Good Stereo's in Soft tops

[De-lux]

howdy,
im about to sell the hilux and buy a zook sierrra (soft top) and i want to put my decent stereo in it. what are the ways people keep their shit out of theives' hands?

i was thinking a locked steel box bolted down in the back for the sub and amp, and a hidden headunit (like in the glove box or something like that) with a fake crap headunit showing.

p.s. i park my car in dodgy places (west end), so the ideas have to be half decent.

cheers y'all

[bigsteve]

Put the head unit in the glove box.

Note that soft top sierra's are one the most unsecure vehicles.

[phippsy]

Would putting the sub wooofer in a steel box to stop it from getting nicked defeat the purpose of having a sub in the first place??

[N*A*M]

forget about it. swampers will drown out your stereo.

[De-lux]

Phippsy:
if the sub is in a ported steel box, it will work fine.

N*A*M:
im getting either 32"s or 33"s prolly MT/R's.
if i have a few good speakers and a sub you should be able to hear them, right?

[phippsy]

no worries, just read locked steel box and thought the sub and amp were inside... Wouldn't the steel need to be thick to stop the sides of the box flexing , like using 16mm mdf instead of masonite sheet?

[De-lux]

no worries, just read locked steel box and thought the sub and amp were inside... Wouldn't the steel need to be thick to stop the sides of the box flexing , like using 16mm mdf instead of masonite sheet?

sorry bro, i have no idea what your on about. i was thinking about buying a small steel lockable toolbox from supercheap, and putting my amp, and sub in it. (my sub is already in a proper subwoofer box). i wouldn't have it in the toolbox for sound quality purposes, more-so security purposes. do you get what i mean? its kinda hard to explain...

[bogged]

Get one of them units that slide into a cradle. remove the whole radio each time..

IMHO get a cheapy from Kmart, if they steal it you wont be out of pocket each week so much.

STSA..

[AussieCJ7]

forget about a good sounds system in a softop

1. Theft is too much of an issue that can not really be solved 100%
2. The accoustics of a soft top 4x4 means it is a waste of money anyway

if you are still insistant on a sound system

Check out the tuffy centre consoles from the US they are verry tough and reasonably theft proof

http://www.tuffyproducts.com/

Then for the speakers make sure that any of the speaker boxes etc are all bolted through to the inside with concealed bolts, use nutserts or similar so that there is no nuts they can undo from the underside of the vehical


remeber a theive will not car how much damage they do it to get it out of the car but they do car how long or how much noise they will make doing it

do not play it loud as you drive into area's where you are going to park as even if you conceal the system this will be a big advert to say you have some valuable gear in you softop


I now use the attitude well I have a vehical with no locks I run an alarm that will deffer a few but not anyone serrious and I leave NOTHING in it that I am not prepared to loose if they do get into it

I leave govebox etc open to show there is nothing inside

[bogged]

2. The accoustics of a soft top 4x4 means it is a waste of money anyway

Good point..

[murcod]

Get an alarm with a microwave motion detector and loud sirens- with one inside up under the dash. These detectors can be set up so if somebody gets too close to the vehicle they give off a warning beep through the sirens. If someones reaches in the full alarm will go off- even with the top off.

You can also buy security coded head units (eg units made by Eclipse) that are useless if stolen and registered electronically to the original buyer. They come with reflective warning stickers for the outside of the vehicle and have a flashing red light on the front of the head unit.

Make up plain looking grilles (or use elcheapo brand grilles) over your speakers too and make them less attractive to a thief.

[Meldge]

Or you could go for a custom dash and have all components bolting in from the inside. Then the dash bolts in. In doing so, it could be designed so that you can lock covering panels over it if in a bad area for a period of time.

[Utemad]

Get an alarm with a microwave motion detector and loud sirens- with one inside up under the dash. These detectors can be set up so if somebody gets too close to the vehicle they give off a warning beep through the sirens. If someones reaches in the full alarm will go off- even with the top off.

You can also buy security coded head units (eg units made by Eclipse) that are useless if stolen and registered electronically to the original buyer. They come with reflective warning stickers for the outside of the vehicle and have a flashing red light on the front of the head unit.

Make up plain looking grilles (or use elcheapo brand grilles) over your speakers too and make them less attractive to a thief.

Security coded radios still get stolen. Just makes them useless to the thief. Used to see them at markets all the time and when I'd ask if they knew the code they would just give a blank look. I have seen people leave the standard radio in place while mounting a detachable face unit elsewhere. That way the original looks like it is the only one and it is unlikely a thief will look elsewhere for a second unit.

Alarm is a very good idea in any car. Be careful where you mount the motion sensors in a soft top though. The top itself could set them off.

Whatever you do in a soft top you are alomst guaranteed to lose stuff.

Friend of mine had his Vitaras soft top slashed just so they could steal loose change from the centre console.

Another friend had a Nissan ET Turbo which had the stereo and anything else of value stripped from it while it was in a school carpark in plain sight and full daylight.

If they want it they will take it and if they can't get it out they will destroy it and everything around it trying.

[ShinyDiscoBalls]

Or you could just buy a half decent portable stereo, hang it from the roll cage and plug it to the giggie lighter.... my 2c's

[Toos]

Just by the cheapest one that works you probably wont hear it anyway and they wont want to pinch it worked for me so far

[De-lux]

hummm, yeah i was thinking a faux headunit with a real one hidden. this seems to be a bit of a waste of time, and im brainstorming ideas for it as i love my music nice 'n' loud.


if i get 33"s or 32"s muddies will that totally drown out any noise?

[bigsteve]

hummm, yeah i was thinking a faux headunit with a real one hidden. this seems to be a bit of a waste of time, and im brainstorming ideas for it as i love my music nice 'n' loud.


if i get 33"s or 32"s muddies will that totally drown out any noise?

Depends on the type, I had 32 inch MTR's and could here my chitty radio OK With 34 swampers and the wind noise i didn't bother with a stereo.

You could fab up a jeep sound bar like what are an option for TJ's though that would be highly

[Daisy]

been in a softtop sierra b4.. the noise from the air rushing thru the roof is quite loud and can drown out a reasonably good stereo.

Why dont u spend it on mods instead of buyin a huge kickass stereo for your car which will prolly get nicked in an area like you described.

TOM

[RB zook]

a bling stez wont get ya further up the hill

spend up on peformance modds

[Thor]

spend $600 buying grandma's old 'rola or something for a DD.
leave stereo til last as said.
if you must get one, detachable face is good enough.. who wants to look in an old suzi for a radio anyway?

[Grantw]

BUY A HARDTOP.... Quite simple really

[built4thrashing]

ok here is what ive done. 4x50w jvc head unit. most head units can be fixed into place by using the bolt hole on the ctr of the back of the head unit. make up a bracket and bolt it in. try to get one that doesnt have a detachable face coz they will just pinch the face just to piss ya off. make a panel up for the rear door and mount 2 6x9 300w speakers on it using 30mm spacers. . 100w 4inch speakers will fit in the front doors nicely. no need for an amp. now my system will drown out a mack truck using its jack brakes in the burnley tunnel. total cost was under $350. for the haed and speakers

[Utemad]

Try to get one that doesnt have a detachable face coz they will just pinch the face just to piss ya off.

The whole point of havng a detachable face is to take it with you

[De-lux]

Try to get one that doesnt have a detachable face coz they will just pinch the face just to piss ya off.

The whole point of havng a detachable face is to take it with you

thats what i thought...

[Beastmavster]

Nah the whole point of having a detatchable face is so that the power gets turned on and off when you go over bumps....

[ISUZUROVER]

As others said, you will have crap sound quality, just go with something cheap that is loud enough or a use a discman and headphones.

How much room will be left in the back of the suzuki once you have the amp, subwoofer, speakers and steel box to put them in in the back???

[Reddo]

For an alarm, could you use a door sensor, that’s hooked to siren etc etc?

[murcod]

A lot of break ins they smash the window, or cut the soft top/ wind down the window to get access. The theory is most alarms rely on door switches only and this won't set them off. That's why a microwave motion detector is a good idea- very hard to get around without setting the alarm off. You can also set them up to give a warning beep before they even touch the vehicle.

[Ric]

get some good splits in the doors, and amp under the seat.

[DIRTY ROCK STAR]

Sell off your gold chains, tight white shirts, remove the product from your hair and dont have a subwoofer!

i would be more worried about the bastard filling with water and mud then theft.

i recommend FUSION, WATERPROOF speakers!
no sub......