Thread: How have you mounted your Car Stereo?

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I am looking for your experiences here-

I am to the point of finishing little stuff (before Paint/Upholstery/Glass), and am looking for ideas on how/where to mount/hide my Stereo-

To me (and I know I am a little weird ), one thing that dates a Car (besides pastel paint and tweed interiors) is the Stereo (have you seen a Cassette Player at a Car Show lately?)-

So, I intend to hide it-I know the Secret Audio stuff has a dubious reputation (so that's out), I don't have room under my seat, and, I'm an old Southern Rock-n-Roller that has warmed up to Country (so, my tastes are diverse)-added to that fact is that I have played Guitar my whole life (actually made money doing it ), and I'm a slight audiophile-

So, today I bought a Bluetooth , 2300 watt, 5 channel Infinity Amp (wayyyy above my knowledge, but it sounds cool!)-

I will have to buy a Head Unit (with a remote so I can hide it), and, I'm going to run a Subwoofer with 4 Speakers (that'll give my Grandson a run for his money!)-I will run the music through my Android Phone (or Ipod)-

Has anyone here hidden their Stereo? (heck, maybe everyone has)-how did you do it? What did you use? If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently? I'm looking for ideas-

Sorry if I'm being rude, but can you tell us what make and model car you are placing this sound system into, 1935 3 Window Coupe ? Are you using a bench seat or buckets, if a tudor or sedan then that would require a whole new approach too.

Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

Sorry if I'm being rude, but can you tell us what make and model car you are placing this sound system into, 1935 3 Window Coupe ? Are you using a bench seat or buckets, if a tudor or sedan then that would require a whole new approach too.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that-it is a '35 5 Window Coupe (here is the Interior):



I'm using a Glide Engineering split back Bench Seat-

IMHO, amps and sub woofers do not belong in vehicles. A person can go deaf if they wish, but I don't want to join them.
In an older vehicle I'd build a console to house the head unit. I have an affinity for Alpine's and I have one in my Vette and in my Dakota. The 6 disc changer is behind my seat in the Vette and in the center console in the Dakota. Both of the units are 50 watt and produce a quite adequate volume level.

Originally Posted by 35WINDOW

So, I intend to hide it- I don't have room under my seat, and, I'm an old Southern Rock-n-Roller that has warmed up to Country (so, my tastes are diverse)- I'm a slight audiophile-

So, today I bought a Bluetooth , 2300 watt, 5 channel Infinity Amp (wayyyy above my knowledge, but it sounds cool!)-

I will have to buy a Head Unit (with a remote so I can hide it), and, I'm going to run a Subwoofer with 4 Speakers (that'll give my Grandson a run for his money!)-I will run the music through my Android Phone (or Ipod)-

Has anyone here hidden their Stereo? (heck, maybe everyone has)-how did you do it? What did you use? If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently? I'm looking for ideas-

I wish I had some gem of an idea to share with you but... sadly.... I barely have a clue as to what all the equipment you've purchased does!

I didn't bother with any music type equipment in my hot rod. But I figured when I'm ready I'll probably just use the cell phone and ear buds..

But my real burning question is..... Gibson??? or Fender??? rofl..

Do you listen to the radio or your own road mix?

I plan to ditch the radio and CD player in my current project in favor of a Bluetooth amp. Nothing really shows except a very small control unit. Kenwood and Pyle both have them.

Forget the expensive stuff and head unit, I did a very simple stereo that plugs into my phone and plays music, can plug into a portable radio or any portable device as well but you can literally get everything on your phone ( if you know how) and its invisible, digital and sounds awesome. I have converted several cars to this after they spent umpteen thousands (literally) on classic car audio systems.
The other thing is its simple, too simple a switch to turn on, a amplifier, and a rotary knob called a pac LC-1 that a old or new knob can be made to fit and a product called a ISIMPLE IS75 UNIVERSAL AUDIO CABLE (search ebay), I stole the whole idea off another site I am providing a link too.
I am not a "techy" guy but had a friend who rode with me, he thought it was cool he could turn on his phone to a digital radio station plug it in and away we went with tunes, I keep a playlist of mp3's on my phone and have enough to get me about 12 hrs worth. You could use a older ipod if you dont have a smart phone, if you use the Isimple IS75 you can plug any phone in via the speaker port or use the other port for apple ipod/ipad, The instructions on the site are only for a older ipod only but the hook up the same, yes its really simple!

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=11082

Sorry for the double post, can't figure out how to delete it!! My internet went down and reloaded when it came up, I also don't like the look of the radios in streetrods!

Originally Posted by 34_40

I wish I had some gem of an idea to share with you but... sadly.... I barely have a clue as to what all the equipment you've purchased does!

I didn't bother with any music type equipment in my hot rod. But I figured when I'm ready I'll probably just use the cell phone and ear buds..

But my real burning question is..... Gibson??? or Fender??? rofl..

When it comes to electrics, I have a '57 Les Paul custom, and a '72 Stratocaster-

In my old age ( ) I am more of an Acoustic guy, so I have a Taylor 855ce 12 string and a Taylor 812ce 6 string (along with a smattering of old Gibson acoustics and a few others (I also play Bass, and have a Fender precision)-do you play?

Originally Posted by Matthyj

Forget the expensive stuff and head unit, I did a very simple stereo that plugs into my phone and plays music, can plug into a portable radio or any portable device as well but you can literally get everything on your phonend away we went with tune.

Hidden Tunes Via An Ipod | The H.A.M.B.

Thank you for taking the time to write all of that-you know, I read that Thread on the HAMB, and I was concerned not about the idea, but the quality of the unit (it is so reasonably priced!)-
So, with that idea in mind,I bought that Infinity unit because it is bluetooth, and doesn't have to have a head unit, although I started wondering about how you would set the bass and treble-I have found that you can download an EQ for an Andoid (which I have,but I don't know how well it might work--
I like the idea of the Lc-1(kind of forgot about it, thank you)-do you ever feel the need to adjust treble or bass with your set-up?

I actually don't, like I mentioned I am not a techy tyoe guy and the way the music is recorded on base line levels seems to work really well, I never have wished to adjust them. Like you mentioned it can be done with applications downloaded for a phone. Since the recording is digital and is being played digitally I am told the quality is as good as a CD or actually as perfect as the download. I literally just took out my brothers classic audio head unit and cd player (cost him 1300) from his '65 mustang and installed this simple unit (I machined custom knobs) and used a radio dummy faceplate and he said he should have done it from the begininng. I know you can ask Ryan on this forum, he heard my phone in my '37, clear is clear. I also wired a micro LED to tell when the switch is on (meaning the amp is on and the IS-75)
The other neat thing is if you go to a drive in that plays through the radio, take along a dollar general headphone radio (cost less than 5 bucks or so) and plug the unit into the headphone jack and your good to go. I liked the idea becasue we simply don't know what the future of audio is, but for the past 40 years its been output through a headphone jack somwhere, either radio, cd or mp3
Don't let the price fool you, my buddy just did this in his '62 restomod vette, he left the dummy radio and used a huge amp & speakers and the thing is unbelieveable, extremely loud and very clear, said the same thing should have done it sooner, all through a ipod he uses.

Thank you (!!!), you have convinced me! I will try it without the head unit,I really had hoped I wouldn't have to get one (and download the EQ App and try it-can' hurt!)-I'm really glad to get this info from someone who has done it (and liked the result)-
This is going to be easier thsn I thought (if I can find a place in the front for 6 1/4" speakers)-

I'm glad someone posted this because I've been meaning to ask Matt where he got all the pieces from. His system does sound really nice. Too nice for the price is what I was thinking, but hey, it works! I'm going to do this to my 40 Ford.

Thanks guys for all your kind replies as I have learnt a heap from reading all the replies too. I use Spotify on my Anroid Smart phone with ear plugs so that will do for when the Roadster is back on the road and then for only long cruises.
That dash and general lay-out of everything in your Coup looks absolutely stunning and I understand why you wouldn't want to have a sound system staring back at you. Hope you get it sorted to a happy conclusion.

Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

That dash and general lay-out of everything in your Coup looks absolutely stunning and I understand why you wouldn't want to have a sound system staring back at you. Hope you get it sorted to a happy conclusion.

Thank you very much for your kind words-you know, during the time you're building a Car you're never quite sure how people will receive it (or, should I say, judge it), and you hope that your vision doesn't turn out looking like Jerry Lewis and Groucho Marks got drunk together and said "hey-let's build a Car and see what happens!" or, "Hold my Beer and watch this!", so, your words mean a lot to me-Thank you!