I will do this post in several sections, and try to keep it fairly brief, as there has been many installs posted here, no need to repeat. This install is on my 96 Collector Edition Convertible.
I wanted to upgrade my factory bose system, but i wanted to be able to make it invisible, make it look good, cause no damage (cutting holes for tweeters, etc), no subs or amps but offering better than factory sound and keep it under 500 bucks. Buying new was out of the question for what i wanted, so with a little patience and some good luck i was able to find the stereo and speakers below for a grand total of 340 bucks plus cables, wire, etc, grand total about 420. The double din Clarion (200 watts) deck is out of a 2009 Tiburon, brand new car, some young guy wanted to upgrade to a nav....good deal for me. The speakers are components and are all alpine. Everything was/is in fantastic shape. I googled everything, read the reviews and was really impressed with the performance. I figure retail (Canada/best buy) is about nine hundred bucks, so pretty damn good savings.
The first thing i did was remove all the factory bose equipment, speakers, head unit(s) and expose the wiring. I ran all new speaker wire, leaving the factory stuff alone, just in case, for factory re install if ever needed. The rear speaker cavities were huge, i lined them with sound deadening insulation, gutted the original speakers from the factory mounts and with some modifying, I mounted and installed the 6x9s with little effort.
I pretty much did the same with the front speaker mounts, mounted the new mids 5.25 with minor trimming, sealed everything up and re installed.
I didnt want to put holes in the doors or dash for the tweeters, but i did want them up high for a better centre stage sound. I fabricated some triangular wedges out of a hard plastic, wrapped them in black leather, compliments of one of my wifes old purses..quit laughing, i was on a budget and trying something new...lol. It worked out pretty good, no holes, no mods to factory equipment, love the sound, but will make up new mounts with actual leather now that i know it worked, and looks pretty darn good. I will post down the road with the new and improved tweeter mounts. But for now, they do the job, look great from outside the windshield, and pretty good from inside. I simply put the crossovers inside the compartment behind the passenger seat, out of sight, out of mind.
Now the rest was pretty basic, just a normal install of a aftermarket deck. I found the plug that went into the bose head unit behind the seat, tapped into that for my ign, battery, ground and power ant, ran that to the dash, with the new speaker wires, added the gm antenna adapter and everything was in place. No need to show any of that unless requested, if you've seen one gutted C4, you've seen them all!
As far as mounting the double din deck, it fit in the dash very well, except the rear mounting bracket has to be cut off, no problem for a die grinder and rotozip. The front facia is a double din opening, but i had to modify that ever so slightly. After about a half an hour with a file, i took about 1/8th off the back, squared the corners, and it fit the new deck just like a glove.
I really like this deck, has over 700 color combination's (lots of purdy lights!), plays all the new formats including an SD card. Shy of the deck, everything else is completely hidden, and caused no permanent damage to my car. The sound is way better, offers incredible clarity, really nice bass without disturbing the neighbors, and is crisp and clear with the top down.
That about wraps it up, I know i oversimplified the install, but like i said, the forum already has a lot of posts covering the same install. I just wanted to show that a great system can be put in on a budget without sacrificing quality. If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to respond while its fresh in my head.
Nice. Did you run an amp? I've read that the Alpine Type R are better suited for an amp compared to the Type S.
My 89 came with an Alpine double din and 4" Memphis speakers front and back. I noticed when I cranked it, I wasn't getting much volume. Then I noticed one of the front speakers were blown, and the blown one was wired out of phase. So, I'm upgrading the speakers and I ran all new 16 gauge Raptor wire. I'm thinking some of the volume problem might be because the Memphis speakers are 86/87 sensitivity. So, with the 92 sensitivity the Alpines speakers will have. I will get the same volume on 10 as I had it at 30 with the Memphis speakers.
I'm gonna put some Alpine 6x9" SPS-69C2 speakers in the rear, and Alpine 4" SPS-100A for the front door bose pods.
What brand speaker wire and gauge did you use? And what was that insulation you used in the rear speaker holes? My 89 has a large space behind the rear speakers as well. And how did you mount your rear speakers? On my 89, the mounting ring has a cutout for a 6x9" speaker, but the mounting holes aren't gonna line up. So, I'm gonna have to drill new holes and figure out how to mount them. I was thinking of using a dremel so I can put some speed nuts on.
Here's a pic of my rear speaker mounting ring:
And here is a pic of how I routed the rear wiring:
Nice. Did you run an amp? I've read that the Alpine Type R are better suited for an amp compared to the Type S.
My 89 came with an Alpine double din and 4" Memphis speakers front and back. I noticed when I cranked it, I wasn't getting much volume. Then I noticed one of the front speakers were blown, and the blown one was wired out of phase. So, I'm upgrading the speakers and I ran all new 16 gauge Raptor wire. I'm thinking some of the volume problem might be because the Memphis speakers are 86/87 sensitivity. So, with the 92 sensitivity the Alpines speakers will have. I will get the same volume on 10 as I had it at 30 with the Memphis speakers.
I'm gonna put some Alpine 6x9" SPS-69C2 speakers in the rear, and Alpine 4" SPS-100A for the front door bose pods.
What brand speaker wire and gauge did you use? And what was that insulation you used in the rear speaker holes? My 89 has a large space behind the rear speakers as well. And how did you mount your rear speakers? On my 89, the mounting ring has a cutout for a 6x9" speaker, but the mounting holes aren't gonna line up. So, I'm gonna have to drill new holes and figure out how to mount them. I was thinking of using a dremel so I can put some speed nuts on.
Here's a pic of my rear speaker mounting ring:
And here is a pic of how I routed the rear wiring:
No amp, deck produces 200 watts ( 4x50 ), the alpines seems to be clear and undistorted...produces more than enough power for me.
If you look in the third picture, the out of focus one..sorry, the install is similiar to what you're describing on your car. I used the factory bose plates, modified to accept the 6x9, used leftover sound deadening insulation that i had from my theater room build and ran blue 16 guage speaker wire to all areas..not sure of the brand name.
No amp, deck produces 200 watts ( 4x50 ), the alpines seems to be clear and undistorted...produces more than enough power for me.
If you look in the third picture, the out of focus one..sorry, the install is similiar to what you're describing on your car. I used the factory bose plates, modified to accept the 6x9, used leftover sound deadening insulation that i had from my theater room build and ran blue 16 guage speaker wire to all areas..not sure of the brand name.
HTH ...Mike
Do you have any clear close up pics of the front and back of the speaker mounted in the ring?
And what did you use to mount them?
This is what I was thinking of using so I don't have to worry about the speaker vibrating loose. You can see in my pic as that is how the stock set up was cut for. I just wish the holes lined up.
That way in the future if I need to pull the speaker, all I have to do is unscrew the speaker and remove then reinstall. Other ways would be to put a bolt though and tighten a nut on the back side. But then, if you needed to pull the speaker and reinstall, you would have to pull the mounting ring.
I dont have any more detailed pics of the speaker rim, but i did use the exact hardware that you showed in the above photo. I simply cut out the space needed for the 6x9s in the bose mount, then screwed and fastened using those fasteners on the backside. Then attached speakers to car using factory screws.
Well, I'll have to change plans. The Alpine 6x9" speaker mounting holes are smaller than the cutout ring. So, there is nothing to drill into to mount them.
I did put some speed clips in the stock slots and put the factory screws that has a washer though the hole on the outside of the Alpine speaker ring. I was able to do 2, and I might of been able to do a 3rd hole. But the speaker still had some play in it.
So, I think what I'll do as someone else had done, is get some heavy zip ties, and zip tie the speaker to the mounting plate in all 4 holes. It is kinda bubba-ish but is the best way I can think of to get the speaker mounted in there sturdy. Plus, it would be pretty easy to remove the speaker in the future as I'd just have to cut the zip ties, compared to trying to get a socket wrench up under the carpet.
The speakers I used were 2 way, someone else had used some 3 way Infinity 6x9" speakers, and those have a high tweeter on them and hit the cover. So, this person was telling me they didn't even have to mount the speaker to the ring as with the speaker cover hitting the tweeter, it kept the speaker in place. But I still think I would zip tie them in place.
Though, I'm gonna have to get some different Alpine 6x9" speakers than what was in the picture, but I say the mounting holes would be the same. Reason is the dumb woman I won these off eBay put the speakers in 2 plastic bags. Stuck them in a box and put some plastic in the box. The plastic was about 7 foot long of the large 6" wide bubbles. But only 5 of the bubbles had any air in them. Anyways, when I opened the box up, the speakers were stacked on top of each other with only the plastic bags between them. And the magnet of one speaker poked through the cone of the other speaker. So, I'll have to keep an eye out for some new-old-stock Alpine type S speakers as those have a lower wattage compared to the newer type S speakers. Damn, I was looking forward to getting this done this weekend and everything mounted back up. I do have some 4" Alpine speakers on the way for the front.
[quote=joshwilson3;1570182771]Well, I'll have to change plans. The Alpine 6x9" speaker mounting holes are smaller than the cutout ring. So, there is nothing to drill into to mount them.
I did put some speed clips in the stock slots and put the factory screws that has a washer though the hole on the outside of the Alpine speaker ring. I was able to do 2, and I might of been able to do a 3rd hole. But the speaker still had some play in it.
So, I think what I'll do as someone else had done, is get some heavy zip ties, and zip tie the speaker to the mounting plate in all 4 holes. It is kinda bubba-ish but is the best way I can think of to get the speaker mounted in there sturdy. Plus, it would be pretty easy to remove the speaker in the future as I'd just have to cut the zip ties, compared to trying to get a socket wrench up under the carpet.
I encountered the same problem, but easily solved, I simply drilled a new hole ( just left of the original) through the speaker frame and original mounting plate, angled the screw away from the speaker, got good bite, fastening clip on back...voila...nice and secure.
Sucks about the ebay purchase...keep an eye online, lots of good buys locally on the online classifieds..you have craigs list, up here the big online classified site is called Kijiji, it's where i found my speakers and deck.[/color][/size]
Well, I'll have to change plans. The Alpine 6x9" speaker mounting holes are smaller than the cutout ring. So, there is nothing to drill into to mount them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joshwilson3
I did put some speed clips in the stock slots and put the factory screws that has a washer though the hole on the outside of the Alpine speaker ring. I was able to do 2, and I might of been able to do a 3rd hole. But the speaker still had some play in it.
So, I think what I'll do as someone else had done, is get some heavy zip ties, and zip tie the speaker to the mounting plate in all 4 holes. It is kinda bubba-ish but is the best way I can think of to get the speaker mounted in there sturdy. Plus, it would be pretty easy to remove the speaker in the future as I'd just have to cut the zip ties, compared to trying to get a socket wrench up under the carpet.
I encountered the same problem, but easily solved, I simply drilled a new hole ( just left of the original) through the speaker frame and original mounting plate, angled the screw away from the speaker, got good bite, fastening clip on back...voila...nice and secure.
Sucks about the ebay purchase...keep an eye online, lots of good buys locally on the online classifieds..you have craigs list, up here the big online classified site is called Kijiji, it's where i found my speakers and deck.[/color][/size]
Thanks. Yeah, though I can't really drill a new hole as I would just be drilling through the speaker frame and into the air. Plus, there would be no way for a speed nut clip to fasten to anything. I might could have done that if the speaker frame was larger as the edge of the frame sits just a little over the edge of the 6x9" hole. The 6x9" speakers I got were just like yours, except they were the S model. And yeah, I've been checking craigslist.
The seller gave me a refund and didn't ask for the speakers back. I'm keeping an eye out though for some Alpines. I've got some glue that is for flexible material like clothes and what not. I may try putting some of that glue on the crack and letting it set up. Then hook them up and see what they sound like. I'm still gonna get another set, but the one speaker is still good, so I may just keep it incase a speaker blows in my Firebird. As the only speakers that are in there are 2 6x9". The front 4x6" blew twice, so I just never replaced them.
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96 c4 stereo upgrade on a budget
