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Tue May 11, 2021 3:24 pm

Anyone see anything horribly wrong with my proposed speaker locations? They do not interfere with the glass, dash, or window crank. They will be flush mounted through the door panel and to the steel door itself.

Tue May 11, 2021 3:50 pm

Just be aware that, by design, water will weep down the window and into the bottom of your door. You need to have a properly installed vapor barrier to protect your speakers. I personally do not like speakers in the door due to the moisture/water issues. Regardless of where you mount your speakers, make sure the weeps holes in the bottom of the door are clear.

Tue May 11, 2021 3:58 pm

Good point. I will install some modified baffles to keep the speakers dry.

Tue May 11, 2021 4:05 pm

That just seems like a lot of metal to be removed. I used the opening below with a piece of aluminum angle to catch the 4th screw and stiffen the panel. I put riv-nuts on the angle and bolted through the panel to that.

Tue May 11, 2021 4:06 pm

Yes, I see something wrong

Tue May 11, 2021 4:09 pm

aeromech wrote: Yes, I see something wrong

?

Tue May 11, 2021 6:10 pm

If I had to guess I'd say aero is thinking "don't cut holes in your bus for speakers, find another way that doesn't involve cutting".

Tue May 11, 2021 6:59 pm

germansupplyscott wrote: If I had to guess I'd say aero is thinking "don't cut holes in your bus for speakers, find another way that doesn't involve cutting".

Late bay bus, already cut on by ASI to become a Riviera Camper....cut on by PO for a single DIN radio....further cut on by a different PO and converted to Subaru power.

I'm not the least bit worried about a little German steel being lost on the way to the enjoyment of my bus.

Tue May 11, 2021 9:07 pm

Just mount them to the door card so the magnet goes into the bottom hole, no cutting required. As stated above, make sure you use a vapor barrier. It’s not hard, buy some plastic drop cloth, spray the door with adhesive, stick on the plastic (leaving room for the speaker) and trim. You can buy speakers with a shallow magnet designed to clear the window for doors.

Tue May 11, 2021 9:35 pm

Mounting them on the door results in really poor sound. They face each other and sound terrible. I eventually mounted under-dash speakers - on brackets and tilted both slightly inward and up. The sound is SO much better, and no worries about speakers in the doors.

You could mount them between the dash and your parcel shelf. That's what I did on the passenger side.

Wed May 12, 2021 3:49 am

If you don't mind removing metal and you've verified no interference go for it. You may get more sound to the listener with them up higher. My bus has the armrest vent so I went low. I prefer the tweeter a little higher than where you have it and maybe angled. Mine are in pods at the base of the A pillar. I kept twisting the pods to get what I wanted. A DSP will help. It's usually better to have more signal and tune down though.

Wed May 12, 2021 4:40 am

If you are not apposed to cutting steel, I cut them into my dash and don't regret it.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1368391.jpg

Wed May 12, 2021 5:19 am

I installed speakers in the kick panels under the dash snuggled in beside the headlite pots

Wed May 12, 2021 6:23 am

I installed dual 3.5" in the center of the dash. No cutting, and the sound bounces off the windshield right to you.

Wed May 12, 2021 8:02 am

2 vintage Realistic speaker boxes behind my seats with a bunch of extra cordage to move them around anywhere when i am parked. even outside on the roof.

Thu May 13, 2021 7:20 am

Ha ha, we're getting way off the original question! But since that's happened:

You can buy vintage style speakers that take both the left and right signal and send it to the same speaker. (May be dual cone, I'm not sure.) That would work nicely in the dash spot.

In my Buses, I installed a single speaker in the dash spot. Then wired the positive of one side and the negative of the other side to it. Correction: Wired the positive wire of one side to the positive of the speaker, and the positive wire of the other side to the negative of the speaker. That is supposed to make it basically a center channel. (if I understood everything I read correctly!)

I do also have (in one bus) door speakers down low and (in the other bus) speakers mounted under the dash screwed to the air vent as someone else showed.

The center channel bounces off the windshield and provides a nice fill. Especially nice when listening to spoken word stuff (news, podcasts).

I actually also installed a "pot" to control the volume of the center speaker, so I can turn it down if listening to music and want a little more stereo separation.

Thu May 13, 2021 7:23 am

Quote: Then wired the positive of one side and the negative of the other side to it. That is supposed to make it basically a center channel

I don't think it works that way.

And a dual cone just has two speakers with one input. It will play left or right, but not both.

Thu May 13, 2021 7:32 am

Mberglo wrote: Quote: Then wired the positive of one side and the negative of the other side to it. That is supposed to make it basically a center channel

I don't think it works that way.

And a dual cone just has two speakers with one input. It will play left or right, but not both.

Thanks for the catch. Edited my post.

For "dual cone" wasn't thinking like a coax speaker (essentially a mid/low speaker, with tweeter in the middle) but basically two cones right next to each other, in one housing.

Here's an example: https://www.crutchfield.com/S-WVpy6vTHnTy/p_068D57...jMQAvD_BwE

Looks like it is a combo of the two ideas:
A "coax" speaker with the lows coming out of one combined cone (probably combined similar to how I described) with two high range cones for a little bit of stereo separation.

Thu May 13, 2021 7:36 am

vwwestyman wrote: Ha ha, we're getting way off the original question!

Not really. The original question asked if there was any problem with speaker placement, and the responses identified both problems and potential alternatives. It's a constant source of amusement when people ask questions. I think they really just want the answer - "Looks awesome. Do it!"

Thu May 13, 2021 7:43 am

This may not be helpful advice, but I removed the stereo and speakers from my truck entirely. I just use an mp3 player (e.g. phone) and headphones. Speakers are so old school.