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"Sound System"
Mar. 4, 2008
The speakers I want to use were from a computer sound system. I want to try these because of the light weight and good sound. I will just have to see how they do with the Kenwood stereo.
I don't crank up the volume very often, so time will tell if these stay or go. I am mounting them in the cab rear corners, with the mounting screws coming through the back of the cab.
Mar. 17, 2008
I have the battery charger in position and the left rear speaker will not fit.
I used a heat gun to warm up the plastic speaker housing enough to push it in about 3/4".
I also had to cut off the top few inches of the speaker grill.
Here it is finally!
I connected a 12 volt battery to the truck electrical system and tested to make sure the radio, speakers and dash lighting all work properly.
All of that stuff works!
July 18, 2009
The truck runs so silent that the poor audio reproduction with the computer speakers has became unbearable .
So changed the computer speakers out for a pair of small Bose red stripe speakers,
These sound so much better!
Sept. 30, 2009
I am still not happy with the sound system, the sound from the ftont Panasonic speakers is very scratchy.
I have adjusted the controls of the Kenwood receiver and no improvment has been heard.
I am looking for a Home Theater System that has small enough speakers to fit in the stock locations in the dash.
I purchased a Philips 1000 Watt Home Theater System, model HTS3372D, it has smaller speakers that will fit into the stock locations under the dash.
I set up the sound system in our home and verified that everything on it worked properly, it sounds wonderful!
I also have a small mobile LCD that I will keep available for set up the home theater system and also for playing videos in the truck.
Oct. 19, 2009
I have some time to work on getting the Kenwood stereo removed and installing the home theater system speakers in the truck.
Now that the cooler weather is here the speedometer cable has became very noisey in the cool mornings.
So I removed the gauge cluster and used Lithium spray grease to lube the noisey speedometer cable.
I also bought an adaptor for the antenna connection to adapt it to fit the S10 AM/FM antenna, "Motorola-Type Jack, Radio Shack # 274-710".
The front speakers are small enough to drop into the stock S10 speaker holes from the top, but access to getting the brackets on them was tough.
Looking down through windshield.
Oct. 24, 2009
The challange is to make the Subwoofer fit somewhere outof sight, Mmmmmm, I know!!!
How about under the passenger seat?
I carefully disassembled the Philips subwoofer enclosure, which was not easy because it was ALL glued together.
The two main pieces that I did not want to damage was the port end and the speaker grill side, so that I could cut and reuse these panels.
I removed the seat and moved the carpet aside and set about selecting a location where it could set flat against the steel floor of the truck.
This location will work the best, but, one corner of the steel floor will have to be bent up to match the raised panel.
Notice the park brake cable that is below the open hole, the speaker housing cannot extend down enough to interfere with the cable operation.
I checked to make sure the speaker was not going to be too close to the seat's bottom foam 
Oct. 25, 2009
I purchased a round irrigation valve container to use for the speaker enclosure, this should be strong and weatherproof.
I cut off the larger end above the side openings.
I used a piece of the Philips subwoofer box to make the bottom piece, predrilled small holes and attached it with small wood screws and sealed it with RTV sealant.
I used small angle brackets to attach the speaker enclosure to the bottom of the steel floor.
I attached the speaker into the Philips panel and reinstalled the original the Philips grill.
I attached the Philips DVD unit under the dash with "L" brackets.
Oct. 26, 2009
I tested the system out and found that the bass is very muffled and dull.
I need to restore the vent using the port from the original Philips subwoofer box.
The port needs to be vented into the cab of the truck and the port opening in the irrigation enclosure.
The opening should be in the middle just below the speaker magnet.
I used 2" ABS pipe fittings to mate to the Philips tubes, notice how each end of the Philips port was flared.
Oct. 27, 2009
I removed the enclosure and cut a 2" hole where the tube will enter.
The round thing is to hold the enclosure up while I put the the elbow together, screws in place and glued the elbow.
sealed to the steel floor.
I let the glue set and then tested it ......SOUNDS GREAT!
I am powering the home theater system from a 200 Watt DC to AC inverter.
(This 200 Watt inverter also gives me a back-up inverter for the Zilla coolant pump in event that the 100 Watt coolant pump inverter should fail.)
I checked the power consumption of the Philips 1000 watt system and it draws less than 30 watts at a high volume level.
I also added a small surge suppressor.
Dec. 19, 2009
The Philips Home Theater system has alot of functions that you can select only by using a monitor or display so I am adding a 7 inch display and mounting it on the passenger sun visor.
The sun visor needed to be shimmed down to have enough room to swing up flat with the headliner.
I made a spacer out of corrogated plastic sheeting.
Dec. 20, 2009
The power and video wires run behind the A pillar trim piece to connections at the Philips unit and the monitor will get acc. key on power.
I may in the future redo this power connection to have the power off to the monitor if the parking brake is not on.
This would prevent someone from being able to have the monitor on while driving.
Next S10 Frame Modifications.
More next time...
