Anyone know anything about car audio?

This is a real general question, and I'm going to do some digging and ask some audio places, but figured I'd post in case anyone here was a guru with this stuff.

In my old car (the 74), it's got this crappy JVC tape deck from about 15 years ago playing through a 40 year old AM monospeaker in the middle of the dash pad. It's bad.

A month ago the radio just stopped playing sound, it just turns on but nothing else, tried getting it working to no avail. The wiring for it is pretty mickey mouse and I've had it!

I'd like to get just some kind of a basic sound system installed in this car that sounds good. I was thinking of just putting the original AM radio, which I have, back in it's factory spot, then having some kind of a CD head unit installed under the dash with a remote. Problem is, I don't want to cut the dash, I don't want to cut my door panels, and I don't really want to cut the package tray for speakers that don't fit the look of my car, because the interior is really original and in nice shape. I don't know if anyone has any ideas about something that might work in a situation like that? If I had to cut anything, I'd have speakers mounted in the rear package tray, but cutting the doors/dash is out of the question! I'm pretty sure I can get some sort of a dual cone speaker for the center of my dashboard, this isn't a Suburban I'm driving so I'm sure the stereo sound will be fine with that up in front.

I'm not a huge car audio guy, I know I'm probably behind the times because I've never even owned an MP3 player and I still have CDs kicking around in my other car. I see people driving around bumping bass with stuff that essentially isn't even music anymore after it comes out of their sound system in crappy cars with rattling license plates and I just kind of don't consider them "car guys", that isn't me, LOL. I have an amp, subwoofer and a nice head unit in my truck, but it's all like 10 years old and pretty basic. I'm an idiot with it, I don't know whats out there, I just want to be able to listen to music in my old car when I'm driving around, and I have no clue where to start.

Anyone know an audio shop where they aren't spaghetti-installing, dash pad cracking hacks? I'd do this myself, but I dunno...I'm afraid I'd wire something in wrong.
What do you guys have set up in your cars that might be applicable, if anything?

Find some time and swing down my way. I may be able to take a look and give you some ideas to run with. I've installed plenty of stereos and speakers and can usually find a way to cram something where it was never meant to be. Also if your 74 has a din and a half then I have an am/fm stereo that's period correct and plays well.

Part of my problem w/the '74 is that it had the old 2 knob style radio originally, and I don't want to cut the opening out into a DIN, etc.

Matt Trakker wrote:

Part of my problem w/the '74 is that it had the old 2 knob style radio originally, and I don't want to cut the opening out into a DIN, etc.

Idk if you've looked at them, but there are companies that make factory appearance radios with modern features, and they fit in the factory space.

edit: their website: http://www.retrosoundusa.com/

Give me 2 minutes and I'll have the part numbers you need

speaker part # knw-1000 this is a kenwood dual speaker setup for the dash mono mount. You can search online for the best price

stereo part # usa-630 this is a retro full function super advanced stereo. You can search online for the best price, but I'd order it direct to ensure it's setup with the right bracket and faceplate for your car.

Here's the website for the company that makes the stereo.
http://www.casmfg.com/

I know a thing or two. I used to work in a car audio shop for a couple years back in the day.

I have a simple system in each of my cars.

I don't know that you could get away without putting some 6x9's in the rear deck. But if you're concerned about your factory deck pad, then I'd just make another one to cut up and save your original.

I can give you a hand with it if you want.

Thanks guys. I'll def. give those a look! That reminds me, I want something with an AUX input or whatever it is so I can hook up a USB under my dash or in the glove compartment.

toomanytoyz wrote:

I know a thing or two. I used to work in a car audio shop for a couple years back in the day.

I have a simple system in each of my cars.

I don't know that you could get away without putting some 6x9's in the rear deck. But if you're concerned about your factory deck pad, then I'd just make another one to cut up and save your original.

I can give you a hand with it if you want.

Dude, that's a good idea! I never thought of that. I WANT speakers there, I was just freaked about the deck. It does have some scuffs in it, but it would just kill me to cut holes in there. Maybe if I found some vintage original NOS GM speaker grilles to put over the holes back there, and maybe a NOS rear defogger/blower kit as long as holes are being cut.
I'll try to figure something out for a future mini-mod day or something like that.

One thing I was thinking of (before I read the posts here) was finding some sort of a vintage stereo system like the one in this sweet F-250.

http://www.mcsmk8.com/84-F250/84-F250.html

Old Pioneer Super Tuner. lol

I forget if I ever posted this guy's collection on here, but if I didn't, give it a read, he has some really unusual, insanely preserved cars, I think he actually has an SS as well. I know there's a GTA with like 700 miles on it in there someplace. That truck is my favorite though.

Dude, read about the part numbers I sent you. It's all exactly what your looking for.

For the back you mount the speakers in the rear shelf below the carpeting. Leave the carpet alone and you'll never see the speakers but they'll still work fine. You don't need to cut holes or use grilles.

I know a thing or 2 about car audio. Although my speaker setups are a bit more extreme than you are looking for.

LOL^

Brad, my car's rear package tray is made out of cardboard (I think) with sort of a smooth semigloss finish on it, it's sort of visible in this pic:



Although I think I could find some brown carpeting or whatever and make a second package tray??

Make a second package tray out of MDF board, cut out holes for whatever size speakers you want, mount them to the board, carpet right over the speakers and then mount the board into the car. They have special acoustic carpeting that will not block the sound. It will be pretty stealthy looking.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Terminal-AT-4551-MPT-Acoustic-Prairie/dp/B00173BQGQ

Here's some "medium prairie tan" carpeting.

The Olds had the same tray. Underneath it was actual sheet metal though. It even had the cutout for the rear defroster unit. But no cutouts for speakers. I figured yours would be similar if you pulled out the plastic tray. Never know though. Yours is only a chevy after all

Thanks Tim for that tip on the carpet.

The package tray board i have now is pretty thin, like cardboard box gauge. There IS sound deadener then a metal tray under it with speaker cutouts, as well as the funky diagonal ones for the old rear mounted defogger blower thing. I just need to find out how to remove the package tray without damaging it.

As I look around at stuff, I'm seeing bad reviews on the retro-look head units, seems they're fairly expensive for the build quality you get, so I'll probably pass on those and put the original AM back in that spot. I can get head units like this for about 100-150 bucks it seems:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1303200UB/Pioneer-DEH-3200UB.html?c=3&tp=5684

I know you can get an undermount box for under the dash. What pisses me off is when I got a bunch of crap the demo derby guy down in Brockton had left over from my old green Impala, I think I forgot to grab the lower dash panel out of it. I could have cut that one for a DIN or DIN and a half, etc., and saved my original! Maybe I should check a few junkyards for a 71-76 Impala and get a second lower dash panel where the radio goes, to keep my options open.

I have seen people install radios in glove boxes. It's a little inconvenient but it is hidden away.

GasTT wrote:

I have seen people install radios in glove boxes. It's a little inconvenient but it is hidden away.

I've done that. In a car my mother had with a mini-stereo that couldn't actually hold a regular sized stereo in the dash. I mounted it just right so that if you pushed on the glove box door it would press the power button on/off. My mother loved it because she could keep the glovebox locked for security but still turn the stereo on/off

Matt, figure out how to get the plastic out and then you'll be able to mount a pair of 6x9's in the rear just like your Caprice has.

If you have a day off and want to go junk picking then let me know and we can scrounge around down in smithfield. They should have what your looking for.

The good thing is my car is non-AC, so I won't have to deal with the AC plenum that's mounted on the bottom of the dashboard if I mounted it there. I was thinking glovebox, but I kind of like being able to keep all the crap that came with the car in there...it won't be really bad if I had to mount it a little further away since I plan on getting something with a remote. I have some undermount gauges in my car, but one is broken so I'll probably just get new ones and mount them in a different spot.

I was looking around at carpet colors for making a package tray seeing if they had dark brown since that's what's in the car now, but I don't think I'll have any luck finding that.

Brad, Smithfield has a couple 71-76 cars rotting in there if it's the place I'm thinking. That's where I got the metal dash trim piece to fix my car's dented one. I bumped into one of the demo derby guys who helped dismantle the green Impala a couple weeks ago at a car show, he said the guy who had bought my old car now has another one, maybe I'll go take a gander at that and see if there's anything I can grab too.

If you don't move the seat around much (ie. your the only driver) then we could mount it under the seat facing forward. It's not that hard, other than extending the antenna cord that far. The rest of the wires can be extended easily enough. It would sit in a bracket that's bolted to the bottom of the seat right where you can reach it easily.

And yes that's probably the same smithfield that I'm talking about. Let me know if you wanna run down and check out what they got because I'm looking for an excuse to go down there myself.