Roadster radio/speakers/subwoofer ideas...

[dbrick]

I just made the $9.57 Ipod/Ipad audio system. We're leaving for Watkins Glen tomorrow morning, so of course the car is torn apart all over the driveway.

I went to Radio Shack and picked up a 1/8" phono to 2 rca cord, rest I had lying around. Tried it on an old Blaupunkt, with a pair of freebie JBL Control 52's and barely got noise, thought the concept didn't work, but just for shiggles, I plugged it into a big old Infinity Kappa 52A I had lying around and WOW, big sound. Blaupunkt was small, no big deal to hide somewhere, but this one is huge. So then I have to get this big old amp mounted in the kick panel, fit with 1/4" clearance. All the cruise control stuff is up there too, so lots of fun. Speakers are on the triangles below the dash, look not out of place. I ran the cable up the tunnel to come out by the E brake Photos to follow, I'll turn it on tomorrow as I madly re-assemble the car to leave by 11AM.

It sounded great in the house, that amp has some backbone to it,hopefully the same on the road and some larger speakers later on.

[Datsun.David]

Dave! That is awesome... I was wondering how that would work... I don't want a head unit at all either.
So all you did was plug the Ipod right into the amp, and then use the amp to power the speakers? Did you put a switch somewhere to turn the amp on and off? I was thinking of building the amp into the bottom of an old apple crate that would hide it in the trunk so it would look like a period correct tool box... or something like that. Or maybe mounting the amp on a piece of wood on top of the spare tire in the trunk and rig up a canvas cover.

[dbrick]

I'll get photos tomorrow. Sounds great, considering the speakers are small, I'll upgrade soon. The Ipod controls volume, and ignition turns it on through the trigger input. Ipad has a better EQ, Ipod Touch is louder. I have the amp set to max gain, .25 volts IIRC. I want to add a volume control, or at least a mute,hard to turn it down quickly, but that may be a bit involved, this works for now. You could fit any amp you want up in the side of the pass footwell, and it's only 3 ft to the battery and speaker wires are all under the dash.
There is a place online called Woodys Custom Shop, woodyscustomshop.com or Ebay http://stores.ebay.com/Woodys-Custom-Shop have good stuff all made up. there is one they mention with a wired remote, but not in the ebay listings. You can call him, very cool guy, he got BillK all set up. Not expensive either.

[Datsun.David]

Ya, but it is cooler to make it out of leftovers from the garage... I have an Ipod I can dedicate, an old amp, the speakers in my truck were $49 at Wal Mart and sound great... I have a sub too, but that might be getting a little carried away...

[Fubar]

I'll get photos tomorrow. Sounds great, considering the speakers are small, I'll upgrade soon. The Ipod controls volume, and ignition turns it on through the trigger input. Ipad has a better EQ, Ipod Touch is louder. I have the amp set to max gain, .25 volts IIRC. I want to add a volume control, or at least a mute,hard to turn it down quickly, but that may be a bit involved, this works for now. You could fit any amp you want up in the side of the pass footwell, and it's only 3 ft to the battery and speaker wires are all under the dash.
There is a place online called Woodys Custom Shop, woodyscustomshop.com or Ebay http://stores.ebay.com/Woodys-Custom-Shop have good stuff all made up. there is one they mention with a wired remote, but not in the ebay listings. You can call him, very cool guy, he got BillK all set up. Not expensive either.

Dave I was looking for a spot for an amp I was gonna put it in the trunk but your idea is WAY better...you da man! Thanks

[bikermike]

The passenger footwell is an ideal mounting point. If you don't want to drill holes in the firewall I suggest cutting a piece of plywood to size, covering it w/ black felt and then mounting it to the firewall via existing holes. Then you can easily mount an amp and other accys or even a speaker anywhere you want on it.

You do sacrifice the stock AM radio speaker box, but I found these cool little surface mount speakers on closeout last summer that aren't bad for what they are. They are discontinued, but maybe you can find them somewhere. I was only able to find white ones but just sprayed them w/ some trim black paint.

They measure 5"H x 3"W x 1.5"D
Cadence SQS-T1
Cadence CVLS-T1

http://www.cadencesound.com/products/SQST1.html

[dbrick]

It's actually on the side of the pass footwell, up above the kick panel trim. Huge space and flat. Speaker box can stay, but I took it out for more room. You could use the factory speaker box for a little sub and a small amp....

[bikermike]

Ok. I see what you mean. For me, the real estate above the kick panel is taken by the 5.25" under dash speakers.

[acuboy]

I just bought woody's hidden amp and speakers. I'll be installing it this weekend, so I'll let everyone know how it sounds. I'm not expecting incredible sound, but as long as it's decent I'll be happy. My ipod mini has a built in fm tuner, so that should take care of radio needs. I'm going to keep the original stereo in place as a decoy, but probably remove the old speaker, as it takes up a lot of room.

[dbrick]

Ok. I see what you mean. For me, the real estate above the kick panel is taken by the 5.25" under dash speakers.

I'll shoot a pic tomorrow. I think it's above your speaker location, clear space up to the base of the windshield. I look forward to Acuboy's review.

[dbrick]

OK, Photos. Oh, and the new seat cloth, I LIKE it. The big black thing in the 3rd photo is the cruise control servo, couldn't move it. My daughters old Ipod Touch works well, another freebie, so I also get a basic navigation/map program as a bonus.Wiring is a bit sloppy, I finished an hour before leaving for Watkins Glen. Sound is really good considering the size of the speaker, it's loud enough it needs to be turned down to talk, so that's fine..
I think the quality of the amp makes a big difference, this Infinity works very well, I think it was high end, in it's time.
I have to try the MP3's on the Garmin GPS, which has an SD slot, see if the sound is good, one less thing in the car and the navigation voice guidance will come over the stereo.

[bikermike]

Will you put a speaker on the drivers side too?

[Fubar]

Great tips you sold me..

[dbrick]

Will you put a speaker on the drivers side too?

Same spot both sides.

[Dave_Pa]

i still have the stock speaker 'box' in the passenger side wheel well. has anyone tried to hook up one powerful speaker into there?

just a thought.
Dave