For all of you who have amps. Where did you mount it and how? Hate to drill into the fiberglass in the floor or on the back wall. Would this mess with the structural integrity of the car and cause problems later? You think?

 

I have mine mounted in the Jack storage area in my 1970. It's just setting in there at a slight angle, so no drilling, no mess. No problems in 3 years with it like that.... :cheers:

 

I've got one mounted behind the passenger seat, i'll go take a pic + post it if you'd like

 

Sweet!!! Great idea Thanx See thats what I'm talkin about. Sounds like the best spot to me cause I'm short anyway and that seat will never bee put all the way back. :) Thanx.

 

My amp is mounted on the back wall of the storage area. I made backing plates out of 1/8" x 2" aluminum flat stock and used rivets to attach them to the outside of the back wall. Then I put the amp in position, marked the mounting holes, and then drilled through the fiberglass and the aluminum. Then I tapped the aluminum for machine screws. Worked like a charm.

 

Ok, here goes mine





in case you are wondering what the amp is for... its the 8" Pyle Qubz.. similar to a Bazooka tube, but since it is a bandpass enclosure rather than a bass reflex, it has a somewhat better low end for the same power input.. plus you can get em cheap. And for the heck of it, Infinity 6x9s in the back, and Orion 4" componenet set (4" midrange + 1" tweeter) in the front, powered by the head unit.

 

I went a little overboard on my 71 Roadster. I installed custom cut the center instrument gauge piece and installed a hi-end head unit. New speakers under the dash pad and in the spae behind the kick panels.

THEN...I had a custom enclosure build which drops into the rear compartment with SUBs and all manor of components. On the back hrizontal surface of this custom enclosure I have two amps mounted. One for the front speakers and a dedicated one for the enclosure components (mostely sub-woofers).

To avoid pounding my battery I have a large capacitor mounted in the well behind the passenger seat. The enclosure has direct quick connects to the battery and other speeakers. Convenient handles to pull the thing out if necessary. COoling fans to keep the back compartment airflow moving. Amps generate a lot of heat.

Other then the center console...NO cutting.

Oh and the enclosure I had covered with matching red leather to match the interior texture of the seats. I will take pics in late March if you're still interested.

Perfect hi-end sound. No distortion at VERY VERY hi volume. Eliminates road and all other noise.

Getting close to age 40 - but still enjoy quality tunes with top down.

 

I put mine on the custom speaker box in the backand that way I could hide all the wires and make no holes becuse the power comes right from the batt and the rest from the head unit.

 

Go to my website in my sig and look at the Stereo install. I mounted two amps, a subwoofer, an equalizer, and a 12 disk CD changer under the back panel. You might get some ideas. Good luck.

 

Thanx for all the help guys. Got lots of good suggestions that will be used.
Hey vettfixr whats up with your webpage. Everything is jubled up on my screen. You have a really cool site with lots of good advise I can tell but I can't read half of it. Is there a way for me to get a better look as I would like to.

 

i just went to the site and everything looked OK??? Is anyone else having a problem with it?

 

This was what I had in my 79. I wasn't done installing at the time of this picture. I did it all myself.

 

What's what those "Bunny ears" behind the seat? Are you moonlighting as the Easter Bunny or something?? :lol:

 

Its what happens when your corvette's primary purpose in life is to take a 5 year old to school ;)

 

I mounted my amp against the very back fiberglass behind the seats. I have a rather large amp so it wouldn't fit behind the seat or in the storage compartment. After I mounted it and the speaker boxes I covered the amp with a 'pressure fit' carpeted panel. It's just a thin piece of plywood cut to fit with matching new carpet glued to it.
I don't have a picture with the panel out... but here is a picture of the panel in place covering the amp.

 

I installed two 12" subs, 2 6x9 triaxles in the back (made a custom enclosure) and upgraded the front speakers in my '81. I set the two amps (one for the subs and a four channel amp for the front/rear) in the jack compartment. Then I took a trip from New York to Daytona. 75 miles into the trip the amps shut down due to high temp alarms. I wasn't even driving them that hard. I ended up having to leave them hanging out of the jack compartment fro the rest of the trip. Mounting them behind the seat is also too constricting for proper air flow. I'll have to look into an alternative solution this spring. BTW, one amp is a two channel 100 Watts per side and the other amp is a four channel at 25 Watts per side. Sounds really good before the heat problem sets in.

 

I had the same problem with a single amp overheating with my old setup. I built a custom speaker enclosure that drops right in the back under the convertible top of my 71 Roadster. In hot weather, my first amp used to shut down.

My new setup is a new enclosure similar to the last one. I described it in an earlier post. Anyway it has 2 amps like yours and many sub-woofers etc... This time I put 2 cooling fans in and mounted the amps on the back horizontal surface of the enclosure. It NEVER overheats now.

I selected amps that had better heat dissipation characteristics - and the cooling fans are the key. Just not enough air movement otherwise. Another key is to use a good size capacitor, so your battery and the rest of your electrical system is not adversely affected when you crank the tunes.

BTW, the guy that helped me build my first enclosure 15 years ago lived in Rochester, NY. The company was Rolling Thunder. I've lost track of him over the years.

 

I made a box that has a 12 disc changer and an amp on the passenger side, and the sub in the driver side, this picture is my winter setup, when it's warm enough to take the tops off, I have another carpeted piece that sits on top of the wheel wells and the tops get strapped on top of this, the cool thing is I can still open my compartments with the tops strapped in, I'll have to take some more pictures when it's a little warmer.

 

Vettefixr i tried your site and it (except some missing links) seems to be working fine.

By the way your site is very well done and very informative. :seeya

 

I've noticed a lot of people installing CD changers in their cars.

This is a major mistake!! Anyone still designing a sound system should strongly consider an MP3 player.

They come in all sizes, shapes and capacities. I have one that is the equivalent of a 10GB hard disk. It fits in my hand. It holds every song I've ever even remotely liked.

It connects to my PC via a USB port. It connects to my high-end head unit/CD player in the dash of my Vettes, via and RCA mini-din connection, just as you would connect a CD changer.

The benefits are amazing:

1) 10 hour lithium ion battery rechargable. Or you can run off lighter, or other DC source.
2) Small, portable, lightweight and huge music capacity.
3) Can create playlists and order sequence of songs and storage very conveniently.
4) You can connect it to whatever car you are driving.
5) You can plug headphones into it directly and use as a walkman.
6) When you get home you can plug it into your home stereo system.
7) Prices are dropping drastically
8) NO Installation
9) No fumbling with CDs
10) No melting CDs in the summer.
11) No stolen CDs.
12) If you already have a cassette deck in your car, you can connect this device directly through your deck with a connection device that looks like a tape. EXAMPLE: I have the standard Delco Bose sound system and cassette deck in my 85' coupe - Now NO more tapes. I just hook the MP3 player directly into the tape deck.


Check it out:
http://www.pjbox.com/main.htm


I drove from Pennsylvania to FLorida and NEVER had to listen to the same song twice.

[Modified by TQ67, 10:23 PM 2/27/2002]


[Modified by TQ67, 10:24 PM 2/27/2002]