Installed Semi-Old School Sound System

[DougZ]

This winter I decided to work on improving the stereo in my car. PO installed Blaupunkt CD player which didn't sound good at all. Really weak and flat sound. No base at all. I didn't want any of those shallow mount powered subs under the seat since I had couple of different kind and they struggled to produce any base. I wanted a unit that gave me excellent sound, somewhat period correct looks, cassette player, CD changer control. This is what I ended up with:

Old School Kenwood KRC-1054 Cassette Deck (top of the line deck)
Alpine MRV-F450 5 channel amp
Focal P165 V15 Front Speakers
Old School Kenwood KSC-3500 Rear Speakers (have unique flat ribbon tweeters)
Old School Kenwood 10 disc CD Changer
JL Audio 10TW1 Sub-woofer

I had to design custom FDM speaker adapters to mount the speakers to the door and rear deck. I didn't want to cut anything so I can keep everything original in case I ever decide to sell the car. FDM parts were sanded, filled with spot potty, primed, sanded again and refinished in burgundy color to try and match interior. Only thing left to do is create a enclosure for the sub. My idea is to get an old rear seat back and mount the sub under it and close it off from the front. It's simple and has enough volume to make good tight base. System already sounds awesome even without the sub being enclosed. Well worth the effort. Nice bonus with the KRC-1054 cassette deck is that it has remote control capability. I added a small Kenwood steering wheel control so I can change volume, stations/tracks whatever.

Focal crossover fits perfect inside factory speaker covers


FDM Cover before being finished


Focal speaker installed.


Speaker Cover installed.


Door pockets fit over the speakers with minimum clearance


Rear Kenwood speakers installed. FDM adapters are designed to fit existing screw holes. I slightly raised and angled the top surface to point more towards front. It sounds great


Alpine amp is large so I decided to fit it under driver seat. I figured it's easier to run single large wire from the battery to inside the car rather than running bunch of speaker and RCA cables from inside the car to trunk. I also like the fact that temperature is more controlled inside the car. CD Changer fits under passenger seat


Cassette Deck has removable face and also entire deck can be removed. It has a folding handle. Amber lights match the Porsche environment.


Remote steering wheel control for old Porsche. There is also regular remote that works with these decks.


That's it. Need to work on the sub enclosure

[rwest]

Nice system, what does FDM stand for? How did you make the parts?

Looking forward to seeing the finished setup.

[88911coupe]

Wow, nice work! I went with MB Quarts, bridged 4 channel Sony amp and an Alpine head unit. Very happy with the sound. No rears.

[DougZ]

Originally Posted by rwest

Nice system, what does FDM stand for? How did you make the parts?

Looking forward to seeing the finished setup.

FDM stands for fused design modeling. Parts are designed with 3d modeling software. Files are sent to a printer that has s special head that melts ABS material and deposits it layer upon layer until the part is built.

[Dietermod]

Would you consider making a set of those front adapters for sale?