Speaker Location

[Zeppelinium]

I finally got tired of sitting directly under one of the speakers in my '70 Caravel. Been thinking of moving them toward the closet or fridge for years. The bolt of intuition hit me just this weekend--HEY!, there's plenty of room behind the fiberglass dome on either side of the control panel. I mean, like plenty. The speaker is only 3.5" deep behind the face of the panel and there is about 7" depth there. This is a moderately robust 7x9" speaker.

I felt around and it appeared there were no wires or structure to interfere, so out comes the pencil and saber saw. Wack--the first one goes in easy.

Not so the second one. The TV charging wire comes up on the curb side of the windows and excess wire is curled around randomly behind the fiberglass. Whip, zip, cut that sucker in half. The cut was at a point that gave me a few inches of blue wire, just enough to get a wire nut on it and splice the ends back together. You can just see the red wire where it's attached to the blue--the red goes over the ceiling to the back end.



The finished product is on the right, with the door to the bookcase open. I like this box--with only four screws all the interior dividers come out and can be reconfigured. In addition, the whole box comes out of the overhead with only four screws.



They sound much better when standing in the kitchen or in the back--true stereo. And it's way more comfortable sitting at the table. The speakers are about one more foot away from your ears and not pointed so directly at them.

I could have taken the control panel cover off (as you can see, it's a prototype for later instruments) and reached inside to check behind the new hole, but it appeared that the power wires went "down", not "across". Oh, well, not too much harm done.

[AirstreamGypsy]

Nice Job. I like the black. I t contrasts nicely with the cream interior. In a way this is how my speakers in my Bambi are. They are mounted on the shelf above the couch and point to the rear of the trailer. Hope you really like them in the long run, not just in testing.

[Lumatic]

I like what your installation. This is what I did.

In both my 71 and 73 I still have the control panels and hope to find some aftermarket instuments to put in the holes.

In my 71 I bought an Audiovox Wall Mount radio CD player new on ebay for $60 which just about fits pefectly in the cabinet abouve the gaucho. The Trade Wind only has 2 speakers and the Audiovox can run 4 so I plan on hooking up a portable speaker case I can also use as an out door speaker.

In my 73 I mounted a jensen Auto unit using some plywood and diamond plate which also makes a couple of little cubbies for keys, wallets and other easily lost stuff. The 4 speakers are in their original positions.

In both coaches I am amazed how well the original 30+ year old speakers work and I am hesitant to start cutting new holes in the walls for new speakers.

I hope my attachments work.

[pbrown1963]

I cannot find my speaker wires. Is there an easy way to get to them? I do not relish the idea of cutting holes in my AS.

I've reached down into the insulation behind the control panel and could still find nothing.

HELP!!

pb

[Zeppelinium]

Originally Posted by pbrown1963

I cannot find my speaker wires. Is there an easy way to get to them? I do not relish the idea of cutting holes in my AS.

I've reached down into the insulation behind the control panel and could still find nothing.

HELP!!

pb

Where is your radio? Is it up in the cubby under the control panel? The speaker wires have to come out the back of it somehow. I find that Airstreams tend to have lots of extra wire, so it could certainly drape down out of reach. Try removing the speaker panels and seeing where the wires go from the speaker end.

Zep

[SwampBillies]

The front speakers in the international work fine off the original 8 track. There are two speakers located on either side over the middle twins that do not work though. There is actually red speaker wire hanging down out of the trim on the street side. Are these speakers original? How would I go about getting the rear speakers to work also?

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by SWAMPBILLIES

The front speakers in the international work fine off the original 8 track. There are two speakers located on either side over the middle twins that do not work though. There is actually red speaker wire hanging down out of the trim on the street side. Are these speakers original? How would I go about getting the rear speakers to work also?

Yes those are original to the unit...at least I have them on both of mine

Aaron

[overlander63]

I've been looking into installing a radio in our Overlander. Event hough it's going to take longer now than I originally hoped, I was looking into getting a marine radio and speakers. They are supposedly a bit more rugged and moisture resistant, as well as being white in color, instead of black or grey color. MSRP on the radio, install kit, and speakers is $150, for a JVC single disc CD, electronic tuner and remote. Speakers look like 7" round, although I didn't measure them. Any reason not to do this?

[Zeppelinium]

Go for it. To get a car radio with a front panel audio input (for your IPOD or computer audio) and remote is going to be $120 minimum. Then add speakers for another $50 a pair and you can see they are comparable. The front panel input is really a good idea, so you might think twice about that.

One thing to consider is the ability of the CD player in the unit to play MP3 or WAV CDs. This is increasingly important these days. For example, I have a CD in mine today that has 11 full albums of classical and other instrumental music for those times when the KCRW african drumbeat paylist begins to tire. Plus, it's great when you can put 7-8 full singer-songwriter albums on one CD and not have to get up at 3 AM to change the music...

If you've got a 70's or later model, there is plenty of room above the front window to install the radio, and you can see from my posts that there is definitely room for the speakers. All you need is to get outside for the antenna and some 12 Volt power.

Zep

[Hoosierdaddy]

My '69 has the original styrofoam speakers in front above the couch.. I enjoy a good sound system and am somewhat impressed with their mid-high frequency sound.

[texasbound]

Zep,

Do you have a post about replacing the 8track in your sovereign? That is a project that is on my list... and I am a little confused on removal.

Thanks,
Leo