Hey guys,

So I'm getting ready to slap all of my interior back together, and while the interior needs a lot of work (read: seats and headliner), I'm not planning on doing anything with it until next year.

That being said, I'd like to have decent quality audio in the meantime. I mostly listen to Rock. Anywhere from the 60's to today, and just about every sub-genre.

Presently, I have a more or less blank slate. There's some Pioneers in the dash that came with my parts car, but I don't really know anything about them so I'll just replace them. My car originally was a UQ7 car, but the only thing I have left that came with my car were the sail panel boxes and the original subs, which I have no idea if they work or not. The wiring is still there, but I have no radio or anything else for that matter. The gain switch is still there, I think, but I can't read any of the switches\buttons to be sure.

I'm not sure if I'd be better off trying to wire up a 6 speaker setup using the UQ7 boxes or if I'd be better off with a 4 speaker setup with 6x9s or whatever in the sail panels. I do have both box types.

I don't need a huge bumpin' system. My desire is to have a balanced system where I can hear highs and lows, without distortion. If I decide to pop out the T-Tops and go for a cruise while blasting some tunes, I don't want it to sound like trash. I'm not looking to break the bank, either. I'm fine with retail store stuff as long as it all comes together and sounds decent.

Thanks in advance,
Mike

 

6.5 split combos in the kick panels along with another set of 6.5 split in the rear sails, and one 10 inch woofer in the rear 'trunk well'.. Pair it all off with a good 5 channel amp, and you'll be more than happy

 

Rather than in the kick panels, would the dash accomplish a similar goal?

 

My car came with a basic pioneer in the dash and inexpensive aftermarket speakers. Underpowered and crappy sound. I had a vintage 2-channel Rockford Fosgate Punch 75 laying around, bought a non-amplified dual coil (2-ohm) 10" Bazooka Sub from a buddy. Put the sub in bridge mono for 300 watts (the Fosgate is 2-ohm stable) and ran the left and right side speakers (front and rear) as only front right and left (no fader) at 150W per channel. The improvement in sound was night and day. Still need to change out the dash and rear panel speakers but just adding the amp and sub and re-configuring the speakers was huge. You can get restored Punch amps on eBay for $200-$300 (Punch 150s) They will outperform ANY amp in that price range. The Punch 150 in 2-ohm bridge is clean for all 600W output and that kicks up the L and R channels to 300W clean. Plus it's a nice vintage piece to have in the 80's cars. The rear side storage compartment is a great place for the amp. Keep in mind though that Punch amps require very high current supply circuits. My Punch 75 needed a 30A dedicated circuit.

 

Yes and no.

Yes they would also be in the front of the car. No due to the sound bouncing off the windshield to reach your ears and also the 4" x 6" in the dash are much smaller and are not in an enclosure, where the 6" in a kick panel would be.

 

Not to hijack...but when you say "splits"....do you mean a mid 6.5" driver with a smaller tweeter?

 

No worries, Abubaca.

I know there's probably a bazillion threads on putting speakers in the doors, but what's the consensus on the best method with cost and ease of installation in mind? I'm a little hesitant to start cutting up my door panels if I don't have to.

 

I have some infinity reference 4x6 speaker plates in the dash. they play high and mids real well. got some polk 6x9 in the sail panels. they are ok. I just purchased a set of infinity kappa 4x6 speaker plates that will go in the dash. I will also be replacing the polks with some infinitys. I picked up the kappa 4x6 for 85$ on amazon. then I got a 10" and 12" subs in a box. only got the headunit w/ built in amp, 4 speakers, 2 channel amp, and 2 subs. the dash speakers handle the highs/ mids, sail panel ones same, subs for the lower end. those 4x6 plates are awesome for guitar shreds. oh and I also upgraded my alternator. it was a direct bolt on. same clocking as cs130. from a 96 suburban.

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo....302769&jsn=473

 

yes, split, components, there are several names for them.


here is a link to a great sounding set

 

So I finished my setup yesterday and got it all tuned in. Very happy with the basic layout and reasonably priced components. It can really crank and sound good at the same time. Very little, if any distortion even at pretty loud levels for all of my kinds of music.

• Pioneer DEH-1550ub (came with car, nearly worthless)
• Rockford Fosgate Punch 75 MOSFET amp 2-channel, circa 1985 ($40 eBay)
• Polk DB461 4x6 4-ohm 2-way ($50 amazon each pair) in factory front and rear locations- dash and by rear armrests (convertible)
• Bazooka Dual Coil 10" Passive Sub

The Bazooka is mono bridged across the amp and connected at 8-ohms.
The front and rear speakers are connected in parallel for left and right channels (I have no fader function). The rear speakers have additional 4-ohm 100W resistors in series to make them 8-ohms.

The total load impedance to the amp is 2-ohms which is exactly where I need it.

I tuned the system using the Pioneer's internal High Pass Filter settings to cutoff frequencies below 50Hz at -6db. It also has a nice custom equalizer setting that let me tune the system to not be boomy or muddy. I am very happy with the results. I did not need door speakers. My musical tastes are like the OPs. Whatever I like. Right now it's Van Halen, Cheap Trick, The Kinks, Techno, Old School Rap, John Denver, Sia, Victoria Monet, The Beatles...

 

Just curious..were the Polk Dash speakers the Polk DB461 (4x6 oval) , or 461P (plate) speakers?

Crutchfield claims neither fit Thirdgens, and I was wondering if you had any fitment issues. I have a suspicion that they might fit with slight modifications.

 

I have the 6x9s in the rear. in front I have some infinity kappa 4x6s. the 4x6 just barely fit in the dash (too deep). but the polks fit in the back nicely. *it may say it doesn't fit because some cars had the uq7 boxes in the rear. ill post pics in the morning.

 

idk if crutchfield has price matching but I got mine on amazon. they where cheaper and had free 1 day shipping. also I used an amp to only do lows for the rears and they sound nice. the speaker almost uses the entire car panel to make bass. that's I why I was going to upgrade to the kappas. I think on amazon the kappas are listed for like 20$ more than the polk db691

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108693...a-693-11i.html

 

Here you go.

 

I have Polk 6x9 speakers in my sails, too..but am having problems finding decent dash speakers that fit.

 

Go vintage Alpine head unit if possible. They pop up on eBay every once in a while. Modern 4x6 in dash and modern 6x9 in sail panels of good quality. The old school Rockford fostgate punch series amps are insane little amps. Pair one of those with a single 10" sub and anything from Zeppelin to GnR will sound great.

 

I have the infinity kappa 4x6 plates in the dash. They aren't screwed in or anything. They just sit there but don't rattle around. I bought a 4 channel amp because I had 2 subs but my lights would dim with the bass. I have the rear channel set to low pass. The Polk 6x9 are decent but I believe they are rated for 75watts rms @4ohm. I want the kappa 6x9 which are rated for 150watts rms @2ohm.