Rear Speakers in a Brute

[PaulC]

I'm working on installing speakers behind the seats on the lip where the hard top and body bolt together. I was thinking I could use the two bolts holding the top on to hold the speaker box in place (getting longer bolts of course). I'm hesitant to make new holes through the top because I'm not sure about drilling through the fiberglass and the body. I didn't want to put the speakers on the floor behind the seats because we're already using that space to stuff jackets and gear, etc.

So the question is, If I use the two bolts holding down the top, does that make the top any less secure, or more prone to cracking/breaking? Will this idea work?

I've attached a pic of the mock up with the bottom of the speaker box & the speaker in place. The second photo shows the left side between the roll bar and top. The black dots on the pics are the approximate location of the hard top bolts. The last photo shows where the bolts will be and where the cut will be to trim the base to meet the speaker front .

[jscherb]

Seems like if you mount them there, they'll get in the way of the seat reclining?

How about mounting them on the floor? Here's some in-progress shots of what I did. I made these boxes to fit the speakers and the connectors from the factory sound bar.

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc163/jscherb/retro/Speakers.jpg

[AEV Dave]

djb_rh on this board has a nice setup too.

dh

[djb_rh]

djb_rh on this board has a nice setup too.


Thanks. It's overkill, but if you don't need the amps in it then it gives you a lot of usable storage instead.

http://gallery.donniebarnes.com/main.php/d/50783-2/IMG_0156.JPG

That's two four inch mids on top, two tiny tweeters on top (to the outside of the mids) and a 10" subwoofer in the middle. You can obviously lose the subwoofer, too, if you wanted.

Boxes built out of MDF will sound better (if done okay, anyway), but they also eat up a lot more room than the DTP. My seats recline and slide back fully (I'm 6'2"), and best of all, this system really sounds great. I did rhyno-line my tub, too, though.


--Donnie

[PaulC]

JSCHERB, have you found the speakers get beat up or are muffled being down on the floor? I figured they would get covered up and beat up when I put stuff behind the seats. I like your idea, I just thought the speakers would be easier to hear if they were up higher. The speakers would be behind the roll bar, so they won't interfer with the seats. Did I read that you used a textured paint to match the color of your carpet?

Paul

[jscherb]

JSCHERB, have you found the speakers get beat up or are muffled being down on the floor? I figured they would get covered up and beat up when I put stuff behind the seats. I like your idea, I just thought the speakers would be easier to hear if they were up higher. The speakers would be behind the roll bar, so they won't interfer with the seats. Did I read that you used a textured paint to match the color of your carpet?

Paul

No, they don't sound muffled. They do aim towards the center of the Jeep, not towards the seat back, so that helps I'm sure. I don't throw a lot of random stuff back there so they haven't gotten beaten up. I suppose if you did pile a lot of stuff back there, they could get muffled if the stuff blocked the sound, but I haven't had that problem. I used Rustoleum textured spray paint on them, it gave a nice finish that seems appropriate for speakers. They're made from MDF, joints sanded smooth, and all imperfections filled with Durham's Water Putty, followed by a fine sanding, priming and then the texture paint. You can't see any joints in the woodwork, the finish worked out really well.

[PaulC]

Finally finished the rear speaker boxes for my Brute. Figured I'd post a couple of photos to show the finished product. They are mounted on the lip of the hard top in the corner, behind the seats. These use the stock speakers from the roll bar prior to the conversion. The sound is pretty good. They are definitely easy to hear since they are right at your shoulder. Just another idea for guys to try.

1327

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[jscherb]

Finally finished the rear speaker boxes for my Brute. Figured I'd post a couple of photos to show the finished product. They are mounted on the lip of the hard top in the corner, behind the seats. These use the stock speakers from the roll bar prior to the conversion. The sound is pretty good. They are definitely easy to hear since they are right at your shoulder. Just another idea for guys to try.

Nicely done!