Audio System Part 2

After upgrading the amplifier, speakers, and subwoofer, as detailed here, we decided it was time for speakers in the back.

We went with these mid-grade Focals for about 1/3 the price of the pair that we put in the front, and they sound great. We spray-painted the grills to match the interior, and they came out pretty well. We also added plenty of Dynamat in the doors for sound insulation and vibration-deadening.


To get the speaker wires from the amplifier in the base of the passenger seat to the rear doors, we elected to go under the van. We dropped the wires from the amplifier under the passenger seat to the undercarriage through an existing grommet. Then we ziptied the wires to the frame, shown here. I didn’t do the zipties, and as I look at this now, I think I’ll redo it and use stronger zipties. Sigh. (Note that others have simply run the wires inside the cabin, through the galley cabinetry, etc. This is ideal, but seemed onerous and lengthy to us, so we went with this approach.)


In the rear corners of the van, we drilled small holes into the bottom of the tail light housing, and the wires entered the body of the van there.


After the wires were in the taillight housing, we simply ran them through the rubber conduit that you see here. At this point, the wires are in the doors, and we pulled them up to the speakers to finish the job. It took about 4 hours to install and wire the rear speakers.

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