Speaker system for my 1938 Ford Truck

[wcriot 10+ year member]

Doors are your best bet.... for an overhead speaker bar... once you go to 4" or smaller speakers, efficiency and bandwidth/midbass drops... you don't want it to sound like a clock radio.
Take a look at this link for speaker baffles:

speaker baffles - Google Search

- Or you could find a Tupperware bowl with a lip that matches the mounting ring of the speaker, cut it in half, and drill a couple holes for the top two speaker screws, then sandwich it in between speaker and door... you'll have an instant umbrella for your speaker.

Whatever you use for a baffle, I would cut it in half or port it so the speaker can vent into the door... a sealed baffle is too small, they need more air space than that.

For car speakers, stay away from foam surrounds and paper cones... all other types will be more weather resistant.

Another option... if you are really concerned about them getting wet, you could go with marine speakers! They are just like car speakers but more weather resistant.

WOW MAN. That is a great link you posted. I have never heard of anything like that. I was going to make tehse baffles from sheetmetal but I am not even going to waste my time.

I guess it's time for me to make a decision on what speakers/size I want and pull the trigger.

 

[wcriot 10+ year member]

Finally made 10 posts!

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

That's very cool That 2nd image didn't make it though>.

 

[wcriot 10+ year member]

I dont know why my post aren't showing up sometimes??

I took these pictures to help demonstrate the cabin room that I am working with. This is a tight fit truck. Since these pictures, I have changed the seats to 1965 Mustang seats.

You can see why I can't install speakers on the kick panels. My size 16 foot won't be able to push the brake pedal with 3" of depth from a speaker mounted to the kick panel...

 

[wcriot 10+ year member]

Looks like I am about to pick up a pair of the Boston Acoustic speakers for $115 shipped. They aren't brand new, but they are only slightly used and the seller is guaranteeing them to work.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

One other thing I would like to know. Why did you suggest the Boston Acoustics? I always knew they were decent speakers. But, I always thought MB quarts or Focal's were better

MB Quart was bought out by one of the cheap-o companies a while ago. They still have some decent stuff, but not like their glory days. I assume the x-tant is from that era as well? A great amp, but search ebay... lots of those old school amps don't go for much, so there's a good chance you can replace it for less than the cost of repair.. Boston components are still pretty nice.

Check out this guy's build. He has some midbass woofers in the doors, but here's an idea of what you could do with some 4" woofers and tweets up on the dash or at the top of the roof or something?.

2008 Yaris Sedan Deadening and Sound System - DIYMA.com - Scientific Car Audio - Truth in Sound Quality

Beautiful truck!

 

[BlactimusCrime 10+ year member]

That is a SE>

 

[wcriot 10+ year member]

MB Quart was bought out by one of the cheap-o companies a while ago. They still have some decent stuff, but not like their glory days. I assume the x-tant is from that era as well? A great amp, but search ebay... lots of those old school amps don't go for much, so there's a good chance you can replace it for less than the cost of repair.. Boston components are still pretty nice.
Check out this guy's build. He has some midbass woofers in the doors, but here's an idea of what you could do with some 4" woofers and tweets up on the dash or at the top of the roof or something?.

2008 Yaris Sedan Deadening and Sound System - DIYMA.com - Scientific Car Audio - Truth in Sound Quality

Beautiful truck!

Thanks for the compliments about the truck. I love it! I have always like these trucks. I can't wait to start putting some more work into it. That guy did a hell of a lot of work for that Yaris. I am sure it sounds great, but I don't have that kind of time on my hands. I work 50hrs a week and have a 54 Chevy car that I am restoring.

That is a SE>
Thanks bro. Thanks for all your help. I bought the Boston Acoustics. I think I am going to install them in my doors with the speaker baffles. I'll take pictures when the speakers come in and test out a few different locations.

 

[wcriot 10+ year member]

Guys,

As an update. I have been trying to work out a good location in the door to mount the Boston Aucoustics speakers. The truck is small and was never designed to have speakers installed in it, so it's very challenging. At this point, it doesn't seem like there is an IDEAL location to mount the speakers in the door. I will try and take some pictures over the next couple of days to show you why the position is restricted.

I am going to temporarily mount the speakers under the seats to see how I like their sound, if thats acceptable I will build a small box for them and leave them under the seats. I will also temporarily mount the speakers on the door in the location that will "Fit" and test the sound quality. I will go with whatever sounds best.

If I do decide to mount the speakers under the seats, I will then need to decide if I want to mount the tweeters on the doors or right next to the seapkers.

 

[UnderFire 10+ year member]

Very cool truck, we've decided to go under the seats of our 51 ford when the time comes, we want it all to be removable with no modification to the truck.

 

[KyleBechtold 5,000+ posts]

Very cool truck, we've decided to go under the seats of our 51 ford when the time comes, we want it all to be removable with no modification to the truck.

this is what I was going to recommend.. while it won't sound as good as a set in the doors it will still sound fine.. I am sure this isn't a daily driver and you just want tunes when you do drive it so that would work well..

 

[KyleBechtold 5,000+ posts]

its hard to tell depth under dash with black carpet in a picture but you could also do a custom box under the middle of the dash with color matched carpet and the front have speaker cloth to hide the speakers... If you could get some light under there and take another picture I can try to draw up something.. some measurements would be great also..

 

[wcriot 10+ year member]

gonna work on this more tomorrow. will take more pics

 

[wcriot 10+ year member]

I got all the speakers wired up and put the door panels back on. I have the speakers are under the seats. I need to buy a box or build a box to mount and install them in.

I am surprised that these Boston Acoustics dont have much bass. It seems like I will need to purchase some small subwoofers for bass. Now, I am running into major space problems. I will need to figure out a way to mount the speaker, tweeter and most likely a subwoofer under the seat.

This simple speaker system has really become a big project.

 

[UnderFire 10+ year member]

I got all the speakers wired up and put the door panels back on. I have the speakers are under the seats. I need to buy a box or build a box to mount and install them in.
I am surprised that these Boston Acoustics dont have much bass. It seems like I will need to purchase some small subwoofers for bass. Now, I am running into major space problems. I will need to figure out a way to mount the speaker, tweeter and most likely a subwoofer under the seat.

This simple speaker system has really become a big project.

A Sundown SA-8 under the seat would be cool.