I am in the process of replacing my radio and am upgrading to a JVC CD receiver. Only one of my speakers work so I will be replacing those in time as well. Because the C3 has dash speakers, kick panel speakers and rear speakers what would be the best way to connect this to my stereo? Since the receiver I'm installing has a 50w x 4 ouput how would I connect it to the other 2 speakers?

I'm thinking of getting new 4 x 6's in the dash and new 6.5's in the kick panel and connecting the new stereo to those. Then eventually either usingan amp to power the 6 x 9's or just getting some subs in the back and leaving the 6 x 9's locations empty. Any problems that anyone can see with this?

 

I do not, here is my plan for my stereo. Currently I only have the rear 6x9's. I my plan is to put in the 4x6 in dash wired to the front channel, of course the 6x9 in the rear wired to the rear channel. Then I am going to get a self contained amp/sub combo for the rear. Something like this Infinity Basslink

I have seen this same setup on another post on this forum and he loved it.

 

The kick panel is a rotten place for a speaker as far as sound goes, I guess the side of your leg gets to hear it well,

Taste, are you into bass heavy or ear piercing highs?
Or do you just dig well balanced sound?

You really dont "need" 6 speakers Your head unit is for four speakers, use the best you can afford, place two in the dash top and two in the rear, try it out, then if you need more, power the rear speakers with a amp and try it again if it still lacks for your taste add a woofer and amp to the rear then go dazzle the troops with the thumping killer sounds,

That self contained bass is cool but shop around crutchfield is most times the highest priced of all out there.

 

I like the idea of not messing with the 6.5in speakers in the kickpanels and just upgrading the dash and rears. That's my new plan.

With the Infinity Basslink system is there still room to store your t-tops in the back?

 

I am not sure because I have not done this yet from guessing I think it would work out. Especially if you mounted it as far back as you can.

 

What year?

 

I guess I should have stated that at the beginning. It's an 80.

 

Use the SEARCH tool.
There is plenty of threads about the installation of speakers. Search for DURANGO_BOY . He was an experienced guy when it came to AUDIO equipment.
Quality speakers in the kick panels sound very good in my 1980 vette.
Dash speakers according to many vette owners are waste.
I mounted a quality 10" sub in the rear passenger compartment and a good quality amp on the rear wall.
My Saturday night cruise sound great with the 70's and 80's music !

Good luck !

 

Speakers placed in the kick panel are more equidistant to the listening position (your ears) and therefore can offer better stereo imaging for your front stage compared to any other install location, especially if they are properly aimed.

Smoking Gun, you can wire the front two pairs of speakers in parallel with no adverse affects. Just wire the left two speakers in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative) and the same for the right two. be sure to keep your front stage all on the same channel (front left and right respectively) or you will have a hard time properly adjusting the front to rear ballance of the system. The increased load on the head unit for the extra pair shouldn't be more than what it can handle.

 

I couldn't agree more...never quite understood why they put speakers in the dash at all


4 x 50W HU; two pairs of RCA's into a 4 channel amp; one pair of channels powers front kick panel speakers (Polk db651's fit and are the best sounding speaker I've ever own); other pair of channels to a 10" sub with dual voice coils. Done. Amp it all, gives balance and control. Oustanding sound, even with sidepipes raging.

My install thread:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...e-at-last.html

Best of luck, Steve

 

Those Polk DB651s are just the best.

 

The space alloted for dash speakers is inadequate for a quality speaker which then cuts your system's quality factor in half. The kick panels allow for larger and better quality speakers that you can balance/fade to get the greatest effect coupled with the rear speakers. The rear has the same space challenge if you use the OEM speaker mounts - cant' get a decent 6x9 speaker into the available depth, which is why I and many others have fabricated an alternative rear speaker mounting method.

 

Mid's and highs are directional sound, bass in omni directional,
Speakers in the kick panels would have to be pointing at the persons head not their legs to sound good, door speakers would be better than kick panel speakers you don't want your mids and highs in the floor, going across your legs into the center tunnel,
Speakers in the dash under that curved windshield get the same effects to a degree as the big outside amphitheater dome, ( to a degree )
You won't see a vette win a top end car stereo sound off, the shape is all wrong,
Very true speaker size plays a part but a top end dash speaker will beat a low kick speaker pointing at the center console in true sound quality but perhaps not over all blasting volume,
I have to issue tons of due respects to people, some folks in all honestly don't know what good audio in a car ( or elsewhere ) sounds like, and personal tastes plays such a big role in what a person believes sounds good,
Just because it's loud doesn't always mean it sounds good,
In the case of my nightclub, we would tailor the sound system and system mixing for the style music,
Be it alternative, Goth, Rock, or House, all very different in sound mix,
When we set up for bands, the systems were very different from say the time Two live crew played to one of the times NIN's played to the sound in the arena where we put Santana,
Another huge factor is like I mentioned before, what type sound do you like, bass heavy or ear splitting tinny?
Keep in mind what sounds great to one fellow might just sound like Dodo to the next.

One thing that will always be true, where ever you install them buy the best speakers you can afford, then a good head unit, I have one Alpine unit that allows you to "tweak" it for weakiness in the cars interior and speaker placement,
then if you need more do the sub with amp and drive the rear speakers with another amp

 

Dash panel speakers in front and 'big boomers' in the back is NOT a balanced system. If you put small speakers in the dash only, they will not produce any significant bass sounds...and any they do produce will just rattle your windshield. Glass reflects high frequencies well...but bass just causes it to vibrate. Mid ranges and bass will travel just fine from the kickpanel areas, if you put in quality speakers. Your problem will be in how you wire them. Most good quality car speakers are 4 ohms. If you wire dash and kickpanel speakers in series, you will end up with 8 ohms on each side. That will produce good clarity [with a 4 ohm amp output], but it will cut the power they can produce. The other option is to wire them in parallel. That will yield 2 ohm combinations: great for power, but bad for sound reproduction (also assuming a 4 ohm amp output). If the amp will handle 2 ohm loads, then it's a "no brainer". Just use a separate amp for the back speakers.

 

I never said balanced as in 4 matching speakers, of course that would be the perfect set up which we can't really do in a C3 vette, I said a balanced sound,
A woofer like the one above and a couple 6x9's are hardly what I would call "big boomers"
Hum. then with that school of thought we want balanced we could only get that with 4 matched speakers equal distance from the listener, and if bass was used it would need be in the center low of that set up again not possible in a c3 vette,
Speakers in the kick panels is not going to balance better or sound better that higher mounted speakers,
I have never heard anyone with experience in auto sound say combo speakers low in the kick panels is better than higher up in the doors or dash,
Bass from a combo speaker in the kick panel which is what a 6" round, first that isn't any big bass to speak of from a 6" combo speaker and the mids and highs from that speaker pointing at legs and a center console will loose out big time, becoming muddy,
The wiring ideas are good but be sure to check what the head unit can handle so you don't toast it,
If you have your speakers in the kick panels and it sounds good to you that's all that matters,

 

I used Polk Audio 6.5" seperates in the kick panels, with the crossovers and tweeters in the quarter panel behind and lower than your head position. I used a Clarion thinline 10" sub. This is all powered by a 100 or 150 watt amp, and it sounds as good as any stereo that I've installed over the past 30 years, and that would be a few. My only reserve for you is, I always use Pioneer head units because they have given me the power, clarity, options, and a better than average tuner for the radio. That's just my opinion, and experience. I just put a Pioneer head unit in my 39' toy hauler, and it rocked the campground this past weekend. (no amp installed yet, just head unit!!)

 

I was concerned while I was installing speakers in the kick panel too. They sound great and I am happy I put in the effort.
JR

 

There should be only 1 set of front speakers for clean sound. To use both front locations a crossover is best- for example 5.25 in kicks & tweeters in dash.
I disconnected the dash speakers in the 70s & later removed them.
W/ speakers in kicks, removing the dash speakers & leaving open or mostly open w/ tweeters can give a more open airy sound & raise the soundstage.
Some 5.25 can be fitted to kick panel locations angled back & up.

Kenwood eXcelon mask CD
Kenwood eXcelon 5.25 Components in kick panels.
Removable rear equil. to 2 8s

If I were more into car stereo I would have put speakers in the doors a long time ago. I have heard 5.25s in doors w/ much better bass that blow away 6.5 in C3 kick panels. Current system can make women & girls cry, "breathtaking".

 

These are the sets of speakers I just purchased.

4x6's

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1166234894711

6x9's
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1166234894575

Just last night I pulled the old dash speakers out and put these new 4x6's in the dash. I haven't wired them in yet but it appears that the new speakers have a larger driver and will not fit well enough to put the factory speaker cover back on. The speakers did not come with speaker grill covers. Can I just buy 4x6 grill covers and put those on in place or does it have to be a specific Infinity grill that will fit?

Also, I looked at the wires to see which is postive and which is negative. The only marking is a B on one wire and ^ on the other. I imagine that the B is neagtive and the ^ is positive. Assuming this is correct what is the best way to connect these? Will a crimp make the connection just fine or do I need to solder or something else?

From reading about others problems I can also tell that the 6x9's are probably going to be a problem as they probably won't fit in the factory location. Any tips?

 

The quality and type of speakers you chose looked very good. But, they are too large for the speaker volume you have available. Your choices would be: 1) take them back to Best Buy, tell them the problem, and see if they have other speakers that will fit. [Note: Having two-way speakers in the dash is OK, but leaving them as single cone mid/high range is fine too. You will only reflect higher frequencies off the glass, anyway.] 2.) Install what you have by modifying the car/mountings and putting whatever covers you need to make them fit. {Not the option I would choose, but if it works for you.....} If the inability to reuse the speaker retainers (dash) is the problem in the dash, the frames on your new dash speakers will be strong enough to just mount to the underside of the dash directly using the retainer mounting screws; leave the retainer frames off. But keep them or sell them to someone on the Forum who can't replace theirs.

Since both of your new speakers have 2 ohm impedence, you can hook the speakers on each side in "series", and the speaker set will total 4 ohms...probably a very good match for most head units and/or amps.