What brand & model of speakers to you guys use? I want to get new 6x9's for the back, new door speakers (4 1/2's ?), and new dash speakers (I've never seen them). What size are the door and dash speakers?
What are some suggestions for some good speakers and how much $$$ do they cost? I've seen and heard the Sony Xplod 6x9's and they look and sound pretty durn good (though the prettiness factor kindof does not matter since they will be covered up anyway). Are the other sizes as good as their 6x9's?

I want good mid and high range. I plan to put in 2 10's eventually to take care of the low range, but that can wait a while :)

 

Is it a Blows system? If so, there are no dash speakers, just the grills with solid plastic beneath them. You have to modify the panels to accept speakers.

If it isn't a Blows system, then there are no door speakers, and speakers ARE in the dash.

 

Huh.. that's screwy! :confused: Mine is Bose. I figured out the door panel thing this weekend when I installed the door panels I bought. They were from an '84 so I figured either '84 did not have door speakers or maybe this '84 did not have the Bose setup... I ended cutting the door panels with a saber saw and it worked very well actually! :yesnod: There was a little template already etched on the underside of the panel where I cut out a square...

Is it even worth it to install dash speakers then? Are there already wires running up to the speaker locations or would I have to run my own wires?

 

I ran a set of tweeters up to my dash. You have to splice into the door wiring (easy, just do it at the radio) or install a crossover and do it that way.

 

Yeah, tweeters in the dash is the way to go--a definite advantage of
having the older interior. If you look around, you can find the dash
grilles that are pre-cut for speakers. It costs more, but it makes
the job a little easier.

 

Where can I get grills like that?
I wonder how hard it'd be to make them on my own...

Any recomendations on speakers though? :)

 

I went with MB Quarts. Very good tweeters. Very easy to run wire up to the dash location. I would post pics, but home pages are down currently. JL Audio 10's in back too.

 

I got the dash grills straight from the dealer. These were the stock grills
used on the non-bose vettes. You might be able to pick them up cheaper
from a salvage yard though. I went with nakamichi speakers, and have
been very happy with them.

 

Alpine system with Sony speakers.

 

Get seperates front, and seperates rear if you are serious about adding subs. If you aren't sure, get 6x9 rear. Put the tweets from the seperates in the dash and the mids in the door. The mids come in 4 1/2, 5 1/4, and 6 1/2 inch sizes. Get the largest you can fit. Probably the 5 in front and 6 in rear. Stay away from 4x6 and Sony speakers. They suck. Bottom line. Here is a link to some that will bury them for under $150 a set. http://www.bostonacoustics.com/Produ...=4&SeriesID=23
My seperates are close to $500 a set and need gobs of power so I wouldn't recommend them your your application.
How much do you want to spend and are you planning to use an amp? How much do you want to spend on the amp? The 6x9 above will work with minimal amp out to 100w a channel from a good quality amp. Brands like pioneer, sony, clarion, and other brands known for making head units have the worst speakers. They figure they will sell speakers to go with their units because people want an all something sterio. Turns out that most make them as cheap as possible and its just popcorn at the movies for them. All profit no quality. If you want good speakers, even inexpensive ones, get them from a true speaker maker like MB quart, Focal, Boston, etc. Just my 2 cents I got from intalling for years.
92TripleBlack
:cheers:

 

VERY NICE!!!!!! I am about to put some MB's in mine!!!! EXCELLENT QUALITY!!!!!!!!! :yesnod: :yesnod:

 

I have a non-Bose system. I have Kicker Impulse 4x6 up front with Kicker Reference titanium tweeters on the A-pillar, Kicker 6X9 2 way speakers out back, and a 10" Bazooka subwoofer all run off an Alpine 500w amp. Oh, and a 6 disc Alpine CD changer all running off the stock head unit. :D

 

Excuse my ignorance, but what's a seperate? :confused:
Also, I didn't plan on getting an amp until I got the subs. I didn't know that 6x9's needed to be amped (or do they?).

I'm not a huge audio buff so there's alot I don't know. I'm not going for all out loudness; I'd like it to get loud of course, but clarity is much more important. My friends have had systems that they brag about but they didn't sound all that great to me cause it was just all loud bass and you couldn't hear any of the cool little intricacies in a song (if it had any :))

Any recomendations on a head unit? I want one that plays MP3's, has a remote, and does NOT have a flip-down style face. I'd prefer to not have even a removable face, but I could put up with one... I'm looking for an Aiwa right now cause I've heard a few Aiwa home stereo units (even bought one for my girlfriend) and they sounded GREAT! but I'm surely not closed to suggestions for other brands. I also don't want one with some crazy motorized disappearing control deck sort of jobby (i.e.: elKamelion) cause I just know something will break on me :yesnod:

 

"Seperates" means that the tweeter is a seperate unit from the midrange driver.

With the bose system, the each speaker is built into its own amp. If you remove the
speakers you remove the amps. Some aftermarket head units have amplification
built in, but they would be a step down from what you have now. Bottom line is,
if you want to change the speakers, you're going to need amps to do it right.

 

I second the MB Quarts. You need to have an amp to power them though.

 

Does MB Quartz have a website? What sort of amp would I need to power them? and would I need 1 amp for each 6x9 or just 1 to power the pair of them?


[Modified by A, 9:33 PM 11/6/2001]

 

http://www.mbquart.com/

You could go with a 2 channel amp to run just the rear speakers, or a 4 channel
amp that will also run the front speakers. But its important to think about where
you are going to mount your amp/s. That is really the trickiest part about doing
an install in a vette.

 

I have two 6.5's in my daily driver toyota 4x4.....power them with an old JBL 150w amp. I cant blow em with that.......and they can handle MUCH more than that!!!!! Very Clean Sound. :cheers: Going to put them in my kck panels......and get another amp and more speakers for the rear. I am tired of fooling with my BLOWS SYSTEM. :yesnod: :yesnod: :lol: :crazy:

I agree......AMP placement is by far the trickiest part of the install....all else is straight forward.

 

I put boston accoustics 4x6 in the dash, and they sound great. I am probably going to take out the flea market 6x9s in the back and put in some alpines. As for the doors, I wanted to put some coaxes in there...but all that fits in the bose enclosure is a 4" or a 3 1/2". If you take out that enclosure thought, all you have to do is make a simple plate out of wood that the speaker mounts to, and you will be able to fit a 5 1/4 or 6 1/2 in them. Thats what i am going to do next. I cant figure out where to put the amp yet. Maybe i can hide it in the engine compartment somewhere... :confused:

 

Do you think an amp would get too hot to hide behind a panel where the breadbox used to be? Is there enough room there for a big enough amp? I could always hide it under the knee-knocker panels assuming they're not too packed with wire already and then splice it into the stock wiring.

Would I amp the door speakers also? I've always been under the impression that you only amp bass speakers... guess I've been living under a rock :D