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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2014 21:04:53 GMT
Ok so theres tweeters, woofers, coaxial, 2 way, 3 way, 4 way, front and back, component, and various different wattages.
I have no idea what any of the above terms refer to nor what I need.
I have a car stereo for the back of my van with radio, CD and MP3 (card and usb) which will be wired to the leisure battery. I don't need it for radio, just for playing music.
I have a pretty low budget £20 - 30 but want decent speakers which don't buzz when music is loud. I want minimal messing around to fit them - and ideally I would like some similar to computer speakers which are contained inside a box of some kind, rather than having to cut holes into plywood and mount them somehow on the sides of the van. I have 2 convenient flat spaces where speakers could stand and they can be held in position with double sided tape.
The stereo has wires for 4 speakers - 2 front and 2 back but I only want 2, I think that will be plenty.
So what should I go for?
What wattage and do they need an elec power supply?
Should the stereo be wired direct to the leisure battery with an inline fuse or should it be wired through the smartcom?
What kind of speaker wire will I need?
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Post by Firefox on Feb 3, 2014 21:38:26 GMT
I would also like to know about speakers from someone who knows about ICE. One of the speakers in my doors has blown and I wonder what would be good replacements.
I can answer the Q about speaker wire though. It depends on the wattage of them.
Divide the wattage by 12 and that gives you the amp rating of the wire needed.
Egs
60 Watt speakers Need 60/12 = 5 amp wire
120 Watt speakers Need 120/12 = 10 amp wire
240 Watt speakers Need 240/12 = 20 amp wire
Your stereo should say what is the max speakers it can supply and it will probably only be about 50 Watts, so unless you want to buy a separate amplifier for larger speakers, you'll probably only need 5 or 8 amp wire. A separate amplifier would be great to run a rave and for nice big high quality speakers, but it would eat up space and power so probably not a practical idea.
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Post by brewkit on Feb 3, 2014 21:52:22 GMT
to me a speaker is a speaker. only play tunes loud enough to cover the noise of the engine and various rattles and bangs , and a lot quieter than that when parked my radio goes into the leisure circuit via an inline fuse. it has 4 speaker outlets, the cab door ones already fitted wired into the front, and a pair of speakers I was given mounted into old car stereo boxes I had lying around wired into the rear option. I've mounted them at the back of the cab area. I used wire from a broken set of chrimbo lights, the radio I was also given, and has more bells and whistles than i'll actually use, tho the usb slot is useful for charging stuff up, and occasionally i'll fill a pen drive full of tunes and stick that in. as for wattage and all that, sorry no idea. just be aware radio's are a small drain on your battery, they use power to remember settings and stuff when switched off
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Post by Firefox on Feb 4, 2014 14:57:45 GMT
From what I have seen and on a budget of £20-30 you will be limited to a pair of bog standard budget speakers. Eg www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1817072.htmThe RMS wattage is the key thing - not the peak output, The above are 35W RMS so 5 Amp cable is fine All the tweeters, woofers, and 4 way stuff is for the real audio buffs who are going to spend £100's and £100's on speakers and probably need amplifiers and extra power supplies to go with them. I have seen on You Tube, set ups with 4 alternators just to power the speakers! At this budget level (that includes me too) we can probably get what we need at a scrap yard or boot sale. No guarantee they are not blown though if you get them for a fiver, so may be better to spend on something like the Argos ones above. That's what I'm going to get.
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Post by edina on Feb 4, 2014 15:01:05 GMT
From what I have seen and on a budget of £20-30 you will be limited to a pair of bog standard budget speakers. Eg www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1817072.htmThe RMS wattage is the key thing - not the peak output, The above are 35W RMS so 5 Amp cable is fine All the tweeters, woofers, and 4 way stuff is for the real audio buffs who are going to spend £100's and £100's on speakers and probably need amplifiers and extra power supplies to go with them. I have seen on You Tube, set ups with 4 alternators just to power the speakers! At this budget level (that includes me too) we can probably get what we need at a scrap yard or boot sale. No guarantee they are not blown though if you get them for a fiver, so may be better to spend on something like the Argos ones above. That's what I'm going to get. If you're getting them from a scrapyard, a quick way to do a rough check on a speaker is to put an aa battery across the terminals and see if the cone moves.
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Post by Firefox on Feb 4, 2014 15:12:29 GMT
I think mine work OK, just one of them cracks up at normal volumes to go above engine noise so I have to set the balance so it is mostly on the other speaker.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2014 17:51:27 GMT
Scrap yards and car boots are not feasible as it's at least a 40 mile round trip to get to the nearest scrap yard with no guarantees of getting something that works properly or what I really need. I just want to understand what all the terms mean so I can decide what I want as I don't want to end up paying for some crap that I'll want to replace in a year or 2 because the quality is rubbish, or paying a silly price for something that is way above what I need. What I do know is that I want minimal installation hassle.
I'll google and see if I can figure it out.
Thanks for the suggestion of a bluetooth speaker - I do have one of those but I have so many gadgets which need charging via usb that I don't really want to have to keep charging another one regularly. The bluetooth is fine for my mobile phone for occasional use but I just want basic straightforward wired in speakers and have looked at Halfords but there's such a range that I don't know what to go for (am not planning to buy from Halfords, I just looked to see what's available and what kind of price range).
Where's all the young boy racers when you need them?! Anyone got a teenage son who knows what's what?
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Post by outtolunch on Feb 4, 2014 18:19:13 GMT
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Post by stonedaddy on Feb 8, 2014 1:02:26 GMT
I got them in the cab of the camper and they are fine. They are mounted above my head and I turn them right up to drown the clanking and the diesel knock of the old engine ( and Jose ). .... Tom ....
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