Paducah Home Theater Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 (edited) So I'm doing something kind of weird, trying to get theater'ish sound at the drive-in. Been kicking around different ideas. Tried to use an inverter to power a receiver but the start-up takes too much juice and it faults. Thought about a portable head unit but then I'd have to string a jumper cable for a long distance, plus I would need to find some kind of portable vehicle FM antenna and I'm not sure what to use. Best I can figure is to upgrade my truck stereo to a 4 channel head unit. I can power the door speakers with one output and the other can be ran to the back under the seat. When it's drive in movie time hopefully I can just run two speaker wires to some used Klipsch towers I just picked up on the cheap. But, I don't know if that will be enough juice. I don't need tons of power but we're talking 14 to 22 watts rms at the most coming out of a head unit. Should I just go with an external amp from the beginning? Any other ideas are welcome. The sound sucks really bad there. We're talking speakers from the 1950's aimed everywhere combined with various car radios at different locations, and it's all behind you with pretty much no tweeter or bass action at all, just horribly crappy midrange from 20 locations behind and beside you. I just want to put two towers in front of me and only hear those. Also even if I do this, if you have any head unit recommendations or whatever that would be nice. I have a double-din sized hole in my F-150. Edited June 17, 2015 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angusruler Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 as far as the antenna. the best results are going to be using the truck body as a "ground." I always use external amps in my cars and trucks. I'd go with a good set of seperates in the doors, and a separate sub. never tried home speakers in a vehicle....except for a pr of ar-18's in my '83 mustang gt. I did have to use a pretty large wattage amp to get decent sound. I just didn't want to do any cutting at all in that car. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted June 18, 2015 Moderators Share Posted June 18, 2015 I think it is greatnyou still have a drive in Theater, none around these parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceptorman Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 There is a resurgence of drive in theaters around here, about 6 reconditioned ones have opened up in the last 5-6 years. I have not been to a drive in theater in decades, but I have a feeling the sound is the last item on their list to be updated. I think a couple of them do not even have any portable speakers, you must use your vehicles sound system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiet_Hollow Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 I think a couple of them do not even have any portable speakers, you must use your vehicles sound system. Which on most newer cars ain't too shabby, when compared to what used to hang off the door in days past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted June 18, 2015 Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 According to the local car stereo shop, the amps in head units nowadays are basically a mosfet chip the size of your thumbnail. A quick search on google shows that these things are like less than $2 each. Crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 (edited) Well, ok if this is a Drive In Theater and they are sending sound to parked cars as in your truck via those mounted metal speakers you attach to your semi rolled down windows? or are they sending the sound through a low powered FM station? I am not aware that FM support multi channel.. sure as sh_t those stupid mountable speakers could not do it. An FM broadcast could sound good in the cab of a well equipped F150, but I think the hopes of surround sound are faint at best given my limited understanding, not that a cab of a pick up is the ideal environment for serious surround sound movie environment. I would say if you are worried about the "Theater Quality" sound in a Drive In, well.... you're doing it wrong or invited the wrong women. Edited June 18, 2015 by jacksonbart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 I should mention, I dig drive ins and I usually leave 15 minutes after the opening credits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 (edited) Only thing I remeber about the drive-in was to clean out the back seat, he, he. Edited June 18, 2015 by derrickdj1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted June 18, 2015 Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 (edited) Well, ok if this is a Drive In Theater and they are sending sound to parked cars as in your truck via those mounted metal speakers you attach to your semi rolled down windows? or are they sending the sound through a low powered FM station? They're doing both, there are those crappy metal speakers laying everywhere plus you can pick them up via FM radio, assuming you have a digital tuner at least. Very hard to pick up the signal with an analog tuner, very touchy. I am not aware that FM support multi channel.. You've never seen an "FM Stereo" setting on a radio? That's about it though, it's not exactly going to be 7.2 or anything. I think the hopes of surround sound are faint at best given my limited understanding Surround sound isn't the goal. Having some thicker sound plus having understandable dialogue in the general direction of the screen would be a HUGE improvement though. not that a cab of a pick up is the ideal environment for serious surround sound movie environment. Ya think? This isn't in the cab either, we sit behind the truck in lawn chairs. I will be running 30 feet of speaker cable to some towers from the truck so the sound will be in front of us coming from the screen. I would say if you are worried about the "Theater Quality" sound in a Drive In, well.... you're doing it wrong or invited the wrong women. Oh jeez. I take my kids there. What happens is that you get muffled sound coming from 20 different directions, all behind you. Often times you literally cannot even understand what they are saying whatsoever. Even a boom box is a huge improvement. I've been doing that for the past few years but that kind of sucks too. Worst case I'll buy a larger Bosch boom box but I'm trying to see if I can use actual towers and get some better bass and some more sparkly highs. Edited June 18, 2015 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted June 18, 2015 Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 (edited) So here's a visual of my redneck setup. This was from Monday night. So you park your vehicle and sit behind it, the projector is in that blue building, you can see the little gray metal speakers on poles mounted everywhere. And this is the view when you do that, I want speakers in the grass in front of me. You can see where my jambox is sitting on a coil of speaker wire. This SUCKS! Exact same view after the sun goes down and no flash is used: Edited June 18, 2015 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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