EM rear speakers in rear cargo area

[EricMWright]

Good day everyone! The title of the post might be a little misleading for the moment... but it is a work in progress and will eventually be an accurate description.

for the past while, I have had two cheap roadmaster speakers sitting on the back seat. they both work rather well, but I would like to eventually add some seat belts and let my two kids (ages 2 and 4) sit in the back seat as they both love the car (not to mention my nephews, ages 5, 6, and 8 who ask if i have seatbelts every time i see them). anyways, I decided to build an enclosure that will house two speakers in the rear cargo area. Today, my two kids and myself set about cutting wood and figuring out dimensions and such to do so.

I started out by measuring the basic opening, it came out to 39" x 9.5" at its widest points. I cut this out of 1/4" panel board that I had sitting around. after this was cut out, I did a little math to figure out the angled areas that I would need to cut out. I ended up making a mark at 3" in from both of the top edges and cutting outwards from this point at 30 degrees. After cutting these two angled areas, the panel fit well enough to slip it in place and check for any adjustments and to mark the curve needed along the top. as you can see in the two pictures below, I slipped it up behing the top lip of the cargo area and marked the curve with a pen. the third picture is a bit hard to see, but if you looke closely you can see the pen marks




Next, I cut four 3" x 9" strips of 1/2" plywood and then cut the bottoms to a 20 degree angle. I also did a 45" angle cut along the top for clearance. after cutting these pieces out, I marked out a line 4-1/4" and 14-1/4" from both sides and glued the strips in place. I also glues some 2" strips of the panel board at the top and bottom for support. after letting the glue sit for a bit, I drilled some holes and added screws to the back to help hold it together.



sadly, I wont be able to finish this project until next weekend (Friday is payday) when I can pick up something to cover the front panel with and pickup some cheap speakers. As you can see from the picture below, it fits quite well. I would like to invite others to post what they have done to mount rear speakers (and/or fronts).

[dagdal1967]

Interesting to see how you've approached this. I'm going to be doing something similar and have had ideas swimming around in my mind for a while.

Can't wait to see the continuation of the project.

[72BBNova]

I did this to my 64 Monza 29 years ago and I helped dad to it to the Spyder when we restored it. Hope this help's some guy's with idea's. Jeff

[EricMWright]

I did this to my 64 Monza 29 years ago and I helped dad to it to the Spyder when we restored it. Hope this help's some guy's with idea's. Jeff

your's looks much better than mine (both the panels and the car itself)... LETS TRADE! hehe. I like the fold down front, that is an awesome idea. maybe i will steal that for version 2 ^_^

[terribleted]

For better bass and midrange response the back of each speakers enclosure should be generally be sealed. Each speaker (excluding perhaps some subwoofers) will ideally have its own separate enclosure. I do this by building a box custom fill to the space available and then sub-dividing it with internal walls as needed to separate the speakers in the box. A manufactured wood product called Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) is a preferred material for boxes housing subwoofers particularly but is excellent for any speaker box. (It is easy to shape as well...rounded corners, curves, no splinters or laminations to worry about). It is available in many home centers in 4x8 sheets at 1/2 and 3/4 " thicknesses. Use 3/4" for subwoofers larger than 10" for best results. Here is a pic of a box I build for a 65 Monza incorporating 2 6.5" co-axial speakers and a 10" sub:

[EricMWright]

@terribleted: that looks really good, have to say, after seening what you did and what 72BBNova did... im not feeling as proud of mine! hehe. mine isnt anything fance but it gets the job done :)

I have a small update to this project. I was originally planning on buying some cheap 4x6 3-way speakers and running those, but I came across a pair of 6x9 3-ways for $5 and gave in to the temptation. Yesterday morning, my two kids and marked and cut out the openings and ran speaker wire to the rear cargo area (ok... they pretended the Corvair was a "Zombie Car" they they could use to get away from zombies eating zombie candy and zombie cereal with zombie milk). here are a few new pictures of the speaker panel and an unrelated picture of my daughter pretending to drive the car

[fjp912]

Nice to find this topic, as I am thinking about doing something like that in my 64 coupe. The one question I did not see covered is, if you use that area for speakers, should you line the rear "cubby" area behind the speakers with anything or not? It's now your sound box for the speakers. If you line it with Dynamat or similar material, are you also deadening the sound made by the speakers?

[lostboy]

I cheaped out and just drilled in some pioneer units that I had laying around. They are old ass to-44s. Since I don't play my preferred music in the vair, and have a playlist just for the car, they sound great. I also have two multimedia speakers out of a Phillips 7.1 center channel speaker in a box I made, wired for stereo, in the factory location. It all sounds good together playing some 60s tunes.

[b74eqcm]

I wanted to keep the area looking mostly stock, and wanted to be able to put it back to unmolested, so I opted for a pair of Pioneer surface mount speakers. Works well for me.

[lostboy]

I wanted to keep the area looking mostly stock, and wanted to be able to put it back to unmolested, so I opted for a pair of Pioneer surface mount speakers. Works well for me.

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Yeah I used the older models.

[wbabst]

I am glad to see this thread also, I am intending on putting speaker in the same place. My intention is to block it off with a face plate also, I like the idea of the hinge. To Franks question about sound deadening with dynamat, I will absolutely do every thing I can to keep the engine noise out of the back of the car and that shelf area. The speakers are designed to project the sound forward, what you do want to do though is allow them room to react. That area is big enough that you shouldn't have to put a port in it for the air. I am not a real audiophile, but I do know you want things tight, and not vibrating, and the more noise you can keep from outside getting in, the better off you are. Saying that, my 63 convertible, my 61 Lakewood and my 62 Buick Special Convertible all require loud speaking voices to communicate due to road noise. I am hoping I will do a better job with my 61 coupe.