centra-pod on an intermediate fitment/experience

I am looking to do an 'el-cheapo' sound solution that is as unobtrusive as possible.

I have the vinyl renegade rear pads over the wheelwells so homemade between the bars is out. I want to keep these, so no ammo boxes with speakers there. I have a rear seat to take my daughter to school and my wife and I to town to work.

I am looking at this:


It's a centra-pod, supposedly to be positioned near the shifter sticks on the floor to firewall transition I suspect.

anyone fit one of these? Or have other suggestions?

My plan is to build a small box under the driver's seat to hold an amp and protect it from occasional moisture. I was thinking a basic 'tub' with an open top for cooling and some shielding from water, and possibly a spot to shove a compact CB in as well.

This amp will be fed by my iphone. I am skipping radio/console/ etc to save costs right now.

I wish to install 2-4 speakers, mostly in the front and do the least hacking as possible. No dash cuts.

While I do have a full cage, overhead solutions are likely out due to cage midbar contour being REALLY close to the soft top as it is, and I am concerned overhead consoles will wear thte top in short order, and I am far from equipped or experienced for custom fabrications in sheet metals.

 

Looks like it would work nicely. I found the following article awhile back and will be attempting the same mod.

http://www.offroaders.com/info/tech-corner/project-cj7/project-cj7-rear-seat_Mods.htm

 

I would give them a try, if they fit on the center hump.

I had speakers behind the driver and passenger for a while, and I found them less than satisfactory. Sound coming from behind you, for the same dBwm, seems less loud than if it comes from in front. I presume most of this is because the human ear points forward (some more than others!) and sound from behind isn't focused into the ear canal very well. Plus, sound from behind seems lost in the outdoors with the top off. I found that I had to play the music REALLLY LOUD to be able to hear it over the background and wind noise. Not pleasant for me or the neighborhood.

If you can somehow place the speakers in front of you, that will be a better solution IMO. My Dad built a nice cabinet that fit into the front right corner at the passenger's feet, and I had a speaker behind the driver's seat (?? I don't recall the details - too long ago). However, I think you will have little 'stero effect' with any of these setups... the speakers are too close together, and you really need to be at the apex of an equilateral triangle with the speakers to hear real stereo. The speakers on the hump will be particularly bad in this respect.

Also, realize that it takes a lot of power to drive a small speaker at high volume in a small cabinet. Small speakers that can do this and not sound distorted are expensive. Rather than the hump speakers, a better solution might be one or two speakers in hard, rigid cabinets that are designed for background music, outdoors. Mount one or two of these on the hump and pretend you can hear stereo

Another possibility that might actually have some stero effect would be the "Bose design" of two highly band-limited small rigid speakers and a remote "woofer." You don't have to have the subsonic effects of huge woofers that you sometimes see (and hear) in tuner cars. The satellites could be small, cast aluminum or similar cabinets surface mounted on the dash, say from 150 or 200 hz up. Then use a crossover to send everything else to your mid-woofer under the back seat. This kind of setup might be worthwhile, if the terrible listening environment did not bother you (no reflective surfaces, terrible background noise).

The best solution is likely high-quality earbuds, which are illegal in most jurisdictions but mostly undetectable. Big over-the-ear cans would work too, as long as you don't encounter the man. Note that these solutions will give you good tunes at comfortable (and hearing-preserving) volumes, but they will block almost all background noise from the Jeep, sirens, etc.

hth!

 

This won't help with your immediate problem but when you are ready to build a full cage you may want to look into the soundbar's that came stock in many Wranglers. They fit in between the bars of the cage, but mount to the bottom of the tube. They have a piece of rounded flat stock that matches the cylindrical shape of the tube. That way the sound bar does not stick above the cage nor below it either. Many of them also have a dome light built in as well. I've got a couple laying around I'm going to mount in my project Jeeps when I build the cage. These can be had used for around $40-$75 depending on condition and what kind of speakers they have in them. Depending on the year they came from they also have slightly different configurations as well.
This will direct the sound downward from above and doesn't take up any space needed for other things.

 

I have a full cage with a high center bar, the later style rear bar contours and all the way to the front past the dash to the floor. It's fully welded but not tied to frame, yet.