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Sun Jan 08, 2006 3:42 pm

What do you guys do for tunes in a Manx type buggy? Where did you put speakers. I don't want to cut any holes in the glass. Thought about mounting speakers on the back of the front seats but I thought I would find out what others are doing first.

Can you even hear a radio/cd player going down the road?

I pretty much enjoy listening to the sweet sounds of my engine. Might just leave well enough alone. But there is a radio installed in the dash that I never hooked up. It was a 6 volt anyway. I think it has a built in speaker. But it's the off season so it's something to tinker with.

Thanks,
<><
TC

Sun Jan 08, 2006 4:40 pm

use a speaker box with a giant piece of velcro on the bottom. :lol:

maybe a speaker or two under the dash???

Sun Jan 08, 2006 4:45 pm

you can hear the radio while cruising in a buggy but you really need to crank it up. almost so much it's not really worth it. I would just suggest some good noise canceling head phones and an MP3 player personally.

Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:18 pm

you might want to take it to a pro sound place to see what options may be available. those guys do wonders with stereos. mine originally had a plank across the front of the rear seat from floor to seat bottom. woth cutouts for the speakers. you can do that if you have both cutouts- passenger side and driver side and aren't using them for tire and battery. i've seen small speakers mounted to the roll bar as well with the lines run inside the bar. i'm probably just going to go with kick panels upo front by our feet. maybe even just on the passenger side.

Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:34 pm

In my Jeeps I used Marine radios and speakers...that way you can just leave them in the car.

Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:59 pm

I first took a cabriolet center console cut it down, took out the gauges and put in tweeters and cut the part out above it to mount the radio. Then went to walmart and bought a 20.00 speaker box. can hear it fine and I've also seen people mount free air subs under the front seats. I bought the walmart speakers and tweaters with the neon for around 30.00 and don't have to worry about walking away from the car.

Sun Jan 08, 2006 7:15 pm

Thanks all, especially Jowlz. I didn't even think about using marine stuff and I wash my buggy after almost every ride. Would have been a bad deal. Especially if I had mounted the speakers under and behind the front seats. One of those :idea: moments.

I'm thinking about some inexpensive marine 5x7 or so at the bottom of the front seats with the speakers facing to the rear. And a simple (marine now) am/fm maybe CD radio. Guess I'll start looking at Boat US or West Marine. Maybe try Ebay.

Thanks,
<><
TC

Sun Jan 08, 2006 8:47 pm

Start with a quiet muffler.....

Sun Jan 08, 2006 10:34 pm

tcrdn wrote: Thanks all, especially Jowlz. I didn't even think about using marine stuff and I wash my buggy after almost every ride. Would have been a bad deal. Especially if I had mounted the speakers under and behind the front seats. One of those :idea: moments.

I'm thinking about some inexpensive marine 5x7 or so at the bottom of the front seats with the speakers facing to the rear. And a simple (marine now) am/fm maybe CD radio. Guess I'll start looking at Boat US or West Marine. Maybe try Ebay.

Thanks,
<><
TC

EBay, Crutchfield etc. Bear in mind you still dont want to hose down the radio. Part of the waterproofing is a flip down cover for the face...

Sun Jan 08, 2006 11:45 pm

Ask around about those marine speakers, I know a lot of them are identical speaker wise to regular car speakers, they have poly cones and whatnot, I was thinking about using tower speakers for a ski boat, they have awesome looking casing and are fairly compact, the only problem is the $800+ a pair price tag.

Ask around at car-stereo places and online and find out if marine speakers will be better suited for all weather applications, no speakers I can imagine like being underwater, but as long as your amp, and wiring is waterproof I would hazard a guess that the speaker will do fine, my biggest worry will be theft.

I plan on using a couple offroad light housings that are just the metal housing and putting speakers in there and mounting those to the cage along with a jeep style speaker bar on the roll cage.

A great place to look for speaker/stereo ideas may also be a Jeep catalog, they will have all weather shock resistant stuff that should work perfect for our toys, its just going to be a question of weather you want $30 walmart speakers that you replace periodically or $$$ speakers that you dont really have to worry about.

Sun Jan 08, 2006 11:50 pm

also, in looking around real quick here is a link to take a gander at to get a couple ideas from the jeep boys

http://www.quadratec.com/cgi-bin/sgdynamo.exe?HTNAME=jeep/google/jeep_sound.html&checked=Y

also have some kind of neat ideas for heat for those of us that get some colder weather,

Tue Jan 10, 2006 1:35 pm

She wanted tunes........Here's the issues I dealt with. Sound, Theft, price, and where. Here is how I addressed them. All of this is my opinion- no expert - just this is what worked for me.

Wanted to keep it under $200 so if stolen, not heart broken. Also the kids ride in the back, so big boxes were out. You will not have good sound quality because of the engine and wind noise, so a killer system was a waste of money.

Went to Best buys - bought a kenwood Cd player that had the most power in an "in dash" unit. Was about $120

Bought 2 sets of KLH speakers (also at best buys) (small black 3 way boxes 970A?) Mounted a pair on the rear seat back area used a #8 or 10 bolt to hook on to the slip on key slot on the speaker box and a couple pieces of self stick velcor to keep the speaker bottoms secured.

Mounted the second set under the front seats facing the dash ( the sound bounces nicely off the fiberglas and sound like you have kick panel speakers. Made brackets out of metal strapping to mount them to the seat track rails.

Installed the CD player in the dash with a door covering the CD player. You don't see it, unless you open the door, so it's less tempting to steal. And the speakers have no bling at all, so why bother stealing those.

The result is much better than I imagined. The system actually sounds pretty good with the car running. Just don't hammer the bass to hard and it stays clean. Kids can still ride in the back and it didnt break the bank. Sound quality is better that the Clarion system that I spent $500 on in our Ford Ranger.

Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:35 pm

Another option is to buy seats with the speakers mounted in the headrests. I'm not sure which models have them, but I believe the old Fiero did. Do some checking on it, it might not be the best sound, but at least it is close to your ears.

Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:32 am

sony makes a nice marine speaker! I insall them in boats every day!
http://www.cardomain.com/item/SONXSMP61

Sun Jan 15, 2006 8:25 am

You can also get the H2O proof console deals for the head unit. It' like a casing that has a flip or slide front cover, and it totally waterproof. I also run marine speakers in the bed of my truck. Not only are they watreproof, but also dust and dirt proof as well.

Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:25 pm

i just play tunes through my mp3 player (so no car stereo to try to secure/seal). into/through a little 100 watt amp which has an mp3 jack and a volume control. I then push that through a 400w amp into a pair of 240w tower speakers. works pretty good but ineed a quieter muffler :roll:

Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:40 am

might be a little overkill, but I can hear it clear as day and the bass is very tight. speakers/subs are all kicker,the 1800watt amp is a kenwood, and the head unit is a refurbished clarion.

Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:05 am

:lol: Jesus, Doc! Point that sucker backwards and you wouldn't need an engine....

Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:14 am

:D thanks man! I'll take that as a compliment! love the sound of loud clear tunes while i'm crusin, unless I wanna hear the throaty burp of of my engine, (just a mild 1776) sometimes zz top is just a better fit :lol:

still have to paint the grilles the same color as the car...

Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:25 am

You know....depending on what type of roll cage you have.... You might also try one of the jeep overhead sound bars:

http://www.quadratec.com/products/product_search.p...g=&cv=

they are a lil pricey (cheapest I found was $149 so far)... but if your cage will fit it... it would get the speakers up over your head... closer to your ears... and give a clean look as well....

Just adding ideas to the list :P

Cujo