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The speakers in my van were broken so I replaced them with some ones the same size, they're only 10cm under dash pioneer things. They're ok ish but no bass at all which isn't surprising as they're only small.
Wha do i need for better bass? I'm not after a mega sound system just something that would compare to an average car that has some bigger door speakers.
Only thing is I'm ok but not brilliant at running car electrics, and I don't think there's any space for door ones, plus hassle of running cables to the door. It's a high roof van so I was thinking I could fit some in the big space above the front seats as I can easily run cable from where the existing dash ones are and up behind the trim on the windscreen pillars. Would something like this be any good
Pioneer TS 44 Car Loudspeaker https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0000C6Y2E/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_DW6PD3RZYVSK4QZHDHA3
Or would I be better mounting a wooden shelf and just some normal round speakers into that.
If i fit bigger speakers can i just disconnect the dash ones and extend that cabling, or am I better keeping those and running extra wires to the new ones ( which would be more complicated
Lastly what sort of size should I look for for reasonable sound?
Starting point would be to get a small active sub mounted under your seat if possible. That should help out. Ideally you want some separate mids and tweets if you can. If you end up mounting them up high , get some sound deadening up there or it will vibrate like buggery
Imagine a world where you told us what make, model and age of van it was and the make and model of head unit, that might well make giving some advice easier.
That said it Google your van + door speakers to see if others had fitted them
Or those pod speakers look pretty jank but I believe they do some better options
2003 hi roof sprinter, head unit is a sony mex-n4000bt
eBay for some used 6x9 speakers in enclosures (I paid the grand sum of £12 for a pair of alpine ones). Strap/screw them to something that won't vibrate too much. Then either pull the wires out from the existing speakers and crimp on some speaker cable, then run it to them. Or, find a wiring diagram and it's possible the wires already exist for more delux models of the same van.
wiring diagram for your radio
You can ether use the built in amps to the speakers you or I suggested
And you have pre and sub outs so you can add amps and a under seat sub too should you want or keep what you have and try adding a sub.
Just a question of how much you want to spend
Would fitting 6x9 speakers to the wooden bulkhead behind the seats be a bad idea? Or enclosed 6x9 behind the seats?
Easy fitting options (to me) appear to be in the roof space above the seats, floor behind seats, into the wooden bulkhead behind seats, or there's also a large enclosed metal box space under the double passenger seat
Don't want to spend a lot, prob 100 max!
Literally just come in from refitting the little sub I have in our (camper)van. It's a Ducato with OEM speakers in the front and a pair of special thin speakers I bought and fitted in the back bedroom area (thin so they would fit inside the panels I'd already designed and made). Universally tinny and horrible sounding without the sub. Turn that on (and mess around with the settings on the sub and the head unit a little bit to sort out what frequencies the sub is working with) and it's more than acceptable to my cloth ears. I'm no hardcore drum and bass at high volume listener. Even audiobooks sound so much better.
Mine is a 150 watt Kenwood unit. Don't think it was very expensive. Designed for hiding under the driver's seat but mine sits inside the rear seat with most of the vans electrical gubbins.
If I could be bothered I think the next step would be to find higher quality speakers than the OEM ones in the doors and dash that were a like for like swap in. Oh, and super glue the plastic covers that cover them down as they has a tendency to 'buzz'.
Edit - mine is this...now discontinued. Almost an idiot proof fit... https://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/product_m-kenwood-car-audio-ksc-sw01_p-25624.htm
My van came with them silly narrow thin speakers in the dash. The ones that no aftermarkets fit.
About 39 seconds after I got it ... I fitted an 8 and 6 inch round speaker combo in enclosure hard fixed against the 20mm bulkhead and floor under the seats.
Not exactly stadium quality but easy cheap and loud.
Would fitting 6×9 speakers to the wooden bulkhead behind the seats be a bad idea? Or enclosed 6×9 behind the seats?
Easy fitting options (to me) appear to be in the roof space above the seats, floor behind seats, into the wooden bulkhead behind seats, or there’s also a large enclosed metal box space under the double passenger seat
The enclosed metal box will sound absolutely horrible. Directly overhead might sound a bit odd. Wooden bulkhead sounds like the best idea.
Mine came with awful 5*7s under the dash, replaced them with 'better' ones which were equally rubbish.
I fitted 2 way two way speakers (so separate tweeters) to my van which was a huge increase in quality, however it wasn't until I added 6*9s (facing backwards from the above cab shelf) that it really filled out the sound and was able to compete with the van noise.
I don't think I'd want heavy 6*9s above my head (the headlining often just has a metal brace above it and no strength) but you could try a set of 2 ways up there, put them on the front speaker output and perhaps transfer your dash ones to the rear channel
Firstly,
Would something like this be any good
Pioneer TS 44 Car Loudspeaker
No, they would be awful.
Believe it or not, the location of those dash speakers in your sprinter are pretty good, but you will never get bass out of 4" speakers.
You may find a simple under seat subwoofer run upto about 200hz may give you what you want.
So if I start with a subwoofer under the seat, how does it all work? Does the subwoofer have a separate power input, then connect to the subwoofer bit of the head unit. How do I start setting it all up? There is a subwoofer menu in thebheadunit, and also some high and low pass filter settings that Im not really sure what they do!
Do I reduce the bass input into my tiny speakers and let the subwoofer handle it?
This is what i currently have
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07573XF5R/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_0C21DTV8YDMJ4EFJ9MYF?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
When I had a (work) Toyota hiace, it had awful tiny speakers in the front.
So I slung a couple of old small hifi speakers under the rear seats.
Cost bugger all and sounded great for what it was.