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I am finally finished the mechanical work on my Brumby & wanting to put in an efficient sound system. Doing the rounds of the "experts" in the major car audio suppliers I get the following recommendations as to the optimum way to go:

(i) 4" in door, sub behind seats, amp
(ii) 6" splits (door , top of dash) & 6x9" behind seats, amp
(iii) 6" splits (door , top of dash) 6 x 9" & sub behind seats, amp
(iv) 6 x9" behind seats, no sub, no amp
(v) 6 x 9" behind seats, sub, amp

(i) and (iv) were recommendations from two different people in the same outlet (whose name is a Sydney suburb). I didnt put a price limit on the suggestion - for point (v) the outlet proposed around $2000 for equipment and customs fabrication of boxes!! Most of the experts at these outlets seem unfamiliar with sounds about 250Hz

Taking CDs to listening rooms is not so helpful I think - a 6 x 9" on a board at ear level will probably sound very different if mounted at almost floor level behind the seats. I installed some old 6x9" into thick particleboard sheet & tried various angles behind seats - small changes in mounting angle made a huge difference in sound quality

What do others think is successful configuration in a Brumby? If 6x9" , are custom boxes necessary or stock (eg Aerpro) sufficient (with trial & error for best positioning)? In 6x9" are high frequencies still OK or are additional tweeters needed (if so where - above dash or in roof/rear window corner)?

if your looking for the best value for money amp look no further than jaycar amps, they out do most of the brand name amps

but what ever you do dont buy jaycar head units

I would suggest splits in the front, being 4" in the doors (same as existing spot), and tweeters as far forward as you can get them. For the fill (back) I would probably suggest a sub tube given the amount of space available in a Brumby, and a smallish amp to suit (bridged of course) - something like a 40Wx2 (=80W bridged). I wouldn't bother with 6x9s given the amount of cabin space, it will just pollute your front speakers sound.

of course, if you're looking for SPL's over quality of sound a pair of "300w" 6x9s and a large amp will give you plenty of noise

Dean.

i drive a crane and one particular brand uses similar to 6x9 installed at floor level facing forward, they are pretty bad, sounding muffled and too bassy. i would suggest the splits in the doors and dash, 4 or 6" and use a bass tube. if you get a 6" tube, use 4" splits. if you get a 8 or 10" tube use the 6" splits. if you want more bass get another tube for behind the pass seat. supercheap were doing a 10" tube for 250ish with amp built in! amps are pretty cheap and i reckon get 2/3/4 channel if your tube hasnt got an amp, to drive splits and bridge for tube. if you get another tube get abigger 2 channel to run tubes and bridge the first one to 2 channel for the splits.
as for head units i dunno, i got a cheap eonon chinese one for 130ish. it plays mp3,wma,dvd (no screen tho) allowing you to put 8.5gb on a dual layer disc (80 odd albums), downside is there isnt a proper menu allowing you to select albums and songs easily, also face is difficult and faulty to use and buttons are dodgy tho the remote is used reliably.
do this stuff yourself ensuring door speakers are solid, not just screwed to trim. mount chip or ply inside metal of door and screw speakers to this.

for a brumby space became a limiting factor
i found most of the alpine headunits are short enough to fit in the dash length ways if you use right angle rca leads

and you might have to loose your ashtray

With mine I wanted a decent setup but didn't want to drain the battery in five minutes, But I have 6.5" splits in the front of the doors (The same as in sunny the brumby) and looks factory without cutting away half the door wtih one tweeter each side mounted in the speaker and the other in the rear corners of the cabin roof, These are rockford fosgate splits 50 watts RMS which is power matched to a 50watt RMS mosfet amplified head unit. as well as a rockford amp and 10 inch sub! The jaycar 10" sub boxes will fit behind either seat although i'm not using one now as the capacity was wrong for the sub, But I had an isolator for the battery feed cable on the amp so I could use the stereo for extended periods that and a 4x4 battery, Now the system is out i have an optima battery for it and am about to try a panasonic digital 70watt head unit and matching speakers again rockford fosgate. One good tip make sure you get a head unit with fly leads for the aerial and amp etc. other wise you will need a spacer kit and try and run good quality speaker cable i use a minnimum of 2.5 mm cable otherwise the gold stuff and a beefed up memory power wire. just be warned there are a lot of people out there don't know how to do a good install but Good luck with it and have fun with it...

i would sort of go with what most people are saying and get a good quality pair of 6.5" splits, a small sub to go behind the seats and a 4channel amp to power the splits and bridge the other 2 channels for the sub if you can ( http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.as ... BCATID=595 ) . jaycar make some pretty good amps, so to save some money look at getting one. the head unit is up to you, make sure you have a good idea about what you want it to do. do you want ur ipod to plug into it? do you want to play mp3 CDs? does it have the right RCA outputs ect...
remember: you want the sound to come from in front of you, no one goes to a concert and stands with their back to the stage. so i wouldnt worry about putting speakers behind the seats, apart from the sub

hope you find some of that useful
james

The set up dosent matter if the quality is'nt there and diffrent people have diffrent preferences so what some one could like you could hate.

What sort of music do you listen to?

hi there i have just finished my own sound system in my subaru brumby i hav a set of 6.5 inch 3 ways in the doors in angles speaker spacers and i have 2 pioneer 10 inch subs it goes off and i havend seen anything else that is balanced like it in town i will post some fotos later on today

My setup was:
- 8" VGA touchscreen ($150 or so from eBay)
- DIY PC running WinXP and a free media centre program, using some 100W DC-DC kit I got off EBay to power it (Under $100 from eBay)
- 4 channel amp from some brand I'd never heard of ($100 or less from Cashies)
- 6" Alpine splits that the previous owner had put in, running off 2 of the amp channels
- One of those "boom box" things you see at Cashies with the dual subs and tweeters. I cut it in half and changed out the 10" sub for a better quality one. Running bridged off the other amps 2 channels. (About $100 all up, again from Cashies)
- A volume knob I made up in a small plastic case and mounted right next to the steering wheel so I can turn it with my right hand. I ran RCA leads from the PC behind the passenger seat, all the way to this volume contol box and then back to the amp behind the drivers seat.

The PC sh@t itself a while ago so I've ripped it and the LCD screen out, and for now am just using my phone as the source.

Between the 6" Splits and the Sub, I have all the volume I really need. Anything bigger and more powerful would be a waste - about all I could to with is upgrading the quality of the sound.

Not sure what I'm going to do about the music source but. Installing the LCD screen required cutting up that section of the dash, so reinstalling a DIN unit there would need a whole load of custom fabrication again. Alternatively I'm eyeing off some cheap Android tablets off eBay for $150 or so...all they have to do is play tunes and videos well enough, and be bright enough to be seen in the daytime. I have my doubts but I'll be open minded