Stereo Setups - without altering original dash

[HK1837]

I reckon if push came to shove I could gut an original radio, and make all it's knobs and buttons act as "steering wheel" controls for a modern unit. How cool would that be! Speakers you'd have to creative. Mount small piezo tweeters up high (off the sunvisor brackets), bigger midrange units in the kick panels (like a WB) and a tube/box subwoofer behind the seats. There is enough room behind the seats to fit small amps, and those long box subs have an inbuilt amp so only need a pre-out from the head unit to drive them. If you buy a good head unit these will drive the piezo and midranges fine, just use a pre-out for the sub woofer(s). I'm not talking about doof-doof hat back-to-front wanker subs, just small ones to give you some bass which you won't get from the midranges. If you have a van you could use the side panels for subs if you like too.

[wbute]

You have a van right. Miles of room in the back, put it in the back or in the arch somewhere and get a head unit with a remote control? That way you can easily set the mood music whilst in the back (which you can even pick from the awesome selection that has been entered into the ipod competition)!
Those Custom Consoles that were around in the 90's were awesome for fitting headunits and UHF's into. I am sure if you were a bit cunning you could build a roof console that hardly anyone would notice in a van as well.

[agr071]

Aftermarket stereo - EASY!! Just get another lower dash cover that has had the pocket cut out and mount the stereo there.
Speakers - Put them into a box which goes on the shelf between the back of the seats and archway. Hidden but still practical.

Pain in the bum bit about the glovebox - If your buy yourself it's a pain to get at, if there are 2 of you, the glovebox lid will hit your knees each time you change station/cd etc.

OR (for a ute)do a small bracket off the seatbelt mount, and put a small box speaker up there.
EVEV make a box that fits behind the armrest (between the seats) mount a forward facing speaker there with the original type one in the dash.

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All these are removeable/replaceable with the greatest of ease and no damage to your prestige interior.

[playwme]

I did stereo in the glovebox and speakers in new kick panels on my statesman. Made a surround for the stereo that fit snugly in the glovebox and was secured using one of the existing screws. 2 decent speakers mounted in MDF kick panels gave good enough sound quality for me and not a single hole was drilled in original parts. Stereo had an infra red remote so I'd just leave the glovebox open if it required a lot of use. Otherwise just set and forget.

[HZSandman]

Have done the glovebox. First time around I put in a unit minus a remote control. Idiot. Had to wait till a red light came along to reach over and do anything with it or risk swerving across the road trying to change the volume.

Now have remote control unit in their and it is fine as long as you leave the glove box open.

Problem with speakers though. Have a couple of larger ones in the back but need a couple in the front. Have currently got a couple of tweeter types on each side of the dash but these can not be turned up very much at all. Don't really want to cut into the kick panels. not sure what to try next.

[jbsandman76]

I have gone with the stereo in the glovebox. It has ipod cable that runs from the back so you can control it without reaching to the glovebox. Also has remote that works through the glovebox lid.



I made my own kick panels and mounted the 5 1/4 woofers and splitter boxes there, for the tweeters, they have been mounted snugly into the back of the airvents on the dash. You cannot see them, the sound is good, and the air still gets through. Win, Win, Win.





This setup has allowed me to have the original yellow needle radio in the dash for the retro look.



Hope this helps

Sorry for the large pics

Justin

[Blocker]

Great photos everyone.

Not large pics at all, nice size so you can see the detail.

[HZ1178]

Thanks all for The great ideas. Great to see different ideas come through.