Installed a new AM/FM CD stereo yesterday. Getting 4 speakers in the cab all inside the dash was a bit of a challenge, but now I can get more than one AM channel and display the correct time. I always had to subtract 2 1/2 hours from the time displayed on the Japanese radio to know when is now. Total cost: $100.00. Labor time about 6 hours. Fabrication: Speaker mounting and radio braces. Speaker location is a little unorthodox, but with balance and fader adjustment can get a pretty decent sound. Downside: no room for a woofer. Staying warm, dry, listending to sounds and being comfortable sure has it over UTVs and ATVs.
I usually put a pair of 6.5" Pioneer coaxial speakers in the doors on the 91-99 Carrys. They have to be very shallow and I also use a 1/4" shim plate. I gnerally install the entry-level Sony CD Receiver like you find at Pep Boys or Wal Mart. Can't imagine how a 4 speaker set up would sound. Got any photos (via Photobucket or similar?)
I just installed an old Pioneer deck in my truck... but here's the catch: No matter what combination of wiring I try, I can't get the presets and clock to keep their memory. What I've gotten very good at doing is blowing fuses. There were 3 wires in my 92 carry plugged into the old stereo, which kept the time just fine... I'm wondering, is it my poor wiring skills, or my deck? Any thoughts? ALSO, I'm working on cramming to 6" and two 4.5" Phoenix Gold Speakers into the doors... Should beat the old mono stock stereo.
when i put the stereo in my daihatsu i kept the key off and used my test lite and probed all the wires from the factory harness till i found one that was hot all the time. that's the one i put to the yellow wire... that's for the clock and the presets. then i turned the key on and probed them all again till i found another hot, turned the key off to confirm it was a switched hot. that wire got connected to the red wire on the stereo. i bought 5 1/4" speakers and have had a hell of a time mounting them, since i hate cutting sheet metal to mount anything, i like to keep it all stock, i'm thinking of using the CB speakers that come in little boxes with mounting brackets... i think it was greg did that too.
yeah, i don't have a test light. maybe i should go get one. lol. that would probably help the whole fuse situtation. as for cutting holes in the sheet metal... I'm an old-fashioned guy, so I'm going to fab up some wooden spacers, sand 'em down and paint them up real nice to deal with clearance issues and attach them to the door with some more wooden brackets that line up with stock holes in the sheet metal. The speakers will stick out about 1/2" from the door including the cover, which isn't too bad and doesn't cause any clearance or space issues. Also, the inside of my truck has seen some rough days, so these speakers will be the nicest thing to look at.
I had a hard time triyng to find where to put the stereo speakers.I purchase some overhead speakers from JC Whitney and they work good. Easy to mount (no drilling) and easy to wire. Now if i can out figure where to mount a cup holder. http://www.jcwhitney.com/DELUXE-OVERHEAD-SPEAKER-SYSTEM/GP_2001290_N_111+10715+600020342_10615.jcw
I installed my 90watt Jensen stereo in nothing flat. I mounted 2 90watt 4inch speakers in the dash but held off putting 6x9's in the doors. I get plenty of sound out of those 4inchers in that small cab. I'm pondering running external hookups for the rear wiring so I can mount a pair of detachable speakers to the headache rack. Should come in handy camping at the Texas Motor Speedway. I've also considered lining the door with spray foam insulation to help accoustics and insulation. I did this to a 68 Ford F-100 that had doors without lining and it made a dramatic difference. Fergies, if you don't have a $5 test light, you really don't should'nt be messing with wiring. It will cost you much, much more to fix what you short out without one. You also should buy a cheap pair of crimping pliers and assorted solderless connecters. Just a piece of friendly advice.
My 6.5" speakers did not require any sheet metal cutting when I installed them in the doors. If you remove the upholstered door panel (get a claw-type panel tool from Autozone or similar) there is a hole already in the metal door panel in a location down and forward of the door crank on about a 45 degree line. It's not big enough for the speaker but it is big enough for a magnet. That works because with the 1/4" shim plate the speaker is effectively almost a surface mount. It works further because you cannot have too much penetration into the door due to window regulator clearance issues. I merely had to cut a hole in the upholstered door cover big enough for the magnet and wiring tabs (ended up a key hole shape in the panel). In order to use 6.5"'s they have to be the very shallow type (my Pioneers were from WalMart but I don't see the shallow 2-ways on the shelves any more, only the deeper 3-ways). An easy no-brainer would be to use some 4" - 4.5" shallow type speakers and not have as much work. To determine maximum speaker depth crank the window down and run a tape measure between the window glass and the outside of the sheet metal hole. Add the thickness of the upholstered panel and you get an idea of what to look for when you check out candidate speaker depth. Most speaker packaging has a diagram showing dimensions or written specifications printed on it. To route the wires to the door I merely poked a hole in the plastic grommet on the door and the other plastic grommet on the truck frame near the hinge line. I then routed the wires within convoluted tubing (ni wire loom) wrapped with electrical tape with a little slack between the two grommets. The two grommets don't match up exactly when the door closes but that is a benefit because it causes the wire loom to fold naturally within the door/body gap when the door closes. I will try to take some photos later and edit this posting with them. And by all means, use a test light or better yet your multi-tester when doing wiring of any kind. I check the factory wires to find ground (continuity with the frame), switched power and memory power. You can also verify your speaker phasing on the new speaker wires going to the doors or other location. A cheapo Chinese multimeter can be had for a few bucks from most anywhere these days.
One pounding stereo I recently had a sound system Installed from Futureshop, I now have a custom speaker box built in the centre floor of my truck just in front of my E-brake with two 6 1/2 MTX mids, and also had two more MTX mids installed in the bottom of each door along with two crossovers and two tweeters in the top of the doors. It is all being ran off my JVC deck with a rear ipod cord ran in my glovebox to my 80g Ipod. I was going to have a bazooka 6 1/2 sub installed with a 300w kicker amp but it was not recomended due to a 40amp draw from the amp and the truck having a 40amp alternator. On a plus side the sub is deffinetley not needed, the mids make the truck sound like a dream tons off base. I think the sub would have been total overkill. A couple of my friends who have big subs could not beleive that all that base is from 4 6 1/2 mids. I will post pictures as soon as I figure out how to reduce the file size of the pics my camera takes.
