stereo install

I am toying with the notion of installing a stereo in the car. Can anyone point me in the direction of how to install the front speakers? In the front footwells, I see two options: 1. Cut into the front wheel well and flush install the speaker. If this is the case, what do you use to back the speaker that is now poking into the front tire?? 2. Install some sort of flush mount concealed speaker box in the front wheel well area. Who makes these? Model numbers, etc.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
George

The 356s had little metal bowls which intruded into the fender wells and housed/protected the speakers. You ought to bring the speaker with you to The Christmas Tree Shop and see if there aren't a couple of plastic or aluminum salad bowls that would hold the speaker successfully.

Then just cut a circular hole in the foot well high up on each side, slide the bowls through the hole or attach the bowls from the outside, glue in place, fiberglass over them, re-paint the outer and inner wheel/foot well . . . and DONE!


More or less . . .

TC:

How'd you make out with your dead drive?

I had a feeling this would end up with me throwing a tupperware party. How demasculating.

I installed 4.5" speakers and tweeters under the dash, one on the driver side and one passenger side. Didn't want them to be visible. Works great!!!!

Gabe

Lots of room up under the dash or in the doors. You can buy the original 356 speaker grills too for authentic look. NLA has them with speakers for $169.

"How'd you make out with your dead drive?"

He's had it for two weeks and won't answer my calls . . .


A a a a a a a r r r r r r r g g g g g g g g h h h h h h h ! ! ! ! ! !

Gabriel,

Did you use an enclosure? I like the idea of that!

Thanks,
George

No, just bracket them to the square beam under the dash, no box and I mounted the stereo as far under the dash as I could. I'll try and take some pics today and post them.

Gabe

George, Tom is building a speaker enclosure for me that fits under the dash... no speakers in site. I purchased a Blaupunkt amplifier that I can plug my Iphone directly into. No head unit required. I never listen to the radio anyway. If your interested I can send you the model number of the Amp.
paul

I have a car follow me with a stereo filled with bubbly chicks...

Why not just get those waterproof outside speakers that are in a small metal box --- they come with a bracker that could be mounted to the cross beam --- out of sight and unaffected by moisture.

I must be crazy. I have a radio and I'm taking it out! Can't hear it anyway, too windy. Maybe earphones.... or a helmet....

As an old gent once said of his '58 Benz 'Vert..........

" When you drive a motor-car like this, you listen to the sweet sounds of the motor. "

" Why not just get those waterproof outside speakers that are in a small metal box"

We used to grab the ones from the drive-in movie.

my stereo is soon to be 2387

paul,

i was thinking of doing the same thing with the ipod plugged directly into the amp. any pics of the speaker enclosures would be great.

I bought some speakerpods on Ebay to mount under the dash, so you cant see the speakers at all - didn't want to cut holes in the door sides.

Then i installed a Auto PC with a 7" touchscreen, that i can remove so it looks like there is no stereo in the car, plus a USB volume in the dash from Griffin - so i can turn up and down the volume + change to next song.

I have been planning to relocate my stereo speakers, as the previous owner mounted them in a box that takes up all the rear storage space (behind the front seats). Also,, the sound is poorly separated and hard to hear from that direction. And so I was about to relocate the speakers to the doors, which should be naturally good speaker boxes themselves. Is there any downside to doormounting,,, aside for those concerned with period appearances ?? I guess moisture might be one concern,, but that could be helped with proper installation and speaker selection.
thanks, for your opinions,,
Alan
PS: I enjoy good guitar music anytime,, when driving, working on the car,, or when I arrive at my destinations. Sometimes,, I just like to listen to my car,, engine and all,, so I just turn down the tunes !!

I'm not a big fan of speakers visible in the doors, so here's what we do for door speakers:

Nice set ups.

I'm just going for a set of rear moulded into plant pots in the rear quarters, right by your ears...............just the two should do it.

I mounted small 4'x 6" enclosure speakers above the 2x2 steel bracing up under the dash in Al Shapiro's car.

"here's what we do for door speakers"

That's sweet! Very cool solution.

jesper,

that's exactly what i'm looking for!! thanks, i'll search ebay...it would be just terrible if i had to cross the pond and drink gammel dansk to get them!!

george

jesper,

That's a beautifully vintage looking steering wheel, what manufacturer is it?

@George

try to email this Ebay store, it is there i bought the Pods
http://stores.ebay.com/ezled78

i paid around 33$ for them

hehe is our "gamle dansk" known in the stats ? - you must come to DK there is so much more to taste and experince here


@Teamevil

yes is it super nice, comes with a high gloss polished aluboss
this is a UK manufactured steering wheel called Motolita
it is a Motolita Classic 3 rim
http://www.moto-lita.co.uk/our-products/Wheel_Details_01.aspx?WH_ID=2

That sure is a beauty ! ! ! !

jesper,

i actually studied architecture there for a year during college about 15 years ago. in efforts to keep this a clean, respectible site, i will simply say that it is a very beautiful country. i'll email that email retailer, thank you. i actually picked up a bottle of gammel dansk last year in iceland, but i really miss those salty ammonia liquorice flavored candies. they were truely horrible, but i loved them.

Sonically speaking, the kick panel it the best possible speaker location in this car. I have no fiberglass skillz, so I just made 1/2" MDF enclosures, waterproofed and airtight, siliconed and screwed them to the kick panels, then sprayed them liberally with undercoating. Of course the enclosures were too small (too much damping) for my Diamond 6.5" mids, so I had to do some porting and tuning before I got it right. The car came with some decent sounding old Kappa coaxials in the doors, and I somehow managed to squeeze an MTX 10" subwoofer in a sealed 1 cubic foot box under the rear seat. The whole thing is powered by a 4-channel MTX amp, with the front pairs bridged for maximum power draw. You can plug an Ipod (or any mp3 player) into any old amp, but of course there are fancy ones with Ipod charging built in.

I wouldn't personally put any speakers behind the driver, it really kills the soundstage. This setup was extremely loud and clear even doing 80 on the freeway with my dodgy glasspack muffler, until the amp got wet and died in a tragic carwashing accident.

I think I am going ahead with a 6x9 3-way marine rated speaker install, in my Speedster's doors. Nothing fancy with respect to sealing or boxes. Just mounting on the interior door panel, with Crutchfields foam baffle pots behind them. I think the door will act as a big speaker box. Any opinion on the worth of adding an acoustic insulation to the interior of the door shell. No downside, I can think of. Thanks for your opinions,,
Alan

I would recommend damping the inside of the door with Dynamat or something similar over stuffing it with insulation.

One of my ideas for audio was to take advantage of the lack of side windows and COMPLETELY seal the doors by glassing off the area where the door handles connect, then damping and siliconing the heck out of them until they were airtight. Then you could calculate the sealed airspace and install 8" or even 10" subwoofers with the appropriate specs.

Coaxial door speakers are probably the easiest way though.

Yes,, you are quite right, I had intended to use an insulation like dynamat (although I don't like adding excess weight). There are some lighter options available. Woofers like an airtight mounting,, but I don't think that common speakers are so fussy, especially un-amplified. But,, one think to keep in mind would be the constant vibrations effects on the door hardware. Threaded fasteners will want to come loose !!
Alan

You don't have to add a lot of weight, just add some mass to the large, flat resonant surfaces. Fiberglass is a lot better than sheet metal so it wouldn't take all that much.

Another improvement would be to brace the inner and outer surfaces together--a block of wood near the middle of the door should do the trick. You don't need to make the doors airtight for 6x9s but it couldn't hurt to put some silicone on the obvious leaks.

this is the type of acoustic insulator/dampner that I was considering. I understand it is a bit less expensive than Dynamat

www.B-quiet.com

Alan

i just did my whole car with B-Quiet. 50ft2 did the whole floor, front kick panels, Both doors, rear firewall and sides and under where the exhuast goes.

I could have used more, but 50ft2 seemed to be a perfect amount.

Makes a HELL of a difference. The doors "feel" a lot heavier, tapping on the chassis / body - you can totally feel the "Thud" instead of the "Tink" or "Whap"

Overall - i beleive the 50ft2 roll cost $117cdn and $18 to ship and was ~ 30lbs

search on the web for the b-quiet promotional code. it saved me ~15%. I also paid in USD as thier site exchange rate was screwy

I used the same stuff, and will second Paul's endorsement.

Lane!

Let's compare door "thunks" at Carlisle!!

I wonder....can we give an award for the best door thunk?

gn

I dunno - You probably filled yours full of foam.

" B-Quiet Ultimate is 1.6mm (60mil) thick, weighs 0.35 lb/sq. ft. comes in 1 foot wide rolls and is available in 2 sizes - 12 and 50 sq. ft. rolls"

50ft2 adds 17.5 lbs.