Do I have to use external cabinets?

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Do I have to use external cabinets?

Postby Mastiffen » Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:14 am

I'm gonna get my Starfire '78 Friday, and I'm gonna get the speakers for it (I NEVER use factory speakers, I love sound too much!) on the way there. Which is why I would like to know what my options are. I have seen that some have external cabinets mounted in the rear of the car, but I don't think that will bee good enough since most of the treble and upper midrange will be indirect (from the rear windshield). Are there standard speaker placements in the front doors, and what size are they? The only thing I want to put in the rear is a 10" JL Audio Subwoofer with a very good enclosure that has been with me for ten years now.

Btw in my Chevy Sub I have a box I built myself with two JL Audio 12", a set of Alpine DD Drive as the front system and Magnat 6x9 in the backdoors (for the kids, mostly). And it's not the most expensive of systems but because I listened carefully to all the speakers before I bought them I knew that they would sound good together. And they do! :D
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Postby spencerforhire » Tue Oct 16, 2007 6:50 am

Unfortunately, there are no speaker provisions in the doors of your Starfire. Other than the one 4x10" in the center of the dash and the single optional 6x9" in the left rear, GM didn't leave much room for tunes. You should be able to fit a 6.5" in the lower front corner of the door, but there will be some cutting of sheet metal involved and there is also an issue of depth- the window mechanism is in there. I've also put 4" (or a thin 5") in the kick panels, again with some cutting involved. Those of us who'd rather not cut up our vehicles usually end up with two 4" mounted on a custom plate in the stock front dash location. Not the best for "stereo separation", but invisible.
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Postby Mastiffen » Tue Oct 16, 2007 7:08 am

Wow! This is going to be a challenge! Of course I do love challenges, but there are challenges and there are challenges... Thanks, good to know what I'm looking at. Maybe I should make myself a custom cover for the boot? It should be doable with some kind of fiber plate. Of course I do have those old Pioneer "tune-up speakers" from the early 80's. They are the size of a packet of 20 cigarettes (which I don't smoke), and they are from the right period! :)
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Postby 10secvega » Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:32 pm

I put 6 x 9's in my rear panels and 4 inch in my doors,I also built a box for a single 12.If you look closely at the second picture you'll see the door speakers.
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Postby v8astregt » Wed Oct 17, 2007 12:16 am

I've just got a pair of 6x9's in boxes thrown where the rear seat used to be. I just can't bear to cut anything up.
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Postby Mastiffen » Thu Oct 18, 2007 5:05 am

Nice, 10secvega! That would be a way to do it! :)
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Postby Mastiffen » Sun Oct 28, 2007 5:13 pm

While working on the lights I had to remove the left kick panel and found something interesting: There's actually something that looks very much like (haven't measured it yet, but anything else would surprise me) a mounting space for a 6x9 speaker underneath it!

But I don't think I'll use it, I will probably just build a box that covers the width of the rear and stretches 10 inches or so forward, so I can both have speakers there and hide the fact that the plate over the rear lights is shattered and thrown away. And then I'll use those tune-up speakers on the dash. Won't be anything to play to the neighbourhood, but at least I'll have tunes! ;)
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Postby v6buick » Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:07 pm

If you have door panels that have the map pockets like my car use to have, you could do this.
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Postby Mastiffen » Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:09 pm

Yeah, they do have map pockets. And that really is an elegant solution you have there! It would also hide the worst part of my door panels! Have you cut an MDF plate to form and then put it on the door, with a hole in the door panel where the speaker goes through?

I have in the meantime discovered that there's actually mounting points behind at least the left and probably both kick panels for 6x9 speakers! I just need to cut a hole in the kickpanel itself.
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