dsn@umcp-cs.UUCP (05/05/84)
Here's a summary of responses to my request for info on car stereo.
It runs to about 240 lines.
From: roger@cornell
I recently put a stereo in my 82 Civic. I have not seen the insides of the
84 Accord, but if it is similar to the models of previous years, you can do
what I did with my Civic.
First, the system:
Alpine 7347 Tape deck/tuner
(2) Alpine 3508 Amplifiers
Jensen 3033 6x9 Triaxial speakers
Phillips 8845 4" 2-way speakers
The tape deck was easy. It's size is about the biggest thing that you can
put in the dash (7 1/8" wide, 2" high). Take a ruler to you car and make
sure what you buy will fit!
The front amplifier was mounted on the firewall under the passenger side of
the dash. The rear amplifier went in the middle of the spare tire on a
circle of 1/4" hardboard.
The front speakers were mounted in the lower front of the doors. As I recall,
the Accords have an ash tray there. I'm told that it can be removed.
The 6x9's were placed in the back side panels. My car had plastic pockets
here which I never used. The 82, 83 Accords did also. There are two ways
to put speakers here.
The way suggested by the local car stereo dealer was to buy this
honda speaker kit which consisted of a big plastic piece which the
6x9 speaker rested in and was fastened to the entire width of the
side panel. This required cutting up the side panel as the pocket
hole does not allow the speaker to go through.
You can also buy speaker grills which are made to cover the pocket
hole. While this hole is not large enough to allow the speaker to
come through, it large enough not to obstruct any of the sound from
the speaker. But you can't mount the speaker on the side panel as
it is made from 1/8" hardboard and would not take the weight, let
alone give good bass response. Solution? I took some 1/4" hardboard
and cut it to fit around all the stuff behind the side panel (seat
belt retractor, mounting brackets, etc) and cut a 6x9" oval in the
proper place. This took an evening to do. As the other side is
a mirror image, I made it in 30 minutes. I then glued these to the
inside of the door panel with elmers glue and mounted the speakers
to the hardboard. This way, if I should sell the car, I can pull off
the hardboard and put the pockets back in and leave the front (or a
replacement pair) speakers in.
I did all of the installation except the front speakers which I allowed the
dealer to do.
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From: michaelk@tekmdp
Hmmm, I asked the same question at almost this same time last year
(I bought a '83 Honda Accord sedan). I just read the review of the
Sony receiver in HF just an hour or two ago, looks good. Anyway, I
selected for my speakers (on the Honda sedan's rear deck) ADS 300i
speakers. They were highly recommended, but high-power amp's were
recommended for use with them. I bought a Sanyo amplifier, 50W RMS per
channel, 0.05%THD, etc. I had to modify the control lines to match
my receiver (Panasonic CQS-903), but it was the most amp for the buck.
I used small Phillips speakers in the front doors for "fill". The
front/rear balance is adjusted to favor the much better "back". I
also use a graphic equalizer to smooth things out a bit. I used my
house's equalizer/RTA/pink-noise w/ a long extension cord to set it up.
I am absolutely delighted with the setup I have, especially w/the ADS 300i
speakers. Amazing amount of bass for such small speakers. They don't
sound like "car speakers" ( to repeat something told me when I was looking).
There are many copies of this speaker (Boston Accoustics A700) out now
which may be as good or better that might be worth looking into. The
interesting thing about the ADS's, is that the speaker magnets
are in the specifications via flux density specs, not "oz." specs. (and
the flux densities are high).
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From: hou2f!mev
(1) Speakers: I have a number of favorites:
ADS 320i ~$300 great satellites for a bi-amped system
Phillips Series 2000 Actually two different systems,
the rear elements consist of (each) 2 square 5" woofers and an
adjustable midrange/tweeter unit. Excellent sound (single or
bi-amped), but pricey at ~$400 (list).
Phillips also makes a 3-and-a-half" coaxial in-dash speaker
which is simply superb (at $80). Unfortunately, I don't think
one can put them in an Accord very easily.
Yamaha 6" ~$160 Great bass response.
For subwoofers, some great units are made by ADS ($250 inc. crossover),
Alpine (8", 10", or 12" ~$125 - 250 each),Phillips (see above)and others.
For those of us think these prices are a bit much (myself included),
we have 6" units from Sony and Speakerlab ($60 and ~100, resp.),
an 8" unit from Sony (bone-shaking bass, ~$140), and a self-contained
6x9" unit from Altec ($140 including 40 watt mono amp.)
If the above prices scare you (they scare me), consider perhaps
the phillips 4" coaxials ("better bass than my subwoofers", well, almost)
or 5 1/4" coaxials. Great sound under $100.
Perhaps equally as important as the speakers you select is how and
where you mount them. That is why I love the Phillips 3 1/2"
in-dash unit -- accuracy. If you must have door speakers,
make every effort to mount them as high up on the door as possible.
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From: allegra!ut-ngp!cerda
I put a stereo in my '82 Accord hatchback with no problems. This is what I
did. The head unit is a Concord 5xx and it is placed in the standard opening.
The unit fit fine. Watch the way the unit is anchored. Sometimes the metal
anchors spread the plastic opening.
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I don't know exactly which Concord I have but it is the next to the bottom
of the models they produce. The low end model just doesn't have enough
features and the top end stuff costs too much for frills. Digital tuning
is nice but for 200$ I can turn a knob. The tuner and cassette drive and
head are the same in all models. (not exactly true. I beleive they have two
distinct lines and the mechanism is the same in each of their lines.)
The dealer that installed this (I helped) installed the amp under the
passanger seat. The amp is a 22 watt/channel proton. All connections are
done with monster cable and the head unit to amp connection is gold-ends.
I know! Too much, but I trust the installer so professional opion holds.
Finding a place to install the speakers is the hardest part. I finally
chose to mount them in the front door and in the shock absorber columns.
The cut-outs
in the door are large enough for 5 1/4 inch speakers. I installed mine
under the cloth so that one can not see the front speakers at all. The
cloth is thin enough ( I scraped the plastic backing off ) so that I
believe it is transparent to sound. The rear speakers I installed in the
rear shock columns. The biggest here is again 5 1/4 inches. Make sure that
you place equivalent speakers in both places. I installed smaller 4 inch
Phillips in the door and a pair of Babs with 20 ounce magnets in the rear.
The only problem I have is the sound quality front to rear is not the same.
It bothers me. The front speakers have more than just a fill function.
I also toyed with placing 6x9's in the pockets near the rear
seat. I though that this would set up standing waves and such stuff but
I heard this arrangement and it sounded fine. If you put the speakers there
you can place them on a solid base. You should replace the side wall with
a 1/2 piece of particle board and mount your speakers on that. You get
more bass. In my arrangement I get all the bass I want and more. The bass
I get with everything flat is fine if I want more I turn on the Concords
loudness control. There really is more to it than that but you get the idea?
The high end almost always needs a little boost. With the loudness control
and the bass and treble controls I can 'fix' the sound anyway I want.
I decided against the 6x9 arrangement because of cost. With the execption
of the smaller Phillips I am happy with mine.
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From: lincoln@eosp1
I'm about to do the very same thing: install a "good" stereo system in
a Honda 2-Door Accord Hatchback, in this case a '78 model.
I had settled on a Blaupunkt Tucson plus 4-way 16 watt Blaupunkt
amplifier (64 watt total) over a Sony XL-75 plus 2 Sony bi-amps (Sony
only sells bi-amps rather than quad-amps, as far as I know). Costs
about $500, about $200 cheaper than the Sony system and is preferred by
the discount shop in Edison, NJ where I will buy the gear. They
maintain the Blaupunkt continues to make the best tuners and amps in
the mobile stereo world, and have upgraded their tape decks after the
bad rep they had a few years back. The Edison shop sell both Blaupunkt
and Sony, so their advice is convincing. I can't find Alpine gear at
equivalent discounts.
However, I didn't know about any new Sony "diversity" tuner offering.
Exactly what do you mean by "diversity"? The original concepts were
either "frequency diversity" - multiple carrier frequency reception
with a combining strategy, or "space diversity" - multiple antenna
locations with a combining strategy, all methods of combating time and
frequency selective fading over free air communications channels,
primarily for digital signaling. I don't see how either technique is
applicable to car stereo - do you use two antennas?
[ The new Sony tuner uses multiple antennas. --dsn@umcp-cs ]
I have two semi-decent Pioneer speakers in my doors now, I planned to
move them to the back if they fit (6" co-ax) to replace to original
Honda junk speakers. I plan to install two Infinity 8" tri-ax's in
the doors - marvelous speakers. I will get the model number for you.
They are the best I have heard in car speakers. The stereo shop thinks
that 16 watts per channel is enough to drive them in a hatchback. I
have another well respected, "custom list price" stereo shop nearby
that will install everything for about $70, and they believe they will
have no trouble installing any of the above-mentioned gear.
I have a Hirshmann pre-amp antenna already installed.
I doubt a sub-woofer would be worth it at least in my Accord because of
the relatively high level of low frequency road and engine noise, and
the difficulty in properly installing a really huge speaker. It might
be a different story while you're parked watching the submarine races,
though. (:-)
I would appreciate any details you have on the new Sony, in case I am
about to make a wrong decision. I will write back when I have
everything installed and have evaluated it "live".
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From: prophet@umcp-cs
... look at the May, 1984 issues of both Stereo Review
and Audio magazines. Both of these issues are concerned almost entirely with
car stereos, since May is "Car Stereo Month."
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From: seifert@ihuxl
I have the ADS power plate amp and 300i speakers in my 320i.
Sound GREAT! They are mounted in the rear shelf and use the
trunk for an enclosure. Very deep bass, no subwoofer needed.
(Unless you're into organ pedal notes, etc) This will play
as loud as any sane person could ask. They now have individual
drivers available for more versatle(sp) mounting. I believe
these are called the "320i" (Da gee... I wonder what market they're
aiming for? :-) )
If you're serious about the subwoofer, check the specs on the Sony,
if you mean the XR-100, I think it only goes down to 30Hz, not
20.
I'd like to replace my garbage radio and uses-up-the-whole-glovebox
Nakamichi 350 tape deck with a all-in-one front end, but the
only one that does 20-20kHz and has Dolby-C is the new Nak unit
at $1200. ouch! -sigh-
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From: fish@ihu1g
I put a stereo in my '82 LX hatchback, which shares a body with yours.
The car comes wired for speakers, so you won't have to run the wires
yourself. Just pull off those caps over the strut housings and you'll
find the wires; you might have to poke around a little. They come out
under the dash right near the fuse block. There are also wires for
door speakers, but I didn't install them; didn't want holes in the
doors.
There isn't much room for speakers in the strut caps. Vertical clearance
is more of a problem than area; I had a hard time getting 5" Jensen 2-ways
to fit. You might consider getting surface-mount speakers if you want
more than that. The little mini-speakers that come in a rectangular
metal box with mounting brackets would probably fit OK.
There's an article on subwoofers in this month's Stereo Review that you
might want to check out. As for amps, I'm using a 20-w/ch job that is
barely adequate. You might want to go for a little more power.
--
Dana S. Nau
CSNet: dsn@umcp-cs ARPA: dsn@maryland
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