Okay,

So the wagon has 2 crappy speakers in the back, but the sound is almost non exsistant!

What can I do/buy to get good sound all through the wagon, just not good sound from the front?

Some points:

I'm clueless when it comes to audio, and you're talking to a blonde. Keep it simple.

Also, pretty low budget here.


So, gor for it boys!
What should I do?

I've never ever seen the speaker area in the back of an E-Series wagons, got a picture? Is it basically the same as the parcel shelf stuff in a sedan?

Just drive down to your local Autobarn and look out for specials. I picked up some nice Pioneers on special for $120, down from $200 (apparantly).
http://www.pioneeraus.com.au/car_entertainment/speakers/tsa1681s/index.html

Look great in my car, suit the interior well, don't clash. Nice cheap, bang for a buck set I think.




Took those pics because they look a bit much in the pictures provided on pioneeraus.com.au

Last edited by Rick_Deckard on Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:25 am, edited 2 times in total.

well, one thing to do, is alter the fader on your headunit (even stock headunits have this feature) and fade the sound into the rear a bit more. this'll quiten down the front speakers.
reason for this is because the rear speakers are much further away they'll require more power to them compared to the front to get the sound to you. the fader compensates for this diffference.

personally i never bothered with my back speakers until recently when i closed my tailgate on a screw driver and punchured one, now got a couple of decent Blaunkput Velocity's in there. much nicer than the crappy paper duel cones - but I can't hear them from the front - and i don't want to be able to hear them from the front so it doesn't bother me there just there for back passengers and to cover up some of the rear road noise.

i also found when i riped the stock headunit out and fitted a decent pioneer CD player (couple years ago) just that made a huge difference to the sound quality.

Definately, big difference even through stock speakers.

That won't help her. She can put any speakers in there and it's not gunna be louder any louder. the problem is the speakers arn't getting enough power at the moment...

on the E-Series wagon the rear speakers are in the tailgate, down very low and facing inwards towards the back of the rear seat (which is another problem as I would think this would bloke a lot of the rear trebble and that). there's probably another meter or so for the sound to travel compared to a sedan.

Well first bit of info i would give would be to just get a decent priced HU and get a package deal that will throw in some decent speakers at the same time, Alpine usually do a deal like that with thier lower series HU's.

Max it should cost for that is like $500 if that. Also if you want some more info read pyroay's threads/stickys on Car audio stuff.

there is another way to direct the sound from the rear forward but will affect the steroe imaging in the front and that is to mount the speakers in the rear door so as the point forward.

If your wanting to keep the HU and just tweak the fader to add more balance to your rears then depending on how much u want go for a good component pack eg: midrange speaker and a tweeter....will provide a very clear responsive output...Alpines SPR-17LS are grear ive found on my parcel shelf.....running off dedicated amps tho but for $399 they are evry good package without forkin out loads

Twr's got it spot on - the mid series ford stereo pumps out 60 watts power total - this is 15 watts for each speaker, that extra distance to the tailgate speakers makes a big diff - I also fitted a better stereo - 4 x 40 watts, made all the difference as I could fade in the rear speakers more, and still have plenty more volume level left to have a decent sound level from all 4 speakers.
You could probably start with the stereo - maybe a basic radio/CD player - I did see them at the recent Repco sale starting from about $60 - MP3 capability will cost you a fair bit more. But if you're playing single CD's it should be fine. I picked up my stereo CD/MP3 player for $130 recently, along with 200 watt 2 way rears for $20, and the 3 way 80 watt fronts for $30. These were all from auto store sales, weekly specials, etc. It's not a "premium" system, but it certainly s**ts all over the standard setup, and suits what I want. You don't mention a budget, but I'd imagine the cheaper the better (within reason).
No doubt being a mother with small family, you'd be used to hunting down the bargains - so you don't need me telling you . . . .

or u cud just put in a cheap crappy amp for the rears, use the gains to level them up, you should notice the difference