Let's be honest. Unless you live in South Africa, the original speakers are 20 (or more) years old, and were cheap to begin with. Any replacement is likely to sound lightyears better. I know in one of my vans, when I finally yanked the old speakers out, the paper cones were disintegrating. No wonder why they sounded like crap.

On Apr 30, 2012, at 1:19 PM, Tyler Dann wrote:

> I just installed a Sony CD player and Boston Acoustics speakers into my
> van, I can see the display fine and the sound is fantastic. Head unit was
> Sony CDX-GT565UP and speakers Boston Acoustics SE45, all fit in stock
> locations.
>
> Pics of my stereo:
> https://picasaweb.google.com/tylerdann/NewSoundSystemForTheVan?authuser=0&feat=directlink
>
> Sorry for the flash.
>
> Big improvements for me were new speaker wire and changing my stock power
> wiring from always powered to both constant power (clock and presets) and
> switched power (stereo is off when I pull the key). The grey/black wire off
> the seat belt warning relay on top of the fuse panel is where I tapped the
> ignition power into. I found this described in this samba thread:
> http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=260304&highlight=stereo+wiring
>
>
> While I had the door panels off I installed some fatmat. Not complete
> coverage, but the door sounds much less tinny now and it wasn't too
> expensive. I bought 20 square feet for ~$28, used maybe a quarter of it for
> both front doors and plan on using the rest in back. I plan on adhering
> stock grills over the new speakers using the method described in this
> thread:
> http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495155&highlight=speaker+stock+grill
>
> So far I am really happy with this set up, but now I wish I had weather
> band!
>
> Cheers,
> Tyler
>
> On Sun, Apr 29, 2012 at 5:08 AM, Harold Teer <teer.vanagon@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Many of you have asked for more specifics on the radio.  For a more
>> detailed description, see: Big Rig
>> Stereo<http://www.bigrigstereo.com/details_5920e.html>
>> (However, their price is much higher than purchasing factory direct from
>> Custom
>> Radio <http://customradio.net/us_en/products-page/truck/>).
>>
>> And yes, the radio display panel is easily read from the drivers seat.
>>
>> Harold
>> --
>> __________
>> Harold Teer
>> 1991 Westy
>> Harrisonburg, VA
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Apr 28, 2012 at 6:42 PM, george jannini <georgejoann@gmail.com
>>> wrote:
>>
>>>>> Can you actually see the dial/screen/front of the radio from the
>>> drivers seat? <<
>>>
>>>   I'd venture that it depends on the radio.  Before the Dual I had 2
>>> Sonys, both had the same type of display and neither could be easily
>>> read from the driver position in the daytime.  The Dual, for whatever
>>> reason, is much easier to read.  All of the displays if left on at
>>> night were brilliant enough to be annoying in the loft when I'm a
>>> little restless...not the kind of night light that I'm looking for.
>>>
>>>  And one more caveat:  The Sonys' parasitic drains were negligible
>>> _if_ their displays were switched off, whilst the Dual draws .30 amps,
>>> even with its face plate removed;
>>>
>>>   It needs to be be wired to a switched hot lead, either through the
>>> ignition or an operator operated one like I use.  A rocker switch in
>>> the blank position at the lower right of the dash binnacle works for
>>> me.
>>>
>>> Geo/ATL
>>>
>>