Speaker Placement

[Toptech360]

Very cool, NoTop...that amp is tiny!!

I think I have settled on these speakers and this amp to suffice until I get the interior redone.

The amp is a bit pricey and not quite as small as the one you used but still small enough to conceal in several different places; and it has volume control in the remote which is a lot easier than controlling Bluetooth volume from a smartphone. It also has plenty of power if/when I later decide to go to 4 channels rather than 2. The speakers are marine rated and cheap enough - I'm certainly not going to spend big dollars for an open-air theater.

I'll follow up with pictures once I get done!

That is the same amp I have. I love it. Works awesome and uses very little power. Be sure to wire in some bass blockers as the amplifier is full range with no built in crossover. A subwoofer also makes a huge difference. Here is a link to the write-up I did last year.

viewtopic.php?p=272059#p272059

I apologize for hijacking this thread, but after see1ng the OP's picture of his current speaker placement, I noticed that the OEM AM radio is still in it's original location. As an old F--- who does not own a smart-phone, I am not aware of the many apps & services that are available, to obtain either live or pre-recorded music, that can be relayed via Bluetooth to an external amplifier. If any of the resident audiophiles have found a way to hook into the OEM radio, I would be interested in the how & WHY.

Years ago, I got fed-up with the AM-only radio, & fabbed-up an enclosure to house a combo AM/FM plus audio cassette replacement. I also fabbed up two boxes to house 8" 2-channel speakers ( no sub-woofer ). I also built two brackets, to mount the speakers to the two openings in the body behind the seats, but soon discarded them, as the sound was muffled by the seat-backs,

I sit ready to be educated by all who have installed more elegant stuff than I have, & have included some photos of my setup, along with the OEM radio, that I saved ( for future owner to install, if he/she chooses ), and two photos of the roadster, as it looked whenit was still running.

G.S.

Most radio stations can be played online, and when data is spotty it's easy enough to play music alaready stored on your phone or device. Or a good time to listen to the carburetors sing their song! Bluetooth amplifiers open up a whole new way of integrating good sound into pretty much anything from boats and ATVs to an old igloo cooler.

[Howard R]

I have 2 4" speakers behind the front seats in small enclosures. A 6" in the stock speaker box under the passenger footwell, as well as a 4" in a small enclosure under the driver's side footwell. A 60w am/fm CD player in the glove. With the top down at 70mph, Zeppelin and The Beach Boys sounds great. If you're a Tchaikovsky aficionado, you're gonna have a problem.

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[Mattk]

Years ago I was a high end audio installer. I installed systems for costumers that ranged from Joe shmo to pro athletes in normal cars to exotic cars. Even did a comp car or two. But Porsche’s were my speciality. So my plan with my roadster is still mainly on the drawing board, but what I’m thinking at this point is that I’m going to go with Miata seats with upgraded speakers, which I already have. I’m thinking about a three way set up, with some MB Quarts or old Focals I have laying around, which would consist of 7” in the door or in the kick like akpilot did in his roadster. Then putting a set up in the top of the dash ( mind you I have not yet done my flat dash conversation so I don’t know what my space looks like). As for the rear I’m thinking I don’t really need as the headrest speaks will handle that. For the power I will be running a fatter alt, of course that has yet to be shoehorned in. The amp is going to be an A or maybe an AB amp, not D, don’t care for their sound but that just me. I have an oooollldd A/D/S amp that I might use but it’s only 4 channels and I might need as many as 8 but I think I can get by with 6 if I play with the ohm loads. For the sub, I have four old kicker 8” laying around and a JL Audio 10” dvc. The 8s I could put behind the seats or in the trunk. I really have no issue cutting a hole in the wall as my car is far from a numbers car. If I go the trunk route I’m thinking that with the 8s I could do a 4 order ported box, less space bigger boom, or just mount the 10” in the wall with a box in the trunk.

Again this is all preliminary and as things move forward decisions will be made

Cheers

Matthew

[dbrick]

Just as a side note, alot of people use a good quality wireless bluetooth speaker randomly tossed in the back, and it sounds great.
Here's my current setup, big old amp in the pass footwell will be replaced with a smaller more efficient one soon.
Speakers in side panel behind seat, this Kicker unit is great, Kicker 11PXI50.2 and avail on Amazon and current model does Bluetooth.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21262&p=191212&hili ... od#p191212

[toofless]

Finally got the car back from its motor / engine bay rebuild yesterday. 100 hours of labor + $5K+ in parts. Yeah, that bill was a bit painful. But she's running great and I can't wait until I get through the first 200 miles of break-in!

Anyway I was able to measure the, um, custom speakers in the doors and they are in fact 5.25" so I placed the order at Crutchfield last night. It turns out that the speakers weren't so much speakers, but rather speaker covers without anything behind them! Anyway I will post pics next week when I get done - the amp will fit perfectly in the glove box so it should be the easiest car audio installation ever!

@Geistfahrar / G.S.:

In relation to your question and if I understand it correctly, I'd pose that you would never want to run anything through (/ hook into) the OEM radio. It's so old, feeble, and poor in sound quality that you'd lose a lot along the way. As @notoptoy notes, you can send it away to get new guts installed but I figure that's going to be pretty expensive. My choice to go with a Bluetooth-enabled amp was based mostly on easy of installation - I can leave the OEM radio in place without being powered at all and run everything I want through the smartphone as the source, to the amp, and from the amp directly to the speakers.

If you don't have a smartphone and don't want to get into that world you still have some options by using a small amp that uses a direct connection through a 3.5 mm phono plug (headphone jack). I don't know the best option for getting AM/FM as a source that way but tape and CD sources are pretty simple. Personally, I would call Crutchfield and explain to them your situation. They'll spend as much time as is needed (for free!) and recommend something that will work. Alternatively I'll also note that you can go to Walmart and buy a cheap smartphone without buying a cellular plan, and download content over Wi-Fi at your house to follow the same Bluetooth path as some of us. But, there's a learning curve there. Good luck.

@TopTech360 / Dan:

Thanks for the link, and for the recommendation for the high-pass filter. The speakers I got are supposed to be responsive down to 55Hz so we'll see how that goes...filters are pretty easy/cheap if I find that need. Most of my music tastes these days don't involve heavy bass and I'm certainly not looking to measure Db levels when playing the 1812 Overture, so I hope I will be good!

@charlee0620 / Matthew:

Sounds like an aspirational project with a lot of options - I only wish I had that much extra quality gear laying around. At some point I might get really silly and install my old 12" Hsu Research sub + Fosgate amp setup that's been sitting fallow for more than a decade (OK, I did install it in the wife's X5 a couple of years ago but that was a short-lived experiment!). I have a 10" Fosgate sub and a smaller Fosgate Punch series amp that is probably more appropriate if for no other reason than enclosure size, but man that Hsu rocks.

Be well,
Joe

[theunz]

Digging those seat inserts Dave.

[toofless]

Thanks again to everyone for the feedback. I got the amp and speakers on Tuesday. The amp was a "scratch and dent" model that saved me $30. Unfortunately I think it was the circuit board that was scratched and dented because the original was basically DOA. Crutchfield sent me a new model for the same discounted price and we're in business! I love, love, love Crutchfield - they are a little higher on price than you can find elsewhere but their customer service is amazing...highly recommend!

Below is how I set it up - you can see what the previous owner left me in that second picture...what a hack job but I am kind of happy that it was that bad because I didn't feel guilty about being too careful installing the new speakers.

I haven't found a good place for the remote yet but I will probably fab a mounting bracket and find a place that's reasonably discreet to mount it. Unfortunately the remote is just a little too big to fit into the ashtray. I will move the speakers to the rear locations as several have suggested when I get to the interior refresh.

Otherwise the Bluetooth works great and the amp is plenty powerful in 4-channel mode, driving just 2 channels @ 45 watts/channel. The Polk marine speakers sound great. After I figured out that I couldn't get a chassis ground I just ran both + and - main power straight to the battery; amp turn-on is to the ignition fuse right there in the glove box. The amp fits easily in the glove box...I may mount it to the back wall at some point.

Anyway, I'm really happy with this temporary (and cheap!) solution!

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