Any recommendations for small speakers for driver?

belfert · 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.

Ed Hackenbruch · November 27, 2010, 07:29:50 AM

The only music i listen to is the sweet sound of the Detroit as i go down the road.

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.

Jeremy · November 27, 2010, 07:49:22 AM

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.

Jeremy

thomasinnv · November 27, 2010, 08:28:27 AM

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.

Ed Hackenbruch · November 27, 2010, 08:41:04 AM

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.

TomC · November 27, 2010, 08:44:44 AM

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

luvrbus · November 27, 2010, 08:51:21 AM

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

Jeremy · November 27, 2010, 09:30:49 AM

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

luvrbus · November 27, 2010, 09:45:13 AM

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

chuckd · November 27, 2010, 10:43:08 AM

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

belfert · November 27, 2010, 11:37:19 AM

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.

boxcarOkie · November 27, 2010, 06:42:53 PM

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.

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

RichardEntrekin · November 28, 2010, 03:12:56 PM

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.

Oregonconversion · November 28, 2010, 03:19:10 PM

Bose! for sure!!!

belfert · November 28, 2010, 04:14:07 PM

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.