68442Convertible

Here are some pics and info on the speaker installation in my car.

In the front, I put 5 1/4 inch speakers in a pod that sets on the center hump. Centra-Pod marketed for Jeeps I think. Speakers are Infinity Reference.

I was going to use the kick panel option, but I use my vent on the DS frequently and there were too many issues with speaker depth, intrusion into the cabin space, A/C, etc.

68442Convertible

When I inherited my car, it had 5 1/4 inch JBLs in the back seat. These interfered with the hydraulic cylinder when the top was raised or lowered. The cylinders had some gouges in them and the speaker magnets were worn away. Speakers were professionally installed by a local car stereo shop.

I replaced them with 3 1/2 speakers (same brand as fronts). Had to fabricate an adapter using a sheet of black plastic. Used the old JBL grills.

68442Convertible

An 8 inch Bazooka 250W sub just fit in the trunk on the left side. It sets on a mount made from a 2x4 bolted to the floor, so it is raised 3 1/2 inches. There is just enough room for a rubber bumper at the front and back.

68442Convertible

I kept the existing CD changer, but mounted it on the shelf under the bag for the convertible top. It use to be where the Bazooka is now. It is on Sorbothane half spheres for isolation - they work - no CD skips on bumps. Also mounted the jack on the same shelf. The top rests on the wheel wells when it is down, so the bottom of the bag is always empty.

68442Convertible

There was also an amplifier on the left side of the trunk. I moved it to the right side up against the sheet metal as much as possible. I cut up a 2x4 to fit in the space between the trunk floor and sheet metal. There is another 2x4 underneath it. Amp is bolted to the top. The spare tire goes up against the amp - almost touches. I removed the motor assembly from the dead aftermarket power antenna to make room for the amp.

68442Convertible

I mounted the subwoofer controls in the console, along with a power outlet and a 3.5 mm jack (hidden below the subwoofer controls). The other end of the 3.5 mm cable comes out under the dash for plugging in to the stereo.

Power is from a 10 AWG wire/30A fuse connected to the battery and running under the drivers seat to the trunk. 12 AWG to the Bazooka and amplifier. A smaller fused circuit to the console and some other stuff.

68442Convertible

The revised stereo sounds pretty good and plays loud enough to hear with the top down - over the wind noise and exhaust. Front speakers helped, and the Bazooka sub does OK - much better than my old sub.

My old sub was a JBL in a big wooden box. Took up a lot of trunk space and was hard to hear with the top down.

I have a bunch more trunk space now. Enough for luggage for the next road trip.

allyolds68

I have these speakers:
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_130TSG....html?tp=78072


I think Crutchfield supplied an adapter kit in case I had to shim the speaker out to clear the cylinders but I don't think I needed them. The speakers are pretty shallow. They are the only speakers I have. I don't have an incredible amount of bass but they do the job.


I have this stereo:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KDC...-KDC-X599.html


I love the Bluetooth for my phone. The microphone was wired which was kind of a PIA but I ran it up the pillar post and I can talk fine at 55 mph with the top down.


These the speakers are mounted here:

bccan

That's a well done install, just adding some notes for others looking to do similar.

I managed to get 6 1/2" Alpine "R" speakers in my rear armrests but it took about a dozen measure/mock up cycles on each side to get them to clear top cylinder's swivel arc. I used 1 1/2" masking tape rolls, etc to mimic the large magnets & locate the sweet spot. Similar to photo above but painted pearl to match interior. You can get speakers in there but measure 10 times & cut once! Might want to cut progressively & re-check just in case you're a tick off, there is not much leeway there. IIRC I had to slightly notch the floor brace on one side but it was 15 years ago so foggy.

I took the easy way out w/ sub tube & strapped it to trunk torsion springs + a strap to the Trunk hinge bracket for sideways swing control. Amp mounted to "kick up" towards front of trunk floor.

Front speakers in forward carpet area of front doors.

I wasn't overly concerned about making holes & such, if your car has a pedigree any "non reversible" ideas may not be for you.

68442Convertible

My speaker cut outs in the rear were already there, so I had to work with that. Probably would be different if I could move the location.

I measured the depth to the cylinder and decided that a 1 inch spacer ring would move the old speakers out enough to clear. So I bought the rings, painted them blue, and tried to install them. The speakers stuck out so far that I had trouble installing the seat bottom. Decided that was the wrong direction and started over.