Greetings all,
I hope this type of post isn't frowned upon here but I know basically nothing about car audio (other than how to install the components in the car). I build custom PC's and I know I'm always glad to suggest a build to fit a certain price range so that is what I'm hoping someone here will do for me.
I am really big into antique Corvairs. The original radio in these cars had just one speaker and there isn't a lot of space to expand it without destroying the originality of the car.
Here is the goal:
Clear sound with full bass but no big thump required. Volume must be sufficient to overcome 70mph wind noise with the windows open and a loud pair of flowmaster mufflers.
Here is what I've got:
The head unit is custom fit to the antique dash, so it is non-negotiable. It puts out 40W per channel to 4 channels plus pre-amp outputs.
For speakers I built a custom fit box for the rear window area. Please don't criticize the dimensions, it had to fit! This box has a sealed enclosure in the center for up to an 8" sub 4.75 inches deep. The volume of the sealed box is roughly a quarter of a cubic foot. That is the best I could do. The box also has mountings on either side for 6x9's. Currently the 6x9 mounts are open in the back but I could enclose them and seal them if it would be better. The box is made of 3/4 plywood all around. The 6x9's also have a max depth of 4.75"
The front is even worse. In the front I only have room for ONE 6x9 or smaller speaker in the center stock dash location. This speaker has to be under 2 inches deep. Currently I have a Pioneer TS-G1642R (6"?) round shallow mount speaker in there. It's been ok that way but if I could do a lot better with a shallow mount 6x9 or a different 6" round let me know. I'm also looking at the retrosound DVC 6x9, that way I get both left and right channels at the same speaker.
Here is where I take a lot of the fun out of it, I need to do this on a minimum budget. I'll do what I've gotta do but there are lots of other things I want to buy too, not just the stereo setup. I'm hoping to keep the cost of speakers (plus sub and/or amp) under $150 total.
Last thing is that I currently have (feel free to laugh at me but it worked for me all last summer!) an absolute garbage Jensen UPA424CS 4 channel amp and an ancient (also probably garbage) MTX RT-X01A electronic crossover that I've been using to power a 5" woofer that originally came from an (expensive in 1996!!!) Aiwa home stereo mini system. I had it installed in a different home made sealed box last year.
For the sub I can either buy a half decent speaker, or I can buy a semi-decent Amp to power my epic Aiwa home theater 5" subwoofer in the sealed box.... doing both I'm sure would put me over my budget but talk to me if you have ideas... I can stretch the budget if it's going to really be worth it. I suspect the amp is killing me worse than the speaker is, I don't think it was distorting but it was a bit muddy sounding. Still it was better than just the two shallow mount 6" rounds I had last year would have been all by themselves.
Thanks for any input guys!!
Ray "Grymm" R.
Chevy Corvair enthusiast
Car audio challenged
