Upgrading C3 Corvette system--am I missing anything?

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QuattroFour4

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I bought a 1977 Corvette a year ago and am looking to upgrade the sound system. My priorities are too keep is as stock-looking as possible, and to have it sounding good at a pretty low price point. I'm not too knowledgeable with things car audio-related and was hoping you guys could take a look at what I've picked out so far to make sure I'm not doing anything stupid :D

Total comes out to ~$525 + install, which I'm fine with. Am I missing anything? Should I look to do some basic sound-deadening as well (waterproof repair tape from Home Depot, ~$20)?

 
If you are going to use a Custom Autosound deck why not use one of their custom packages already put together? They seem to have a couple setups that are around that price range with a lot more then what you have there in pricing.

Also FAST Rings are overrated you can make them with Foam from menards or home depot for 5 bucks. Or buy them online somewhere else then crutchfield as they tend to run high on that stuff compared to other places.

Also sound deadening if you want to do it you need to look into something like Kill-Mat or something similar. There is several write-ups on here on how to properly sound deaden a car with different products.

 
If you are going to use a Custom Autosound deck why not use one of their custom packages already put together? They seem to have a couple setups that are around that price range with a lot more then what you have there in pricing.

Also FAST Rings are overrated you can make them with Foam from menards or home depot for 5 bucks. Or buy them online somewhere else then crutchfield as they tend to run high on that stuff compared to other places.

Also sound deadening if you want to do it you need to look into something like Kill-Mat or something similar. There is several write-ups on here on how to properly sound deaden a car with different products.
I'm guessing Custom Autosound's package deals won't sound nearly as good, and I'm willing to pay a couple hundred bucks more for better SQ. I went with their cheapest model once I found the Kappa amp had Bluetooth (so I didn't need this functionality in the head unit). And yeah, I'll be shopping around for the best prices over the next few weeks once I've established this setup makes sense. As far as sound deadening, I don't really want to bother with anything at this stage unless it's really cheap (hence the Home Depot suggestion)

 
Kill Mat 25 square feet can be bought for 33 dollars and comes with 12 sheets of it. That is worth it for the doors and for any leftover's you will have with it. Also 10 gauge is too small at the very least go 8 gauge but if you plan on upgrades like a subwoofer later on down the road then go 0 gauge or 4 gauge now to future proof yourself  back to the distribution block then split it off to 4 gauge. If not then the 8 gauge is perfect but 10 gauge is just too small.

 
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Kill Mat 25 square feet can be bought for 33 dollars and comes with 12 sheets of it. That is worth it for the doors and for any leftover's you will have with it. Also 10 gauge is too small at the very least go 8 gauge but if you plan on upgrades like a subwoofer later on down the road then go 4 gauge now to future proof yourself now so you don't have to do it later on. If not then the 8 gauge is perfect but 10 gauge is just too small.
I arrived at 10 gauge from Crutchfield's article (200W total RMS * 2 divided by 13.8 = ~28 amperes), but they suggest 8 gauge anyway in the Morel link, so I'll just go with 8 to be safe (def won't be adding any subs later). $33 is good--I'll look into Kill Mat, thanks!

Gauge-Chart.jpg


 
Bigger is always better with running wire for amplifiers. I really should have gone 0 or 1/0 gauge back to my distribution block instead of 4 gauge back to the block and then 4 gauge back to the 2 amplifiers from the distribution block. I am going to upgrade mine later on this year to the bigger gauge wire.

You have the ability to add more speakers as well from what I have seen of that years corvette setup, which is something to think about. Could add another set and go to a 4 channel amplifier. Either way no matter what you do will sound better then a 42 year old stock setup! Looks like that custom autosound also has a custom dash option for 180 bucks so you can put in any modern head unit while not messing up your OEM dash which is nice. Or do the route you are with that head unit which works with your OEM dash perfectly.

 
When I bought my car, it actually came with some cheap aftermarket head unit, and I don't like the modern look in the car, which is what brought me to Custom Autosound. My current head unit isn't even connected, so I'm 100% sure this new setup will sound better :D

 
I'm guessing Custom Autosound's package deals won't sound nearly as good, and I'm willing to pay a couple hundred bucks more for better SQ. I went with their cheapest model once I found the Kappa amp had Bluetooth (so I didn't need this functionality in the head unit). And yeah, I'll be shopping around for the best prices over the next few weeks once I've established this setup makes sense. As far as sound deadening, I don't really want to bother with anything at this stage unless it's really cheap (hence the Home Depot suggestion)
keep the stock head unit, you wont be using a head unit at all you'll be using a DSP to bluetooth dongle.

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dsp-408-4x8-dsp-digital-signal-processor-for-home-and-car-audio--230-500

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dsp-bt40-bluetooth-data-and-streaming-usb-interface-for-dsp-408--230-502

180 but its massively better than what you were planning. Because 1, its aptx lossless bluetooth transfer.  Ridiculous EQ, Crossover, Time delay option to really tune in your system and its all done via bluetooth on your phone tuning and you can save 6 preset tunings for any genre of music or SQ mode or SPL mode whatever you need. The DSP can be hidden someone plain and out of sight while you maintain complete stock factory look.

Run active with those morel components and ditch the kappa 2 channel amp and get a 4 channel amp instead. channels 1 and 2 to tweeters, 3 and 4 to mids Your morels will love it and sound much better. You also get the ability to choose your own crossover point for perfect blend between midbass and tweeter along with level control AND time alignment which allows a perfect soundstage for a live studio performance on your dash type of sound only possible with the DSP mentioned earlier.

https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-GM-D8704-4-Channel-Bridgeable-Amplifier/dp/B07N8HPTMC

If you are running mids in the kick panels you dont really need fast rings, you just need the speaker grill. so take that out of the equation completely.  put that 50 dollars into deadener(only if your car is road noisy as fk) and a 4 gauge wire kit. I mentioned deadener because you only have 5.25s and they arent much at all volume wise and with road noise it'll kill literally most of your sound quality and output. Deadening and sound proofing is crucial in sound quality.

Yes get 4 gauge wire knuconceptz. Dont cheap out on wire, you'll regret it.

 
go online on ebay or junkyards to find your stock head unit for dirt cheap and throw it back in, You can even look at the for parts or not working section for extreme discounts, make an offer.
Yeah, I don't have the stock head unit, but I think the OEM one is 10 ohms? Won't that limit what speakers I can get? Or would it not matter since I won't be using the head unit anyway? I was drawn to the Kappa amp because of Infinity's reputation, the bluetooth feature, and the price. Will a 4-channel as opposed to a 2-channel amp really make a difference with these Morels, though (they're just 80W RMS)? And is 4 gauge vs. 8- auge necessary given my system is 160W RMS total? I'm not meaning to be cheap, but if something isn't going to make any difference now or in the future (not upgrading), I don't want to pay for it.

 
And yeah, if fast rings are redundant for my purposes, I won't get them. Sound deadening seems like a must (lots of road noise--especially with the tops off).

 
Yeah, I don't have the stock head unit, but I think the OEM one is 10 ohms? Won't that limit what speakers I can get? Or would it not matter since I won't be using the head unit anyway? I was drawn to the Kappa amp because of Infinity's reputation, the bluetooth feature, and the price. Will a 4-channel as opposed to a 2-channel amp really make a difference with these Morels, though (they're just 80W RMS)? And is 4 gauge vs. 8- auge necessary given my system is 160W RMS total? I'm not meaning to be cheap, but if something isn't going to make any difference now or in the future (not upgrading), I don't want to pay for it.
The head unit is just for looks. the dayton DSP is your head unit. its going to make the biggest difference with a 4 channel if you actually read my long comment properly. Its literally how proper sound quality systems are made and designed.  Its more advanced some some cookie cutter mediocre tune and install stuff.

You also dont just match rms with the speaker, you always have way more than needed to prevent any chance of distortion or clipping.  An amp barely lifting a finger to power your stuff vs an amp that is redlined. Which one do you think provides cleaner sound? which runs cooler and lasts longer?  Again dont cheap out on power. 4 gauge power and ground and that pioneer and the dayton dsp.  

The infinity amp's bluetooth is gimmicky and junky. Looking into it is bluetooth 3.0 several generations behind we are at bluetooth 5.0 and aptx/aptx HD so its a lossy as fk audio transmission format. The amp also utilizes artifictial boosts in the clari-fi feature while giving you ZERO tuning functions absolutely zero. The dont even list what dac is used so its a crapshoot, judging from the price its not a high end one.  so its just a waste of time and the results you get is either mediocre or below mediocre, being two channel means you have to use the passive crossover on the morels and thats just like playing the lottery either the passive crossover works with your car or it doesn't  and when it doesn't you'll be playing the "lets swap out speakers like underwear" game and waste a sh*t ton of money getting sh*t results and blaming it all on the speaker's fault when its just a system design issue. 

The dayton DSP has audiophile grade internals with top of the line APTX bluetooth technology.  Dayton is well regarded in high quality audio community more than infinity which is just popular among mainstream joe blows. While the pioneer amp is amp dyno tested and proven as well to make more power than rated.

 
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I arrived at 10 gauge from Crutchfield's article (200W total RMS * 2 divided by 13.8 = ~28 amperes), but they suggest 8 gauge anyway in the Morel link, so I'll just go with 8 to be safe (def won't be adding any subs later). $33 is good--I'll look into Kill Mat, thanks!

If you already got the wire, just use two runs of it, the effective ga would be 7 then.

 
The head unit is just for looks. the dayton DSP is your head unit. its going to make the biggest difference with a 4 channel if you actually read my long comment properly. Its literally how proper sound quality systems are made and designed.  Its more advanced some some cookie cutter mediocre tune and install stuff.

You also dont just match rms with the speaker, you always have way more than needed to prevent any chance of distortion or clipping.  An amp barely lifting a finger to power your stuff vs an amp that is redlined. Which one do you think provides cleaner sound? which runs cooler and lasts longer?  Again dont cheap out on power. 4 gauge power and ground and that pioneer and the dayton dsp.  

The infinity amp's bluetooth is gimmicky and junky. Looking into it is bluetooth 3.0 several generations behind we are at bluetooth 5.0 and aptx/aptx HD so its a lossy as fk audio transmission format. The amp also utilizes artifictial boosts in the clari-fi feature while giving you ZERO tuning functions absolutely zero. The dont even list what dac is used so its a crapshoot, judging from the price its not a high end one.  so its just a waste of time and the results you get is either mediocre or below mediocre, being two channel means you have to use the passive crossover on the morels and thats just like playing the lottery either the passive crossover works with your car or it doesn't  and when it doesn't you'll be playing the "lets swap out speakers like underwear" game and waste a sh*t ton of money getting sh*t results and blaming it all on the speaker's fault when its just a system design issue. 

The dayton DSP has audiophile grade internals with top of the line APTX bluetooth technology.  Dayton is well regarded in high quality audio community more than infinity which is just popular among mainstream joe blows. While the pioneer amp is amp dyno tested and proven as well to make more power than rated.
Awesome, thanks! You make some very convincing arguments

 
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