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My van has some horrible little 6x4 speakers that are pretty shameful, I had the previous model van and changed them for some aftermarket speakers (same size due to restricted room) but they did not improve anything.
I'm not looking for audiophile quality, but with it being a van, its fairly noisy and it would be nice to be able to turn it up without distortion. At the moment it only has a pair of speakers on the front channel and they are low on the dash.
I don't think I need anything big like 6x9's, I'm thinking of two pairs of 6 1/2" speakers, the front channel pair in the headlining of the cab so they are above your head (its a hightop) and the rear pair facing backwards from the overcab storage area.
Questions:
Is my placement of speakers sensible or is it a bad idea to have them above you. Should I be trying to hack some space into the door cards instead?
Do I keep the speakers in the dash, remove them, or replace them ones designed as tweeters.
The headunit is a good Sony one, it has some options for sub and crossover, do I need to consider this when choosing speakers?
I was going to make a carpeted box/centre console/storage area as there is loads of space between the seats, it could take a sub woofer but I don't think its necessary as I'm not intending to share my music with the rest of McDonalds car park! Are they just for teenagers or is it a worthwhile addition?
You should be able to get some half decent sound out of some half decent replacements 6x4's. Back in the day when I used to mess about with car audio I had some Pioneer 6x4's with an additional tweeter in the middle and they were pretty good, though they were not the main speaker, but good enough on their own. You might want to consider some sound deadening inside the door. You can get some sound deadening adhesive matting (dynamite I think it's called) that you can stick to the inside of the door, inside the external door skin behind the speaker, that will stop the door from sounding so van-like and help the sound quality of the speakers.
You can keep messing about with other speakers, but if the enclosure is crap it'll never sound any good.
As to wether you keep speakers in the stock location or not depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you just want better should than stock, then you should be able to achieve that with decent replacement speakers and some sound deadening. If you're after something a bit more....street, then you will need to go for speakers in non-standard locations.
Best get a Minirig ( bluetooth speaker, or dual, or triple setup) and a portable DAB radio) and stick them in the cab. That's what we do, and they're there to use round the campfire, etc.
I have 2* 6inch rounds and 2 *4 inch rounds all Sony iirc in ported boxes rusty Mac built nowtn fancy mounted to the bulkhead behind my front seats .
They make the whole van boom now. Iirc you have the same front speakers I have and they were pitiful. I can listen to music at lower levels now and have a conversation where as previously the music had to be loud as hell to hear it.
"As to wether you keep speakers in the stock location or not depends on what you’re trying to achieve. If you just want better should than stock, then you should be able to achieve that with decent replacement speakers"
You can't in these vans.... They point at the floor and are enclosed by the dash void. It's a pretty nasty state of affairs. They ain't even held secure so any bass makes the dash vibrate. Best thing to do is to snip the wires 🙂
Thanks guys. Trailrat, I think I've seen a photo of your speaker enclosure.
I think I'll get done 6" rounds and rig then up temporarily near the ceiling and try them out before hacking holes into my nice headlining 🙂
I might reconsider 6x9's for the back, they are a bit chunky but then it's a big space.
If the speakers you have are distorting (rather than just rattling in their enclosures) it’ll be the head unit that’s at fault. A lot of cheaper branded head units are woefully powerful.
In my Volvo I changed all the original speakers for Pioneer ones of the same size. Didn’t make any difference until I changed the head unit for a powerful Pioneer one, was like night and day. Some of the older Alpine head units are still well sought after as they were amazing quality and very powerful.
A set of 6x9 component speakers will blow your eardrums with a decent head unit, always worth thinking about a sub too to improve the sound, even if you can only fit a small one in it’ll make a big difference.
Ive got a pair of Phoenix Gold amplifiers I really must do something with one day...
I've got some sony 5" speakers facing aft in the space above the cab now, ideal for when parked up, and sound quality is much better when driving, I still use the front speakers too, but fade them out quite a bit.