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Stere oh-my! Stereo install, 81 Westy
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mightyart
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 11:04 am    Post subject: Stere oh-my! Stereo install, 81 Westy Reply with quote

The Mission: hear the stereo with windows open on the highway, and better bass.

I've been saving a bunch of electronics to put in the Van, and I've finally got some time to "upgrade" for this camping season.
I started changing out the stereo a few moths ago with the addition of a new mp3 head unit from Alpine, it has a Usb port and I have a couple of thumb drives with music on them I just leave them plugged in, no more CDs
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

It is ok by itself but it didn't have enough ompf to be heard over the engine and wind with the windows open at highway speed.
It also lacked a bit of base, well no more, I think I've solved those problems.
Here's the new speaker amp system:
Front amp, love all the space behind the dash on the old Vanagons, the front crossovers are stuck in there to, just can't be seen.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Front tweeters and woofer, this is the Infinity 6020cs speaker system.
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Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

The rear speakes are Infinity 6020cs also, but I put 4 tweeters in back in little holders I made the swivel in there mounts so they can be aimed.
and the woofers are in small enclosers.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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The amp for the rear speakers and the amp for the sub are in the z-bed.
The wires are a mess, it was hook like this just to test everything and tweek it, they will get cleaned up this weekend, already blew one speaker and found a bad cord.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

And now the big guns, the subwoofer, two twelve inch Rockford Fosgate P3 Punch subwoofers in a tuned encloser.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Mission accomplished.
Next, Video.
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Vanagon Nut
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 11:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

All right! "Canned Heat"! Wink

Your install makes my '81 sound system look like pooh.

I'll bet you'll hear things now!

Neil.
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ftp2leta
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 3:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mmm.... how much for all those gizmo's Smile

Now you should invest in a bigger alternator!

Good thing, now you won't be like many air-cool driver that always listen to the engine... just in case.

If the engine break, your ok, crank the volume and the van should move froward slowly.

he he he.
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HeftySmurf
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 4:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Damn..... you have been working hard my friend
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airkooledchris
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

good lord that should sound nice now.

if you don't mind things non-stock, you can always mount those subs inside the rear bench seat, by making an enclosure out of it.

I had dual 12 inch soundstream SPL's in the back of my 76 westy and it was great. with the bed folded out so much its always hard to get under there to access that space anyway...

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


otherwise this was basically the same setup as yours, but powered by a single amplifier (soundstream reference 405)

nice work. vans should be able to rock n roll, in more ways than one.
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Yellow Van
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow nice! I just have 4 coaxial speakers and a JVC headunit in my 81 van. Someday I'd like to get a sub hidden in the back. I have a Rivera weekender so the interior is different. Around here that subwoofer wouldn't last a year without getting stolen all out in the open like that. I had a sub stolen from my car while it was parked in front of my home! Damn it that sucked!
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mightyart
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It does sound nice, has the bass now, but it's a little bit overkill. Twisted Evil
I put it in mosty cause I could and I like electronic toys.
If I had to pay retail for all that junk I'd be driving more then a Vanagon I think.
For the last couple of years or so I've been buying surplus electronics, keeping the good stuff for myself, fixing and selling some of it to pay for the good stuff I keep for myself.
All the stuff I just installed was store returns and floor models. Wink
I started collecting stuff I wanted to put in the van awhile ago but when people were spending like fools there was alot of this junk available.
Since the economy tanked it's getting slim pickins on the returned electronics, so I got time to work on the van.
I'm happy for the break, I'd rather be working on the van and thinking of camping.
I still got work to do on the stereo, I have to get a new aux battery, and hook the amps up on a relay system.
I just may need to look into a bigger alternator when it's all said and done, I got all kinds of other toys to in.
I thought about the subwoofer getting stolen, If they can carry it they can have it.
If I would have paid retail for it I'd be to worried to have it back there, but I didn't pay much for it, and I've got two more, so nobodys bothered it and probably won't.
Next is Video, and Windows based "Vanputer".
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airkooledchris
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

hey mighty, on the overkill thing, if your sub amp didn't come with a remote to control the bass - as my current setup did not (more on that later) - you can get a really cheap inline RCA bass control knob.

with my current setup I have the AMP gain set at about 2/3rds, which as you know doesn't work for all music and recordings. with the knob I can just crank it up or down depending on the source, as sometimes in the van it can get too bassy and start rattling things...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Peripheral-PRC1-RCA-Remote---S...dZViewItem
this isn't exactly the same one I bought, but it does the exact same thing.

for a dual battery setup, I just got one of those big red marine switches and a deep cycle, then moved the lot of it under the rear bench seat. (the stock and deep cycle are under the rear bench now, which doesn't take up anywhere near as much space as you'd think. I don't use any special relays or anything, I just turn the marine switch over to whichever battery I want to be currently drawing and receiving power from. If I drain the deep cycle while camping, I flip it over to the 'both' setting, start it, then drive as normal while the alt charges both batteries. then switch it back to just the normal starting battery once I know the deep cycle is charged. if your not going to drive as far you can also just start it with the starter battery and flip it back to the deep cycle while its running. (I know your not supposed to, but it works just fine, the system doesn't seem to even notice)
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Bruce Wayne
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mightyart wrote:

I put it in mosty cause I could and I like electronic toys.
.

Very well said. I have been thinking of one of the new decks with the usb port. is there a limit on the size of the thumb drive it can detect? I heard it was only 4 gigs on some and 250 gigs on others. I'm thinking it would be nice to get a 500 gig portable hard drive and load it up
(I have about 4000 cd's) with tunes and leave it in the van in a semi permanent safe place.
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SteveVanB
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One of the biggest up grades you can make is the "RCA" cables.(signal in)
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SteveVanB
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Its like throwin' good money at a bad problem! Roll up the glass! PS WidespreadPanic sounds good @ any SPL!!!
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mightyart
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've been cleaning things up and figured I'd update this post.
So maybe this will help others who want to install to much stereo.

As far as RCA cables and outputs, the head unit has pre-amp outputs for the front, rear and subwoofer.
I have a volume control for the subwoofer out on the head unit,
It also has the option of turning off the internal amp and just being used as a pre amp.
This is the pre-outs on the back of the head, I had to use 45 degree angle adapters on the subwoofer conectors so it would fit in the dash all the way.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Here's the rca cables on the rear amp and subwoofer amp:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


As far as the usb setup of this, all I have used it with is a thumb drives, I wanted to be able to leave the drive hooked up and not mess with it very much, but it's supposed to read bigger drives like portable hard drives.
I have this head unit:
http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/products/product.php?model=iDA-X100
It goes out to three Jensen 300 watt mosfet amps.
I kind of cheaped out on the amps, because I really wasn't sure I wanted to keep them.
The speakers I'm using are these, a pair in front and a pair in back:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-8u0VvdnzXDA/p_1086020CS/Infinity-Reference-6020cs.html
And this is the subwoofer I have.
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/products/product_de...ries_id=56

I added a relay for the back amps, the relay is for power not for sound.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

It's hooked to the remote wire from the head, the aux battery and the two amps.
If you have a basic one amp system it's usually not a big deal to hook to the remote wire, but when you hook more then one thing to it may overload it and turn it off as soon as you turn it on.
This just uses the voltage of the remote wire just to trip the relay and connect the remote inputs on the amps the the aux battery directly.
They still turn off and on by the power button of the head unit, and no power problems.
Relays can be useful little gadgets in 12 volt van projects.

I also added a mini-plug aux input for the head unit, one of the reasons I like this unit besides the USB was the fact that you could have to aux inputs.
I had to buy a couple of cheap cables, one with the min-plug on it, but they weren't that expensive.
Here's the mini-plug on the dash, since the PO butched the dash I have no problems drilling more holes in it. Very Happy
It has about a 10" cord on it.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

I can plug anything with a headphone out jack to it and pump the sound through the stereo.
Here's it hooked to a Zune.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Last edited by mightyart on Sun Mar 22, 2009 7:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
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riosclass
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have the same alpine, but without the full panel display. I have an 80gb hd hooked in, it also came with a cord to hookup my iphone and control from the stereo. I love the whole usb thing, BUT mine does glitch about once every 5 min. just a sec of silence... i don't really mind, but wonder if it is 'the' unit or just 'my' unit???
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mightyart
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

riosclass wrote:
I have the same alpine, but without the full panel display. I have an 80gb hd hooked in, it also came with a cord to hookup my iphone and control from the stereo. I love the whole usb thing, BUT mine does glitch about once every 5 min. just a sec of silence... i don't really mind, but wonder if it is 'the' unit or just 'my' unit???


You have this one? the ida-x200?
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

I had this in first and I liked it so much I got the one I have now because of the color display.
I used it with a Creative Zen Microphoto and didn't have any problems like you discribe with any of the Alpines I've been through, I would guess you have a problem with the unit or your storage device.
Is it still under warrenty?
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[email protected]
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was looking at those alpine receivers. I have a ?? since some of you have them. They say they are "satellite ready" If it is sat ready does that mean that I can control the satallite receiver from the head unit? I can't stand having to mess with the little sirius box to change the channels, I wish I could just stash it somewhere and work all that from the head unit instead.
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mightyart
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[email protected] wrote:
I was looking at those alpine receivers. I have a ?? since some of you have them. They say they are "satellite ready" If it is sat ready does that mean that I can control the satallite receiver from the head unit? I can't stand having to mess with the little sirius box to change the channels, I wish I could just stash it somewhere and work all that from the head unit instead.


I'm not an expert on sat radio by no means, but yes that's how it works, you have to get this adapter and use your sirius box, but the head unit will control your sirius box.
Here's the sat radio adapter:
http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/products/product_acc.php?model=KCA-SC100
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mightyart
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I added this today:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

It's a USB port for the head unit, and 4GB thumb drives for MP3s, I haven't filled them all with music, but the one that's plugged in has 42 CDs on it.
I used heavy duty double sided tape for the USB port and heavy duty velcro to hold the drives in.
I put it in the glove box, my Westy had AC when I got it.
The glove box was cut down and the black piece added to make room for the AC vents behind the dash.
With the AC out it leaves plenty of room to hide the USB port but still change drives pretty easily.
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 8:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you don't mind me piggybacking on your thread....

I've got all my rear interior pulled as I install a weekender jumpseat, soundproof, restore/repaint galley, etc. While doing this, I want to upgrade my speakers.

My head unit is fine, a new Sony with AUX imput - 200W / channel.

My door speakers (8 ohm) are relatively new (got them at a yard sale) and suit our needs.

The rears, unfortunately, are shot. The 4" were dry rotted and not working and the previous owner installed two 6" x 9" under the back seat (for the kids to kick). These two under the seat are different - both manufacturer and in ohms (one 4 the other 8 ).

So, my question is simple: I want to replace both the 4" set and the 6"x9" set and run them parallel.

Can I do this with all of them being 8 ohms? I believe that this results in 4 ohms to each speaker. Correct?

Thanks in advance.
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 1:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

that looks pretty great , and thanks for the link on amp wiring the other day.

I worked on my setup yesterday too. feels good to make progress.
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mightyart
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 6:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sheesh wrote:
So, my question is simple: I want to replace both the 4" set and the 6"x9" set and run them parallel.
Can I do this with all of them being 8 ohms? I believe that this results in 4 ohms to each speaker. Correct?


It should work, the rear might not be as loud as the front, but that's what most radios have faders for.
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