Speakers

[Gavin Hatton]

Hey All,

This has no doubt been covered before but a search revealed nothing meaningful so here goes.

I'm looking at installing a stereo into my Land Rover (110 Hardtop) as it currently doesn't have one. I'm going to use the head unit from an old car, partly because it works well and I like it but I also have all the wiring adapters to make the steering controls that I salvaged from the old car to work.

Anyway I'm looking to see what brand of speakers people prefer, I'm looking for something around the 5 1/4" - 6" size and tweeters.

All suggestions welcome,

Thanks,

Gavin

[Pacey]

I use alpine. Tbh tho if you are not going to amp them it really wouldn't matter too much what you put in.

[Godlykepower]

In my road car days, I used to swear by Infinity reference series speakers. Absolutely superb sound.

I really dont like bass-y sounds, and as I have a touch of Tinitus in my right ear, clarity is more important to me than anything else.

With all the open space you have behind you in a Defender, I have fitted a lovely set of Pioneer's in the back, and set the sound up via the head, to be more treble & mids biased, as the load area can be set up to act as a natural sub-woofer, to give the amount of bass I like.

If you are into dance music or something similar that requires a lot of bass, with the right head, you can forego a real sub, and utilise the natural bass box characteristics from the rear.

I would seriously recommend getting an iPod specific head too. I have a brilliant Sony iPod head that runs a 120gb iPod classic; meaning I always have access to over 7000 songs, and taking up literally no space at all.

You should also really fit/upgrade your front speakers too. I use Kenwoods at the front in the standard position on a Defender. You have to look around for something that has a fairly slim magnet in order to clear the wiper motor on the passenger side.

I dont use any amps, nor do I believe you need to. Personally, I think component system speakers are wasted in a Land Rover ( seperate tweeters, mids, bass etc.) and decent 2 ways with a top shelf head will more than suffice.

In my old road car, my system was worth a couple of grand, in my Defender its worth a few hundred quid! And you know what, i'm really happy with it. Loud enough to drown out the gearbox whine on motorways, loud enough to keep me happy when im on my own, but not so loud that I sound like a Chav tw@ when driving down the street.

[nick w]

In my road car days, I used to swear by Infinity reference series speakers. Absolutely superb sound.

I really dont like bass-y sounds, and as I have a touch of Tinitus in my right ear, clarity is more important to me than anything else.

With all the open space you have behind you in a Defender, I have fitted a lovely set of Pioneer's in the back, and set the sound up via the head, to be more treble & mids biased, as the load area can be set up to act as a natural sub-woofer, to give the amount of bass I like.

If you are into dance music or something similar that requires a lot of bass, with the right head, you can forego a real sub, and utilise the natural bass box characteristics from the rear.

I would seriously recommend getting an iPod specific head too. I have a brilliant Sony iPod head that runs a 120gb iPod classic; meaning I always have access to over 7000 songs, and taking up literally no space at all.

You should also really fit/upgrade your front speakers too. I use Kenwoods at the front in the standard position on a Defender. You have to look around for something that has a fairly slim magnet in order to clear the wiper motor on the passenger side.

I dont use any amps, nor do I believe you need to. Personally, I think component system speakers are wasted in a Land Rover ( seperate tweeters, mids, bass etc.) and decent 2 ways with a top shelf head will more than suffice.

In my old road car, my system was worth a couple of grand, in my Defender its worth a few hundred quid! And you know what, i'm really happy with it. Loud enough to drown out the gearbox whine on motorways, loud enough to keep me happy when im on my own, but not so loud that I sound like a Chav tw@ when driving down the street.

have to agree on both counts infinity is very good but all the crisp sound is completly wasted in a land rover mine came with sony and pioneer gear and unless your stationary it might aswell be a gramaphone

[missingsid]

I use 8 cylinders..... or is that the head unit?

Sorry.

Marc.

[LandyManLuke]

It's a Defender, you'll never hear the difference between good-value and expensive speakers!

Buy kit thats priced reasonably, it's quite easy to see what a reasonable price is and work from there.

[Godlykepower]

Your best bet in my opinion, would be to just go down to your local Halfords and try out a different selection of speakers on that wall they have.

Find the best sounding speakers in each size i.e front & rear. A decent head unit with a graphic EQ (at least 3 band - treble, mids & bass) can make up for any differences in the charcteristics of the speakers sound between Halfords showroom, and fitted in your vehicle. This is why I would recommend getting a good head unit at the same time - mine has a 12 band EQ, so infinite opportunity to shape the sound.

I am a bit of a brand snob, and really only like using the big names in car audio. Infinity, Alpine, Sony & Kenwood, in that order normally do it for me. This is the first time I have ever used Pioneer, and I have to say am pleasantly surprised. It all comes down to what sounds good to YOU though.

I still maintain your wasting your money if you buy seperate component speakers. However, if your feeling particularly rich, get a Nakamichi head unit. They only cost £4000.

[Eightpot]

I think you need to bear in mind the enclosures when you're choosing a speaker - it's pointless paying for a good set of speakers if you're just going to house them behind a door panel or mount on a thin bit of plywood.

I built a couple of standalone enclosures from thick MDF and sealed and bolted them down well - I used some low end pioneer 6x9's first time round, but after they got killed with piste dust I shelled out a bit more on some infinity's and there was a noticeable difference in bass and crispness, even in a soft top 90.

I do worry about the db levels in the car though, would be quite interesting (or scary) to check a sound level meter in there on a fast road with the stereo at a decent level - they have an offer on a cheap level meter at maplins at the mo but my local store had sold out.

[Gavin Hatton]

Thanks everyone for the replies and advice. I've decided to go with a pair of these:

http://shop.audioimages.co.uk/kenwood-kfc-x172-17cm-2way-high-performance-flush-mount-speaker-system-p-1361.html

They look all right and a friend of mine has a similar pair in his car, which has a completely different acoustic properties to a defender, but sound good.

Eightpot, thanks for the info on the enclosures, not something I'd thought much about I'll see what I can concoct when the time comes to fit them.

Thanks again to all,

Gavin

[ChrisM_110]

Something loud and waterproof, nuff said

/hat

/coat

[nicks90]

at the moment i am using some household stereo speakers in the back of mine after much faffing about cos i jsut needed something sticking in there. works a treat though and they'll be staying.

sound clarity from your average mid range speaker system is much better than a set of 6x9 or alternative car speakers - mainly because they`re already fitted in the right sized enclosures. Just check the ratings on the back first. Mine were 12v and 6 ohm, but some are very unusual voltages and resistance and hence wont be compatible.

mine are 3 way boxes consisting of a mid + tweeter (160W rms) and deep inside each is a nice 8" bass speaker (300W RMS). Wired them in to an amp i picked up from ebay for £12. Headunit is a £20 ripspeed effort from ebay. I love ebay - more accurately http://fatfingers.com/Default.aspx . Sound is amazing and punchy, all nicely protected in their thick speaker boxes and they`re bolted down behind the center bulkhead between the cage uprights. Compared to the chav i work for who has a Kenwood system, sub and speakers in his Audi - mine sounds better across the whole range and goes ALOT louder before any distortion appears and cost less than £50 including cabling.

just need to paint them black cos they are blingy silver at the moment and stand out a bit.

if you really need every square cm of space then this might not work for you. in which case possibly rip the speakers out of the boxes and mount them in some universal plastic speaker mounts from helfrauds up in the top corners of the cab and the back.

[Aragorn]

I would agree theres no point dropping a grands worth of system in a landrover, but it still pays to buy decent components rather than just chucking any old junk in, if you want to be able to drown out the noise and still have it sound nice.

In our current car (Audi A4), i went with using a pioneer head unit, OE door speakers and a sub in the boot. The door speakers are a bit awkward to replace, and the adaptors that are available are so badly made that the nice set of infinities i fitted sounded worse than the OE speakers. What i've found though, is when you shift the bass load off the main speakers and into the sub, the main speakers manage much better to replicate the rest of the range so it all actually sounds pretty good. I crafted a nice fibreglass box for the sub so it sits tucked nicely into the sidepanel of the boot.

My old car (Mk3 Astra) ran a set of alpine components in the front doors (nicely bolted to the door frame unlike audis pathetic offering!) and the same sub, albeit mounted in a different box.

As such i would personally recommend running something like a 6" Co-ax speaker (the ones you chose above look fine, although i baught a set of infinity reference for similar money for the A4) in the dashboard, then drop a subwoofer with a small amp in the back to manage the bass fill.

Your not aiming for panel rattling bass, just a nice bit of low end fill, without having to push your dash speakers too hard.

Personally i'd avoid 6x9's. If your LR is a double cab, then i'd sort out another set of 6" co-ax's in the rear for the rear passengers, and still retain the sub for the bass fill.