Speaker pod question

I like my my rear headrest speakers. Can hear them clearly until I hit about 70. But I also have a roof and taller windshield.

Go with the rear headrest pods. I actually had to set the speakers to a front bias as the speakers behind the head rest were drowning out the leg pod speakers. Only go the side speakers if you are going 6 or 8 speakers.

Also, I put a marine powered subwoofer under the driver seat. Gives me bass without losing the storage. Not going to win any sound competitions, but I can hear and feel it in the seat. I have aftermarket seats so you may need to check clearance before installing.

I installed an amplifier and a subwoofer underneath my seat, I can feel it 😂

Quote from Sparcky

thanks for the info. I will look at the under seat sub. I am not looking to win any sound competitions either, just want to increase for my own listening pleasure. I did replace the stock leg pod speakers, which made a difference, but its time to upgrade the sound further. Every vehicle I have ever had I upgraded the sound system right away. This one I waited a bit, as I did some other upgrades first.

I went with the Pyle Marine 10" subwoofer. It BARELY fit with my AMP. I guess I was lucky that the aftermarket seat mounts were open in the center so that the sub fires directly up into the little air space beneath the foam seat cushion.

I will say I'm impressed with the sub. I have to turn down the gain quite often. It does have a little remote knob to adjust the gain on the fly.

Quote from Sparcky

curious about upgrading/adding speaker pods.

with the stock pods in the footwells, I get loss of some sound frequencies when driving as my leg and passengers leg blocks some of the frequencies.

My question

Side armrest pods and rear pods behind the headrest, do you get loss of frequencies due to the same situation? The side armrest pods are partially covered by the seats, and the rear pods are covered by the seat headrests. Does this affect the sound?

dual waterfall speakers are not blocked at all, but you lose a cupholder, which I am considering as an option also.

keeping stock head unit, and will be adding an amp and considering the dual 6” or single 8” sub under the dash. I use the rear storage often so thats not an option.

what setup do you have or suggest?

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WARNING! Controversial opinions incoming. Not trying to say I am right or say anyone is wrong, but some things are plainly objective to me, where they may be completely subjective to others.

What you are describing is part of the reason I didn't care about having a system in my Slingshot. The layout of the Slingshot sucks in regard to imaging and staging, which is kinda what you are describing. Your leg, and your passengers leg blocking the speakers, makes it so there is not good left to right imaging/staging.

Speakers behind your head don't solve this either. They only help when you have surround sound processed music, and that is a rarity. I have never went to a show/concert and faced away from the stage. Music should be presented to you as the person recorded it meant it to be. Clearly the side speakers are just a waste of money to me. Your goal when making a stereo system is the least amount of speakers needed to achieve a full and complete sound experience. Adding more and more speakers just adds more volume, not necessarily more quality.

The way you presented your questions "sparked" and idea, and I now want to start designing a system. To overcome the imaging/staging issue, I am going to use Horn Loaded Compression Drivers (HLCD's) for car audio applications. They were popular in the sound quality competitions back in the day. I am going to combine these with 8 inch (or 10 inch if possible) mid-bass drivers in the side pods. If I am not satisfied, I will add a sub, or possibly tactile transducers under each seat. The crossover frequencies of the HLCD's is so low, they provide the majority of the frequency range, and in turn the imaging and staging.

Here is an example of HLCD's;

HLCD's

Here is an example of a tactile transducer. I already have two transducers which I unbolted from my couch. They were part of my surround sound system. Think of them as rubber mallets powered by an amplifier.

Tactile Transducers

This is the amp I plan on using. My phone will be my head unit, connected via Bluetooth, and all I will have is a volume knob which I will put in place of a rocker switch blank on the dash.

Amp

One of the nicest sound set ups I had over the years was the Image Dynamics Compression Horn set up. Staging wasn't an issue and I won a lot of local sound Sound Quality stereo competitions. I honestly don't know if they are made anymore but if something similar is out there, it would be a hell of a set up and would be one I would consider if I build another slingshot.

Quote from Br4hm4

One of the nicest sound set ups I had over the years was the Image Dynamics Compression Horn set up. Staging wasn't an issue and I won a lot of local sound Sound Quality stereo competitions. I honestly don't know if they are made anymore but if something similar is out there, it would be a hell of a set up and would be one I would consider if I build another slingshot.

Image Dynamics was the first thing I searched for. I learned that the guy who created them at Image Dynamics owned the rights to the design and when he left they stopped selling them. The link I provided for the HLCD's is that guy, Eric Stevens.

Uh-oh, now I went and did it. I ordered a set of mini horns from Stevens Audio. It looks like I have another winter project now. I have plenty of time to accumulate everything else I need. I am going to be doing the big three wiring upgrade at the same time, and most likely upgrading the alternator.

I plan on powering the horns and mid-bass drivers with this Audio Control amp, because it has built in DSP, 24db octave x-overs, and I can use their plug in Bluetooth module to connect to my phone.

Audio Control

I have been searching, but no manufacturer of speaker pods mentions the volume. I can't purchase mid-bass drivers without having some clue. I don't really want to start fiber glassing my own unless I have to. Universal Audio Systems has pods that can fit up to 10" drivers, but that means nothing if it is a restriction. I guess I will have to contact them to see what they estimate the cu/ft to be.

Quote from Sparcky

nice. I have to stick with Marine stuff as I do occasionally get caught in the rain, and do multi day trips so can’t chance it.

I hear you about being weather proof, but marine qualifications don't really mean much to me. The speakers in the pods will have to be weather proof, and they are the only part that will be exposed enough to get wet. There are plenty of speakers to choose from in this regard. Getting an estimate on the volume of the pods is going to narrow down which speakers I get.

The way the glove compartment drops down is going to dictate the location of the horns. So, they will be tucked under the dash a good bit. The actual horn driver, is going to 5 inches further tucked under the dash. If it is raining hard enough to get them wet, it's probably not safe to drive anyway.

I have seen a few pro installers working on Slingshots, and they seem to prefer to put the amps up inside the body, under the third brake light. It keeps it dry, and the power cable short. The amp I am buying is tuned via computer with a USB cable. I am probably going to run that cable in the driver or passenger storage compartment behind the seats. I am hoping to find a weather proof USB jack, that I can mount next to the 12 volt outlet above the drink holders, so I can keep the installer even cleaner.

Quote from Sparcky

I have the wiring diagram and it shows rear speaker wires with external amp switched power in a 5 pin plug that comes from the HU plug. Without me getting into the dash right now, does anyone know if that plug is in the dash, or has it been run to the rear of the sling?

I believe it depends on what year you have. If I remember correctly they started running them to the rear 2020ish.

Started wiring for rear speakers in 2021 and newer !!!