I love the Street Pilot III but there's no way I can hear the speaker, so I purchased a thin 8 ohm, 2" square x 0.21" thick stainless steel speaker from All Electronics (really neat stuff) and mounted it in a piece of plexiglass from Majorhavoc that goes behind the drivers head. I ran the wire down the inside of the seat and to the console where I usually keep the SPIII. It's a "winter" project and I've yet to get her out on the road with the top down to see if I can hear it, but it's reasonably loud, and if necessary, I could always add a small audio amp.

 

Very interesting! Let us know how it works with the top down.

 

Cool. Can we see some pics of it inside the headrest? thanks

 

here's a shot at a slight angle. You can see it at the bottom-center of the headrest area. You can see it when looking straight-on so I'm thinking of spray-painting the silver portion gray or black. Since these speakers cost a whopping $.75 , I think I can afford to experiment with them!

I just got another idea - of putting black plastic screen (like you might use on an outside porch) between the plexiglass and the honeycomb.

 

Does the StreetPilot III have a headphone jack? If so, you could used the powered 2x2x2 (inches) external speaker offered by Escort (radar detector manufacturer).

I installed it for my Escort 8500. Simply screwed it into the floor carpet just underneath the driver's seat edge. Now I can always hear my detector with the top down (and music blasting).

 

As a follow-up, we've finally got some good weather and I took the S out on the highway with the top down and radio cranking. The output from the speaker was easy to hear, even at highway speeds. The speaker reproduces the "chime" from the StreetPilot III extremely well - very loud. The SPIII voice is a bit softer, but it would be impossible not to hear the "chime" - and that alerts you to listen to the voice.

Overall, I'm very happy with the installation.

 

Sweet nice work very creative!!! have a similar setup for my Navigation system. Initially I couldn't hear the NAV cause the only speaker for it was behind the screen.

I added this little Alpine NAv Aux speaker behind the headrest. Its great very loud and clear, and it has a volume knob on the top! I imagine this could be used for your type of install as well! Now I just need to cut a piece of Lexan to fit around the speaker like you have! Great idea!

 

Something just occured to me.... why don't people do this for their music as well?

Rather than have speakers so low down near your leg, why not just put quality speakers, like you guys have done, near the headrest area?

I know you won't get stereo sound, but when you've got the top down and reving to 9000rpms, I think stereo or mono becomes just a technical difference, right?