defender speaker box

so, iv decided to upgrade the sound system in the 90 as my girlfriend always complains that it sounds "tinny" it'll also drowned out some of the squeaks and rattles lol

Im going to make myself a speaker box that will sit flush against the rear bulkhead. I have a 90 CSW and still need to be able to use all the back seats so its going to have to be quite thin but i think its doable. i think i'll make it a T shape so it overhangs the seat box's slightly.

A mate gave me a sub box with an amp so im going to take that to bits and fit the sub and amp into the box in going to make and also add 4 6x9"s into it aswel.
iv never seen anything like this before so ill post a few pics as i do it.

Does anybody know where i can buy some of that material that cubby boxes are covered in at a reasonable price? as i would like to wrap it in that instead of the carper type stuff as it will be easier to clean.

Have a look on fleabay for leatherette.

Oldseadog said:

Have a look on fleabay for leatherette.

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thanks, will do

Theres the one I made, currently reworking it to have a subwoofer in the middle mounting the amp on the rear of the bulkhead.

I also covered it in some 2/3mm closed cell foam the speaker carpet over the top. Added alot of sound deadening which improved the sound quality.

Only issue is if your tall you cant fit underneath! Lol but still keeos the load area clear

I made the speaker box this weekend, cut the hole for the Sub and popped it in to make sure it fitted, and it did now I need to get hold of some 6x9's and some leatherette to cover it with. It should look good when it's finished. Won't be for another 2 weeks or so as I'm quite busy atm

Looking good! Id personally put a grill over it, incase it gets kicked

bankz5152 said:

Looking good! Id personally put a grill over it, incase it gets kicked

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Yeah I will be putting a black grill over it, that should make it less obvious to thieves aswel.

with the position id look at carpet personally, leatherette catches, snags and rips too easily IMO

James_mac said:

I made the speaker box this weekend, cut the hole for the Sub and popped it in to make sure it fitted, and it did now I need to get hold of some 6x9's and some leatherette to cover it with. It should look good when it's finished. Won't be for another 2 weeks or so as I'm quite busy atm

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Nice job so far. I trust there are baffles inside to stop the sub / 6x9s sharing the airspace...

arc said:

Nice job so far. I trust there are baffles inside to stop the sub / 6x9s sharing the airspace...

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Yeah the inside is separated into 3 compartments so the don't share the same air space.

timtheenchanteruk said:

with the position id look at carpet personally, leatherette catches, snags and rips too easily IMO

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I wanted to use leatherette as it would be easier to wipe clean, but I may go for carpet, still undecided on that front.

I should be finishing it off next weekend, so I'll post some pics when it's finished

So iv pretty much finished now, just need to wire the sub up to the amp.
I covered it in carpet, wired it up and poped some insulation in at the weekend and I'm really happy with it, fits perfectly agains the rear bulkhead too. I had to cut a hole in the back cover tho as the sub was slightly too big.
Here's a few pics

Inside


The front


The back


In the Landy

Looks good uve done some nice work there im guessing it sounds good?

Ooh very bloody posh. Nice job

nicely done,

one complaint though....


















right hand side, are the 6x9s mirroring or all facing the same way

Nice work mate, very nice.

Cracking job that. Love it.

I need to devise a system like that for my 110.

Looking good mate.
It would last about 5 minutes in mine though before I stuck something in the load area and through one of the speakers, would have to cut a thick piece of ply to the same shape to protect it when carrying anything.

That's very nicely done!

I'm re-doing the interior of my 110 soon as well with new seats and a new full length center console.

Going to make up a speaker box to go up against the rear bulkhead behind the back seats for a few speakers, sub and amp.


Think the main thing to do to improve the sound system and overall noise quality of a Defender is to add as much sound proofing as you can. Otherwise, your just losing sound quality from speakers with all the vibrating metal and all the sqeakes, rattles and whines from the engine, drivetrain, suspension and road noise when moving.

You may be able to turn up the volume on a system with decent speakers but you'll only go deaf eventually as it has to be bloody loud to drown everything else out

timtheenchanteruk said:

nicely done,

one complaint though....


















right hand side, are the 6x9s mirroring or all facing the same way

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Bugger, I didn't notice that, I'll have to sort that out tomorrow!!

DaveM-sport said:

That's very nicely done!

I'm re-doing the interior of my 110 soon as well with new seats and a new full length center console.

Going to make up a speaker box to go up against the rear bulkhead behind the back seats for a few speakers, sub and amp.


Think the main thing to do to improve the sound system and overall noise quality of a Defender is to add as much sound proofing as you can. Otherwise, your just losing sound quality from speakers with all the vibrating metal and all the sqeakes, rattles and whines from the engine, drivetrain, suspension and road noise when moving.

You may be able to turn up the volume on a system with decent speakers but you'll only go deaf eventually as it has to be bloody loud to drown everything else out

Click to expand...

With my 90 being a CSW and it having full carpets throughout the road noise isn't that bad (compared to the other 90's iv owned, td5 truck cab and a 300tdi hardtop) I was quietly suprised when I first drove it.

At least now I have a decent audio system now, I'm keeping it covered up atm, until I get my rear windows tinted, I don't want some thieving scum breaking into it.