Hey everybody, my family just invested in a 77 Corvette, and now it is my duty to upgrade the stereo system The car has a stock AM/FM 8 Track (woohoo!) hooked up to two stock front speakers under the dash. This basically gives me the opportunity to start out fresh and build up a completely new system. I'm looking for some ideas from you guys. I don't really want kick panels or to put speakers in the door so I may just stick with the dash location in the front. My current idea is to replace the 4X6 speakers in the dash by something a bit bigger, like a 5.25 or 6.5, install a new head unit, and possibly build a custom box in the back for either two 6X9's or two 8 inch woofers. I'd appreciate any help or comments you guys can offer. Thanks.

 

My neighbor's '79 (or is it '81, I forget) Corvette has 6x9s in the rear...it's sort of like these grilles that just screw into the corner. I think only the last few years of that Corvette style had the rear speakers...find a newer one and take a look. But if you don't mind a non-stock appearance, I think you could probably get better sound by making your own wooden box.

As far as the front speakers...yes, I would try to get something bigger in there if you can, but maybe you can't. The only way to tell is to get the car apart, find some junky old 5 1/4s and 6 1/2s and test fit them. Also, if you can find some newer GM 4x6s with the separate tweeter, like on a nice Buick or Cadillac or something, they sound pretty nice I think.

 

You may find that just replacing the 4X6's with aftermarket speakers such as MTX or Orion will improve the mid and tweet sound dramatically.

If you can add in a sub box with an amp it will take the stess off the dash speakers to make the bass therefore you will get a much cleaner sound.

Plus, aftermarket speakers are far more effcient than stock one's so you should be able to make do with the head unit's amp output for them and use the RCA output to go to the sub AMP.