is it possible to point some splits out of the window frame, just below where the headliner starts.. it becomes a little bigger there, didnt know if anyones done it, or looked into it

if not, who can reccomend what?

i plan to just run a pair of 6x9'son my parcel tray, and a 10" sub behind the back seat/or in the tray between the 6x9's, and a pair of splits up front dunno what to power by amp etc, just a small system

Hi killa,

I'm no audio expert, but:
1. - do you mean tweeters from the splits at the top of the door frame? If so they'll be too far separated from the main body of the splits, presumably either in the kick panels (a la Das Dubber) or in the door panels. The separation will result in a wierd separation of apparent sound stage of the high frequencies from the mid frequencies.

2. - in a 1500 you probably won't want to run 6x9's AND a sub - they will interfere with each other(more specifically, the sub, if properly driven, will interfere with the 6x9's) , muddying the sound. Unless you're trying to entertain rear seat passengers often, a good quality pair of splits in the front and a 10" sub in the back will be more than adequate. Even 6x9's in the back and no sub would be better than 6x9's *and* a sub.

3. - with a pair of splits in the front and a sub in the back, you've got three channels to drive, so ideally a 4-channel amplifier bridged to 2 channels + 1 (for the sub) would give you enough juice to drive good quality speakers.

There is a wide range of good solutions and appropriate brands, depending on your requirements and budget. To get up to speed you might want to join the caraudioaustralia.com forums where there is a good body of basic information available, although the site often gets bogged down in brand-driven consumerism.

If you want to talk to someone with nouse, call Tower Audio (9568 7355) and ask for Andrew French.

With luck, someone who knows what they're talking about will correct my waffle above.

hth

[ Edited on 12-1-06 by modulus ]

I would agree with everything Peter said re. separation of tweeter/woofer, and combination of 6x9s and sub (I originally was going to do the same but listened to the experts and achieved a great result).

I use a 4 channel amp as stated above (2 channels for splits and the other 2 bridged for the sub) - it performs very well (had it judged at caraudioaustralia audio comp). The main area of deduction was stage height and perceived distance between left and right channels (Can't remember the correct term for that aspect of judging).

Basically the judge said neither could really be helped because A) the car is only so wide so you are limited by that, and B) it is difficult to get the tweeters higher but not separate too much from the woofer. You could go with a custom pod design in the door (be aware vw doors are designed to have water flowing through them though) with tweeter mounted top of door (like in a more modern car). Or if you were to get more technical (And more $) you could do a kick panel mount of the woofer and tweeter then run a pair of ambient tweeters up high to help raise the stage height (these tweeters would not receive the same power or gain as the others in the kicks though).

Certainly caraudioaustralia.com is a good resource if you sift through the crap like any forum.

OK, high tweeter will increase your high hats (drums) nicely but the stereo image becomes lobe sided. If you position them down further the image will become better because the distance between the left speaker and your left ear and teh right speaker and your right ear is increased and thus the difference between the two is nto as much. the issue with a lower mounted tweeter is that you need to increase the power to drive them a little harder so that they can reproduce properly.

Again your ears point forward thsu rear speakers really are not needed too much but the front is very important. While a 4 channel amp (converted into a 3 channel) is a economical way to go it can be slightly bad for you sub when you get teh amp warm as it may start clipping. if you do not drive the amp too hard then you should get away with it. The better way would be a seperate amp for fronts and sperate one for sub (ie a two channel ( or four channel bridged to two) and a mono block or two channel bridged for your sub. If your really want rear "fill" then look at runnign the rear speakers off teh head unit. this will allow full control of how much rear and really teh HU should be more than enough to "fill" the rear.

Cheers

T

im not going to bother with a sub, but will keep the 6x9's.. should the 6x9's be run off the HU? or a 4 channel amp to power all 4 speakers? ( pair 6x9's, pair 6" splits)

Personally,

I would advice the use of teh amp ion bridged format to run the 6" fronts. and use the head unit to run the rears. The only issue with that is I think you will find the system lacks bass. Therefore it maybe a requirement to use all four channels to drive the complete setup. Your better option would be to run a 10" sub and a second amp. Although this will be a slightly most dollared setup the system will work better. (flog the 6x9 off to someone)

Cheers