Speakers by Headrest being designed

[patiyeh]

Let me be blunt. The sound system in my '97 is horrible.

Let me be equally blunt. I refuse to spend big bucks on a sound system that's going to have to compete with wind noise, or shall I saw, the Roadster Experience.

So I thought............you can have tons of music power and have the speakers any where in the car or..............you can have very little music power and put the speakers over your ears (I'm not advocating earbuds or headphones, just making a point) or................and none seems to have done this...........you can position some low powered speakers up by the headrest.

The folks at Mazda and Honda apparantly thought this made some sense. Both the Miata and the S2000 have a custom system in their roadsters. Unfortunately, nothing seems to be available for purchase for the Z3.

So I'm in the process of designing my own system based on components I can purchase and fit onto the headrest like a headband. Final cost should be less than $100 per seat and should sound reasonable good.

If anyone knows of anything that can be purchased for the Z3 as described, please let me know so I don't waste my time. Otherwise, I'm off and running until I get it right.

 

[cngizbleevng]

Interesting idea. I'll be paying attention to this.

 

[grc]

so are you going to stay with the stock head unit and leave the all the original speakers untouched? did your 97 come with any rear speakers? i found a wire harness and plug for rear speakers when i pulled out the rear well carpeting stuff to replace the rear shock mounts on my 96. mine came with no rear speakers at all so the plug is just hangin out unused but not for too long i hope. here's the thread i started a while ago, there's a few links in it. http://www.bmwboard.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21942

 

[patiyeh]

GRC - Thanks for the feedback. There are no rear speakers at all in my '97. I'm going to leave the head unit and all the existing speakers in the car for decorative purposes only - they're not being touched. Music to me supplied with a portable unit - iPod, MP3, CD, etc so I won't even be getting into any wiring harnesses. I've got no problem replacing bateries as needed so this is really a cheap mans approach to music listening with the top down.

 

[grc]

that's cool too, just forget about the BMW system and go with an auxillary source! they came up with an ipod interface harness too if you haven't seen that? i just had an idea that goes along with your plan, instead of going inside the seat covers, just make slip on sleeve tops for the seats that hold a speaker on each side. that way you still have an untouched original interior if that matters to you? i don't know if you've seen my pics but i'm not worried about that myself. it would make the project a lot easier to install though.

 

[patiyeh]

grc - Yes, we're on the same wavelength. I'm looking at a 'headband' (seatband) type of setup. So far I've tested the Creative TravelSound 400. Very small unit that I mounted on top of the seat. I'd give it a 7 out of 10 - it's better than the BMW unit but could use a bit more bite.

Saw your car - great color. You're much braver than me with the speaker you installed between the seats. I just couldn't put a drill or saw to the car for fear of screwing something up. For kicks, I tried out the Bose Companion speakers which are for PC's and I mounted them on the rear storage compartment. Had I liked the sound I would have made it a portable setup so I could mount it or take it down quickly. What I didn't like was a lack of stereo separation - it was all coming from between the seats. That's what led me to the headrest design - you don't need much power to make it work.

I've got a few more speakers to try out before I settle on a solution.

 

[patiyeh]

OK, so I've now tested a few more powered speakers that use batteries and have concluded that they just won't cut it. Since they have to get cranked up as loud as possible at highway speeds, they not able to win the noise game. And the batteries fizzle out a lot quicker at the higher volumes. So I'm shifting gears..........

I installed a new head unit that can provide 50W x4 power and will be running 2 sets of speakers on each headrest - mounted to a headband-type of setup. I've tried and returned a few 4" speakers - they're just too big - believe it or not - to be mounted on the headrest. I've got two 3.5" speakers now that I'm testing - ranging in price between $35 and $60. One of them is going to get selected. Note that you can get respectable base response to 80Hz with these.

While my car is going to be tucked away for the winter, my next step will be to design a small enclosure for the speakers using a rapid prototyping process that will give the speakers a finished look. I'll be spending a little more than planned for this step but I'm convinced it will work and provide a clean finshed appearance.

Connections to the head unit will be simple - run the wires down the center console and have them terminate at the very back end with female connectors for each seat. The speakers, mounted on a headband by the headrest will then plug into them. Since the head unit can control front to back volume, it will essentially be controlling the volume for both driver and passenger - kind of like individual climate control.

So that's my winter project. Hope to have some pictures to post before spring.

ZU Later