Stereo advice

I have my amp up on the spare. Component speakers in the doors and small ball speakers behind my head on each side. I use a period Blaupunkt head unit so for digital I have a 6 disc CD changer by the amp with the control unit in the little coin place by your left knee. No place for a small sub in an S except in the place by the passenger feet. Mike C here built a cool sub box for his car and pit it there. The carpet covers it.

Sit in it and you won't believe the depth of sound. And just looking at it, it appears like it left the dealer in 1984

I'll post pics this weekend for you

 

Same for me. I put a heavy gauge expanded metal over the from so the carpet lays nice and feet can't damage the speaker. I think its a 10" but it might be only 8", it was 20 years ago and I just don't recall, I'd need to measure to be sure.

I put the amps on the firewall and sub in the passenger footwell, 5 or 6" in the door and tweeters in the corners of the dash and it sounds really good....sitting with the engine off in the driveway. Today I very honestly wouldn't bother I don't think, I'd just use my noise canceling earbuds and actually be able to hear the music over all the car noises.

 

I have a Retrosound head unit with BT, Hands Free calling, and subwoofer control/output, Boston Acoustic door speakers in stock location and stock grills, and a small JBL powered sub behind the the passenger seat. I am a HiFi nut and that setup is more than suitable for my needs.

 

Of course we are going to get the usual input from the "I only listen to the sweet engine sound" or "I have driven this car for 20 years and don't know if the radio even works" or the obligatory pic of a blank plate on the stereo slot with the "this is my radio" comment.

So can we go ahead and get that out of the way from the usual crowd early?

 

LOL. My comment was just the opposite really, too much frikin noise. About 20 years ago one of the guys I was working with was very audiophile-ish and helped me design a system which was the parts I listed plus a bunch of sound deadening measures. What's the best that can be done without making a mess of the car kind of thing and for me the result was pretty disappointing.

As I said, it sounds great parked with the engine off or even idling is fine I guess, but driving there is just so much car related noise that the stereo volume ends up quite loud to be heard over it. Its better with the top on and windows up for sure but personally that is rarely how I drive the car, if its a nice day the top is off, windows open as the AC was always poor and now is non-existent. The stereo has the watts and will play deafening loud so it works as designed but I don't find it pleasant. I thought that meant I'm old but my teenage kids have the same reaction.

My current solution is noise canceling earbuds which do a pretty good job of getting rid of engine/car noises and so I can hear the music. I really prefer them to using the stereo and will likely remove most of the stereo and sound deadening in the interest of weight reduction the next time I'm working on the car's interior. I know that in most places its probably not technically legal to drive with earbuds in, but I find it so much more pleasant and I'm pretty sure I can hear better than I would with all the noise and stereo kicked up to cover it.

I only say all this just to remind everyone modern cars give a pretty quite, comfortable driving environment, 308s not so much so there are limits to what can be achieved....that is not a prayer's change in h3ll of a using a phone on speaker in my car

 

GTB

I was mistaken...It is a Rockville powered sub and measures 12"x8"x3"

The seat can go all the way back but the seat back will not. You can slide the seat bottom forward 1 click and then the back will go back all the way

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Here's mine. Its an 8in long throw sub. A pair of 2 channel 160w/chan amps, one bridged running the sub, crossovers for the tweeters under the dash. Very loud
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I believe they are 5 1/4" but can't remember. You can probably fit 6" in there also.

Mine are coaxial. If you want to retain the stock grill, you have to find ones that the tweeter does not protrude beyond the mounting surface.

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mine are 5 2/4 as well. I'm now remembering a 6 would mean cutting the door or using a spacer

 

I have a bitchin 8 inch powered sub behind the passenger seat in my 89 GTS. 6 and 4 inch in each door, 1.5 inch tweets, 240 Watt amp on a custom pedestal under the front bonnet, no donut in my Ferrari. Oh yeh, cross overs in each door as well. You cant get any better sound in a 3 x8 than what I have in my 89, its incredible to say the least.

G

 

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No speakers on the rear deck. Highs on the dash, mids is the doors, sub in the footwear, 320 watts of AMPS on the rear firewall. We mapped it trying to use coaxes in the doors but the results were poor hence highs on the dash. I used some spacers to point the mids up a little, it helped some.

As I said though, when the car's in motion it doesn't really compare to $120 ear buds.

 

"I have a 6 disc CD changer"

Wow, do they still make CDs, CD players/changers?
I thought the in-crowd now listens to the latest gear...like records and cassettes!

OK, seriously...re the stereo, I found almost immediately after purchasing my 328 in '08 that for me, the (stock) engine/exhaust is too loud to bother with adding any sound gear. On the road the volume of the music/whatever has to be turned up to a very annoying level to actually hear it over the mechanicals. So my main use of the stereo is while parked or in bumper to bumper (slow) city traffic. On the road I can't handle the volume necessary to overcome the car noise. Heck, for that matter, when I drove the car across the US after buying it, I needed earplugs due to the engine/exhaust noise of the stock system for the extended hours in the car. With a stereo system that could have effectively overcome the mechanicals, had I used it on such trips (one of three across the US in the car), I probably wouldn't be able to hear anything now!

 

I burn my own CD's

I don't want a modern head unit in my 308. It looks totally out of place to me. It's like seeing a Sony xplode in one of my Mercedes W124's. Horrible.

I grew up only seeing dealer installed Blaupunkts in these cars when they were new. Mine had a Blaupunkt Tucsan when it left FAF in April 84 so one of those is back in there now. Cassette and all. So for digital it has to be CD's. on an FM modulator. For that I have the Alpine remote changer.

I'm not kidding, My car looks like 1984 but sounds like 2023. Perfect in my world.

 

I agree with not wanting a modern-looking unit in the car - I have a late 80's Blaupunkt in my 328 but a Blaupunkt Bremen SQR 46 seems a good choice for modern convenience with period appearance.

 

Kind of funny to see this thread. Previous owner of my 308 had a newer bluetooth Pioneer unit installed with an amp under the passenger seat, extra speakers behind the driver and passenger seats. I couldn't stand it. I tore it all out, pulled the wiring back to the fuses, along with some crazy car alarm with a cell phone sim card and everything.

I bought a 70's Blaupunkt SQR34 Washington which looks and feels very correct in the car. I installed it and got it working absolutely perfectly and haven't used it once since. Why would I? I've got the V8 singing to me in the back

 

As I said in my first post, I am a HiFi nut, but the basic setup I have is suitable for my needs in this car. It produces a crisp clean sound with enough bass to round it out.

Is it ear blistering with heart pounding bass?....No....but it doesn't need to be. It's a very small cabin.

It is perfect for cruising around and when I'm driving the car hard, it's turned down anyway.

 

I have a 400W amp