Stereo advice - Please!

[68keyblr]

Well, it's time to add a kick-butt stereo system to the '68 coupe. I know next to nothing about car stereos, so I'm hoping you guys can give me some good advice on a setup - CD Changer, Amps, woofers, kick panel speakers, and package shelf speakers. How many watts, what brand, what works well together? All that stuff...

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[65racecoupe]

I have plenty of sound with 2 6x9s (any decent brand) installed in the back deck, and a pioneer cd player.

That is it, no amps or anything. 3 pieces total.

More than that and it starts to get heavy.

 

[danewers]

Well I'll give you advice from my personal experience

I have Infinity Kappa speakers in the kick panels and package tray. 225watt 6-1/2's in the kick panels and 330watt 6x9's in the package tray. they sound amazing. Infinity makes some of the top quality speakers in my opinion. I used to have two different sets of Sony Xplod speakers and they both sucked. they sounded really good for rap, but were really screachy when you played rock.

I have two 12" 900watt Sony Xplod subs in a sealed box. they're really old, but they produce very crisp, clean bass. the new sony subs are garbage. i also have 3 really old sony amps, one for each sub, and one for the highs. they sound great.

i have a sony deck, and its not all that great, but it was cheap. i guess its pretty good for what i paid.

you cant go wrong with infinity, alpine, or eclipse.

hope that helps

 

[68keyblr]

Well I'll give you advice from my personal experience

I have Infinity Kappa speakers in the kick panels and package tray. 225watt 6-1/2's in the kick panels and 330watt 6x9's in the package tray. they sound amazing. Infinity makes some of the top quality speakers in my opinion. I used to have two different sets of Sony Xplod speakers and they both sucked. they sounded really good for rap, but were really screachy when you played rock.

I have two 12" 900watt Sony Xplod subs in a sealed box. they're really old, but they produce very crisp, clean bass. the new sony subs are garbage. i also have 3 really old sony amps, one for each sub, and one for the highs. they sound great.

i have a sony deck, and its not all that great, but it was cheap. i guess its pretty good for what i paid.

you cant go wrong with infinity, alpine, or eclipse.

hope that helps

That sounds like a great setup...but how do you power it all? Do you have a 130 amp alternater or an extra battery or something?

 

[danewers]

That sounds like a great setup...but how do you power it all? Do you have a 130 amp alternater or an extra battery or something?

i just have a stock alternator which isnt a very good idea. ive burnt up a couple. i'd recommend getting a capacitor for the stereo to handle all that power.

 

[BrownPSU78]

I have 2 sweet rear 6x9s hooked up to an amp. They are a million times better with an amp. It does not have to be an exspensive amp. I think mine was like 150 or so. I have a nice eclipse head unit. Trust me GET THE AMP for the rear speakers. I have the stock speaker in the front I haven't figured out what to replace it with yet. I also have XM radio which is worth the money, cause I don't own a lot of cds.
--Brown

 

[68keyblr]

They are a million times better with an amp. It does not have to be an exspensive amp. I think mine was like 150 or so. --Brown

How many watts does the Amp need to be?

 

[mustangdave]

To power the front. rear deck, kick panel, or wherever your speakers are, I'd recommend at least 60 watts but preferrably 80 or more for each speaker. For the sub you will need a bare minumum of 100 watts, better to have more. It takes a huge amount of power for the bass. In my 98 Grand Mraquis, I have one amp that powers everything. 100 to the sub, (12"), and 60 watts to each speaker, ( total of four). It is plenty loud and thumps when you want it to. If you run multiple amps, you may need a crossover that tells the system what frequencies to send to the sub and which ones to send to the other speakers, (mine is built into the amp). One other note: the ratings on radios are way overrated; 60 watts from an amp will blow away an advertised 60 watts from a radio. You will be amazed at the difference.

 

[68keyblr]

To power the front. rear deck, kick panel, or wherever your speakers are, I'd recommend at least 60 watts but preferrably 80 or more for each speaker. For the sub you will need a bare minumum of 100 watts, better to have more. It takes a huge amount of power for the bass. In my 98 Grand Mraquis, I have one amp that powers everything. 100 to the sub, (12"), and 60 watts to each speaker, ( total of four). It is plenty loud and thumps when you want it to. If you run multiple amps, you may need a crossover that tells the system what frequencies to send to the sub and which ones to send to the other speakers, (mine is built into the amp). One other note: the ratings on radios are way overrated; 60 watts from an amp will blow away an advertised 60 watts from a radio. You will be amazed at the difference.

That's EXACTLY the information I was looking for!! Thanks so much to everyone for their speedy help. You're awesome.

 

[69 Capecod]

I have a cheap old radio with 6" round in the doors and 6"x 9" in the rear. I would rather listen to my exaust then the radio when I dive my car. If I want to listen to the radio I will drive my lancer.

 

[ForceFed70]

I've got a clarion head unit with Alpine 5.25's in the doors and alpine 6x9's in the rear package tray. They are powered by a 240W Clarion amp. I also have 2x12" and 1x15" fockford fosgate subs which are powered by a 1000W Clarion Class D amplifier.

For power I have a 1 Farad Stiffening capacitor, and I've upgraded to a 100amp GM single wire alternator.

 

[HuKares]

I had a nice system it my '66 but have since taken it out as the cars purpose has changed, anyway, here it what I did:
I had a 6.5" planet audio neo series component set in the kick panels. The reason for the neo series in that they use a small magnet and it is in front of the woofer instead of the normal in the back location so the woofer is fairly slim. Plus they played hard enough with 50Wrms to make it very hard to take the rattles out of the car with just them playing.
I put dual 4" kicker midranges in the stock dash location mounted in an adapter I built out of masonite. If you decide to go this route, use a crossover to cut out the higher frequencies going to the speakers and/or place a piece of sound dampner over the centers of the speakers such as a strip of dynamat (not touching the speakers) like I did. The higher frequency reflections coming off of the windshield are a bit obnoxious if you don't. I bought th car with some sort of aftermarket armrests in the back that hold 4x6 speakers. I have no idea who makes them. I but a pair of 4x6 kicker coaxials in there. I'm not a big fan of rear fill and that is all I wanted back there anyway. For bass, I had a single MB Quart 12" sub powered with 225Wrms. It certainly wasn't a show off piece and it wasn't extremely loud but supplied a perfect amount of accurate bass that made the inside of the car feel just like a concert hall.
So my preference is to get most of your sound up front and to have a single large subwoofer for your bass in a sealed enclosure. This will give you your most accurate sound. What brands you go with and how much power all depends on how much you want to spend. So what is the magic number? Also, can you do the work yourself. It will save you a lot if you can.
-Brian