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Just redid the carpet on my 75 coupe - i took off the kick panels that have the body mounts (look good!). Am replacing stereo soon only have the 2 dash speakers hooked up to a 80's cassette deck that sound horrible.
Can I squeeze in some little speakers in the kick panels and fit the stock panels back? Just looking for a little sound no audiophile level, exhaust is good enough most of the time!
Fwiw, I installed 6-1/2" round SHALLOW mount speakers behind my kick panels. I did need to trim just a SMALL bit of material from the speaker frame. The speakers are Infinity CS32, I think, but are no longer available. But the take away is a shallow mount speaker. Anything smaller should fit or use 4"X6" to fit in the opening.
The speakers used in '68 & '69 cars (they were in the kick panels, not the dash) were 4"x10" speakers, IIRC. 4"x6" will fit easily; 5 1/4 round will work. You can "make" others fit with some trimming to the speaker frames and/or body supports behind the kick panels.
If you keep the dash speakers (you should, IMO) with tweeters, the kick panel speakers should be mid-range/bass speakers. The larger the better; but you can find some smaller speakers with decent bass response for a bit more money. Bass speakers with good response down to 50Hz will do the job.
P.S. Inside a C3's cabin is not a good place for a sub-woofer....unless you have already been rendered nearly deaf from long-term sub-woofer damage....
Fwiw, I installed 6-1/2" round SHALLOW mount speakers behind my kick panels. I did need to trim just a SMALL bit of material from the speaker frame. The speakers are Infinity CS32, I think, but are no longer available. But the take away is a shallow mount speaker. Anything smaller should fit or use 4"X6" to fit in the opening.
If I go kick panel how are they attached to the existing kick panels? Do you just screw through the holes in the factory kick panel?
The kick panels aren't really stiff enough to support the speakers. It would be best to mount the speakers to the body support behind the kick panels. You can either cut an opening in the kick panel and attach the speaker cover to the panel. Or you can just install the panel over the speaker and let the sound exit the many holes, as it did with the '68-69 cars. That's how I've done it on my car and the sound is acceptable (I'm not expecting hi-fi).
If I go kick panel how are they attached to the existing kick panels? Do you just screw through the holes in the factory kick panel?
Don't attach to kick panel. Attach to the metal opening by drilling holes as required to secure the speaker. I think I just drilled one or two holes using the speaker mount holes as a template. Two screws should do it for each speaker.
Thanks so much for all the replies, looking at the space think I will go for round to get a little better sound. I have the dash speakers which sound horrible- not sure if they are stock they were connected to a 80-90's JVC cassette/radio so maybe swapped speakers then for the ohm difference?
Not to steal this thread or anything but did the front speakers get relocated from the kick panels to the dash or did they add speakers and keep the kick panel speakers as well? What year? Opinion, which sounds better, kick panel or dash with all other variables the same? I've been kicking around the idea of getting a later year upper dash so that I can install dash speakers.
Speakers were ONLY in the kick panels in 1968 & 1969 C3's. After that, all were ONLY in the dash pad.
The dash pad speakers were GREAT for reproducing good mid-range and treble sounds as those frequencies bounce off the windshield glass and are directed to the listeners. They are horrible for reproducing lower frequencies.
So, if you wish to upgrade speakers, a good approach is to replace (but keep) the speakers in the dash pad with modern, higher quality mid-range/tweeter speakers. The same size speakers (4:x6") will fit right into the stock speaker mounts with some minor 'adjustments' to the mounting holes in the speaker frames. Then, if you ADD some nice mid-range/bass speakers to the kick panels and wire them correctly for proper impedance for your head unit, the sound is pretty darn good....even using the stock radio.
It's not really that scary...but it is "math". Don't fret over the term "impedance". You don't need to know what that is. You just need to know that the output impedance of your radio (or amp) for each channel needs to match the impedance of whatever speaker(s) you are tying to that channel. The stock GM Delco radio has 10 ohm output impedance; the matching speakers have 10 ohm impedance. Most modern radios and amps have 4 ohm output impedance; some even have 2 ohm impedance. You just need speakers that match.
If you have multiple speakers on a specific channel, then you need to calculate the TOTAL impedance of that 'set' of speakers, depending on how they are wired together.
03-24-2021, 09:50 AM
Any speakers that fit in the kick panels?
