I’ve got a 69 Cutlass S convertible. What options do I have for a complete stereo package? Classiccarstereo.com has several options. Looks like I need the kick panel speakers and an amp. Maybe 6x9’s behind the rear seat? What about speakers in the dash?

any ideas would be great!

 

I would put in an underdash stereo. Those stereo's are junk. They pretty much require an amp to hear them at all. Convertibles are tough because you lose so much in the way of the sound. Especially in the rear. Don't the speakers face the back of the seat?

If you put speaker's in the dash get at least a two way. Highs as in tweeters reflect off glass wonderfully. I am guessing you can only go with maybe two four inch speakers? Personally I would Never cut the doors/door panels.

I am also curious to hear what convertible owners have done in the rear.

 

In my '71 convertible I have a 90s era Sony shaft mount radio with pre-amp outputs to an amplifier under the drivers seat (I actually bought and installed the radio in the 90s). The amp is wired in parallel with kick panel speakers up front and a pair of 6x9 coax speakers in boxes for the rear. The rear boxes can be placed on the rear floor board or on the rear seat, and with the top up I can place them in the boot well pointing upwards and the trunk cavity boosts the base and the sound reflecting off the rear glass really sounds good (better than the other speaker positions). Then if I have rear seat passengers, the boxes have quick connects so I can disconnect them and put them in the trunk and still have sound from the front kick panel speakers.

I thought about in dash speakers way back then, and decided against them as they are so small with no separation , plus they are a PITA to access.

And as noted above, many of the "retro" radios are junk. I bought one maybe 15 years ago and sent it back first because noise bled through (sounded horrible) and secondly it looked and felt cheap. The Sony is just so much better quality, but it does not have the modern features that you can get on new radios.

 

Really hard to get good sound in a convert.

With hardtops and sedans you get that parcel shelf area, and a pair of good 6 X 9s mounted there can utilize that cavernous trunk for an acoustically-perfect speaker enclosure. The very modest system I had in my '68 4-4-2 sounded like a goddam cathedral in this configuration.

Obviously you can't do that. I'd stay away from a subwoofer -- my experience is that it just sounds like you have a guy crouched in the back seat playing a sousaphone stuffed with sweaty gym socks. I went with Custom Autosound kickpanel mounts using 6.5" Focal speakers. Muddy, buzzy and not very resonant, even after much reinforcement and acoustic treatment, so I'm not too happy. And really the kickpanel is the only practical mounting location in a convertible unless you want to butcher the back seat bolsters or have loose speaker boxes kicking around back there. Maybe stick with the kickpanel location but build (or have built) a custom enclosure.

Sorry I can't be more help.

 

Fun71 made a very good post. 6x9's in boxes are a great call.

Speakers are math. You can angle four inch speaker's in your dash. Box them in. A speaker with no or too much space will give you zero bass response.

 

Keep in mind that all speakers in a convertible will be a compromise between sound quality and mounting location. The factory dash speaker location can accept a 4X10 adaptor with a pair of 3 1/2 inch speakers. The old Kenwood dual-cone speakers were the very best sounding speakers of that size. They are about $40 on Amazon. The adaptor is available in cheap plastic for about $5. If you are handy with wood, you an make a nice one out of thin plywood that will work fine and probably sound better. I think someone sells an adaptor complete with speakers already mounted in it.

Kick Panel speaker mounting requires the speakers to be mounted in solid fashion with some sort of air cavity behind them or they sound "trrrible" and rattle. Buy or scrounge a pair of replacement kick panels to cut holes in and build up a mounting platform for the speakers and they can actually produce good quality sound if you use good speakers. Good quality separates (woofer and tweeter combo) will sound very nice if the bass speaker is mounted like mentioned in the kicks and the tweeter mounted high in the door. $20 Kraco speakers will NEVER sound good.

Rear speakers are limited to either small ones mounted in the side panels or box-mounted like mentioned above. Plusses and minuses also listed above.

It is almost impossible to get bass from a trunk-mounted subwoofer box in the trunk of a convertible. Short of a full custom trunk conversion dedicated to woofers, it just won't work well. There are new bass speaker modules that are designed specifically for 'verts and old trucks that mount under the front seats but I have no experience with them. I plan to try them though.

A high-power "quality" stereo can provide a good listening experience or a modest amplifier is needed because wind noise is hard to overcome. Keep in mind that amplified stereos can also be played quietly with the top up if you insist. DIN or shaft stereo is up to you but modern units will almost require DIN chassis.

 

These were the rear speakers in a car I just bought. Has a retro look in dash, amp under seat & these are the rear behind the rear seat. Sound good. Not in the way of the folding top. Hard to tell from the angle, but they are mounted facing the base of the rear window.