Installing speakers

[Blacksmith]

I have just started refurbing a San Francisco Rush sit-down driver cab.  My plan is to make it a dedicated xbox driver.  I gutted a 27" stereo tv this past weekend and finished installing the monitor from it  in the cab and am pleased with the fit.  It should work out quite nicely.  My question to the group is this:  the original television comes with two 2.5 watt/8 ohm speakers on it.  I would like to put four speakers on this cab.  The seat has two speakers built into the headrest and the cab has two speakers built into the molded plastic monitor surround piece.  Can I just wire the set of two left speakers together and the set of two right speakers together?  Also, I havn't looked at the existing cab speakers yet, but is there a wattage and ohm issue that might make this not work?

[MovingTarget]

You can wire two speakers together but you need to know the ohms of the power source and wire the speakers up to match it for the best sound. 

You can wire in Series or Parallel to accomplish the desired ohms and wattage.  Here is a helpful site that explains this.

http://www.usspeaker.com/speaker%20wiring-1.htm

I'm honestly not following why you mention the tv speakers.  I'm guessing/hoping you're not using the tv to power your speakers.  I also don't think you're going to use the speakers in the tv because you said you want 4 speakers and you have 2 in the headrest and two in the plastic front of the cabinet plus another 2 in the tv?

Anyway, that link should help you wire them correctly.

Good luck.

[Blacksmith]

Yes, unfortunately I have to use the tv to power the speakers.  The set doesn't have an audio output jack on it or that would have probably made my job simple, so my plan was to cut the original speaker wires off and connect 4 NEW speakers to the wiring.  Will that be ok?

[MovingTarget]

Well I'm not sure how well that will work but you can sure try it out.  Why can't you just hook the XBox up to some PC speakers or someother amplifier instead of the TV?

If the speakers you took out of the TV are only 2.5 watts each then you're dealing with a 5 watt amp in the TV (at best) so I would think the amp in the TV will be working very hard to drive your 4 (probably bigger) speakers.

One other thought is maybe you could hook the TV speaker wires to another set of powered speakers.  Before you try this let me pass on my limited knowledge on how this may work.  I believe that line level is something like 1/2 a watt.  In the music business (which I used to be part of by selling gear) pre amps are sometimes used.  These boost the signal of the line level to something like 1 or 1.5 watts.  These can make the source sound better or could overdrive the input on the amplifier they're feeding into and distort the sound in a bad way.

If your TV has 5 watts you could hypothetically blow the input on the powered speakers (when I say powered speakers I'm talking about some PC speakers or a power amp you have hooked to other speakers).  So, you would have to either make damn sure to keep the volume on the TV very very low or maybe you can get some part(s) at Radio Shack that would allow you to feed in a 5 watt signal and it would cap it at .5 watts or line level.

Maybe someone else can offer some input on this but I just don't think you're going to be happy with the sound you're going to get by having the TV drive your speakers, although maybe it will be just fine.

 

[Blacksmith]

Boy, thats alot to digest.  I talked to another guy and he gave me some advice along the same line.  He mentioned adding a resistor inline, but sounded kind of vague.  I really didn't think that this would be so difficult, but I guess it is.  I might just scratch the whole idea and go with the original 2 speakers to be safe.

[flyguy1821]

I agree with Moving Target, try to find some other means to power those speakers.  If you totally rely on the TV for power you will be very disappointed.  You could go to a dealer like http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=300-784

With a panel amp you can take the speakers from the tv to the input of the amp and power your other speakers.  Just remember if you have speakers in the headrest of your seat might be a little loud for those.  You can always put a volume control somewhere that will control those too.

[MovingTarget]

Boy, thats alot to digest.  I talked to another guy and he gave me some advice along the same line.  He mentioned adding a resistor inline, but sounded kind of vague.  I really didn't think that this would be so difficult, but I guess it is.  I might just scratch the whole idea and go with the original 2 speakers to be safe.

Dude, don't give up the dream!

I don't think it's going to take that much effort to get where you want to be with all 4 speakers firing.  What fun would this hobby be if everything was a slam dunk?  Just think if you wouldn't have asked and hooked it all up to have it sound bad.  At least this way you can plan it out better plus you'll be happier in the end. 

Also like Flyguy suggest, put in a volume control for the headrest speakers, now that's a great useful idea!

[Blacksmith]

 
OK guys...my own stupidity never ceases to amaze me!  After reviewing my equipment the answer jumped out at me.  I went to Walmart and bought a $40 home theatre surround system, that by the way sounds pretty freakin' good, and used the xbox audio cable outs to the surround system's audio in's and just connected the single video cable to the tv.  I can't believe the solution was so simple and, as usual, I was trying to overthink the problem.  I don't how I missed this?  I really got caught up in thinking that I had to modify the original tv's speaker set-up.  I feel really stupid.  Anyway, it sounds awesome!  Today I spent time making templates to mount the new speakers, which I took out of the surround systems cases.  I'm using 1/8" aluminum to make the new mounting brackets and they are coming out perfect.  I should probably chronicle this project with some start to finish pics for anyone interested.  Drop me an email if you want some pics along the way.  Thanks for all the input guys.

[Acids]

I should probably chronicle this project with some start to finish pics for anyone interested.  Drop me an email if you want some pics along the way.  Thanks for all the input guys.

We all like pics, Just post them here.

[Blacksmith]

ok, this is some of my work so far.  You are looking at a San Francisco Rush cab with a Cybersled seat.  I have retro-fitted the speakers into the existing holes with new mounting brackets made of 1/8" thick aluminum.  This is a walmart special speaker purchase ($40) surround sound.  The Rush cab originally came with some dorky graphic with backlighting in the center of the original two speakers.  Since my walmart special came with a center channel speaker, I took out the center graphic and custom made a bracket to hold the center speaker.  I also took out the coin box and had room to tuck the subwoofer inside the coin box's space.  I mounted the seat, but am toying with the idea of putting in a sliding adjustable mech underneath it for longer legs.  I am also thinking of making a pull out tray for the xbox to sit on and tuck it under the seat.  Right now I am just trying to get everything installed correctly, then I'll fill, sand, and paint it.  I am hoping to take the seat to an auto body shop to get it painted (black)  Some green T-molding, carpet under the seat, and some fancy graphics and that should probably do it.

[flyguy1821]

I put sliders on my project as well, but what I found was the price of these things are ridiculous.  I ended up not going with a molded seat and went to the ol' junkyard and bought 2 seats from a Toyota Supra.  Here is a price for some from Happ
http://www.happcontrols.com/driving/49068416.htm

The path you took with your speaker problem is the easiest possible.  Good job, its all coming together!

[Blacksmith]

I wasn't thinking of factory sliders...more like retrofitted from a junkyard to my seat.  Or, if someone out there has a slider for this seat set-up and would like to sell it to me let me know.  I would like to keep this cab looking as much like an original arcade as possible, even though its not an original seat to this game.  I'm trying to keep up the illusion that it has been unaltered to any Joe Blow that sits in it and doesn't know any difference.  Replacing the plastic seat with an auto seat just wouldn't keep that illusion up for me.  I'd like to see your set-up if you have pics available.