Performance audio in '71

[Mesozoic]

I know many of you folks have stock restorations, but my car is a restomod and I'm considering installing some kind of performance audio system in it. First off, my car is a Sportsroof and doesn't have the fold rear seat option. I've also got a roll cage so that consumes a bit of space throughout the interior.

I've currently got a nice Pioneer head unit (mechless, with Bluetooth and USB audio inputs) powering a pair of Boston Acoustics 4.5" speakers that are mounted in the rear quarterpanel plastics. I'd like to add another set of larger speakers, either 6.5" or 6x9s somewhere and also run a sealed sub enclosure handling roughly 500-600W RMS, 1800W peak (those are the specs of one of the amps I have that I'd like to use).

Not real sure where to mount speakers for a really clean installation. The rear decklid seems to make a fair bit of sense and the trunk seems spacious enough to accomodate a box, but I've thought about using a free air sub as well, although the rear seat doesn't provide much of a seal to the trunk... if anyone has any pictures of their install I'd love to see them.

Cheers!

 

[rcadd1ct]

I know many of you folks have stock restorations, but my car is a restomod and I'm considering installing some kind of performance audio system in it. First off, my car is a Sportsroof and doesn't have the fold rear seat option. I've also got a roll cage so that consumes a bit of space throughout the interior.

I've currently got a nice Pioneer head unit (mechless, with Bluetooth and USB audio inputs) powering a pair of Boston Acoustics 4.5" speakers that are mounted in the rear quarterpanel plastics. I'd like to add another set of larger speakers, either 6.5" or 6x9s somewhere and also run a sealed sub enclosure handling roughly 500-600W RMS, 1800W peak (those are the specs of one of the amps I have that I'd like to use).

Not real sure where to mount speakers for a really clean installation. The rear decklid seems to make a fair bit of sense and the trunk seems spacious enough to accomodate a box, but I've thought about using a free air sub as well, although the rear seat doesn't provide much of a seal to the trunk... if anyone has any pictures of their install I'd love to see them.

Cheers!

Sorry no pics as it was a long time ago....

I had two 15" woofers in the rear deck. Mids and highs were on the angled part firing forward under the rear glass.

I then swapped the two 15's for four 12's.

12" drivers were open air models that were not tuned for an enclosure.

I did that since it was high school and also to preserve access to shocks and the full trunk.

 

[Mexican]

I have a pioneer blue tooth deck with a pioneer 1000w rms sub orion 6x9s on the rear deck and jbl 4x6s on the doors, powered by a JBL 5 channel amp, it sounds very nice for my taste, now, if i can only completely eliminate the trunk rattle,,,,,

 

[Mesozoic]

Ok, so making some progress on parts selection for my audio upgrade. However, I have one major issue to overcome and that is that my rollcage goes through the speaker panel (under the rear window) directly in the location where the speakers would be mounted. So I either need to cut new holes for speakers in the same panel just inside of where the rollbar goes through to the trunk, or perhaps mount some wedge shaped enclosures on the package tray underneath the bar. I'm not a huge fan of cutting a hole into my rear panel, so sort of leaning towards the enclosure route. Also, I think there may be rollbar mount options as well. Thoughts?

 

[Mesozoic]

What does the factory package tray look like and what was it made of? At this stage I'm considering simply mounting my speakers (6.5" round fullrange) into the package tray and firing them up at the rear window. A box with a 10" woofer simply mounted inside the trunk area firing forward against the backseat.

 

[rcadd1ct]

What does the factory package tray look like and what was it made of? At this stage I'm considering simply mounting my speakers (6.5" round fullrange) into the package tray and firing them up at the rear window. A box with a 10" woofer simply mounted inside the trunk area firing forward against the backseat.

I would surface mount some tweeters under the rear window firing forward. Get a separate speaker kit so you will have the crossover included. Then mount the main driver from the separate kit in the package tray.

Then run your box in the trunk for sub.

 

[Mister 4x4]

What does the factory package tray look like and what was it made of? At this stage I'm considering simply mounting my speakers (6.5" round fullrange) into the package tray and firing them up at the rear window. A box with a 10" woofer simply mounted inside the trunk area firing forward against the backseat.

That's pretty much what I'm doing, although I went with 6x9s in the package tray with adapters (so I didn't have to cut-up the pristine package tray sheet metal).

I also have 2 10" MTX Terminators with a matching 400 watt amp., for which I'll be building an enclosure for everything under the package tray. That area (on the non-folder seat car) is really deep, and not very useful for anything of significant size - I think my black vinyl Mustang bags with the cleaning supplies are about the only things that fit up in there, anyway.

The factory package tray cover is made of really thick card stock (or really thin Masonite - kinda tough to tell) with a matte-painted display side. Really cheesy, if you ask me.

I took the repop package tray piece and used some 3M spray adhesive to stick on some black cut-pile carpet (those rolls you can find at just about any auto parts store) - it just looks more 'finished' to me. Since I went with cut-pile carpet anyway (instead of the factory loop-style carpet), it all matches better, IMHO. These are also the speaker adapters I mentioned from Retrosound. I'm not sure I really like them sticking up like that, but they work (I didn't have to cut any sheet metal).

Sorry the pic is so grainy - it was from my cell phone.

 

[Don C]

I would also check out Austin Vert's thread on his sound system. Although his is in a convertible you should be able to use some of his ideas and expertise.

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-austin-vert-s-car-radio-solution

 

[Mesozoic]

Thanks for that, Mr. I also have some Alpine Type R 6x9s, but their power handling is a lot higher than the Alpine 300W 4-channel amp I've got, so I'm not sure about them. I've got some BA 4.5" speakers mounted in the plastic inside quarterpanels firing forward, so I might just go ahead and use them with some BA 6.5" speakers in the package tray firing up at the window like yours. Both of those speakers are coaxial and will match the power handling of the Alpine amp, so might be better suited.

You're absolutely right about the waste of space in the Sportsroof without the folding seat option. It's almost as if it's begging for a major stereo upgrade back there... and will help with weight on the rear wheels for improved traction at the same time!

 

[71mach1lady]

We just got a new JL system installed and it is amazing. We went with 6x9's for the deck lid. Gives that 70's look and they sound great. We have a couple of kick panel speakers and in the trunk are two 10" subs. It is super clean sounding and looking

 

[71mach1lady]

Here are a few pictures of our setup

 

[Mesozoic]

We just got a new JL system installed and it is amazing. We went with 6x9's for the deck lid. Gives that 70's look and they sound great. We have a couple of kick panel speakers and in the trunk are two 10" subs. It is super clean sounding and looking

Yeah, it's truly amazing what a good sound system does for the driving experience. It's the finishing touch on a Mustang project once the paint, drivetrain, suspension, interior, etc. has been finished.

I would think that twin 10" subs would be a bit much for my ride, but I've got a single 10" Rockford Fosgate P3 dual voice coil sub driven at 500W RMS in a sealed box. The fullrange speakers should complement everything rather nicely. Thanks for the pics, that is really clean!

 

[73mach1]

Very nicely done.