Stereo ideas for ICE

[streaky]

I like my music in the car when I'm driving....not super loud... but I adore quality.

Current set up is being changed to incorperate a third amp and possibly a new sub. I have all Denon amps, Infinity speakers at the rear, JL Audio in the front doors, Sony Sub Tube.

I've purchased a MAC i-Touch so should be able to do away with the 10 CD stacker.

Here's where the problem starts. I need to maintain my load space area for camping gear, tools, compressor etc.

The current 2 amps are located in the rear side bin pocket. The Bass tube is located in the other side.

What have you done for your stereo ICE fits? I'd like to get ideas on where you've located subs & amps without taking up valuable load bay space.

It's a 3 door Discovery with the rear seats removed.

Thx.

S.

[freeagent]

I'm also very interested in this, as i've got quite a bit of ICE gear, but can't work out where to fit it without loosing my load space!

[disco_al]

if the amps are fairly thin, then why not add a false floor in the back using MDF (or equivalent)?

panel the entire rear floor area, but leave a section in the middle that is hinged so that you can lift it up to access the amps and wiring, you will only be losing about 3-4" in load space depth.

best bet would be to loiter around some of the "boy racer" type sites and see how they do it?

[teabag]

The only addition to my ICE is a 200watt amp under the front passenger seat and a 10" 'sub in a box' in the boot.

The amp switching power supply from the head unit is picked up at the back door amp via a micro two way switch, if the 'sub in a box' is removed I switch the power supply back to the back door sub and that then switches on.

[rejo]

Hi Streaky

Can you remember where I put that pioneer amp/sub, its still there and it sounds fantastic ..... and best of all I didn't loose any space.

If you need a pic let me know.

[task]

I replaced all the speakers with some higher end ones, Boston Acoustics in the rear pillars and some slightly cheaper Pioneer ones in the front. I also added a Pioneer 700w Mono AMP and a freeboxed sub that sits nicely behind the rear seats. I might try and fit a set of 6x9's some place, trying to find a space that doesn't look ugly and doesn't take up valuable storage isn't easy though.

[streaky]

Thx for the comments.

I wouldn't fancy putting the amps in a false floor.....heat build up would be my biggest concern. I remember your sub location Jo but I have three rather large amps and the headlining would never withstand the weight...I could try brackets to the roof but I don't think it's a viable option.

Here's what I have so far. The sub tube is pressed in hard to the rear side panel out of the way. It would sound better if it had more room to allow the bass air to re-verb properly.

On the other side of the load area I have two Denon Amps but want to fit a third. They are spaced by about an inch to help dissipate heat and I have acouple of small computor fans ready to assist cooling some more. Denon amps run very hot by design hence I need good ventilation for them.

I was hoping that someone else had already been down the path of fitting a decent instalation to their truck without compremising the carrying capacity of the vehicle. I don't want to fit amp racks, huge sub cabinets etc...been there & done that in my GTi days.

[rejo]

Hi streaky

Its not bolted to the headlining its actually bolted to the roof, but I did have to take the head lining down to make same spacers up and fix the bracket to the roof, the spacers were so I didn't crush the headlining when I bolted it all back together. It took a long time to do but I think it looks good and itheres no vibrations ....ore do you want.

[streaky]

Ah...I remember now. You have bolts going through the roof though....defo not for me mate! Three big amps means too many bolts going through the roof skin.

Thx for the suggestion though.

[freeagent]

one thing i've been thinking of doing is putting a speaker in the pockets next to each rear seat... I never use them, and it seems like as useful space.. just don't think you'd get a decent sized sub-woofer in there though....

[streaky]

There are plenty of low-profile subs on the market these days. Woofer design has been re-written over the past few years. Gone are the days when you needed an 18" JBL on the back shelf to get -40Hz bass.

The secret to nice tight bass is securing the woofer in such a place that the vibrations caused by the cone don't resinate through out the car.

The rear storage pockets would need some extra work to stop those vibration....plus you'd have the make them into sealed enclosures and not leave the top of the pocket open.

It's a relatively easy job done with fibreglass, wire mesh etc but you'll need to find the right formula to get the correct size of bass enclosure.

They would also need porting to fine tune the bass response.

Hence I used a Sub-tube...all of these cabinet dimensions & porting are taken care of with a tube designed woofer.

Thx.

S.

[FridgeFreezer]

You say you don't need volume, so why so many amps? If properly matched to the speakers, a 100W amp can be bl**dy loud. If you buy 300W speakers and hook them to a 50W amp, they never actually work properly, then you have to buy a 300W amp just to hear things properly...

Also, in a moving vehicle there's only ever so much fidelity you can discern.

I'd stick something decent in the stock speaker locations, maybe hide a small 4 or 5-channel amp under the dash (with a quiet PC cooling fan if it needs it), and tuck a sub under either the driver or passenger seat or suchlike.

[Mark]

Have you thought about putting a shelf in between the alpine windows? you could have a solid shelf up there to take your amps, leaving you with one of the side pockets free in the back. A decent low profile sub in a sealed box, built to the right shape to fit snugly in the pocket space now liberated by moving the amps out of the way might work well. The shelf would give you plenty of airflow, without losing masses of space in the boot, as it would only need to be low enough to take the amps and a little bit of headroom.

just an idea....

My disco came fitted with an all Alpine system with 2 way components up front, and full range drivers in the rear pillars driven by a largish alpine amp, installed in one of the side pockets at the back. The front components are in custom door builds, and the factory fit components are also still there, but not used. Incidentally, does anyone have any 5" mid/bass drivers or a set of 2 way components with 5" drivers thay don't want any more? One of the coils in mine has died, but I really just want to replace that driver rather than the complete set...

Cheers

Mark

[streaky]

You say you don't need volume, so why so many amps? If properly matched to the speakers, a 100W amp can be bl**dy loud. If you buy 300W speakers and hook them to a 50W amp, they never actually work properly, then you have to buy a 300W amp just to hear things properly...

Also, in a moving vehicle there's only ever so much fidelity you can discern.

I'd stick something decent in the stock speaker locations, maybe hide a small 4 or 5-channel amp under the dash (with a quiet PC cooling fan if it needs it), and tuck a sub under either the driver or passenger seat or suchlike.

Believe it or not...I've had these three Denon amps for nearly twenty years now.

I was running them in a 205Gti, then a VW Variant, a Jeep Wrangler and now the Discovery. The quality of sound of all three matched together is superb & I have no reason to buy new ones. Watts in ICE translates to quality of sound...not just volume.

Normally I'd be okay with just two amps but the 5th channel (Mono) on one of the bridged amps is now playing up...hence I have decided to use a dedicated sub amp for the bass channel.

I agree with you 100% about matching proper component speakers to amps but if can still use the equipment I have then why bother forking out for another amp or speaker combo?

I've utterlised all 4 of the stock speaker locations with upgrades and have managed to locate the sub with sacrificing my load space... I was curious if anyone had better ideas than me for locating the amps.

Thx.

S.