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Let's talk tunes................

brdd

Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2004
Messages
16
Location
Austin Minnesota
Corvette
91 quasar blue coupe 72 red convertible
I am in the process of buying parts for spring and warmer weather. I will definitely be pulling the radio. I am thinking about a post radio and sirius satellite. But I am very interested in hearing about all your setups. CD players, factory stock, I want to hear it all. Give me information regarding price, installation, and what you like and don't like. This is for a 72 convertible.

Dan in Minnesota
 
I am in the process of buying parts for spring and warmer weather. I will definitely be pulling the radio. I am thinking about a post radio and sirius satellite. But I am very interested in hearing about all your setups. CD players, factory stock, I want to hear it all. Give me information regarding price, installation, and what you like and don't like. This is for a 72 convertible.

Dan in Minnesota

Dan,

I really want to use the I-Pod in my Vette and was thinking about getting one of those Autosound stereos that are supposed fit into the factory Corvette dash without having to cut the radio bezel. These stereos utilize a separate controller for a CD changer, and they now have auxiliary inputs for I-Pods, satellite radio, etc.

Ralph
:w
 
I never use the stereo and the power ant. is kept down....I use a JVC with a 12 disk JVC Changer and a 1200 Watt amp.....Great sound
 
I altered my bezel to take my cd player on a Bridgport at work. It came out like it would from the factory I would like to say, and I love being able to hear good music that i choose. However like others, when Im rollin, the car provides the best tune and I usually have a road partner (aka my wife!) to carry on conversation with. :D

Chas:_rock

I can't comment on sat. radio as I have none.....YET!
 
Seldom turn the radio on. The Vette makes all the tunes that I need :D

I've never had a functional radio in my Vette, so my only option is to listen to the chambered exhaust.

:lou
 
I have one of the Autosound radios in my 70 and it fits just like the stock radio. It has a plug in for the cd changer. It also has the numbers on the dial so it looks sort of like the stock one.
 
My 78 has the original radio with 8-track. The radio works great, but the 8-track doesn't.

Anyone know where I can get a drive belt for the 8-track unit?

If I were to replace it, I would go with an Autosound that looks like a period correct radio, but with the line in jack for an mp3 player or CD player.

Someone (Chris with the Killer 69 down in Florida I think - where is he these days anyhow?) mounted an amp under the passenger seat with great success.

For what it's worth, I always thought it would be cool to have an original looking radio in the dash, with a CD unit or mp3 hidden in the ash tray/cig lighter compartment. Flip up that tray cover and insert your cd, or have your line in jack/pigtail and a custom made compartment to hold your mp3 player out of sight.
 
Thanks for all the replies. These are all interesting ideas. I still don't know which way to go. I don't need a high end system but I have nothing now so I really need to do something. I have satellite radio at work and on the internet so I really want it in my 72.

Keep the suggestions coming....pics would e great!
 
I just did some work on a friend's 69 Convertible.

He has a nice Alpine cd player with XM input. It has a small XM box in the dash with the XM antenna actually just sitting in the corner of the top of the passenger side dash.

We put a 78-82 two door rear compartment lid in place of the three door, and mounted the amp to the bottom of the large lid. It has high quality kick panel speakers and 6X9s in a box in the rear.

It sounds WONDERFUL, and the XM works perfect.

On my 69 I went with a new Sony XPlod with a remote. The remote is fantastic. I wish I had it years ago.

I have XM in my truck and listen almost exclusively to it.

On my car I installed C4 seats. I had enough room under the passenger seat to mount the amp. I have a custom box in the back with a pair of 10" subs and 6" mids.

Unfortunately my exhaust is very loud, so on the highway the volume has to go way up. The good news is, the amp has enough kick to pump out the sound and thump the back of the seats.
 
I have a Clarion CD/Reciever, w/ 2 JBL amps - 2000 watts total. The amps/2 subs/2 mids are all nicely packed in a sound box I designed to go under the read deck lid. The 1200 watt amp is dedicated to the 2 8" Kick subs. I replaced the kick panel mids with Infinities and also added 2 JBL tweeters up in the top corners of each side of the front window. Also have a ferret capacitor tied into my secondary battery system.

The system rocks!

fine69... you can buy an FM tranmitter for your iPod that will play on any FM radio station frequency that isn't being used. You don't have to replace your receiver.
 
CD changer

Yo - I have installed the Custom Autosound in-dash unit that controls a remote 6-disc CD changer - I hid it under the jack lid. From the outside it looks totally stock with no bezel cutting - it has the twin post design. But it works well - their speakers are good too - I swapped out the fronts for their set and wished I had put their product in the rear - but I got cheap and put some Pioneers back there and they do not cut it. It is adequate at 100 watts but with roof out you would need more - I rarely listen to it but it works well and looks very discreet.
 
I don't know whay I spent so much money on mine.Head unit Kenwood,amp, powered sub mp3/i pod ect,all I listen to is talk radio.
 
I bought an Autosound unit 5 years ago. It fit the bezel nicely. That is the best thing I could say about it. It sounded like crap and the cassette player stopped working after 1 year. That was a bonus because it gave me the excuse to toss it in the garbage and but a decent unit. I had to cut the bezel which was broken anyway. I would never buy the Custom Autosound crap again.
 
I bought a new bezel that fits a cd player. My old bezel was broke, so I just bought that instead of a factory correct one. Then I bought the cd player wanted, and I like the way it looks in my 72.
 
My 2¢ is this...(coming from someone that used to do professional/competition installations)
If you buy a "post" head unit, you are going to get jacked in price and likely in quality. For what Autosound charges, you can get a super-nice quality DIN head unit instead (including all the optional controls)

Plan on replacing the speakers in your car as well. The old paper cone speakers, if OEM, are well past their usefulness.

Unless you need some seriously thumping bass, most people are quite surprised by the amount of sound you can get from a quality and properly implemented 4 x 25W sound system, especially in a small cabin such as the Corvette's. You'll probably find something with a 4 x 45W or 65W output, which is plenty when driving 4 speakers, especially if you have the windows up.
When checking for speakers, try to match front & rear speakers with same sensitivity rating. The higher the rating, the less power you'll need to run them and the cleaner sound they'll produce. Your front speakers will likely have a higher sensitivity rating due to the smaller size (but that's not always true). A slight difference in sensitivity front to back isn't a major issue, as you can simply adjust the fader setting.

If you are concerned about ruining your factory console, then buy an aftermarket console. This is a good idea anyways since you can then have an easier time using a dremel to cut out the proper size for a DIN head unit since it's already out of the car. Also keeps from getting all kinds of plastic dust & debris all inside the console..

The only other change I might recommend is seeing what other people have done for enclosing the back speakers. Putting the rear speakers in sealed boxes will greatly increase the sound quality of the speaker. You might be able to find some old threads in either this C3 forum or in the aftermarket audio forum.
 
Seldom turn the radio on. The Vette makes all the tunes that I need :D

Same here, Vette makes too much noise to hear any radio. But for sitting still I do have a Kenwood AM/FM cassette with 10 changer CD player, 400 watt Kenwood amp, Kenwood speakers. Either way the rice burners hear me! :L
 
Greetings Dan,

I also,swapped the stock stereo that was in my 81, for a Clarion unit 250 watt per channel w/cd.
I also swapped the original dried and static filled front and rear speakers for some nice alpine ones.

The stereo fit right in the dash with no modifications,looks and sounds great.

"although I too keep it muted or low a lot to listen to the mellow rumble of the twin dynomax turbos. Later,Ken
 
What about the Kenwood and JVC radios that come WITH the bezel? Page 96 of the latest Ecklers C3 catalog.

Should be the right dimensions, etc.
 
"... If you buy a "post" head unit, you are going to get jacked in price and likely in quality. For what Autosound charges, you can get a super-nice quality DIN head unit instead (including all the optional controls)...


What's "DIN" mean?
 

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