Well, I finally got the last little details done on the HAM radio, hooking up the wires, and mounting the external speaker. I used a Motorola External Speaker at some friends recommendations from my local Denver 4x4 Club, Rising Sun. This is a small speaker but it is really clear and has a lot of volume. I bought a 3 pack of them off ebay and plan on adding the other two into my FJ40 for my HAM and CB radios. I will toss them on with a quick fist and attach them to the roll bar, but for the 100 I went ahead and hard mounted the speaker.
I just used the supplied bracket and screwed it into the kick panel, high and tight along the upper edge and as far back as I could mount it and still get the little "nut" that secures the kick panel. I did this on the passenger side aimed at the driver. It came out clean and works great. I can hear it very clearly and it is barely noticeable (visually) from the drivers or passenger seats. It doesn't interfere with any foot room in the passenger area. I might add a little piece of foam behind the speaker as it is now pretty heavy and could rattle against the kick panel structure behind the plastic but I will wait to see if that is an issue off road, on road it hasn't made a peep.
First up... mark up the bracket and drill some holes. I am not a fan of drilling a bunch of holes into things, but for the right reasons it is the best option. I wanted a secure mount and didn't trust any other fasteners with something as heavy as this little speaker. It has some heft to it.
I had the multi meter out because my radio called for a speaker impedance of 8 ohms. Just an FYI but speakers have an impedance of around 6.3ish when they are an 8 ohm speaker, not sure why, but a 4 ohm speaker runs around 3.2ish as well. I just used a few countersunk sheet metal screws to attach the bracket to the kick panel, just be sure not to strip the plastic when you tighten them up.
Here is the speaker tucked up into the passenger foot well. It is nice and out of the way and still very loud and clear when needed. I am stoked about hiding such a relatively large speaker without adding clutter to the cockpit.
Here is my view from the drivers side seat (actually I had the camera low so you could even see it), it is barely noticeable that it is even down there. In fact, it has startled a few people when I have the squelch turned up and a signal breaks through. I am glad I wired an external speaker that can be run totally separate from the stereo and runs with the power of the vehicle and accessories turned off. The bonus was I bought it off a friend and local cruiser head and it has all of his repeater stations and popular local stations already programmed and listed by name... JACKPOT!
