 weldvair
Silver Supporting Member
Posts: 135
Age: 74
Loc: st cloud fl
Reg: 09-14-11
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07-15-12 11:52 AM - Post#2248420
I installed a 1959 dash in my 65 Biscayne. I am now trying to find a place to install my 5 1/4"
front speakers.
I am thinking of building some 3" deep speaker pods to enable me to place the speakers in the front doors.
Anyone else done this....pictures?
Thanks Donnie
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67Impalamarine
Forum Newbie
Posts: 14
Loc: NW Ohio
Reg: 05-12-10
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07-15-12 01:59 PM - Post#2248449
In response to weldvair
That is a really great question, I have a 67 Impala and there is very little room for speakers. You should show what you figured out.
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 sz0k30
"5th Year" Silver Supporting Member
Posts: 262
Loc: Oakland Co., Michigan
Reg: 10-12-08
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07-15-12 03:22 PM - Post#2248482
In response to 67Impalamarine
67 Impala's had optional speakers in the front kick panels.
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 SS_in_Seattle
"4th Year" Platinum Supporting Member
Posts: 1521
Reg: 05-08-03
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07-15-12 07:02 PM - Post#2248541
In response to weldvair
Donnie,
Part of the restoration on my '65 involved some music. I'm sorry, but am radio played through a small paper speaker wasn't going to cut it, even though the trips in my car are barely long enough to listen to a few songs. Having the L78 425 hp 396 with moderately quiet Magnaflow mufflers makes my car kinda loud, but the stereo system I put in in will [barely] drown everything out.
Here's a description of the pictures, even though they're kinda self-descriptive: 1) A side-shot of the front interior 2) A head-on shot of the same front interior If you look just to the right of the parking brake handle, you'll see the "Head Unit" for my stereo (I'll list all the stereo equipment at the end) 3) There's a side-shot of my interior, so you can see the low-profile subwoofers 4) Obviously my spare tire... that one should be a no-brainer 5) There's the amp that's hiding behind my spare tire 6) That's where the 'door' to the kick-panel vent should be, which happens to be a Great spot for the front speakers.
When I laid-out where the stereo components would be located, I wanted to make sure that it was going to be difficult, if not impossible to tell that there was an aftermarket stereo system in the car. I found a speaker online that fits in the stock location in the dash, and that one speaker was actually two speakers, in one housing, but I wasn't too sure on how good that would sound. So, I removed the doors in the kick-panel vents, made a mounting plate from 3/8" plywood, mounted a 5 1/4" 2-way speaker to the plywood, and mounted the plywood to the stock holes for the vent doors.
Equipmet: Secret Audio Remote Stereo System... This is the head unit. It has a small display unit that you can see in the pictures of my interior, and the bulk of the unit [in my car] is mounted under the left rear arm rest. I have the cable for my ipod routed under the carpet & up into the console. The heart of my system is a Memphis 5.570 5-channel amp [the 5th channel is for the subs]. In the rear-speaker mount, you know... the silver grill that's mounted in the back of the rear seat, has an Alpine SPE 6000, 5 1/2" 2-way speaker mounted to it. The speakers mounted in the front kick-panel vents are Memphis 15-MCS5, 5 1/4" 2-ways. And... The subwoofers are two Memphis 15-MR10D4 low-profile subs in these really cool Pioneer low-profile sealed boxes.
That's probably more than you asked for, but at least now you know the sizes of what will fit where, if you chose to go the same route. I'm really happy with the way things turned out... my system sounds great, and, except for the subs on the floor in the backseat & the small head unit by the parking brake handle, things look stock. I even bought an antenna cable 'Y' so that I could tap into the antenna for my Secret Stereo, and leave the stock radio hooked up (it turns on & plays through the stock speaker in the dash).
Greg
1965 Impala SS L78
1966 Impala SS Convertible
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SS_in_Seattle
"4th Year" Platinum Supporting Member
Posts: 1521
Reg: 05-08-03
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07-15-12 07:06 PM - Post#2248543
In response to SS_in_Seattle
One Last Piture...
1965 Impala SS L78
1966 Impala SS Convertible
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bobb
Super Senior Member
Posts: 4628
Loc: paradise
Reg: 09-05-03
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07-15-12 07:37 PM - Post#2248548
In response to weldvair
i dont like speakers in the kick panels. they dont sound good to me. i think they sound better in the doors themselves but i dont like the look. speakers in the dash i dont like either. if you go to separates thats a whole different story.
| 70 L camino 350 all forged,174 baby blower, g-force 5 spd, road rage suspension. Pray first before all else fails. |
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Fossil_Fuel
Silver Supporting Member
Posts: 850
Age: 53
Loc: Minnesota
Reg: 09-11-07
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07-16-12 07:08 AM - Post#2248680
In response to bobb
Based on all these criteria I think this is the best solution.
http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/shop_ online/he...
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 427SS65
"9th Year" Platinum Supporting Member & Moderator
Posts: 12320
Age: 67
Loc: St. Louis, MO
Reg: 12-11-03
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07-16-12 09:27 AM - Post#2248731
In response to Fossil_Fuel
Funny, Craig!
You know what they say: No highs, no lows, must be Bose!
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SS_in_Seattle
"4th Year" Platinum Supporting Member
Posts: 1521
Reg: 05-08-03
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07-16-12 11:27 AM - Post#2248774
In response to Fossil_Fuel
HaHaHa, I used to wear those whenever I flew... the people asking what they were, how I liked them, etc... were worse than the plane noise... and my company always flew me first class!
Greg
1965 Impala SS L78
1966 Impala SS Convertible
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 aghaga
"4th Year" Silver Supporting Member
Posts: 1531
Age: 58
Loc: Altavista, Va.
Reg: 07-05-08
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07-16-12 12:49 PM - Post#2248798
In response to SS_in_Seattle
Greg,
I installed 5-1/2" speakers in my kick panels simular to you. I gutted the vent door assembly and sealed off the back by glueing a sheet of thick flat plastic. After reading some speaker buffs suggestions I then filled the cavity with pillow stuffing. After making the speaker mount to the face of the damper I fitted/glued sheet plastic to covere the remaining open area. I routed the speaker wire through the hole previously used by the damper shaft. So that the speaker could not be seen I covered/glued thin black cloth to the backside of the kick panel opening. To complement the kick panel speakers I installed a duel cone Retro-Sound speaker arrangement in the dash. A Retro-Sound unit powers these speakers while an Alpine amp powers a couple of JBL 6x9's in the back. I was amazed at the sound clarity and balance of the arrangement.
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SS_in_Seattle
"4th Year" Platinum Supporting Member
Posts: 1521
Reg: 05-08-03
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07-16-12 06:22 PM - Post#2248898
In response to aghaga
Aaron,
I agree with ya, I'm really surprised at how well the stereo in a '65 Impala can sound. One of the nice things about the Secret Stereo, is the ability to manipulate all of the speakers. Since the rear speaker in my car is higher & pointing right at the back of your head, I adjusted the fader down, and now all of the speakers sound like they're at the same volume.
I like the description of how you have your speakers mounted, That's definately something I'm going to copy, uh... reverse engineer this winter
Greg
1965 Impala SS L78
1966 Impala SS Convertible
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weldvair
Silver Supporting Member
Posts: 135
Age: 74
Loc: st cloud fl
Reg: 09-14-11
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07-17-12 05:31 PM - Post#2249218
In response to SS_in_Seattle
Most are missing the point.......I want speakers in the doors.
It looks like I can not recess speakers in the door so I am looking for a pod(s) to mount rhe speakers out from the lower front corner of the door.
Donnie 
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nicke
Contributor
Posts: 643
Age: 29
Loc: Spokane, Washington
Reg: 01-06-12
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07-17-12 07:21 PM - Post#2249265
In response to weldvair
Hey Donny,
Most people dont like to cut up the doors to place speakers in there, even though that might have better acoustics that just putting them in the kick panels.
Do an image search for "kick pod" to get some ideas, as a well built pod will have the best acoustics, though it might be tough to make it look right. I bet you can make something cool, and when you do, we would love to see pictures!
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weldvair
Silver Supporting Member
Posts: 135
Age: 74
Loc: st cloud fl
Reg: 09-14-11
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07-18-12 07:37 AM - Post#2249409
In response to nicke
Nicke....the pitured pods would look great
Thats what I want to do.
Donnie 
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wagonsouth
"4th Year" Silver Supporting Member
Posts: 754
Age: 51
Loc: south AL
Reg: 10-25-09
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07-18-12 07:18 PM - Post#2249694
In response to weldvair
if you have any pick a part yards in your area, check out some of the Cadillacs for the speaker mounts in the doors.
The mounts below are such items, $5.00 each (I think it was each) and they take a 5 1/4 inch speaker.
Brian B.
1965 Bel Air wagon
cashmere gold over sunburst orange metallic
396, Comp Cams "small thumper"/700R4 w/2200 stall
2006 & 2012, 2013 Hot Rod power tour long hauler
2008 HHR "sunburst orange metallic" |
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Caprice 396
Senior Member
Posts: 442
Loc: Chicagoland
Reg: 06-06-03
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07-18-12 09:51 PM - Post#2249747
In response to weldvair
I built a pair of fiberglass kick panels for my MB Quart components in my Caprice. I covered the fiberglass in bedliner material so they match the black interior and they can take a beating.
66 Caprice... Undergoing Renovations
CarDomain Page <-- Now with progress updates |
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maddjeff
Forum Newbie
Posts: 79
Age: 46
Loc: Vancouver, WA
Reg: 07-07-12
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07-18-12 10:50 PM - Post#2249763
In response to Caprice 396
Those are sweet! How much for you to fab up a pair for me?
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Caprice 396
Senior Member
Posts: 442
Loc: Chicagoland
Reg: 06-06-03
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07-19-12 06:33 AM - Post#2249834
In response to maddjeff
Those are sweet! How much for you to fab up a pair for me?
They're actually pretty easy to build. I'd never really worked with fiberglass before. Watch some youtube videos for direction. I bought a spare pair of kick panels off eBay, made some speaker rings out of MDF (to give you something to screw the speaker to), cut wooden dowels to angle the speaker ring, stretch an old t-shirt over the whole assembly and start layering fiberglass resin over the whole thing.
I read in several places that kick panel speakers should be pointed towards the top center of the car (right between the driver & passenger's ears) for proper imaging, so that's how I did it.
The "tubes" that I used to house my tweeters were actually cut from tubes of Liquid Nails.  Since our cars have vents in the kick panels, I made my enclosures wtih 2 chambers. The speakers are sealed off from the second chamber which lets the air flow into the car. That way, any moisture or debris that comes through the vent doesn't get to the speaker.
I did have to remove the emergency brake lever on the driver's side to make room. I'll eventually replace it with an under-dash style unit.
66 Caprice... Undergoing Renovations
CarDomain Page <-- Now with progress updates |
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SS_in_Seattle
"4th Year" Platinum Supporting Member
Posts: 1521
Reg: 05-08-03
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07-19-12 12:40 PM - Post#2249929
In response to Caprice 396
Wow Caprice 396... Those speaker mounts are insanely cool, very nice look without doing any damage to you Caprice.
Greg
1965 Impala SS L78
1966 Impala SS Convertible
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