paintdaddy

I am looking at some of those secret audio systems .I dont want to cut the guage bezel so I just want a regular looking radio with a hidden cd changer.Who has the best prices and where do ya hide the changer,the rear compartments? :seeya

HcDave1

what year are you looking into installing it in? I understand the want to keep the stock apearance, I would put the changer bhehin the passenger seat on the side so it save a lot of room. then the main head of the cd changer"that shows track and disk number" i would make a mount for it and put it right bu the center colom right were the passengers feet would bethus saving room and it is really hard to see any audio. Most good kits will run you about 250$ no matter what u get price goes up for more disks you want and more advanced ect...

it wont put out a lot of power because the head unit isnt that great so what i did personally when i still had my stock set up i droped a amp in the back driver side up against the side still having 98% of the cargo space in the back

then some nice dash speakers, back speakers and the system will be bumpen quite nicly. The entire set up u could do it for 500 total speakers, amp, cd changer mabey more or less depends on what all u do.

Anyother questions let me know :cheers:

BTW the amp is just a though if you dont want a high powered loud system and if you amp it make sure you dont push the wattage on the speakers more than it can handle

hope this helped


[Modified by HcDave1, 8:25 AM 1/8/2003]

paintdaddy

I shoulda said that this is for a 74.Thanks for the tip. :seeya

vettfixr

paintdaddy
I'm not sure but I think the secretaudio radios are made by the same people that sell the USA 1 stuff. If that's true you will be disappointed with the performance. Most people who have had USA 1 radios (myself included) have found them to be very poor on reception, sound quality and power output. If you don't want to cut up the dash get one of the replacements that Kenwood or Pioneer sells through the major supppliers and use it as a controller. Put a CD changer in the rear and hook up an amp (doesn't have to be real big) to give you the extra sound you need in these noisy cars. You can go to my website to see a relatively stock looking install that includes a Blaupunkt head unit, 2 Hi-Comp Amps, JVC CD Changer, graphic equalizer, 4 4x6 speakers and a subwoofer. This is probably overkill for what you're looking to do but it will give you a good idea on the location of everything and how to hide stuff. Here's the link, hope it helps. http://mywebpages.comcast.net/vettfixr/page19.htm

paintdaddy

Damn, vettfixr you have got a very informative website.And I love the details,do you need a job.Maybe you could commute from Jersey.Anyway,Thanks for the heads up on the secret audio .I believe your right cause the radio that goes with the cd changer is usa-5 and usa-6.
On crutchfeilds website they said that I may have to cut the bezel 1/4 inch for the kenwood model.Did you have to do this? :seeya

HcDave1

:iagree:

vettfixr

Thanks for the compliments guys. Ganey did point out one mistake I had on the site. I said to hook up two 4 ohm speakers in "series" to get 2 ohms. I should have said hook them up in "parallel". As far as the radio goes mine is a Blaupunkt and was modified by a dealer to increase the shaft spacing but this was done about 15 years ago. All I did was fit the face up to the bezel and put some black foam around the back. When you look at it the face is a little recessed but it still looks good. You have to make sure you have enough shaft length to do this so you can get the ***** on afterwards. I think suppliers like Mid America, Ecklers, etc. have Kenwood or Pioneer units that are a bolt in. Crutchfield probably only has stock radios that won't fit. The suppliers usually advertise them along with the USA 1 stuff. They are pricier than what you would pay at Crutchfield but if you want a straight bolt in you have to go that way. The other alternative is to look for a shaft radio that's pretty close as far as the shaft spacing goes and then modify it yourself. This is riskier because if you screw it up they won't take it back but it's possible. You will have to remove the shafts and then increse the width of the holes with a die grinder to move the pots out further. One other thing about my install. What I've found while living with the setup is that the 4 x 6 inch speakers just don't have enough cone travel to handle higher wattage bass output even though I have a subwoofer. They start to pop and bottom out at medium high volume and you will hit this if you play it with the tops off. I'm going to experiment a little with this. My thoughts are to build some enclosures in the back for 6 or 8 inch speakers and have them handle the bass and midbass while sending the highs to the front speakers. This should still give good imaging but will allow the fronts to handle only those frequencies that they have the power for. Anyway, it sounds good in theory. If you're looking for a CD changer just go with the JVC 12 disk unit. It's bulletproof. I haven't been able to make mine skip no matter what I drive over. I wish the units in my Olds and Lincoln were as good. Good luck with the search, let me know how it goes.