Locating Front Speakers In A Cargo Van

Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=38075
Printed Date: May 03, 2024 at 2:48 AM

Topic: Locating Front Speakers In A Cargo Van

Posted By: tombrooklyn
Subject: Locating Front Speakers In A Cargo Van
Date Posted: August 25, 2004 at 9:51 AM

The 6x9 front speakers in the doors of my Cargo van are mounted low on the doors and are partially blocked by the seats. The sound stage created from this speaker placement is pretty poor.

Any ideas on where speakers could be relocated or added to improve things?

Would just adding rear speakers help? I have a feeling that would just confuse the correct sound stage impression.

Replies:

Posted By: Sweekster
Date Posted: August 25, 2004 at 2:26 PM

What kind of van? Year,make,model? I have the same problem with my old ford econoline cargo van. Speakers are too low. Adding the rears speakers probably won't help the front stage at all..It'll just give you somewhat of a surround sound effect. I plan on making new door panels for my van and also incorporating speakers pod higher up on the dash

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Duane...

If you think you're confused, imagine how you feel. posted_image

Posted By: Sweekster
Date Posted: August 25, 2004 at 2:27 PM

What kind of van? Year,make,model? I have the same problem with my old ford econoline cargo van. Speakers are too low. Adding the rears speakers probably won't help the front stage at all..It'll just give you somewhat of a surround sound effect. I plan on making new door panels for my van and also incorporating speakers pod higher up on the panel to create a better front stage.

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Duane...

If you think you're confused, imagine how you feel. posted_image

Posted By: tombrooklyn
Date Posted: August 25, 2004 at 3:08 PM

Hi Duane,

My van is a '95 Dodge Ram 2500 Extended. I haven't taken the door panels off. Ought I do that and see if I can find a spot to install speakers higher?

I will probably have power windows put in, so that might affect the ability to place speakers higher I suppose. At that time I would be able to check out what room is back there.

I think there is some room on the lower dashboard to put in some small speakers, perhaps up to about 3 1/2 inches. I don't know how much that would help. I could probably put tweeters in there, but I think I might need more than just tweeters to improve the overall sound stage image. I wonder how much midrange I would get out of something like that.

TomBk

Posted By: Sweekster
Date Posted: August 25, 2004 at 4:46 PM

Is there room for kick panels in there? My van is an 87 and it didn't actually have speakers in the doors or in the rear doors when it was built (the previous owner had the holes cut for the speakers) it came with just a radio and one speaker in the center of the dash.

I've also added power windows/locks to it too. My door panels are flat with just the arm rest sticking out so my plan is to make a new panel and with a speaker pod that brings the speaker up higher and out of the hole in the door. Kind of like this

You may want to consider making a set of speaker pods that attach to the door panel. Then you can better setup the stage imaging to your liking.

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Duane...

If you think you're confused, imagine how you feel. posted_image

Posted By: tombrooklyn
Date Posted: August 25, 2004 at 5:04 PM

Sweekster wrote:

Kind of like this You may want to consider making a set of speaker pods that attach to the door panel. Then you can better setup the stage imaging to your liking.

Hi D:

I hadn't thought about that. What do you make them out of, thin plywood and fiberglass? I could probably work up something like that. TomBk

Posted By: Sweekster
Date Posted: August 25, 2004 at 5:53 PM

I'm going to be building the panel out of 1/2 inch MDF (medium densisty fiberboard) and fiberglassing it for strength-then covering it in vinyl. And then making the speaker pod out 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch MDF rings and a 1/4 inch mdf base/backing plate (also covering that with vinyl as well).

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Duane...

If you think you're confused, imagine how you feel. posted_image

Posted By: tombrooklyn
Date Posted: August 25, 2004 at 10:27 PM

Hi D:

Are you going to make the whole door panel out of 1/2" MDF. That seems very thick and heavy. TomBk

Posted By: Sweekster
Date Posted: August 26, 2004 at 1:20 AM

I might actually end up doing the front doors with 1/4 inch and the rear doors with 1/2 inch so I can flush mount and blend in the rear speakers- who knows? I'm still doing preliminary planning for this because I'm going to be redoing the whole interior of it. So there may be some more changes along the way. But if I were just doing the front stage, I'd do speaker pods.

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Duane...

If you think you're confused, imagine how you feel. posted_image