Anyone used car speakers in their cab?

[Pegasus37]

I'm at the point where I need to install speakers in my cab. It was a JAMMA cab, meaning only 1 speaker and thus mono sound. I didn't like this, so I'm replacing the board that had the speaker so I can put two speakers in and thus stereo. I'm thinking about using some decent car stereo speakers, but realize I would need an amplifier to power them as the output from any soundcard isn't going to work. Anyone done this before, and if so, how'd you do it? Amp schematics, general information, anything that will help would be greatly appreciated...

I've tried taking apart some old Altec Lansing speakers, but couldn't determine what was going to be the best way to mount them in the cabinet, and putting them back together I lost the sound out of one of them.

PLEASE HELP!!!

Pegasus37

[planetjay]

2 Pioneer 6x9 4ways that handle 200 watts. AND a Pioneer 12 sub that handled 500 watts. Of course I never pushed then THAT HARD.   One amp was 40 per channel car audio amp other was a kit from Velleman that you order at Radio Shack.com (search for Velleman and kit).

As usual http://www.planetjay.com click on Arcade and then Cabinet Pictures.

[Thenasty]

I tried before but those magnet on the speakers screw my monitors. Make sure they are away from your monitor. I was also going to connect an amp to it, but again, those speakers made up my mind not to use it. Computer Speakers are shielded, so I went that route and they are just as loud if you get the right ones. I got the Cambridge 4 point surround speakers.

[planetjay]

BTW.... Depending on the location of the speakers you may need some magnetic shielding. And remember that Aluminum will not work, you have to use steel.

[Rick Osborn]

Below are two links to my sound system I designed.  First link will show pics of building it.  2nd pics show the finished sound system in the unfinished cab.

http://members.aol.com/pileofmonkeycrap
http://members.aol.com/pileofmonkeycrap/mamecab.jpg

Rick

I'm at the point where I need to install speakers in my cab. It was a JAMMA cab, meaning only 1 speaker and thus mono sound. I didn't like this, so I'm replacing the board that had the speaker so I can put two speakers in and thus stereo. I'm thinking about using some decent car stereo speakers, but realize I would need an amplifier to power them as the output from any soundcard isn't going to work. Anyone done this before, and if so, how'd you do it? Amp schematics, general information, anything that will help would be greatly appreciated...

I've tried taking apart some old Altec Lansing speakers, but couldn't determine what was going to be the best way to mount them in the cabinet, and putting them back together I lost the sound out of one of them.

PLEASE HELP!!!

Pegasus37

[jelloslug]

I used 2 6 1/2" car speaker (from Radio Shack) and a small amp/eq combo that I had laying around.  And yes, I am powing everything from the computer power supply.

[Pegasus37]

OK, I've got some ideas, I was leaning towards the car stereo speakers, especially considering I'm a 2nd semester electronics student and we're studying amplifiers right now, so I probably could design and build my own here pretty soon. I'm worried though about the interference with the monitor though... Anyone got pix of how they did it? I'd like to have my speakers mounted where they point somewhat down in that board above the monitor and below the marquee. Thanks to those of you who've replied and provided info so far... more info would be appreciated!!!

Pegasus37

[Dave]

In my experience, pure car speakers aren't all that well suited for use in "normal" designs. They're specifically designed for use in cars, which means they're tuned for drastically different acoustics than what you have in a normal room. Using different a box volume might improve things, but I'd say you're better off with hi-fi speaker elements, or at least some of these hybrid "hifi elements that can be used in cars". (In fact, I once built a pair of top speakers using low cost big magnet MGR 8" "hybrid" elements, and those sound *great*.)

Of course, I'm talking about building hi-fi speakers and "hi-fi like PA" (ie LOUD hifi systems - no hard edge PA elements) here, so I might be a bit picky!

Either way, my more interesting suggestion would be to look for shielded Hi-Fi elements. They're commonly used in surround systems (especially in the center speaker, that often ends up under a TV), and probably in some higher end TVs.

If you need more power than those can take (yeah, right!), Vifa (IIRC), Dynaudio and some others have shielded high end elements, but those are rather expensive, of course... *heh* (In the $100+/element range - but Dynaudio sells only matched pairs, for perfect stereo imaging! )