Installing a Stereo and Speakers

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Ace!

Gone Traveling
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Aug 21, 2015
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So. Oregon
I'm considering the installation of a "car" stereo and speakers in my Hawk. I figure a 2" CD player with Bluetooth and what-not and a couple of car stereo speakers, maybe four (two inside, two outside) would work well.

Any install or speaker placement tips? I am considering placing the speakers through the wall to the outside. I had a pop-up camper with external speakers and it was kind of nice to sit under the awning at the end of the day and sip a cocktail with some music. Anyone done such and what were the pros and cons?
 
Consider instead the portable bluetooth JBL Extreme or Extreme 2: https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=jbl+extreme&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
Huge 15 hour rechargeable battery. Lotta bass. Rugged (& check Ebay for aftermarket neoprene form-fitting storage bags). Portable; take it outside and/or listen inside with no leaky holes in side walls.

One speaker is mono, but will pair in stereo with a 2nd (which you won't miss, but can always add later).

Forget the friggin cd player. Subscribe to Spotify Premium for Family @ 14.99/month. You and yours can use it on 5 devices & download up to 3,333 songs on your smartphone (get a micro cd memory). This means when you're camping outside wifi you don't have to use cell phone data playing music. Spotify Premium also has the highest fidelity (no ads), so it'll sound fab on your home system. This sucker is LOUD.

The JBL speaker will give more versitality and probably better sound than your proposed system. Order it from Amazon for a 30 day trial; if you don't like it, return it. You won't. Don't order the cheapest you can find on Ebay; Lousy Chinese knockoffs there.

Don't take my word. Check out YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jbl+extreme&page=&utm_source=opensearch

This is better sound than most 'Mericans have in their homes. You'll end up being a salesman when others hear it.
 
Oh yeah... Wall mounted speakers will dig into insullation, and you'll be committed to that size or lager. Probably crappy bass to boot. Forgot to mention the JBL can be sit on it's end on top of the fridge. AND, the JBL's will pair to your laptop, so you can have a bitchin' movie night!
 
If, however, it’s local radio or weather one wants, the am/fm unit is good. WestMarine.com sells a variety of stereo units that may meet your needs. https://www.westmarine.com/marine-audio

I have an EcoxBox Bluetooth portable speaker that works fine for our musical use with phone, iPad, or laptop. It certainly is not THX quality, but fine for camping. I usually use headphones for music anyway.

To each his own. :)

Paul
 
Me, I just bring my XM/Sirius "boom box" radio along. I can use it in my "Hawk" or outdoors around the campfire. No mods to make to my rig. Have my same 200 +/- radio stations wherever I am at in the U.S.A. Thats enough audio choices for me and my friends. Geologyjohn
 
geologyjohn said:
Me, I just bring my XM/Sirius "boom box" radio along. I can use it in my "Hawk" or outdoors around the campfire. No mods to make to my rig. Have my same 200 +/- radio stations wherever I am at in the U.S.A. Thats enough audio choices for me and my friends. Geologyjohn
Click to expand...
I am very impressed with how good these units sound. Very nice bass and a full rich sound. I know a couple car dealerships that use them to play music on the dealership floor.

Re the OPs original thought. I would avoid installing a BT car audio deck. You'll likely want to reserve your campers battery power for other use ie. heat, lights, fan

With the huge number of 12V portable, rechargeable options there should be something to suit your needs.

I like the fact that I can recharge my Monster speaker while I'm driving and not have to use the campers battery power to enjoy music. We also use it away from the camper quite often.
 
Bummer no one has experience to share related to the question.

I have three portable speakers by different manufacturers, including Bose and JBL, but that's not really relevant.

I'd like a dedicated head unit, with CD, BT, satellite. Any input related to the original post?
 
I like Alpine head units. I have no use for CDs anymore but since you specified, Alpine CDE-175BT CD, $200 from Crutchfield. Buy an XM plug-in for the aux port. You might be able to find it for less than that, but Crutchfield sends along good install instructions/videos and can also pre-wire it for you. Memphis, Kicker, any other brand for rugged speakers. Although, you can head into any Walmart, O’Reillys, etc and find Dual brand products for much less.
 
I've already got the head unit, XM antenna, and speakers in my "cart" at Crutchfield. I'm wondering if people have insight as to speaker placement especially.
 
You’re not getting advice because it’s a bad idea. You want to cut two big holes into your camper wall that you’ll have to seal up and worry about, then have a few inches of the back of the speaker to cover up on the inside of the camper. Speakers are designed for cavities / boxes, so you’ve got more work to make it work well plus all the wiring to run.

There are less expensive, easier, more effective and more elegant solutions available.
 
Maybe you should look at wall-mount monitors for the inside. They are geared for making music, but the ones I have heard sound really good for the size. You could go to somewhere like Guitar Center and probably listen to some. I don't really know if this would be the best solution for you, but I think mounting car speakers in the wall will sound terrible.
 
Ace! said:
I'm considering the installation of a "car" stereo and speakers in my Hawk. I figure a 2" CD player with Bluetooth and what-not and a couple of car stereo speakers, maybe four (two inside, two outside) would work well.

Any install or speaker placement tips? I am considering placing the speakers through the wall to the outside. I had a pop-up camper with external speakers and it was kind of nice to sit under the awning at the end of the day and sip a cocktail with some music. Anyone done such and what were the pros and cons?
Click to expand...
Ace,

You will want to have some "cavity" behind the speakers. That means no insulation there. Maybe you can live with that. Crutchfield sells "in wall" speakers like this one https://www.crutchfield.com/S-3AJJdhgpmXX/p_107RC65I/Polk-Audio-RC65i.html?XVINQ=GLX&awkw=75621249385&awat=pla&awnw=g&awcr=47439080545&awdv=c&awug=9057160&gclid=CjwKCAjwza_mBRBTEiwASDWVvvjKDOZ6I31MBC9Zxwd-rUOPU1gHZb5CN4ZbhTzQy7tlJkssZg1IVxoCUVsQAvD_BwE

But look at the size/depth requirement. That might be a challenge!

Is cost a consideration? Or complexity? Are you willing to go with a surface mount of some kind?

Inside, I would want the mid/tweeters up high, maybe just below the softwall, 1' or so out from the front/rear surfaces. The woofers could conceivably be of the "free air - Infinite Baffle" type (think rear deck on your 1970's 2 door hardtop). The "box" would thus only need to be reasonably weather proof and could serve up bass for BOTH the inside and outside speakers. You could mount those down low in the same area as the turnbuckle hatches... or even replacing the turnbuckle hatches!

If you do go with separate speakers, you will need cross overs or something like a time alignment crossover to keep it all sounding good ... like this one https://www.crutchfield.com/p_1616XSB/AudioControl-6XS-Black.html?search=crossover&osp=time+alignment+crossover
The advantage is that your high mounted mid woofer and tweeter can be much smaller... a 4" mid would be fine. And you only need 2" depth for these - https://www.crutchfield.com/p_898GS40/Audiofrog-GS40.html?search=4%22_midrange

Not sure what to say about outside speakers. I have never done those before.

And you may be wondering how I know this stuff... I built a home theatre a few years back, my subs are dual 18" infinite baffle subs... the "box" is the rest of the house, because they are mounted to the wall of the home theatre room. While equalizing the bass, we measured 107 db at 8 Hz.... people outside the house can feel it, as it literally rocks the outside brick patio when we are watching movies. :)
 
Sorry for the late response @vicharder. I had my cart full at Crutchfield and your response gave me the idea I need some of those speakers for my house, and my truck needs new speakers and an amp...and the list goes on!

Anyway, you gave me some different ideas to consider and I think I'll make do with something else, and instead I'll upgrade the house and the truck instead of the camper.
 
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