Stereo and speaker setups

[dbeardsl]

I saw the off topic discussion of speaker setups and proposed designs, and just wanted to start a new topic for just that.

So post your current speaker and stereo setups, and maybe some future plans.

I have a pretty simple CD player with 30watts/channel with 4 channels. I got rid of the speaker grills(mine were broken and old looking anyway, and put in a pair of commercial speakers we had in our garage. they are each about 4in. wide by 7 or 8in. tall and 4in. deep. They are mounted so I can turn them twoard the center of the car, or twoards the rear. They each have a 4in. driver and a tweeter. I also have a 18" piece off 6" PVC with two 6" car speakerson the ends. This is painted flat black and mounted up underneath the dash(this only sticks down by 2") and hooked to the rear speaker outs on the stereo so I can balance the volumes. I added capacitors on the pos wire coming into the garage speakers to reduce bass so I could crank it up and let the 6" tube do the bass work.

This setup is fun and was cheap (100$ cd player + 12$ for the Tube and capacitors). its plenty loud engouh for me. Its a little hard to hear going fast on the freeway with the top off(the quad exahust I'm sure dopesn't help). Other than that it is great, I can crank it till I can't stand it with the top on with no distortion so I'm good to go. I'll post some pics soon.

Post your current speaker and stereo setups, and maybe some future plans.

[mejulihn]

I have a late model Blaupunkt AM/FM/Cassette in the dash with removable face. It is rated at 40w X 4 channels and I installed upgraded 4x6 Pioneer speakers in the stock enclosures.

[oredith]

alright, here goes..
(2) 4.5" alpines in the stock speaker location.
(2) 6" blaupunkt component speakers on the side of a self-made center console.
(2) tweeters on top of the center console (part of the component system)
(2) 4.5" alpines in the back pad close to where the elbow is close to.
(1) 8" jbl sub squeezed between the seats with a custum box (no longer hooked up, giving away to Mike Mueller at D+G's get-together #3)
(1) cerwin vega 10" sub right behind my seat via a self made box

combined 920 Watts going through 1 alpine and 1 JBL amp..

future plans?.. getting rid of my center console.. i don't like how cramped it is, going to strip out the dash, take out the heating control (because i don't have it anyways) move my deck closer (it's mounted on the center console right now) on the dash, place all the gauges on the dash, tweeters on the edges of the dash, and put the 6" blaupunkts in the door..

[Jim Osborn]

I have an Alpine Deck w/cd 2 Infinity Kappa 4x6's in the stock location and 5 1/4 JBL's in the doors. I'm running a 6 channel JBL amp in the front trunk(currently in warranty repair for a blown capacitor) The last two channels will be bridged for an 8" Sub going into a custom center console.

[7391417]

I think the best thing to do if you want good sound in a 914 is to do several things:

1. Buy a head unit that suits your taste that has dual pre-outs.

2. Buy the highest quality 2 way 4x6 speakers you can afford and place them in the stock location in the speaker grills (which have excellent imaging.)

3. Fit an 8" sub in the cabin, this is always a compromise of space though and is the toughest part in getting nice tight bass! here are some possible locations:

a. Behind the passenger foot well their is a piece of foam, you can put an enclosure here but it will take some work.

b. Between the seats where the center cushin is, you can make a custom arm rest/enclosure.

c. If you dont have extra guages (oil temp, pres, volt etc.) or they are located on the dash, you can make an enclosure that goes where the center console would normally face.

d. If you dont care about passenger foot room, you can fit an 8" bass tube width wise down by the passengers feet, there is still room for their feet on top.

4. After you have figured out your combination of sub and 4x6's, purchase an appropriate amplifier for the ratings of your speakers, to make it easy you can get one with crossovers so you can send only the mids and highs to the 4x6's and only the lows to the sub.

If you follow these guidlines you should have a great sounding 914, don't go over board by hacking 6x9's into the door panels. One thing you will never have is sound from the rear so dont worry about it (beside the sound of the engine is nice enough!)

My setup was an Alpine cd head untit, two infinity 4x6's in the stock location, and the 8" bass tube at the passengers feet, with a 400 watt amplifier. Nice clean sound that I could hear with the top off on the freeway.

I have taken this out now though and installed my amp, tube, and deck into my daily driver. Since I only drive the 914 for fun now I dont need a good system in it because I just injoy driving the heck out of the car. So I just put a $99.00 dollar kenwood tape deck that drives the two 4x6's, no one will want to steal the radio and if I am cruising on a warm night with a date in the car with the top off (The cars, not the date's ) I can still have some nice tunes.

Just my experiances!

-Brent

[This message has been edited by 7391417 (edited 03-08-2000).]

[BenI]

1.JVC indash CD player
2.12 disc player in front trunk
3.Kicker tweeters mounted on corners of top dash
4.Custom center console housing 8" Kicker sub
5.Semi custom kick panels with Kicker 5x7s
6.600W amp in front trunk

This system sounds great. the tweeters cut through the engine/wind noise, and bass is always fun.

To fit the 5x7s I took 2 cracked stock kick panels, cut out the grill, added 1/4" plywood on the front to allow the speaker to sit on while allowing clearance for the magnet. I then covered the speaker with speaker cloth so its all black and doesnt stick out.

For pictures of the front trunk, go to http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~ihas/ihas.html

you'll find a link to 'my cars' and some thumbs of my car before it was completed.

[TFI]

Jeff,

how did you get that sub behind your seat?

[campbellcj]

Here's what I've cobbled together: Sony CD head unit (came w/ car), Fosgate 35Wx4 amp in front trunk, bridged to 3 channels, Polk separates with the 5 1/4" midwoofs in the doors and the 2-way mid/tweets in fabricated mount plates in the stock kick panel locations, and a 6 1/2" bazooka sub in the passenger footwell. No award winner, but a simple and modest setup that serves me fine.

[oredith]

Hi Jim,

the sub?.. well.. you'd have to be a person of my height (5'6) or shorter to use it.. my seat is scooted ALL the way up, and i built a box out of MDF that literally conforms to the space between the seat and the bad pad. i think the total count of pieces of MDF used to piece that together came to 17?.. i think it's about as complicated a box as i've ever seen.. getting 1.7 ft^3 behind the seat is hard.. when it stops raining, i'll pull the box out of the car and take a picture.
in retrospect, i guess i could have mirrored the entire design of the box to fit the passenger side, who cares about THEIR comfort anyways.. it's amazing how much the box has to curve and turn to meet that LITTLE bump in the firewall near the center pad..

Jeff

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Clarion 4x40W CD player in the dash.

A PO had hacked the doors for 5x7 speakers. I kept the grilles, which are fastened to the door panels, and cut MDF for mounts to fit some MB Quart 6.5 2-way rounds behind them.

A 2x50W (I think) Soundstream will wind up behind the passenger's seat eventually. I have the amp, just haven't installed it yet.

If I had it to do over again, I'd get separates instead of 2-way speakers. The 6.5s fit in the hacked-out part of the door, but I would have put separate tweeters in the stock boxes for better imaging. The amp (when it got installed) would be a four-channel rather than two.

I don't know why I threw all of that money at the sound system. My car is so LOUD that anything you can hear over it will make you more than half-deaf...

--DD

[oredith]

just gotta crank it up dave!.. when you make it down to D+G's.. i'll crank up metallica and take you on the freeway.. even with the headers.. you'd probably be feeling the music more than hearing it though..

i agree though.. should have used the money for a bigger motor..

[Rouser]

After reading all the mild-to-WILD setups, I guess I would have to classify mine as conservative.

I have a totally Pioneer® system:

• DEH-1000 AM/FM/CD, 45Wx4 (very programmable).
• 5x7 70W 3-ways in the kick panel grills (slightly modified and shimmed).
• 6 ½" 85W 2-way rounds in the doors (minimal metal clearance required).

I purchased a DIN faceplate from those-other-guys (AA), and the head unit comes with an excellent DIN chassis case that made installation a breeze. No whacking, hacking, wheeters, tweeters, hoofers, and woofers for what is basically an interior that is attractive in its own right, and a car that doesn't lend itself to a whole lot of acoustic and audiophilic license.

With a black interior with gray cloth seat inserts, I accented the back of the kick panel and round grills with some thin gray felt from the nearby fabric store. No jutting, blatant, WOW!-LOOK-AT-ME!! advertisements of the contents; if only to ward off the usual knuckleheaded attempts by infantile morons to "covet" the system within via the Midnight Auto Supply. I also creatively installed a 2W grain-o-wheat bulb assembly over the head unit way-over-there that lights up whenever the headlights are on, if only to be able to SEE the black faceplate controls when it's "OFF".

Clean, sweet, and beautiful sounding, even with SuperBass enabled and plenty of volume!

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Jeff sez:

...i'll crank up metallica and take you on the freeway...

You've been talking to MikeZ again, haven't you? First the "Doctor Damp Dave Darling" thing, and now the revelation of that head-banging episode... I'm gonna have to think up some really dreadful revenge on him, aren't I?


;^)


--DD

[mike mueller]

Okay I give up...what the heck is MDF ????
Once I pick up that woofer from Jeff I'll have the one 8" for mega bass and a Blau. Velocity separates system with two tweets and two 6.5 mids. For the head unit it's an old (non-digital) Pioneer radio/cassette. I'd like a more modern radio but with this car so easily accessible, especially with the top off and parked I just might keep the ugly radio. Not sure how I'm going to power the speakers, I'm still looking at amps.


------------------
Mike Mueller
Antioch, CA
1970 1.8

[oredith]

MDF = Medium Density Fiberboard

usually 3/4" thick.. go and measure the clear distance between the seats, and try to fit a 8.25" sub with 3/4" board on both sides.. it's not easy..

[Curvie Roadlover]

Do modern 4X6 speakers fit into the original enclosures? The speakers that are in mine seem to barely fit and they have essentially no magnet. I'd like to get new speakers but don't want to have to modify the original enclosures if possible.

[Jim Osborn]

Yes they will I have Infinity Kappa 4x6's in the stock location.

[mejulihn]

Yes. My Pioneer 4x6's fit in the stock enclosures as well. But you are right, it is a close fit and the depth of the magnet sticking out beyond the back of the plastic speaker enclosure is critical. In fact, there is a circular cut-out in the kick panel area for the back of the speaker to recess into.

[Jackal]

Well here I go:

I set up 2 10" sony xplod subwoofers in the Front trunk in an encloser I bought off ebay. I have the 2 450 watt subs running of 2 400 watt amps located in the front trunk as well ( i took out the spare tire and moved it to the back). I also mounted a Jvc kameleon in the dash because it blends in great. I also made a custom box that houses a 10" speaker that is located on the passengers feet. All in all it sounds great and you get monster bass when driving. however it cost me a ton of money but if your willing to pay the price its worth it.

[campbellcj]

Jackal -- do you have anything covering the upper octaves, or just the 3 subs? Seems like it would take a pretty wild mid & tweeter setup to keep up with that bass.