I really need decent sound in my wagon. It is daily driver and currently only has two 4x10 speakers mounted in home made center console. Sound is good but very "centralized" Anyway, I thought of speaker placement. Kick panels are out because it would need a lot of fabrication plus the high beam and park brake would be in the way on the driver side. Center of the dash gives me worst sound that I already have with the console. Besides that, there is really no place to mount the speakers. So I was looking at my car on a lunch brake and check this out. What if I were to build shallow box that would cover back of the tailgate? I could house two shallow 8-10" subs there plus pair of 5 1/4" on a side. It would be attached to the tailgate and it would only shorten the cargo area by few inches which wouldn't affect my full size wagon at all. I will also put small tweeters at the top of the dash. I would pretty much replace the metal held by the screws with custom box: my tailgate My only concern is that hopefully I wouldn't crank the volume high with tailgate glass down. If I break this thing, I will be driving with plastic tarp held by duct tape for a very long time. What do you guys think?
You're question is a lot like mine a few months back: http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4212 There's a lot of links. I haven't done it all yet, but I'm still playing with the suspended self-enclosed speakers above the rear tailgate window. In the meanwhile I bought a pair of one-way mid-range speakers for the doors and made my own rain shields with construction vapour barrier plastic. The fancy shields would spoil me. Here's another thread where I agonized over it: http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3564 Finally got a stock Ford radio (AM/FM/Cassette), and I love the sound. Still looking for the stock AMP switch, though.
One thing that would help -and something I am considering- is adding tweeters to the C-pillars, just below the roof. Will definitely move the highs around the car.
I'm in the process of upgrading my sound system. My stock speaker locations are the dash, front doors, and cargo area. I'm switching out the stock speakers and I added a Bazooka tube and a mono amp both behind the rear seats. The bass tube makes a bigger difference than I thought it would as far as providing an overall fuller sound. If you don't have stock locations for your speakers in back, you may want to consider the areas on each side of the tailgate glass. I've seen a couple wagons recently that have stock speakers there and it seems like a great location for rear speakers because they aim to the front. Wiring speakers to your tailgate could cause issues.
Thanks for the ideas. C-pillar (or A pillar) would probably be best location. I would have to make the enclosure that fits and paint it but that should be doable. Doors are out of the question because I would have to cut out the original panels. My car only came with one mono speaker in the center of the dash so I am really limited in this area.
Hmm? If I buy 6 channel amp, I could mount tweeters in the A-pillar, 5 1/4" speakers near the top of the back seat (plenty of room - just need a custom enclosure) and put bazooka or subwoofer in the back. The only problem is that I would have to replace my 30amp alternator to run all that equipment. Currently, it is sweating with lights and wipers on.
30 Amp alternator? On a big wagon? GM's alternators were that small? You should be able to get it tested for output. That doesn't sound right. 70 Amps or 90 is more likely. My stock alternator on my Fairmont is 100 Amps. I had the 90 Amp unit on the car with the Air Conditioner, and the 302 V8, before I swapped to the 6 cylinder and it ran fine. Here's a good website for Amperage requirements and big sound systems: http://www.the12volt.com/ Check out this article on boosting your Ground system too. I did what it says, and my stock halogen headlights really are brighter. http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp~TID~73496~PN~1
Back in the 1970 biggest alternator GM put in their full size cars was 60 or 70amps and it was only available with big block. Standard engines got 30-40amp with mine being something like 34 or 36 in a stock form. Not a big deal for me now since I have manual tailgate, manual windows, no extra electrical components besides wipers, radio and lights. But once I put amplifier and 5 speakers, I will definitely need an upgrade.
My dad's new 1966 Impala always had dim headlights. Now I know why. Learning still. I always had big GM engined cars, Caprice 396, Olds 394 V8's and 3 Rivieras, etc., except for my 2 corvairs which had turbos and rallye lights, so I never had to be bothered with that.
The Idea of removing the ash tray is a very good one. I did this 2 moths ago. I just removed the ash tray, pierced 4 holes and attached the new radio with brackets. If you want to see how that'd look, just attach it with Tie-wraps first. It's very easy and it looks good without removing any stock parts.
