Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 12:04:32 -0600
Reply-To: Max Wellhouse <maxjoyce@IPA.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Max Wellhouse <maxjoyce@IPA.NET>
Subject: Re: Vanagon sound system question (sorry no discussion of freedom
of speech)
In-Reply-To: <vanagon%2004112910075252@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
I have a 90 gl, so I pulled the panel from under the rear seat and put
two mdf boxes of the recommended size and added 8" Rockford Fosgate woofers
under there. I'm not a big bass freak, (but like to hear John Clayton play
his string bass solos while he accompanies Diana Krall!!), and they are
driven by an R/F 75 RMS wattsx2 amp under the drivers seat. I had a set of
6.5" Nakamichis in the rear seat panels, but never got the volume to the
frojnt as I wanted. Mounted the tweeters on an aluminum bar I rigged that
was suspended from an aluminum bar mounted on the rear AC unit flanges(yes,
the AC unit is no longer there). I'd make someone a good deal on the Naks
if they wanted them for the front of their van. Have the crossovers, but
the tweeters are gone. Boston Acoustics tweeters from ebay will replace
them nicely.
The front consists of a 4 or 5 year old Sony cassette/head unit(and 10 CD
changer hidden inbetween the front seats by a Sterilite plastic box with
the top cut open in the rear so I can store 6 more CD magazines in the back
of it and lay a neoprene foam sheet over the whole thing ) that looks
pretty innocuous in the dash(as far as thieves go), but I have a Rockford
4x 75 RMS watt amp under the passenger seat that drives a pair of $300
Focal(their cheapest speaker) 6.5" separates with the dome tweeters just
out of reach of the window cranks. The guy that said he was running 700
watts is probably not running RMS watts as I'm not sure what system would
take that kind of heat.
I like my music loud and clean. Folks that get earaches form loud music
are suffering from too much harmonic distortion in their sound system.
As a side note, a buddy of mine 20 years ago had an old Chevy van in which
he had put 2 Klipsch birch cabinet La Scalas in the rear(no small task to
begin with!) and rigged an inverter to a Yamaha amp and a simple cassette
deck(remember, back then we didn't have the specialized auto audio
equipment we have these days). he would load a pre-recorded cassette of a
train barreling down a canyon and turn it up full blast while sitting at a
stop light downtown. Despite there being no train tracks for miles,
people heard this and couldn't identify the source and were quickly getting
out of their cars and heading for the sidewalk. He used to get his jollies
that way. For those of you unfamiliar with the older Klipsch speakers made
in Hope Arkansas, the LaScalas and Klipschorns would generate 104db with
one watt of power fed to them. Not suitable for Vanagons, but the best
home speakers I've ever heard. Used to own a pair myself. Ah, the good
old days!!
End of flashback.
Max
The 09:01 AM 11/29/2004, Dennis wrote:
>The Westfalia is a unique aural environment due to the high interior
>volume.
>
>With the front door work, particularly the mid bass driver with
>aforementioned enhancements, and a 12" sub firing out the dynomatted
>closet, it is possible to get a nice tonal balance in the van. The closet
>was a good match with respect to volume for the sub I installed..and still
>is useable as a closet. Dynomat was essential as the closet is not sealed
>in stock form.
>
>I did my audio upgrade in several stages, the last being the bass drivers
>in the door. I found that even with a sub in the rear, normally fine in a
>car, the front of the van lacked low end. Low frequencies are somewhat
>omnidirectional but in the Westfalia, the rear is a long way back.
>
>Max's stiffening of the lower door area is a great idea, and probably
>improves bass "cleanliness" appreciably. A little extra time with the door
>will be rewarded ... as you'll be sitting next to it most of the time.
>
>Max, what's the rest of your setup?
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