speakers driven through a pretty decent amp. Part of the problem is that the woofer for my front speakers is mounted above the front valence and almost behind my ears. The tweeter is mounted on the underside of the valence. The result was very weak bass, and mostly the higher frequencies being heard clearly. I could of course crank the volume while driving but Rhonda complains when the kids ears start to bleed.

So, I installed the same self powered Blauplunkt sub that Tom did. It fits very nicely behind the drivers seat, and because it is self powered and it also uses an automatic on feature, no separate amp was required and the wiring is greatly simplified. The install was fairly straight forward, except that I had a wicked ground loop squeal. A simple install of a $20 Radio Shack ground loop isolator cured that without further work.

For the next part, I wanted some midrange speakers, mounted forward of my ears and in the driver cockpit. After much measuring, looking, and sleeping on it, I decided to mount some 4 inch Focal units in the two kick panels below the dash. I did not have to buy another amp because the high power outputs on the head unit were not being used, since the head unit was driving the original speakers through an amp. It was a little tight making sure that there would be no interference with anything behind the panels, but also easier because the panels are simply held in with snap catches. I could take them to the shop to fine tune the placement, cut the holes, get the carpet covering out of the way, and mount the speakers. I would not have had room for larger speakers such as 5 1/4.

Wow, what a difference in the sound clarity in the cockpit. I can't really tell much difference in the coach, except for slightly fuller bass, but I was aiming for the driver to be able to hear the music clearly without having to crank up the volume.

Some side bar notes. One, I installed some quick disconnects on the 4 inch speakers since those panels are always getting taken in and out to get access under the dash. Two, the Focal speakers are made in France, so if you go to the audio boutique stores, the dude will pronounce them foo KAL. I don't care, they sounded the best compared to all of the other stuff I listened to in a side by side comparison.

Now, I just need to decide what color of neon lights to mount under the coach to flash in time with the subwoofer :-)