What are some of the best spots to mount speakers in a regular cab pick-up? I noticed on a family owned '97 Dodge that the stock speakers in the door sound horrible whenever you turn them up very loud, and the radio has to be up loud to drowned out the engine/highway noise. I have thought about roof mounted speakers, but that might be a little difficult, expensive, and it wouldn't look stock, I want to retain the smae look my pick-up had as it rolled of the factory assembly line. What brands of speakers have ben found to e best? I myself really like Sony, but I'm not sure if they are very good for car audio or not.

Logan

 

Here's some general rules that I've come to live by in car audio...

#1) find out exactly what you want and most importantly, how much you want to spend

#2) Make sure the gear you get is all proportionate to each other. I can't tell you how many times I see guys with a sorry deck, factory speakers and an 1100 Watt PPI Amplifier. If you truly want good audio get stuff that is going to fit in the whole picture.

#3) As far as bang for the buck goes...

recievers (cd player)
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Eclipse puts out a few decks that are reasonably priced, they are hard to find sometimes but I guarentee you won't beat the performance, especially if you look in its price range. I think they have decks that start about the low 200's and go up to about 700. If you want to stay with Sony, Pioneer, make sure you have plenty of pre-outs and the higher the voltage the better. I've got the new sony MDF-750 ABP in my truck because I love how it lights up.

speakers
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I use Boston Acoustics because their middle of the road stuff is good in price, but quality wise is much better than your main stream speakers like sony or jvc. JL Audio makes ome great 5X7's but I liked the Bostons a little better. I think I gave about 120 bucks for mine. Tweeters add a tremendous amount in a truck becaue thye raise the sound out of the floorboard. Thats usually the biggest problems in truck systems. Kick panel speaker holders could help toward this too.

subs
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Bass should be used as an accent to the other speakers...so many times people slap 4 subs and a huge amp in a car and call it a system. A real system is one that truly reproduces a full range of sound, highs mids lows everyhting. With that being said JL Audio makes a killer sub, as does boston Acoustics. These can vary in price depending on what size you get...remember that when you intall it, the box can make or break the sub.

Amps
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I only like to amp my subs and get a deck that has enough power to run my fronts and backs. I use a PPI amp for my sub and it works great. I've used PPI for a while now and they make good quality stuff with a decent price.

If there is anything else I can help you with I'll be glad to, just let me know. If you can get a component set, you'll probably be more impressed with that than anything, but if you are going to get one...get a good one. Let me know if I can help with anything else.

 

I remember a '91 chevy(long since sold) which I think had speakers mounted about right below where the seat belts were mounted(inside the body, directly behind the door windows). Have you seen any companies which might offer that kind of mount? I want to be able to play mini-disc and CDs, have you seen anything that will do that in dash?

Logan

 

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Sure, they have mini-disk players for the car although some of them can get rather high in price (because it's newer technology). What I would do is get a CDR Drive in your PC, then just burn the cd's you want and get a cd player that wll play the disks (which is almost all newer ones). People say mini-disk sounds so much better, well I've got a mini disk player in my home and I've listened to it through a set of 4500 dollar speakers and I can't hear a significant difference. I believe Mini disk is a fad and will be gone before long, but it just depends on what YOU like. If you want to use them, then go for it.

First things first, plan out how much dough you want to spend. If you know you can only put 700 bucks in your whole system, go get a good set of co-axles, a decent deck, a small amp and a sub with a box. If the sky is the limit as far as price goes, take it to a professional installer, you'll probably be very happy with the results...remember this is what they do for a living. My goal when setting up an audio system is to achieve the best sound for the least money. For some reason speakers and components sound better when you know they didn't break the bank.

As far as speaker locations go, if you wanted to add a component set (this is where you have 2 speakers for lows, 2 for mids, 2 for highs) you will most likely have to make modifications to your door by using a plate or cutting your door. These are much more expensive, but they sound much better. If you go with a co-axle speaker, you can get all three speakers built into one bigger speaker (like a 5x7) that will easily fit right in your door. As far as placement goes, I've seen all kinds of stuff. I've seen guys place speakers in their roof (this is featured somewhere on www.jcwhittney.com) , and in headrests. As far as kits go, I know that several people make the kick panel speaker holders (www.crutchfield.com) and some companies make mounts for tweeters but for very specific places you'll have to go to a cutom install shop. I'll let you know a head of time this isn't cheap because you are paying for labor that is through the roof. Basic rule is keep your left and right front speakers as high as you can, if the door is as high as you can go, then that's ok. If you mount tweeters in the truck, mount them more towards the windshield. If you mount a tweeter right next to your head, it's all you will hear...and that gets annoying. If you put them right at the front corners of the dash facing toward the other side, the sound will bounce off the windows. You won't believe how much the sound will rasie out of the floor board. ESPECIALLY if you get matching tweeters. Your rears can be pretty much whatever as long as they don't distort. Rear = filler sound. You sub can be anywhere, some people argue a corner is better and I think so but mine isn't. Bass carrys pretty well so if you have a decent amp and sub, you should be able to hear it. Crosovers are really nice, some decks have them built in. (a cross over moves highs to the higher range speakers and lows to the sub or woofers to keep distortion lower).

If you've got a ford truck, put a decent set of boston acoustics (RX97's) in the front and two Boston tweeters up in the dash and it will blow you away. Add a nicer deck with higher wattage and it will sound like a million bucks, especially if you've been listening to a stock system. Crutchfield (www.crutchfield.com) is extremly helpful to buy stuff from, tech support is awesome. They will sit on the phone with you and walk you through an install and their prices are pretty good. THey ent you instructions specific for your vehicle so they are great to use if you are just getting into car audio. Let me know if I can help with anything else. I type like a bat out of hell, so sorry these responses are so long. Let me know if you have any other ?'s.

Brad

1999 Ford f-150 Xcab
4.2 L V6
K&N, Holly Exaust, K&N Intake, chipped
Custom sound system (Sony, Boston A., PPI, JL)

 

To be exact, I have a '94 F-350 with a reg. cab, and a pretty tigght budget for my system, maybe $500-$700. I really like the mini-disc, I have a CD burner and a mini-disc writer, and everything I have tired had ben able to play my CD-Rs, I don't like CD-Rs because you have to get the music on your computer, and once you right it once that is it. I peffer being able to add a few songs listen to them a little, decided I that song, but when I want to remove it, I have to waste another CD-R. Sure CD-Rs are cheaper, but to me a pack of 50 CD-Rs is a pack of 50tries to creat you perfect music mix. have you seen anything that would allow me to get two good speakers for the doors, and something that will play a mini-disc and a CD?

Logan

 

If you've ogt minidisk capabilities, then I'd just go for a mini-dsk player. The reason I had suggested steering from them was you have to buy a mini-disk player for home...if you already have that, then go with a minidisk player for your vehicle. If you try to get mini-disk and cd in the same deck, you are probably looking at quite a bit more money. one thing you could do s get a good deck, then add a minidisk changer. I think sony puts one out. Go to www.crutchfield.com and take a look at what they have. Their prices are good and if you call them you can ometimes get open box stuff for even cheaper that is guarenteed just like the normal stuff. If you are getting speakers for the doors, try to get a three way speaker...this will add a few dollars but you'll be happy you did it.