Any car audio wizards here? I'm looking at components to put together a six speaker + one subwoofer system in my 1977 C3 and need some hardware advice, specifically which type of amp to buy.

I really haven't dealt with car audio components apart from the system I installed into my very first car 30 years ago. That one was simply a head unit, EQ, and four speakers.

I'm considering these components:
Alpine CDE-163BT head unit
Alpine SPS-610C speaker system (four 6.5" speakers + two 1" tweeters)
Kicker 40CWD84 8" subwoofer

I plan to mount the tweeters in the dash, two 6.5" speakers in the kick panels, and the remaining two speakers and the sub in a custom built enclosure in the cargo area.

 

I did something similar, 4x6's in the dash, 6 1/2's in the kick panels, 6x9's and a 10" sub in custom box in cargo area. I have 2 400w amps under the storage tray where the jack would be. They were pricey because they are small for what they put out, don't remember the specs on the amps, I can post those after I get home.

The head unit controls the balance between the dash and kick panel speakers, also controls the volume for the sub. I installed a separate volume control for the 6x9's in back. Essentially this allows me to control the volume/balance of all 7 speakers.

I have been very happy with this set up as I like my music not just loud but clean. The vast majority of the time I drive without the T-tops and you need a lot of power to hear the music (also have flowmaster mufflers which can get a little loud). In the colder months when I have the T-tops on and windows up, you can really get it balanced well and the sound is really great.

I think your set up will work well. I may consider swapping the 4x6's for tweeters myself at some point. I will get specs/pics of my set up for you. Mines all Pioneer except for the amps.

 

here is a pic of my speaker box in the cargo area.

 

That looks awesome! I'm not really looking to have a system that can be heard three blocks away, just a setup with a clean sound. I might do 6 X 9's in the rear, rather than the 6.5's. Do you recommend separate amps for the front and rear components, or do you think I'll be better off running the front speakers straight out of the head unit, and the rear speakers/sub through an amp connected to the RCA ports?

 

My fronts (6 1/2 and 4x6) are on one amp, the 6x9's and sub are on a second. That way the filters can be set (don't need low frequencies going to the front, or high going to the back)

 

Thanks for the info! Looks like I'll need to add a couple of amps to my shopping list.

 

I went with 9 speakers because I had Fiero Seats.

2 - 4x6 Dash
2 - 4x6 kicks, just because I wanted them hidden
4 - 3.5" round in the head rests
1 - 8" sub
2 - 600 watt Sony Amps, because I got them free with my Sony Master Card points.
2 - High Pass Filters for the front and the headrests.

Here are some pics of my install. For the most part you can see NOTHING while standing beside the car.

Front kick plates, before putting the plate back on:



Sub box before carpetting:



View after installing the 2 amps on the back wall: