Single din radio into a venture....attempt

[Shibumi]

Okay, so I just got my 1999 venture and after not much consideration decided to put a marine radio into the dash in pace of the cassette player. Why? Looks, bluetooth, hopefully better audio, and easy to add an amp to later on if I want to. So I thought, buy a radio, pull the cassette player, trim some plastic and voila! Nope. Now I've got the fairing split, removed all wiring for yamaha audio system except to speakers and realized I'm going to be doing some serious "trimming" to fit this radio. I plan on having this done in the next few days and will keep updating. Is it worth it? Probably not but at this point I'm elbows deep and am gonna finish it!

 

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[wrenchrob]

Good luck. Patience and determination wins every time. Someday I'm planning to put a voltmeter in place of my cassette deck.

[bongobobny]

OK IMHO, and it is just that, an opinion, it's not going to sound any better, the real culprit is the totally inadequate 4" speakers. Changing them to better aftermarket speakers helps some, but only when you are standing still, and even then they still are lacking. Speaker SIZE is the answer there!!

 

There are little "Black Boxes" out there that plug into the auxiliary line that give you bluetooth functions. I am ass u me'ing you want to integrate your smart phone into the audio system. If THAT is the case all you really need is a cable that plugs into your phone's headphone jack on one end and into the 3.5mm aux jack on the other. Inside the fairing that line has a plug and jack, and adding a "Y" connector at junction. Now you have an extra "AUX" jack inside the fairing you can plug into making for a much neater looking install than having your cassette door open to access the jack. (I drilled a hole in my door and put a rugger plug in the hole to access BEFORE I found out about the Y adapter thingey) The problem with the phone to aux jack on some smart phones is the system is mono, but with MP3 players, etc it is stereo. If your smart phone has a stereo headphone "earbuds" connection you're all set.

 

Now by "Marine" radio I am once again ass u me 'ing you are referring to a water resistant AM/FM radio and not a radio that specifically receives "Marine Band" signals. Can't for the life of me see why you would want to listen to boats while driving your motorcycle...

 

Best of luck with the install!! WE WANT PICTURES ALONG THE WAY!!!

[Shibumi]

Hahaha why not marine band???? Just kidding. Yes it is a weather proof am/fm radio with bluetooth. I had the cassette player gutted and and aux cable coming through it to my phone which worked great for awhile. Unfortunately as my wife says, I don't know how to leave things alone. Also, while I'm in there I'm taking measurements to add a 4x6 speaker possible in the front and I MIGHT try and either email add a subwoofer in the trunk or 6x9s in the bags facing inward. All just ideas at the moment. Essentially this is just the beginning.

 

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[Great adVENTURE]

Hope there are pictures to see the process unfold.

[Shibumi]

Okay, got the radio to fit under the speedometer. Now I just have to reinstall it. Which means trimming parts that you WILL see. Aka the dashboard. It is coming very close to the speakers so I might start getting creative with the speaker size and mounting sooner than later. (Can I post multiple pics at once or must be one at a time?)

 

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[djh3]

You can do multiple in a post

[Shibumi]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160516/14d92b57c0d2df0e7d0ac00f56b4c818.jpg

 

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[Shibumi]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160516/eb518c9ca3cb004a75096691ec99ea60.jpg

 

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[Shibumi]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160516/018a2af64dca4a4254a5cd15b4851aee.jpg

 

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[Shibumi]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160516/b19f03770aa7bf060be8a63f59479662.jpg

 

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[Shibumi]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160516/e2957d0a62e223ddc854b15dbdd3bfe1.jpg

 

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[Shibumi]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160516/018395be653aa19566233d60a3d2e1b4.jpg

 

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[Shibumi]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160516/e5ae27d802b5f4566f7b9683737ea6d9.jpg

 

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[Shibumi]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160516/af7f9bb91484c3bcba54dba9b181dc54.jpg

 

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[Shibumi]

Last picture is to show a rough idea what it's going to look like

 

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[Shibumi]

Starting off with a simple radio in case things go awry it's not too much invested in the project. Now I'm working on mounting it back into the inner fairing and trimming plastic to do so

 

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[Shibumi]

Once I have it all mounted and done it will be as simple as sliding in a single din radio in and out

 

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[bongobobny]

Lookin' good so far!!

 

I have seen 6 1/2" speakers mounted on the dash before, can't remember who did it though...

[Shibumi]

Would love to see it

 

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[Freebird]

Looks like you are doing a great job. It will be interested in hearing your final report in regards to the sound. I will be VERY interested in seeing how you end up installing larger speakers.

[ragtop69gs]

One word of caution on your radio selection , the Marine radio must be classified as "waterproof " not "resistant". There is a difference! Water resistant will not stand up to a heavy rain storm or a direct hit from a water hose. I've lost several Marine radios that have been on my boats over the years due to rain storms and direct hits from Rouge waves.

I do like your work so far and am looking forward to seeing the end result.

 

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[Shibumi]

Just after a brief measurement without doing any extensive fiberglass work to the fairing it looks like I could possibly only get A4 by 6 speaker in there any thoughts?

 

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[eusa1]

following along, thanks for the pictures

[bongobobny]

Not sure if a 4 x 6 would give you that much better sound, not much more cone area as opposed to going to a 6 to 6 1/2 inch round. The key to better sound reproduction is more real estate to move a bigger volume of air..

 

Just IMHO. I'm still trying to figure out how BOSE can get that much fidelity out of those teeny tiny speakers!!