Thread: Speakers for Defender - splits any use ?

Originally Posted by CraigE

That JVC sub is no longer available. I have spent part of today searching for it as I want to add one to my car, so I suppose I will have to go bass roll. Can not find anything similar.
Vlad,

Presuming they also have not been discontinued, there were a couple of alternatives when I was shopping for the JVC unit. Blaupunkt did one, and Jaycar had a no-name one that looked similar to the JVC one. Do a search for terms including "compact" & "active" subwoofer. Also try www.ryda.com

Originally Posted by Sprint

for entry level stuff, i'd go pioneer, nothing else, and try to find room for a set of 6.5" splits

I've tried both Pioneer and Kenwood in different cars now and wouldn't go back to either. Sound and build quality seems to be a little lacking these days. I've just installed Sony 4" speakers all round in my disco and have them running off a Sony bluetooth headunit. For entry level gear the sound is much better than the others.

For a Defender Sony would be fine

If you want to spend some more $$$ Alpine or Clarion is the go, with Focal as a speaker option.

Originally Posted by JohnR

OK Here are some pic's


Upper half

Cheers,

John,

You may find them even better is you point the tweeters (upper half of the splits) towards yourself (the listener).

On an unrelated note, how are you finding the motorised head unit display on rough terrain - does it cope OK with the vibration?

I'd love to install a motorised unit in mine, but am somewhat concerned the motor / slideout mechanism would crap itself over corrugations etc.

Cheers

we punished ours on the bullman track and it still worked obvioulsy not a wise idea to have the screen out on serious corrogations.....

but we were truely surprised at how much punishment our unit took considering that it was vibrating in its own hole and vibrating with the entire dash

you find 4 things in a defender;

1. you need a lot of noise to overpower the noise of the motor, air noise, road noise and so forth. therefore you need to do a few things
a. ensure you lift the treble away from the floor so you make maximum use of the sound available to you in the front by directing it to your ears
b. try and take the bass out of the 4inch speakers you put in the factory holes as they offer you next to NO bass response whatsoever.

2. you will want some bass as its one of the keys to feeling like you have 'big' sound. basically the only decent way to do that in a defender is to get a pre-fab subwoofer kit. autobarn sell these as do Repco. we have used 'Fusion' tube subwoofers in a few cars over the years... going down the route of custom boxes for 6x9 speakers is an option but you end up using alot of space. The fusion units come with an inbuilt amp and 2 wiring harnesses which mean you can easily unclip the subwoofer and remove it. Repco were selling the Fusion Encouter 10inch bass tube with inbuilt amp for $150 on special a few months back.

3. to give you some more of that sound you want, you will want some rear fill - ie speakers in the back. if you have a subwoofer you can achieve this with another set of small speakers - say some 4 inches in the headlining or something like that which isnt too bulky.

4. configuration - to get the sound out of your smaller speakers you will want a headunit which has a highpass filter - enabling you to take the bass out of the cabin speakers and re-direct it to your subwoofer, this will enable you pump up the sound without distoring those little 4 inch babies with too much bass.

so my recommendation if you want to spend about $800...

1. Pioneer make good ipod and mp3 compatible headunits, try and find something from autobarn or jb which is a runout deal - never go for base model, make sure it has highpass and lowpass filters. Clarion and JVC also make great units. you want a headunit with decent power and the lowest model ones never give you great sound.

2. go for some 4 inch splits which will fit nicely into the factory mounting holes under the dash and then mount ya tweeters on the top of the dash - this gives you sound direction which means you will hear the higher notes. you can use the factory wiring and the install would be 30 mins tops.

3. get a cheap pre-fab subwoofer, as i said, autobarn sell these moreso than ya JB's or Strathfield.... most can be easily removed if need be for a big trip or when carting stuff around in ya truck

4. put something in the back for rear fill, dont go too expensive, ideally your front speakers should be better quality than the rears as this is where you will get alot of your sound definition from. if you dont have the wiring now, go for good front splits and a sub and see where you end up from there ,you might find it sounding a bit dead behind you and will want that sound reinforcement from behind you

For my fathers defender we did;
Pioneer run out headunit with ipod $220 from autobarn
Pioneer TS-C1004 splits $109 from autobarn
Fusion Encouter sub $150 from Repco, they also sell these at autobarn see http://www.echo-electronics.com/fusi...ck-p-1288.html for a pic and details
Clarion 6inch rears in custom boxes $120 from autobarn

Have also done a similar system in a 4runner with great results.

Your challenge is the lack of cavities to get any bass reverberation from your cabin speakers, you end up over-driving them to get the sound which means you end up with crap sound and eventually running the risk of blowing the cabin drivers up. Separate power amps and installing 6x9 speakers is a bulky solution which isnt easily removed.

Putting something like a fusion encounter within your cabin (which is designed primarily to go in your boot) will give you fantastic results with a low investment. And spending a bit more on Alpine splits will give you even sweeter sound.

Just be aware that the cabin of a Defender is by no means an ideal listening spot so shelling out heaps of money on a high end system is a bit of a waste of time unless you like to sit and listen with the car not running

Drew

Vlad.........

Realise not all of this will help with your 130, but you asked this question on my behalf a few months ago for my 110.
When purchased, my Defender had speakers mounted under the rear seats, which was a pain in the neck when packing stuff for extended trips........as well as not doing much for the sound.
I went this way......

1. Had an aluminium bar fabricated out of 40mm square tube for rear interior, which bolts into the upper rail behind the trim. (Cost was approx $60 .00)

2. Bought some prefabricated 6 x 9 boxes which are readily available for around $50.00, which I then braced internally, before attaching the 50mm square channel on top. I then put rubber strips inside the channel which filled out the extra couple of mm, and also acts as a shock absorber.

3. These speaker boxes then attach to the bar.......I used quick release pins.....added some extra cable which is tucked away.......drilled some extra holes in the middle....which means for extended downtime around a camp, I can reverse the speakers and put them in the middle pointing outwards with the rear door open, (or on the roof for that matter).

As has been mentioned.........the Focals are good. I also changed the 4 inch front rubbish with Focals (didn't bother with splits). Got rid of all the factory wiring, which is also cr@p.

Thought about a sub (Clarion apparently do one of those smaller active models by the way.....Focal don't), but didn't like the idea of extra things getting in the way.

I also went the way of an amp under the cubby box. For this I got some extruded seating from an aluminium supplier, which I promptly turned upside down. I fixed this to the floor using the original holes for the cubby box, and then put some riv-nuts into the side rails of the extrusion. I then replaced the chunky wooden rails of the cubby with some lower profile timber strips. The amp is fixed to the plate, so no extra holes are need in the floor. All up, I added an extra 2cm to the cubby height, which I find more comfortable anyhow. I also used the aluminium end plates for each end, which I ground a window out of, and then siliconed some stainless mesh on the inside to stop excess rubbish (food particles, bottle caps etc) getting sucked into the cooling fan.

Head unit....I went for an Alpine DVD/Mp3 player........idea of putting 4.7Gb of music onto one disc appealed to me.......even though it is ipod compatible, I never bother as one music DVD lasts for months before I get tired of it.

The car has been through the inland roads of Fraser and Moreton several times and the player/system has never missed a beat....sounds pretty good to boot.

Cheers,

Gus

Hi Fraser: I am not supposed to spruke but the tyre monitor is a Tyre Dog and I sell them. PM me for more details.

Treads: I have a set of 6x9 Focal's waiting to go in the rear to replace the kenwoods, I just need TIME!!! Can't wait to hear them

Oddender90: The HF get plenty of reflections off the hard surface of the windscreen which provides a nice dispersion. If I was to angle them I think I would get too much of the right HF before the left one had a chance to get to me froom a time alignment point of view, if that makes sence. Anyway as it is the HF can make your ears hurt so no need for more, just important to keep it clear.

I am still considering either another sub or just a bigger one. If you could buy some 6x9 sub's it would be great because the new Focals are going up high and I already have some really nice cabinets made up on the rear wheel arches as per the photo.

Cheers,

Drew - on your points:

1. I have a Pioneer ipod compat unit but unsure how good it is. Havent hooked it up yet.
2. Can use the factory wiring for splits ? Good to know. Then again I am hopeless with electrickery
3. Prefab subwoofer boxes are all very well, but where in heck would I put the thing ?
4. For rear fill could I reuse the crap factory speakers from the front or are they better off as land fill ?!