I know, I could put holes in the kicks or the doors, but what are some other good options? FWIW My project is a '59 Dodge pickup that originally had a radio (and I assume a speaker) mounted to the ceiling in the cab, so there is no existing speaker grille anywhere. The dash is mostly flat sheet metal. This one isn't mine, but this is the style dash, but mine doesn't have a radio in the middle like the one in this pic:
Forgot to mention: I don't want to do the removable Bluetooth speaker- I want to have them bolted in.
Build a nice little box and put them under the seat if you don't want to look at them. That's the plan for my '60 GMC. Previous owners hacked the dash up and I hate it so it's all been filled but I need something so it'll get basic radio in the glovebox and some little guys under the seat. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The radio is in the original location in the Ranch Wagon but the original mono speaker in the top of the dash was sacrificed for the sake of in dash air..what to do? I ended up using 4 speakers with 2 up front and 2 in the rear behing the rear wheel wells and the speakers are Hidden just like the front. The front drivers side & passenger side is in the kick panels but I decided to installed them behind the vinyl so I didn't have to use the modern fugly speaker grills. As you can see I used a hole punch tool to perforate the material. HRP
I had good luck once with four 4-inch speakers in the headliner. Wired left-right-right-left, it put the speakers up by your ears. Not a lot of bass but ok. This was in a 1970 dodge with enough room between headliner fabric and roof. But there are more speaker options now so something thin enough for your truck may work? Sticking them up by the magnets didn't work, gluing to underside of roof metal mostly worked but one came unstuck.
HRP- That's pretty inconspicuous, I like it. Did you do anything special with insulating or boxing around the speakers?
I had 12" speakers under the seats of my 53 Willys truck.in had metal boxes for mounting the seats...the 12"s dropped right into the top of them...had great sound..i did have a small cheap amp mounted on the back off the box on my side to drive em...radio was in a overhead box i built from plywood and covered to match for panels....built shall block Chevy with loud pipes. Clarity was real good... Besides it kept the girlfriend happy
I did a decent but cheap pioneer head unit in the glove box and a pair of 6x9s in the package tray and some 6 - 1/2" rounds in the door. I cut holes in the hard board that I used to make my panels and just covered them up with vinyl. It's a little muffled but not terrible gives it that nice old sound. I'm probably going to put in a small amp under the dash just to get a little more tone out of it. If at first you don't succeed get a bigger hammer, and if then you don't succeed, get a beer.
I've got some speakers in the kick panels of the '36 pickup, that I plan to have some inconspicuous interior panels cover. If you want zero holes in your kick panel panels, I would fab some brackets that went under the dash to hold the speakers, but kind of angled them a bit towards the passengers while still staying hidden. If that makes sense.
HERE is the previous hamb thread whose ideas should not get overlooked. Found with simple search. In another car incarnation, I mounted an 8" speaker in the front passenger footwell of a 2-seater sports car. Build up the 45° transition surface between floor and firewall where passenger rests their feet. It was covered by the rug which didn't absorb much if any sound but made it hidden in plain sight. One could build a box into the bottom of the car but easier to eat 2" into passenger foot space. The sound was super, greatly overpowering the smaller inconsequential door speakers. Note that car had bucket seats and tall center console which obviously doesn't work with classic bench seats except in cars with a tallish transmission tunnel. The sound was fed with parallel stereo outputs from a 100W amplifier.
I have mounted speakers through MDF panels a bit bigger than the speakers, so the speakers are horizontal and pointing down, mounted under the dash.
Hey 4woody, HRP's installation is about the same that I did on our second 40 Ford Sedan Delivery. The holes are so inconspicuous that people will wonder where the music is located. Get the best 6 inch speakers that you can and that will far surpass the big 6x9's that are hard to hide. In my 65 El Camino, I built two speaker enclosures for two 6x9 speakers. The sound was outstanding, but I lost valuable space behind the seats. My (+HRP's) 40 delivery kick panel installation with minimal holes will definitely solve your problems. Start off with some center holes, listen to how much the material blocks the sound. Then increase the number of holes and do the same sound check. I thought that I had to punch all of the holes for the best sound, but I could have used less holes to get the best sound from those expensive speakers. (sound check on the other under dash speaker install) But, to make it look uniform, I had to punch out the same amount of holes for each side to make it look even. Start small and expand as you find out the results in your truck. Jnaki
I wouldn't be so quick to say no to Bluetooth speakers. That's what I use in my A-bomb as well as my radical 51 F1. Good sound. Put in anywhere out of sight. Park and take it with you.
Remember that speakers want to be in a 'sealed enclosure' for best sound, particularly to get good bass response if the speakers are smaller. Doors, interior side panels, and package trays all work well because they act as enclosures and have a large volume (another help to sound quality). Kick panel installs can be harder as many times there's no depth behind the trim panel, plus the lack of 'sealing'. Back in the late '60s, Ford solved this by stamping a relief into the body for a speaker cutout, then used a molded plastic enclosure in the hole to hold the speaker. A piece of fiberglass insulation stuffed in there prevents resonance. This also protected the speaker from water damage. A lo-buck way to come up with a similar enclosure is visit your local grocery store that sells 'institutional'-sized canned goods. Find a can with the correct diameter to match your speaker, cut it down to the maximum depth that will fit, then solder/braze a flange to it (leave a relief for the speaker wires). Install it with plenty of seam sealer, stuff some insulation in there, and there's your enclosure.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-lwWu4Y1Shdn/ I used Crutchfield 4"-6" speakers in my roadster. There's very little room in a 27 T! At first I installed two under the seat but was not happy with the sound. Later I put two more on ether side of the firewall above the toe board. It made a huge improvement.
I used almost the same installation as 36Roadster: Speakers mounted under the dash, pointing down toward the floor, and completely hidden, unless you're laying on the floor looking up. The only thing I did differently is mounted the speakers in an enclosed box (red lines in my diagram) for better sound quality. They sound great that way, to my ears. I'm sure my feet would tell you they sound better than great! In another of my cars, I used the same perforated vinyl as my headliner is made from. I mounted the speakers under the parcel shelf behind the rear seat, and then covered the shelf with the headliner vinyl. It looks like just a bare parcel shelf. Nobody would expect that the vinyl hides a pair of speakers. The sound comes through the perforated vinyl just fine.
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