Cheapskate's stereo install

Balking at the $65-100 price tags for overhead stereo mounting boxes, I posted around (got no suggestions of value) but I also did some deeper digging. I found this post on RF.net (linked below) about a guy who used plastic dog bowls for speaker pods under his dash, so I tracked down a pair at my local Agway store. For $7.00 it's worth the try, eh?

But, I didn't like the way they looked under the dash, so I found an inexpensive pair of RV/Marine pods on eBay. Those eBay pods were only 6" at the top, so they would only hold a 5.25" speaker, while the dog bowls would hold a 6.5" speaker -- so I ended up using both -- 5.25" marine coaxials under the dash, and 6.5" marine coaxials overhead. Those size speakers seem to fit the respective mounts quite nicely, and the dog bowls worked well overhead where they just barely stick down below the crossbars in the cage. Note that it did require drilling holes through the plastic roof to mount them, though. I used black silicone on the bolt heads on top to seal them well, in addition to using it to seal around all the holes I drilled to run wires through, in addition to sealing underneath the pods themselves.

I also had to make some 3/8" spacers for the RV/marine pods I used under the dash, because the Boss speakers I bought were too deep for the mount. Rather than buying spacers to go under the speakers themselve, I made spacers for the pod out of plywood and painted them black. Note also that these pods are slightly angled, and I angled them up to project the sound up into the cabin a bit.

The stereo head unit I selected, a 4-channel Clarion M475 marine AM/FM/CD/Aux has a MOSFET amp built in and puts out 21 watts RMS per channel (50 watts max per channel) has three different preset equalizations (in addition to bass boost) or you can set your own, and provides plenty of volume for riding without an additional amp. I mounted the head unit in a Jensen marine gimbal mounting box under the dash, after I spraypainted it black with Fusion paint. I also had to paint all the speaker grilles in addition to the dog bowls. All told, this is about a $225 install, with a good quality marine stereo head, and for that budget, I'm quite pleased.

Thought I'd post this in case there's some others out there looking to get the most bang for their buck...

Dog bowls used as pods: http://www.rhinoforums.net/lighting-stereo-electrical/20249-my-stereo-install.html

EBay RV/Marine Pods: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110390617889

Head unit (though I bought mine on eBay): http://www.crutchfield.com/p_020M475/Clarion-M475.html?tp=1721



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good job kent

Looks good.....

Kent is it ok for those speakers to get submerged
in mud and water.
I know if i had them thay would get dunked often....

Chris....

They're waterproof -- I saw reviews of people washing them out with waterhoses. The whole mounting is such that water can't get behind them -- the pod is sealed to the spacer with black silicone, the spacer is sealed to the firewall with black silicone, and the speaker uses a foam rubber gasket between it and the pod.

But to be honest, that's why I used cheap $30 Boss speakers down there, whereas the OH speakers are Clarions that list for over $100, but I got them for about 1/2 that....

Dog Bowls??? Are you kidding me!!! What make people think of this. You could put them on ebay for speaker boxs and make some jack.

Cool project well done Kent.

looks great and the price sounded even better!

Nuttun wrong with that !! A 'sound' investment for sure !!

Looks good

Thanks, guys. It took a little shade-tree engineering, but it works. Only part I'm really not satisfied with is the Jensen stereo enclosure.

I selected it for two reasons; (a) it has a built-in little compartment to hold your I-pod or MP3 player, and (b) the door opened down instead of up (it has a rubber gasket seal to keep water from running in from the top). Plus it allows the IR wireless remote to work through the closed door -- don't know if they'll all do that, but this one does.

But, it is so shallow in depth that the receiver head barely fits and the door close, and there is NO room for the additional RCA jacks or power antenna and remote control leads, so they're dangling behind the enclosure. They have rubber plugs in the ends, and I tied them up as best I could, but it's still sloppy, IMO.

Makes me wish I'd gotten the PolyPlanar (the enclosure Hunterworks sells) or the Boss clone of it, instead. Oh well, I may end up moving the head up into the dash (where the warning sticker is) some day anyway. I couldn't mount the receiver overhead and keep my storage packs which are crucial for carrying the camera, cell phone, etc -- and it must be used on the front and not the rear cage cross-bar because of how this sport roof mounts...

Oh welll...