Auto speaker "bars" - are they extinct?

Dear V-8 Buick Audiophiles,

I'm pondering a audio system upgrade from my trusty wagon. It seems relatively easy to get new speakers for the dash of my 1965 Buick Special. However, I have now what I consider to be a nifty solution for rear speakers in a wagon. It is a "bar" of speakers that looks like this:



Here is the side view:



There is the view from the cargo area:



This particular unit came from Custom Autosound back about 1997 or so. Alas, Custom Autosound no longer makes it. This speaker bar is working fine and still looks in good shape. The only disadvantage is that these are 8 ohm speakers while everything in auto sound is 4 ohms. Still it will work fine anyway. My only worry would be if this unit were ever to get damaged or fail.

I took a look around and cannot find anything like my speaker bar except items like this Vertically Driven Product for Jeeps:

http://www.jegs.com/i/Vertically Dr...wd={keyword}&gclid=CJ2-q8rOuLQCFSPhQgod4i4A-A

That isn't suitable for anything else. Does anybody know if a product like this still exists or even exactly what the correct name for it is?

Any leads would be greatly appreciated

Cheers, Edouard :beer

 

OOPS!! posted better pictures. (Re: Auto speaker "bars" - are they extinct?)

Dear V-8 Buick Audiophiles,

Oops!! Haste makes waste.

I had a hard time taking the photo in my posting of yesterday and I should have known better. I duplicated this posting on the Station Wagon Forum and someone over there said the picture was too dark to see the speaker bar - and they were right. Today, I got out my halogen worklight and retook the photos. So if you checked out this posting yesterday and could make heads or tails of what I was asking about, please take a look at the revised posting above. You still might not be able to help me locate another, but at least you'll know what I'm asking about!!

Thanks for all the help to be found around here! :TU:

Cheers, Edouard :beer

 

Why are you worried about the speakers being 8ohm? Are you replacing your deck or running a stock radio? I thought most "modern" stereos used the 4 ohm speakers? If the bar isn't broken and you used a newer stereo, I would just change out the speakers for a new 4ohm component set-up and not worry about it.

Something like these or on of the myriad of offerings out there:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_575R152S/Rockford-Fosgate-Prime-R152-S.html#details-tab

 

Not easy to replace speakers (Re: Auto speaker "bars" - are they extinct?)

Hi Tim and V-8 Buick audiophiles,

Thanks for replying to my question.

Actually, I wasn't at all concerned about the 8 ohm speakers. If I had my choice, I would prefer to stick to an 8 ohm system. The trouble is that my Custom AutoSound stereo is now 15 years old, it might be a good time to replace it and everything nowadays is 4 ohms. A 4 ohm stereo can drive 8 ohm speakers and I'm not a noise freak, so I should have plenty of power with the replacement stereo I have in mind.

My main concern was in case this speaker bar was to have a failure. It isn't designed to be taken apart, so it wouldn't be easy to replace the speakers. However, I'll have to have the headliner done after all the work on da' trusty wagon. So I suppose I could risk hacking apart the existing structure to replace the existing speakers, and then have some new upholstery put on to hide the repairs.

It is worth some thought, so thanks for the suggestion! :TU:

Cheers, Edouard :beer

 

Couldnt you just put 4ohms in that housing.

 

Speakers screw in from the front cant see it damaging. Otherwise you could build the samevthing from fiberglass or mdf.

 

That speaker bar is nifty! I've been talking to custom interior/upholstery guys this last week, and it seems in their skill set they can fabricate or repair about anything in the interior of a vehicle. Sew Cal in Ontario, CA are the guys I was talking too and they were showing me some pictures of their work and it looked pretty sharp. Custom center console's, etc. The two guys that run the place and do most the work say they insist on installing sounds systems when they do the interior rather then have some sound shop pull apart their work to cut holes, run wires, etc. So they are well versed in sound equipment too.

 

8 ohm speakers on a 4 ohm output are not a problem as long as they are quality speakers.

... that sound bar certainly is NIFTY !! Was the sizing adjustable ? looks like a purrfect fit

 

Mostly just checking my options (Re: Auto speaker "bars")

Dear nekkidhillbilly, Randall, Alan, and V-8 Buick Audiophiles,

Thanks for the replies. My main reason for asking was just to see if anything like this was still being made. There doesn't seem to be a standard name for this sort of thing, so I could have simply failed to find it in my Internet searches. If they were still being produced by somebody, I would have been curious to know what improvements might have been made since 1997.

Admittedly I just didn't think about that but it must be possible. So that would be my plan to repair it if something went wrong.

This is the usual problem with da' trusty wagon project. I thought this speaker bar was "good enough" until I got the suggestion to upgrade the stereo. I've been trying to figure out how to set up the front speakers and discovered that Vintage Air does something really weird with the heater and refrigerant hoses. A posting on that will be appearing shortly. Now the "project creep" has moved to the rear speakers. At this rate, this car will never be finished!! ou:

Seriously, I just didn't think about doing anything to the speaker bar. I need to now take a careful look at how it is put together. It would be useful to know if it could be easily modified to match the interior. The headliner does need replacing. So I need to look into all this.

That's my understanding as well. I burned out my stereo using 4 ohm speakers with an 8 ohms stereo. However, speakers with a higher impedance will simply consume more power and the stereo I've tentatively selected should have more than enough power for my listening habits.

Golly, it has been a L O N G time since I installed it. As I recall, it was manufactured longer and you have to cut it to fit. I sure am sorry they aren't produced anymore. It is a niche market, but both wagons and trucks can use them easily. I believe folks were even getting them fitted into sedans and coupes with more fussing.

Thanks for all the feedback!! :TU:

Cheers, Edouard :beer

 

https://www.google.com/#q=automotiv...f282037fd90a7b&bpcl=40096503&biw=1099&bih=407

Click it

 

Perhaps not extinct but greatly endangered (Re: Auto speaker "bars" )

Hi Jay and V-8 Buick Internet sleuths,

Thanks for trying, but this is exactly what I tried and the results are the same. There are a lot home speaker bars nowadays, your search is dredging up mostly home units or the units designed specifically for Jeeps.

I just tried a Google search: Classic car Soundbar and this dredges up a long expired eBay listing:

So perhaps somebody still makes them somewhere, but they sure are hard to find.

Cheers, Edouard :beer

 

JC Whitney sold those bars. They were universal fit and slid open and closed in the middle to adjust the length. They still had some last I knew. Haven't checked in a while though.

 

JC Whitney use'ta . . . . . (Re: Auto speaker "bars" - are they extinct?)

Hi bammax and V-8 Buick Audiophiles,

Yup, that's how I got interested in this speaker mounting scheme. I bought a bar from JC Whitney with 4 ohm speakers. Alas, in the mid-90s Custom Autosound stereos were 8 ohms. So I promptly - fried my stereo. ou:

After I got my stereo repaired, I decided to go with the Custom Autosound version of the speaker bar and that has been what is the car ever since.

I just checked the JC Whitney website again. Nope . . . They don't have a universal fit speaker bar anymore. All they have are those models designed for Jeeps.

Oh well . . . .

Cheers, Edouard :beer

 

I dig the speaker bar, I havent seen one of those in a while

But I wouldnt mix-match my ohms at the head-unit.

Go all 4ohms or all 8ohms or youll cook the internal amp.

I would go with 8ohms off the head-unit tuned for highs, and in back install a 10'' DVC sub wired for 2ohms in a small band-pass box with a 300w amp with a low-pass filter.

Tuned in right, it would be crystal clear and sound amazing:Brow:

 

Sorry, but I just have to jump in on this...

Cooking the amp is nonsense. If you want to run 4ohm up front and 8ohm in the back or vice versa, it doesn't matter. Other than the 8ohm set getting less power, it isn't going to "cook" anything. Besides, the ohm rating is the nominal rating of the speaker. I.e. it isn't consistent across the frequency range and in almost every case there is only a very small band of frequencies that will actually see that ohm level.

Small and bandpass rarely go together. Most decent 10" woofers will operate just fine in a sealed or even ported enclosure of a cubic foot or less. 300 would be fine, but isn't overly necessary. One must also be careful with a DVC sub and bridging the amp. Are you suggesting dual 4ohm, running parallel and a bridged amp at 2ohm? Most amps arent designed for bridged 2ohm operation. You'll have to check that the specific amp you are looking at would support that, unless you are looking at a mono amp.

Anything running off of head unit power is rarely going to be crystal clear.

 

Nonsense, really, go right ahead and do it then.
Ive had to replace a pile of head-units because of people mixing ohm loads.
On a stand alone amp sure, but the internal head-unit amp is very fragile and dosnt have much heat sink, unless youre talking high end stuff and I dont think he is.



I would go band-pass because the speaker is enclosed and protected if someting gets thrown in the back of the wagon.
Once again, Ive seen this happen enough that unless the customer is a hardcore audiophile that is always going to protect the system, I say go band-pass.
Besides he already said he didnt want a loud booming sound, so if the airflow is lessened, good.



300 RMS may be overkill, but 300 max is not.
Besides, you can turn an oversized amp down, you cant turn an undersized amp up.



Why on earth would I suggest a DVC sub and not expect it to be run parallel?
Yes, Im saying to run a dual 4ohm VC sub wired parallel for 2ohm.



I should have been more clear for those that dont know audio.
I suggest a mono-block amp to run the 1 speaker.



Most mono-amps are 2ohm stable, because people running mono-block are doing it on subs and need a tuff amp.



Clarity has to do with quality.
A Blaupunkt, or Clarion head unit will be crystal clear.
A Dual head-unit from Wall-Mart...
Well you get what you pay for.

 

Unless you are referring to putting speakers in parallel, it doesn't matter. one speaker, one channel, it will not harm the internal amp.

OK, there is some validity to that. But for the space difference, a grill and good mounting (where the speaker is say pointing at the seats) should suffice.

Now there is a tad bit of irony. bandpass boxes are precisely good at that, boominess and output. If you choose to go with a bandpass, make sure it is properly designed for the speaker in question. Not all speakers work well in them.

Yes you can, but I won't even touch the topic of using gains as a volume control.

Yes they are. Don't know what you mean by "tuff" amp though. An amp doesn't know if it is powering a sub or a tweeter. I have a mono block on my sub, but it is no more tuff than the amp running my midbass or the amp running my mid or the amp running my tweeters.

Clarity to me has to do with a good source unit, a good amp and most important, good speakers.

Head unit power is never high quality, its just the way it is. There isn't room in a head unit to use high quality components. I'm not saying they are bad, just not what they are designed for.

 

And some folks like their cucumbers pickled

 

you will absolutely positively NOT ruin or harm your amp putting out 4ohm into an 8 ohm speaker.

... in fact, it consumes less power, granted with less sound output

 

Re: Perhaps not extinct but greatly endangered (Re: Auto speaker "bars" )

Hi Edouard,
Being a wagon owner, I got curious and actually came up with a site that sells the "Universal Bass Ported Sound Bar".
http://www.soundmove.com/speakers_and_amps.htm
scroll down to middle of page...
Maybe it can be customized to fit. :Brow:

Also available here:
http://www.vintagecarradio.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=21