Ideas wanted!
I need some rather loud, very flat speakers to mount under the seats of my car (about 15" wide x 1.75" high x 4" deep). They're for a ham radio and scanner, both of which need to be heard in a noisy, sound-absorptive environment at >70mph. The first thing to come to mind is an array of <1.5" drivers. The good news is they only need to handle voice frequencies over 2-way radio -- I'm guessing about 500Hz to 1500Hz will cover most of what I need. I also want the individual drivers to be cheap. I can't imagine paying >$40 for this setup.
It will be driven by a Lepai 2020A+, and absolutely must be capable of >6W RMS per channel (1 channel each for ham and scanner), preferably at 4 ohms. Right now, I'm using the external speaker jacks on the two radios, and each is rated for 3W @ 8 ohms. I can often barely hear what people are saying over the road noise. And if the speakers are actually out of the way (no good place to mount on modern cars), I can barely hear anything at all.
The only sources I know are MCM and Parts Express, and all I can come up with (economically) are these options:
40MM X 20MM 2.0W Full Range Mylar Speaker Oval | ABS-216-RC (ABS216RC) | Distributed By MCM -- 8 drivers per channel, (4 parallel, 2 series = 4 ohms), 16W RMS/ch total.
Dayton Audio CE Series CE32A-4 1-1/4" Mini Speaker 4 Ohm -- 4 drivers/ch, (2 par. x 2 ser. = 4 ohms), 8W RMS/ch total.
Both seem to cover the freq. range I need, and claim to handle my power requirements. Most of the other tiny speaker options from Parts Express cost way too much for my project, and most of the ones from MCM can't handle the juice (200mW or so). Those arrays would get way too big to fit under the front of my seats.
So... time for a sanity check. Can anyone tell me why this is a terrible idea and/or won't work at all? Barring that, can anyone offer any other sources for cheap, 1.5" or smaller voice-range drivers that can handle more than a fraction of a watt?
I know, mounting speakers under the seats is a terrible idea... but I'm pretty well out of options. There's no room on or under the dash, or on the console. Knees, air bags, etc. get in the way. Ditto the A & B pillars -- airbags all over the place. Seems like my only option is to hide them away and over-compensate for my shortcomings with power.
I need some rather loud, very flat speakers to mount under the seats of my car (about 15" wide x 1.75" high x 4" deep). They're for a ham radio and scanner, both of which need to be heard in a noisy, sound-absorptive environment at >70mph. The first thing to come to mind is an array of <1.5" drivers. The good news is they only need to handle voice frequencies over 2-way radio -- I'm guessing about 500Hz to 1500Hz will cover most of what I need. I also want the individual drivers to be cheap. I can't imagine paying >$40 for this setup.
It will be driven by a Lepai 2020A+, and absolutely must be capable of >6W RMS per channel (1 channel each for ham and scanner), preferably at 4 ohms. Right now, I'm using the external speaker jacks on the two radios, and each is rated for 3W @ 8 ohms. I can often barely hear what people are saying over the road noise. And if the speakers are actually out of the way (no good place to mount on modern cars), I can barely hear anything at all.
The only sources I know are MCM and Parts Express, and all I can come up with (economically) are these options:
40MM X 20MM 2.0W Full Range Mylar Speaker Oval | ABS-216-RC (ABS216RC) | Distributed By MCM -- 8 drivers per channel, (4 parallel, 2 series = 4 ohms), 16W RMS/ch total.
Dayton Audio CE Series CE32A-4 1-1/4" Mini Speaker 4 Ohm -- 4 drivers/ch, (2 par. x 2 ser. = 4 ohms), 8W RMS/ch total.
Both seem to cover the freq. range I need, and claim to handle my power requirements. Most of the other tiny speaker options from Parts Express cost way too much for my project, and most of the ones from MCM can't handle the juice (200mW or so). Those arrays would get way too big to fit under the front of my seats.
So... time for a sanity check. Can anyone tell me why this is a terrible idea and/or won't work at all? Barring that, can anyone offer any other sources for cheap, 1.5" or smaller voice-range drivers that can handle more than a fraction of a watt?
I know, mounting speakers under the seats is a terrible idea... but I'm pretty well out of options. There's no room on or under the dash, or on the console. Knees, air bags, etc. get in the way. Ditto the A & B pillars -- airbags all over the place. Seems like my only option is to hide them away and over-compensate for my shortcomings with power.
The logical choice, of course, and almost certainly the smart one. But there are two problems... One, the way the 2-way radio audio quality interacts with the stock stereo sound quality is somehow unpleasant, at least to me. And two, that doesn't make for much of a DIY project! I appreciate the sanity check, though 
A pair of Vifa TC7FD04-04 are 86dB and sensitive and very clean sounding. Mount to a small sealed cabinet stuffed with polyfill. Should get you 250Hz to 18kHz (with a 2.5kHz bump to give more presence to vocals) $26.
Tymphany TC7FD04-04 2-1/2" Full-Range Line Array Driver 4 Ohm
Get a TDA7492 amp for $7 - better sound than a Lepai and more power too if you get a boost converter for 12v to 24v.
TDA7492 D Class High Power 2x50W AMP Board Digital Amplifier Board + Radiator AU-in Integrated Circuits from Electronic Components & Supplies on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
Get a 12v to 32v (set to 24v) booster $3:
150W Boost Converter DC DC 10 32V to 12 35V Step Up Voltage Charger Module Freeshipping Dropshipping-in Other Electronic Components from Electronic Components & Supplies on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
Under $45...
Tymphany TC7FD04-04 2-1/2" Full-Range Line Array Driver 4 Ohm
Get a TDA7492 amp for $7 - better sound than a Lepai and more power too if you get a boost converter for 12v to 24v.
TDA7492 D Class High Power 2x50W AMP Board Digital Amplifier Board + Radiator AU-in Integrated Circuits from Electronic Components & Supplies on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
Get a 12v to 32v (set to 24v) booster $3:
150W Boost Converter DC DC 10 32V to 12 35V Step Up Voltage Charger Module Freeshipping Dropshipping-in Other Electronic Components from Electronic Components & Supplies on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
Under $45...
The logical choice, of course, and almost certainly the smart one. But there are two problems... One, the way the 2-way radio audio quality interacts with the stock stereo sound quality is somehow unpleasant, at least to me. And two, that doesn't make for much of a DIY project! I appreciate the sanity check, though
My 'sanity check' would be:
Build 'stealthy' door card pods for 4" - 6.5" drive units and power with them xrk971 links.
Those power convertors look so interesting I'm gonna buy one.....or 5!
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