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Fri Nov 01, 2002 4:43 pm

hey, i want to know how everyone sets up their systems, like speakers in the door panels, or on kick panels, where would the amp go, boxes, whatever, (this could be real long) I want to have a good sounding system, no crazy thumping bass, just a really good sounding system, so i can hear every part of the song, every instrument, every note, not all bass, or all mids, or all highs, im sure speaker placement has some sort of relativity

Mon Nov 04, 2002 4:21 pm

i have a $20 tape deck with a tape-to-cd player adapter going into my glove box where my portable cd player is. then i have speaker wire running to the back luggage comp. where two small tweeter stereo spkrs lay. of course when i get everything done(body work, redone int.) thats all gonna be replaced with an actual stereo sys.

Mon Nov 04, 2002 8:09 pm

I have 3 12's where the back seat is supose to be,I have tweetrs on my dash (superbeetle), 4 amps,and a cross over for better sound, 3 amps power my subs and the other powers my 6x9s (2)midrangers.the radio/cd player powers the speakers by the doors and tweeters,Oh, yeah! I have a bigger altornator (55amp) and an extra battery, BUt im not finish yet, and the sound quality is exselt, place the amps on the subs box, that way u wont have to drill holes any where on the car, run the wires by the heater chanels under the carpet,GET A RADIO THAT FITS THE DASH, dont place the midrangers on the door panels, they will come lose, and mess up ur door panels, trust me i know!, U will have to get another fuse box for the whole system..It will make it much easier to conect , make sure u use fuses for every thing, u dont want to melt a wire if u have a short, THEY WILL HEAR U COMING FROM A MILE A WAY!!!!!!!!

Mon Nov 04, 2002 9:19 pm

ok this guy above is going above and beyond what you need to do! i alne have 2 10 inch sub 2 six by 9 and nothin else in the back i the front i have the 1 lil 4 inch speaker behind the steering wheel. this has been rated as a compition stereo and has that all around sound and plus it was very budgeted! fyi it hits at 141.6 dbs non bass cd! so those cheap 6 by 9s you see at walmart and the good deal on mtx tens at circuit city and that low budget jvc deck all ends up as the greates system!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mon Nov 11, 2002 2:13 am

I was wondering the same thing... Acutally tomorrow I was going to pop some 6 by 9's into my door panels cuz I'm not sure where else they'd go? I don't have kicker panels (and don't realy won't them; carpet is new already)... what's the real alternative in speaker placement without cutting anything up...

Oh, I have a '57 Oval...

Mon Nov 11, 2002 11:50 am

they sell 6x9 boxs, there smalll, they could fit under ur set, or behind ur back seat, i think its the best way to go, because u can move them around,take them out, and they will sound way better

Mon Nov 11, 2002 11:01 pm

i have a 100 wat amp behind the back seat under a custom (simple, but heavy) speaker shelf -- there are 2 6X9s in the shelf. the amp is hotwired to the battery and triggered by the 12V lead to the coil (on when the car is on).

i have my ipod (or cd player) connected the the RCA inputs of the amp by way of a 6ft cable (RCA >> headphone plug).

when i unplug my ipod, you cant tell a stereo is in the car (the 6V radio is still in the dash and works). i dont have front speakers, but the setup is simple and stealth -- a fair tradeoff.

Tue Nov 12, 2002 12:08 am

i put 2 stock honda speakers under my front seats, that is the only speaks i got in my bug
67 bug

Wed Nov 13, 2002 3:06 pm

There is room behind the back seat for a carpeted, sealed box for your sub--looks like you could put two tens in such an enclosure (firing forward) and still have it be pretty small. Some subs are very efficient with a small enclosure. You could add a separate cavity in the top of this box to hold two 5" mids (firing up). There is room behind (under) the headliner front and back to glue separate 2" tweeters to the inside of the roof. Ample space under the right side of the back seat for a 4 channel amp (MTX and Rockford Fosgate make nice powerful compact amps with integrated crossovers). The front mids are harder...you have a 57--suggest you don't cut any sheetmetal or butcher the door panels. How about a pair of those black ABS panels that go next to your feet. Or you can take it a bit farther and make a pair of 18 guage flat sheet metal panels that would be tackwelded into the same spot (look at how a vert is reinforced here) to hold the speakers flush with the carpeting that covers the panels. That is how I intend to install the system in my 56. If it ends up looking as good as I think it will, I may make extra sets of the front speaker panels and sell them online as I continue to see owners of vintage vws struggle with mounting the front speakers without hacking the doors. With the head unit either hidden (w/remote) or in the glove box, the entire system would be extremely unobtrusive and could be completely removed without affecting the vintage quality of the car.

I have always had the impression that the hole in an your oval dash is incompatible with nearly every aftermarket head unit available.

Good luck.

Thu Nov 14, 2002 12:24 am

I have to tell ya... I'm sooo pleased to see so many people out there helping each other out. I'm kind of a fumbling VW nut (usually cause more damage than good), and this forum rocks...

Thanks for all the info!

Sean
'57 Beetle
'68 Beetle

Fri Nov 15, 2002 3:53 am

Has anyone fitted a stereo into the glove compartment, and how do u do it? I like to conceal it. Any ideas? Thanks - whitebug

Fri Nov 15, 2002 7:44 am

Whitey;
I stuck my cd player in the glove box. It's a fairly small Pioneer. I just kind of set it in there - planning to come back later and really install it right. But I've been too busy putting an addition on our house, so the thing is just like it was.
It works fine and I can shut the glove box to conceal it. All I did was cut a small hole in the back (front?) of the glove box for the wires to go through.
I've heard that Innovations in Fiberglass (I think that's the right name) makes a glove-box adapter just for that purpose, though I've not seen one.

JSH

Fri Nov 15, 2002 10:12 am

you need one of these...

http://pix.crutchfield.com/products/2002/204/h204NOS8-o-1.jpeg

Wed Nov 20, 2002 5:24 pm

Yea you do need one of those linked above. Haha The beetle would be a flying nuclear bomb. Any way in my 69 bug Air comes through a vent on the left hand side dask, but it looks like a grate, I think that was to disquise the vent, anyway was this ment for a speaker?

Mon Nov 25, 2002 11:41 pm

it is a speaker .....bazooka makes it...

Wed Nov 27, 2002 8:19 pm

glass action or whatever its called sells a plastic glove box that holds your head unit. they also sell a fiber galss rear speaker shelf and kick panels

Sat Nov 30, 2002 6:23 pm

a pair of 6x9's or kenwoods 7x10's in the rear shelf.if u sound deaden with say dynamat in the rear luggage compartment then the sound won't be so drowned by the engine and to give the speakers a chance you need an amp to power them properly.
head units don't really cut it

Thu Dec 05, 2002 5:21 pm

I had worked at a place called mobile radio. After many installs, we found this worked best. I ahve a 74 super. I have 4 tweeters, 2 in my dash, 2 in my rear shelf, 2 6x9s in the rear shelf, 2 6.5in. mid speakers in the door panels. I have one ten inch subwoofer behind my back seat. My amp is 4oo watt. 200 to my sub, and 50 watts x 4, to each mid, and 6x9. My amp. is installed under my back seat. This sounds awsome, everthing thing is equal, no over power to any speaker.