Well now I can keep heat in garage again it was time yo get back to.work on the 66. I bought a bunch of stuff from retrosound and from jungle site. Here is the low down.
Kick panel enclosures need trimming and sanding to fit right. They give you no hardware so you need to wing it. I used a combination of double sided tape and screws to hold and not vibrate with speakers in them. Speaker holes needed to be modified for the fastener clips.
Speakers I bought went too deep and the magnet touched the kick panel. Had to space the speaker 5/8 inch out. Filled the gap with foam rubber. Insulation around the back. Retro said I would not have to change location of hi low beam switch. Right. It's going to have to be moved.
Head unit was straight forward. It has great adjustment into it. Hard to find a rear mount location. After bending and twisting the hanger I used a bolt for the wiper motor.
Dash speaker is impossible to mount normally. I ended up bringing a small bolt through the cutouts in the grill and putting a chrome cap nut on it. Only thing I could come up with. I think the OE radio only had a speaker in the radio itself and nothing secured to dash.
Yes retrosound. angled speaker in those. My 59 ,I still used slant box speakers under the seats, but added the 3rd and 4th speakers in the bottom of the center console. Both 58 and 59 have retro systems for years now.
~ BD. "You won't find me in an old folks home" Pioneer Florida Cracker 1958 Apache Stepside 1958 Apache 1/2 ton Panel 1959 Apache 1/2 ton Panel
Years ago somewhere I found shallow depth speakers for dads 58 Impala. They were still 2 way hi power but the magnet didn’t stick way out. They were a little more expensive, but we didn’t have to modify anything on the car. We just set it up for front is right and rear is left. In a stock convertible, premium sound is sorta give and take anyway.
Chip
'Rusto-Mod' '51 Chevy 3600 5 window | C4 Corvette front/rear suspension & drivetrain | everything else looks old and stock '92 GMC Sonoma GT #15 of 806 '91 GMC Sonoma GT Extended cab 1 of 1 Trucks, Trucks.....and more Trucks
I was messing around with the sound options and hear that the dash stereo speaker seems louder than the two kick speakers. I played around with the fade to get it more even. I wired everything with discos so I am going to swap front and rear channel to see what it does.
I also bought the powered 8 inch sub to go under seat. Have not installed that yet.
Just so understanding is by all. The single dash speaker I bought is actually two speakers. Has two tweeters and midrange built into one housing. Both sides left and right plug into it. Seems to work well.
The dash speaker is great for acting like a dual channel center surround like most modern cars, without the Dolby theater stereo. Each speaker manufacturer has their own unique sound, so purists will try to stick with the same brand throughout. It can be a slight noticeable difference on the mid and high notes, but put the roar of the open road into the mix and it usually gets drowned out. And housings will also affect the lows and mids, so pre made sub housings are a big help, being they are designed for the speakers specific Q number to optimize the sound. Speakers will say their frequency range but only if installed in a proper enclosure space. Like most 6x9s are designed to set on the back deck of a sedan and use the trunk as their enclosure.
Chip
'Rusto-Mod' '51 Chevy 3600 5 window | C4 Corvette front/rear suspension & drivetrain | everything else looks old and stock '92 GMC Sonoma GT #15 of 806 '91 GMC Sonoma GT Extended cab 1 of 1 Trucks, Trucks.....and more Trucks
I had a little time before my family arrived home yesterday. I swapped the front and rear channels which I assume put more power to the kick speakers and it is doing much better.
