Who has done a nice stereo setup ina 70 GS convertible? would appreciate some pix of the install. And details of same!
Kenwood AM/FM/CD player with 160W (80W, each) Dual Front Dash Speakers, is "enough" to listen to, in a Convertible! Loud and Clear! That rear area makes it difficult to find a place for Rear Speakers, unless you want to chance blowing a Top line and getting fluid on your Speakers, if they're mounted in the Trunk area. :Smarty: I'm not saying that it "can't" be done, but it's not common to mount them in the trunk. :TU:
I have a set-up in 71 convertible. I use 6" rounds in the front kick panels. You can use stock kick panels and make a circular hole with a compass. You will need to use a jig saw or sabre saw to remove the two 3" wide braces in behind the kick panel. For the rears, I mounted an amp near the rear p.top motor and built a small wooden box from 1x12 pine for two 6x9 horizontal speakers. Stuffed the box with polyester pillow stuffing and covered the box in black cut-pile carpet from Home Depot. Use quick disconnects from Radio Shack for the speaker wires. If I have 4 people in the car, I remove the box and place it in the trunk. Works great!
I have a 73 Centurion with 3 1/2 inch speakers in the dash with bass blockers. I also have a WOOX powered subwoofer hiding under the console. Sound is surprisingly good and invisible. I'm going to add an amp and 6x9's behind the rear seat to fill out the midrange a bit. I'd also like to see if I can squeeze 5 inch speakers in the dash with an amp for a touch more depth in the sound. The head unit is an old twin shaft Pioneer cassette, but I'm toying with a hidden audio system. They are one of the only people still making a twin shaft radio. I'm also considering putting the factory radio back in the dash with a detachable face unit in the ashtray opening. Stereo's can be fun but you need to consider how you intend to use the system. Do you just need something to give you some tunes, or do you want a high fidelity experience. My brother daydreams about a top of the line system but spends 90% of his car time listening to books on tape so it would be a waste. Determine how much sound quality you want and let that guide you. Remember one of the most important parts of a stereo is the sound insulation. Even in a convertible, a couple of layers of sound deadening material can dramaticly reduce the road noise. Have fun and let us know what you decide. John
Trick way of installing a stereo I don't know where it is in these threads but the fellow that gutted the stock underdash 8 track player, hinged the front of it and installed a am,fm, cd player inside of it had one of the best and cleanest ways of installing a stereo I have seen. I also have the same problem in my convertible. I have this nice car and not much in the way of tunes. As far as speaker placement goes, I am baffled. I can't bring myself to cut holes in my kick panels and door panels for the sake of a few speakers. I bought some aftermarket kick panels from Original Parts Group that look like the originals with speakers installed in them but they are not set up for the vent pulls. Like most of the items I bought from them my guess is that they sent me the wrong ones. That is another story but I wouldn't send anyone to them to buy anything :af: They are now setting in my garage collecting dust..........................POPS
Hi Pops - You mean This Thread. For the record, I have a modern stereo in the glovebox and a modern speaker in the center dash.
Gotta say I agree about OPGI. Some of the stuff in their catalog doesn't exist. But anyway, I use surface mount speakers in my '70 convertible. They aren't the best sound quality, but they do not require any modification of the car at all. The enclosures are about 4" tall, 4" wide, and a foot long. The enclosures are triangular in shape, and the speakers sit facing front, while the angle portion is in the rear of the enclosure. I have one pair front, and one pair rear. They sit partially under the front seats on the floor. I put self adhesive velcro on the bottoms and they stay put on the carpet. The wires simply emerge from the join in the carpet under the front seats. When i want to move them, they pull off the carpet if you yank them, because they are held in with velcro. they're cheap enough to not worry about, removable at a moment's notice, and don't mar the vehicle's interior For the radio, I use a very inexpensive two post unit from Kenwood (the same ones in the OPGI catalog, but they don't say "Buick" on the casette door, these cost much much less than the ridiculous OPGI price), I beleive the stock number is 1006, they may not even make it anymore. But anyway, I use that as my head unit, and I have a Sony car discman, also with self adhesive velcro on the back, that I stick to the carpet on the tranny hump right behind the front console. Easy to reach, and when I park the car, I yank it off the carpet, and it and the wires go in the trunk. The Sony car discman has never skipped, even while doing donuts :TU:
Some good ideas but stealth is the name of the game for me. Still working on things, will obviously do the two speaker in the stock location and cd player under the seat with wireless remote as per Stage 1 and my website. Factory radio will sit in dash. Not sure about the rest. Debated hidden speakers in stock kick panels behind the grilles but would block airflow (is that a big deal with no roof? :laugh: )....a/c dashpad with tweeters in center vent (its a non a/c car), but the back is causing some issues. Need some kind of subwoofer system, lots of room inside rear seat support but how would it sound with seat in front of it?? o No: In the trunk aimed forward and leave the top bag off??? My biggest problem is that I intend to leave the top down all the time. The foctory rear speaker would be useless, so need something else and won't cut up my car for it. later Tim
I have a couple more ideas: Clarion makes a 7" subwoofer that can fit under a seat. A little pricey, but 2 of them should provide enough thump. I've also considered putting speakers in the rear armrests and replacing the vinyl with speaker fabric. If the speaker cloth is the right shade it will be hard to notice. There are also radio's that are designed to be concealed and work of a radio frequency remote. These can even control a 6 disc changer. Everything works from the remote.
You can only put shallow speakers in the rear armrests because the lift cylinders pivot and will contact the speakers if they are the traditional deep style. I bought a car with them and the lift cylinders would hit the speaker magnets. With 2 people in the back seat, the speakers were basically blocked so they are worthless. Best bet is a speaker box that is removable.
Nice!! Have not seen those subwoofers, will have to check it out. There is a fair amount fo room under the seat on these cars with bench. I thought of the same thing for the back panels, just mount the speaker flush and put a bunch of tiny holes in the vinyl for the sound, your idea sounds better, though. later Tim
