Right now, I have regular car speakers at ceiling height for the driver. It is hard to hear these speakers without the volume way up because of the distance. They are also in wierd spots to accomodate the overhead electrical panel in a Dina.
I would like to get some small speakers I can mount on or near the windshield pillars. I'm thinking something like the little cube satellite speakers, but they need to have both woofer and tweeter. Any recommendations? I don't think most car speakers would work because they need something to mount in. I have a really nice car stereo that is actually hooked to my house power for both mobile and stationary use.
The only music i listen to is the sweet sound of the Detroit as i go down the road. ;D Several times i have picked up on small noises that could have turned into big problems if i had not heard them because i had music on. Each to his own though.
If your bus is anything like mine, even the windshield pillars will be a long way from your ears.
Headrest speakers are available and might be worth considering - they're popular on convertibles in particular because of the wind noise.
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Jeremy
I'm with you Ed. I considered installing a stereo for otr use, but my wife likes to listen to it loud and I like to be able to hear what is going on. When we had the truck and 5ver i used to get annoyed because she would blast the music and i couldn't hear the truck. I too have averted disaster by being able to hear something that was not quite right.
We were going thru a town with stop signs and traffic lights, and with our windows open i started hearing a real faint click, click, click, sound. At first could not tell what side of the bus it was coming from and above a certain speed we could not hear it. Finally realized it was my left front wheel and thought it might be the wheel bearing. When we got to where we were going i took a look at it and found out that i had 3 lug nuts that were getting loose. Tightened up with no damage but could have done a lot if i had not caught it in time. I had all of the studs on the front changed this year just as a piece of mind thing since i know that in the past they had also been over torqued enough to start cracks in both of the front wheels.
Bose makes some nice small cube speakers. You don't have to have the woofers included-you can remote mount the woofers separately since lows are non directional. On my truck, I used 4-2 way Minimus 7 (2 for the driver, 2 for the passenger) surface mounted Radio Shack speakers (surprisingly good) powered through a 50 watt per channel amplifier (not a booster), and then 4-8" Cerwin-Vega twin driver (two 4ohm drivers that can be wired for 8ohm) woofers along the back of my sleeper powered through a 200 watt per channel amplifier. Needless to say-I could hear the lows through the engine noise.
Practically the only time I would fire up the radio or tapes (yes cassette tapes) was when I was tired-like mid afternoon. Good Luck, TomC
On the Bose cube speakers don't those need the amplifier to work mine in the house does,Brian check a wrecking yard for the speakers from a Lexus those are nice and small with great sound
good luck
Quote from: luvrbus on November 27, 2010, 08:51:21 AM
Brian check a wrecking yard for the speakers from a Lexus those are nice and small with great sound
I have the complete stereo system from a Lexus LS400 waiting to go into my bus. When I was removing it out of the car I was impressed to find that every speaker is mounted into it's own moulded plastic isobaric chamber, which is then mounted to the door or whatever. The amplifers and speakers have Pioneer labels on the back.
Jeremy
Jeremy our Lexus has the Pioneer system also they had a upgrade but I didn't think a 2500 dollar upgrade would really help Willie Nelson lol
good luck
Just put a bid in on some Honda 2000 speakers, will see what happens. My problem is I have Marine Corps Hearing - way to much time along side of a 106mm recoiless rifle :( These would help for my type of ears, and my chance of hearing a hiccup in the engine is pretty remote.
Chuckd
I guess another option would be to put the right speaker at the center windshield piller. I don't have a passenger seat like a normal motorhome. The passengers have four speakers all connected to the rear channel of the car stereo. We use the fader to balance the volume between driver and passengers.
Quote from: belfert on November 27, 2010, 07:15:39 AM
Right now, I have regular car speakers at ceiling height for the driver. It is hard to hear these speakers without the volume way up because of the distance. They are also in wierd spots to accomodate the overhead electrical panel in a Dina.
I would like to get some small speakers I can mount on or near the windshield pillars. I'm thinking something like the little cube satellite speakers, but they need to have both woofer and tweeter. Any recommendations? I don't think most car speakers would work because they need something to mount in. I have a really nice car stereo that is actually hooked to my house power for both mobile and stationary use.
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I found mine at Best Buy, they are Sony, cost is under $50. Be advised that they sell a lot of them without the covers, don't ask me why, I had to build a box for my setup and rigged up some speaker covers out of truck chrome.
Works for me.
BCO
I used some 4 inch Focal speakers mounted in the kick panels in front of me to supplement the sound coming from the normal overhead 6 1/2 jobs. I also mounted a small 8 inch powered sub by Bluapunkt right behind the driver seat. It really sounds clean right in the cockpit without blasting the rest of the coach.
I have no interest in the brand, but go listen to the Focal brand at your local car stereo joint.
Bose! for sure!!!
I was thinking about maybe rigging up some new speakers before I head off to Arcadia, but the current speakers work good enough for now. I would rather do things right than try to slap something together. I'm having trouble coming up with a good location for speakers right now without blocking any of the drivers' vision. The driver's windshield pillar can't have anything attached to it with screws because there is a fiberglass tunnel with dozens of wires in it.
I'm not that concerned about hearing the engine. With the design of my bus I can barely even hear the Jake brake come on with no radio. One of the drivers this past fall was able to hear the noise when our trailer axle came loose just fine and the radio was probably on.
I have little box speakers on top of the dash, but to be honest the bus is noisy enough already, makes it hard to actually hear the radio. I usually leave it off and only use when we are stopped.
Brian
This is too funny! While reading the latest posts here i looked over at the 2 speakers, ( that i never use while driving ) that are mounted just above the drivers seat and face down. Just a few inches to the rear of those are 2 cockpit lights that i use every now and then. Between the lights and the speakers is a little 3x3 inch black plastic box that has 2 large phone plug in type jacks on one side and one on the other. In 7 years of owning and living in the bus...........i have never noticed it before!!! ??? I had to take it down so i could see the writing on it. One plug in says transceiver, one says control head, and the other says hands free. Made in Canada believe it or not. :) i opened it up and it has a little speaker in it. PO must have had a hands free phone or 2 way radio of some type. :)
We are putting in a Bose system for our surround sound. We listen to music from the satelite receiver stations going down the road. Ken also has a small ipod player on the dash area that he listens to his music when no one else wants to hear music. Dont know if you have an ipod, but, you could get a small player, and make a place for it to sit close to you.
My car stereo already has an iPod interface. It will also play music from USB flash drives or even an SD card if one has a USB SD card reader. The one thing it won't do is pull in radio stations, but that is because my antenna seems to be broken.
I am enjoying this thead.
I am planning in having a divider behind the driver's seat. It will keep the noise from the living area (TV, video games, stereo, etc.) out of the cockpit. Plus the other way around: Family does not always enjoy what I am listening to. I also need to install my ham radio gear as well. Also, what if my precious bride and/or most-adorable grandbabies are sleeping for their afternoon naps, and they need quiet back there?
I plan on installing an automotive-type stereo in the cockpit just for the driver, and mounting the speakers one either side of (behind) the driver's head on the divider. And then another separate stereo in the living area. Hey: I am not talking about spending millions. There are some name-brand car stereos (Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, etc.), speakers and all, at Sams' for under $125 U.S. down here.
My two pesos' worth.
If anyone remembers vintage speakers I have what were called in a marketing angle the "David & Goliath" setup. Visonik Davids (14 through out the bus), paired with 3 M&K (Miller & Kriesel) sub woofers in 4 different zones. Zones are 1-Drivers & stump seat area, 2-Living and galley area, 3-Bedroom/Lounge area, and 4-Outside. Cant beat the quality for the buck but they are hard to come by and have been bought out. I am having mine restored to avoid having to patch and repair as they are all recessed into the walls. 5 X 7 if my memory serves me correctly.
Kozy Cade