Stereo?

[Ole Rusty]

I was talking through the entire build of a Roadster last night with my daughter and she asked me a question I hadn't even thought of-where's the stereo?

I'd just discounted the thought of listening to classic Floyd on the drives in deference to the beautiful tunes of big cubic inches, but it got me to thinking-would I want a stereo?

So my question is, did anybody put a stereo in their roadster? If so, did you hide it? If not, do you wish you had?

Thanks,
MjH

[Mustang Man]

We built sans-audio and I'm fine with it. Been on two hour drives and just enjoy the exhaust note. My wife says we should add one for the longer drives and I tell her to just put in some headphones. IF I was to ever add anything I'd keep it semi-hidden to not disturb the interior's look (but that's me). I'd go with trunk mounted amp, discreet speakers behind the carpet in the rear bulkhead panel, and my iPod Nano plugged directly into the amp's input, this way I can play mp3s and FM through the Nano and not need an actual head unit mounted in the car.

HTH...
Mark

[CoryB]

I don't have one in mine at this point but it's still a possibility. I've seen a lot of cars with a dashboard extension or a console used to mount a radio. Speakers can be mounted inside the console, on the back firewall or in the footwells.

Another fairly popular option seems to be to use an iPod instead. An amp is mounted in the trunk and the iPod feed goes directly to that, bypassing the need for a head unit.

[BigLeo69]

i would make provisions for some speakers and use a mp3 or ipod for just plug and play.

[3kcarbon]

I set mine up for hidden speakers in the rear wall behind the carpet. I bought a amp with a MP3 jack and ran the cable back to the dash so I can plug in a MP3 player and control it from there. I did hook it all up before the install to make sure it would work.

[Arch]

I went a little nuts in the stereo department. A Sony iPod compatible head unit, three Sony amps all feeding ten speakers including two small subs. Sounds great. Unless you are looking for it, you can't see any of this.
Amps went in the trunk mounted upright accross the back. I lose about four inches of trunk space.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj7/McQ2013/Stereo4.jpg

I built a self into the rear bulkhead where small items can go and mounted four 4 1/2 inch speakers and two 6 1/2 inch subs there. Again, without leaning your head into the car and looking, these can't easily be seen.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj7/McQ2013/Stereo5.jpg

There are two more 4 1/2 inch speaders under the dash and two 6 inch speakers in the kick panels of the foot boxes. The head unit is hung from the "roof" of the passenger foot box and so far six foot passengers have not found it a problem.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj7/McQ2013/Stereo3.jpg

The whole thing is of course overkill but I like my tunes.

Arch

[Plant City Mike]

I have the amp in the trunk, speakers in the upper bulkhead and mp3 connector on the low side of the trans tunnel. mp3 player has an fm tuner as well but.... the carpet seriously muffles the sound and I have never used it while driving. Would have to expose the speakers to improve the sound and I am not willing to do that.

[Glory Bound]

I installed a console with the head unit and two tweeters and mid range speakers, iPod in the glove box, 8" subwoofer on the back panel and a 400 watt subwoofer amp in the trunk. Stereo also has a Bluetooth for a cell phone and a mic on the top of the steering wheel. I am glad I put it in. I can still hear the stereo even at highway speeds. I should have put a separate amp in the for the front mid range and tweets though. Future mod.

[Greg_M]

Opted out for the stereo. The exhaust, wind, and road noise is more than loud enough to damage you hearing with long exposure. Playing music at levels to overcome the backgound noise would be even more damaging. I equate it to playing music onr an expensive home audio system whith a chain saw running in your living room. But what do I know...I wear earplugs while driving to protect what's left of my old ears :)

Greg

[MPTech]

I've debated this as well and convinced myself that I prefer the simple / race-look of these cars (no console below the dash). I'll probably just use my iPhone / iPod with ear-buds, but IF I do decide to run a stereo, it will be amp with an iPod connection and speakers (mounted below the doors).

[wideglidejoe]

I'm barely past go-kart mode, just installed body 2 wks ago, but I'm not including radio/stereo in my build. I have two friends who did, but they say they are useless due to wind noise and exhaust note. One of them even took his out. My Gas N pipes on my roadster aren't as loud as my Harley, but even on my Harley, wind noise is worse than the loud pipes, so I wear ear plugs. I figure I'll wear ear plugs for wind noise while driving the roadster.

[Rscocca]

I installed a Hidden Stereo in a pocket behind the rear center console that is remotely controled. Radio head has satalite radio, with amp in battery box under rear trunk area. Moved the batery to front.
Speakers are 4" round in center console with two more just below the front doors in the body.

[MPTech]

Rscocca, is it a "Secret Audio"?

I have a Pioneer 7100BT with remote installed in my daily Driver that I really like, but the IR(?) doesn't pick up well with the top down (direct sunlight renders it useless).
How do you like your unit? That's they way I'd go if I installed one, hidden. I like the idea in the rear console / tranny tunnel :cool:

[Rscocca]

MPtech--- Yes it is "Secret Audio". it not IR its RF on the remote so that works great. I installed a 125w amp in the old battery box. Now I just need to figure out how to balance the system. I'm not very audio savy when it comes to amps.

[Kevin Davis]

I'm doing the whole ipod/hidden thing too. I ran a 3.5mm cable from the trunk all the way up to the dash, so I can run it from there, or I've got a fully self-contained unit for the back. I'll have 2 speakers in the bulkhead, 2 under the doors, 2 small satellite tweeters under the dash, and a 10" sub box in the back. The ipod sits in a dock, and is RF like rscocca's, so I can actually just put the thing on shuffle and use the tiny remote to start and stop it from the cockpit. I like my tunes, but didn't want to blow a bunch of money, so I didn't do high end components. I've driven Jeeps for a while, and the wind/road noise does make a difference. The pipes here will too, along with it, but a little music on long drives should be nice.

I also found an inverter that I'm putting back there, and it has a 5v usb connection built into it, so it'll power the ipod dock and charge it on the way. I've tested it all in the car, and it works pretty well.

The question remains is how long my size 51 battery will last without the engine running.

If you're interested in my set up, it's pretty well documented on my build site.

[jtro]

I installed one and glad did you can hear it and no it doesn't half to be full blast to do it.Speakers in dash and behind seats hidden somewhat.
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1383&d=1302367972http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1384&d=1302367972

[Ole Rusty]

I'm kind of surprised that nobody has gone with a clean, touch screen like a Pioneer AVC model. No buttons, just a black screen and thin rim when it's turned off. Is there sufficient room behind the dash to mount one there?

[Rscocca]

Ole Rusty-
I have one in my van, its a big double din unit. some might not have the room in the center console for it. It is a nice unit but too big for me in the MK3.1.

[Ray]

We put a small 300w amp in the trunk and a pair of 5.25-inch speakers between the seats. A simple plug and line for my iPod and we got tunes!!!!

Ray

[MPTech]

Ray, how do you connect the iPod to the amp? (what amp are you running?)

[Kevin Davis]

I'm not sure how Ray did his, but a simple 3.5mm to RCA cable (monoprice) will do the trick. I split my signal further so I can run 2 amps. Once you hook it up, you can adjust the gain on the amp so you can control the volume from the ipod. Since you're not looking for high end sound, you can get away with inexpensive amps.

[Pierre B]

I second Greg M's comments above. I too wear earplugs on high-speed runs, but not so much for sound protection. Rather, it's the outboard wind blast in the ear that I find bothersome. Reminder to all: ear damage is cumulative and does not repair itself. Take good care.

[Kevin Davis]

I second Greg M's comments above. I too wear earplugs on high-speed runs, but not so much for sound protection. Rather, it's the outboard wind blast in the ear that I find bothersome. Reminder to all: ear damage is cumulative and does not repair itself. Take good care.

I didn't see the hearing loss comments. I'm super anal about hearing protection too, I know that this thread isn't about that, but it's worth reiterating. My daughter is deaf in one ear, so it makes me more sensitive. I'm not quite on the road yet, but will always wear ear plugs and the passengers will too.

They actually had a study come out last year that drivers of convertibles over time suffer fairly significant hearing loss, due to the wind noise. The good thing about ear plugs, is that they typically reduce noise, not all sound, which is where the protection comes in.

[Ray]

Ray, how do you connect the iPod to the amp? (what amp are you running?)

Here are a few photos: