A completely different Audio question

I got a wild hair and decided to start investigating replacing the twelve dollar speakers in my camper. I'm immediately finding a few challenges.

First and foremost - This is a camper that can run for a solid week on its little 120Ah battery. My priority, therefore, is to find a good speaker with the lowest power consumption possible. From what I can read, that means I need to pay close attention to the sensitivity, is that correct? Is it that simple, or should I be looking at other factors?

Second, the mounting dimensions are ridiculous. I think I have a 5.7" cutout and a 1.5" top depth. Both interior speakers are in positions that I can cut and lay a new backboard, but the more I push it back, the more storage space I lose. And inches do count.

Last, acoustics. These are mounting in 1/8" plywood cabinets. It's in a pop-up camper. It's not going to get loud. I don't need a concert. I just want to hear lyrics at a low volume while I drink coffee and fry bacon.

So far the potential matches I have found are

• Kicker CS 6.5 -this has the shortest top depth I have seen, under 2 inches. 90dB sensitivity at 2.8 volts, which isn't great.
• Infinity Reference - 2 1/8 depth, 93 dB sensitivity. Looks like it has directional tweeters which might or might not help the fact that the left speaker is oriented perpendicular to the right. Damn camper layout.

Any others? I'm leaning towards the infinities currently. They're amongst the cheapest and they aren't as deep as other 93-96 offerings. Or the speakers don't have grills. I need a grill.

This is the POS it's replacing, driven by the front two channels on a generic Kenwood that looks like it came from a 90's stereo shop.





There's a third speaker on the back left channel. This one:



A 3" Marine. I have a physical cut switch on this one and leave it off most of the time. I'm debating if it's even worth messing with.

Summary- better suggestions than the Infinity Reference for a low power speaker? Any suggestions for a small waterproof, outdoor mount?

 

You’re missing a more important factor

the amp efficiency plays a much bigger role than the speaker sensitivity

If you have an amp that draws a lot of power and isn’t efficient in turning that into the audio signal, it doesn’t matter how sensitive your speakers are.

 

No (external) amp. Speakers are being driven directly from HU

 

Still plays a big role. Especially if it’s something older like you mentioned

 

Ok. So assume the amp doesn't change.

As currently configured the entire system pulls 13-15watts at a moderate volume, measured at the house battery.

Would changing just the speakers be a huge factor in that power draw? I'm trying to achieve equal or better volume for the same energy consumption. (With a better quality sound).

 

Don’t expect much change in sound quality if you’re keeping the same unit to power everything.

more sensitive speakers will play louder using the same power. Doesn’t mean they’ll sound better, just means they’ll be louder.

looking for speakers with titanium dome tweeters can add extra highs that may help lyrics stand out a bit more, but can start to get harsh at moderate and louder volumes. Doesn’t seem like you’ll be dealing with that though since you’re just using the head unit.

If you’re happy with the setup as it is but are just concerned with the power draw, spend $80 on a 20Ah lithium battery and let that handle the stereo. That would get you 24 hours of listening at full volume, and you don’t have to worry about the house battery. pair that with a lithium battery charger that only runs on shore power, or even toss a solar panel on the roof that will keep that battery topped off.

 

House battery is lithium, and I do have 200W worth of portable solar panels. Stereo and heater are the two biggest consumers, everything else is either a 1w LED or an intermittent draw.

Thanks for the advice.

 

More efficient and better speakers can improve the sound experience. However. It’s a system, you can only get so far changing one component. That said one of the big improvements in my vehicle sound was improving the signal source. I run a lot of FLAC files.

 

honestly, not going to find anything much better than what's installed without some sacrifice somewhere else.

 

I keep hearing this.

Are you guys saying that replacing a paper cone that literally retails for $12 will not improve the mud?


For reference, I looked up the HU. Kenwood KMM-BT315U. 50x4 watts max, 22x4 RMS. But again, camping. I'm not interested in cranking the volume. Partially because bringing volume above conversational levels will distort the current speaker set. But also, it's camping, and this is the one and only system that should stay at conversational volume.

Edit. I appreciate the advice, I truly do. I'm just challenging to better understand.

 

i did the same thing with my dad's boat about 10 years ago as you're considering now. it had similar speakers as those furrions in it, but from 1986. they were wet-rotted, and sun-worn from being in a boat for over 20 years. i had some 6" 'Dual' speakers laying around that were the same quality as the kicker or infinities you've already located. so i threw them in to try to do something nice for my dad. i also changed the radio to an updated model to give them the best chance of sounding good, and adding an auxilary input.

after all that, i was left with... the same abysmal sound quality as those old worn out 20 year old budget speakers.

no, i'm saying the install requirements are too tight for anything with realistically better performance. i know of smaller speakers that could meet the spl/depth requirements, but they won't fit the cutout. i know of speakers that fit the cutout, but then go over on the depth. to meet both the max depth, spl, and cutout requirements, there isn't a much better performing speaker than the $12 hot messes that those are. even those options that you've located are really not going to be much better than what you have currently. they're slightly better, but only marginally. they're entry-level speakers with entry-level build quality, and entry-level audio output.

so the trade off's are simple:
if you want to maximize storage space, those speakers work best, but have the worst sound.
if you want to maximize output or clarity, you can sacrifice either ease of installation, and/or storage space.

what's more important to you? no answer is wrong, but as i stated, every answer is a sacrifice somewhere.

 

Understood. Thanks. I figured I was moving the backboard no matter what. I just didnt want to move it more than a 1/2 inch. But I guess you are right on not improving much.