theraymondguy

I’m new to 3rd gens, but not car audio. I have an ‘85 T/A I’d like to upgrade the stereo with the following to consider:

I like an SQ system over dB, I usually listen to rock. I don’t want an over the top ground pounding alternator eating system, just a solid performer.

- There is a parcel tray over the trunk area, I’d like to retain this.
- It’s a T Top car, I have the storage bag, and the loops in the hatch area. I’d like to retain this as well.
- The car is completely uncut. I’ve been all over the car and have yet to find any butchery. Even the stock radio harness is intact. I’d like to retain this as well.

As far as equipment goes I have an older Alpine single din CD player (has sufficient control for staging, sub output iPod control (cabled)) a Phoenix Gold lone driver and 2 Phoenix Gold amps that I’d like to use. An MS275 (2x75W) and an MPS2240 (2x24W). These were considered “cheater” amps back in the day as they could be loaded down to 1 ohm no issue.

I’d prefer to have the amps in the trunk mounted to a rack. The MPS-2240 was reworked by the factory for higher output, it was in a PG sponsored show vehicle, iirc I was told to not load it more than 2 ohm stereo.

Ideally these amps want multiple speakers to take advantage of their strengths, so 4x6s and 6x9s in stock locations alone is not going to cut it.

I’d like the stereo to be mostly invisible. I can live with kick panels, but no more than that.

I’m thinking a set of 4x6” on deck power In the dash, two sets of mids in custom kick panels on the mps224 and woofers (?)in the sail panels. I’ll probably go with MB Quart for speakers because that’s what I ran back I the day.

Your thoughts? What options are likely that a 3rd gen newb would overlook? What size woofer can be put into the sail panel without cutting up the opening?

Thanks for your input.

Kyler_89RS

First things first (not that you said it), don’t mount the amps under the seats, unless you can rig up some cooling system for the amps.

The openings in the rear can fit 6.5’s I think. They were not built to todays standards and they are just sheet metal mounts. They vibrate and sound like trash can lids. You could put some sound deadening in there on the sheet metal and it would tame that. You can also throw some poly fill in the bottom (basically just cotton) to make those small openings sound bigger so the bass sounds better. I’ve seen some custom MDF faceplates to go over the sheet metal and some custom work to get some badass systems in there.

The dash has horrible sound staging. The custom kick panels are a good idea. I think a company called Q-Forms sells those panels. It will very much improve sound staging, but these cars werent built for our needs, so don’t expect it to sound like a new dodge. Reinforce the dash metals and get rid of the rattles and mount the tweeters in the dash and 6.5’s down low.

The best sub option you have if you want some awesome bass is to either make a custom box or buy one from somewhere and throw a single 10” in there. These cars are open all the way through and that makes it a lot louder obviously. You can make or buy a box that sits below the level of the trunk so you can put your ttops in there still.

The stock radio you can’t do much with. If you want to retain the factory harness, go buy an aftermarket radio and a harness to plug straight into the stock wiring. No cutting. Faceplates are cheap too. It will fill any gaps between the radio and the trim.

Not very much you can do with these cars unless you go full custom. You have a lot of options that way, but given your needs and wants, it has narrowed it down quite a bit. Best bet: Throw some 6x9’s in the rear with sound deadening. Put some components up front with kick panels. Mount amp in trunk well and wire it up. Aftermarket radio with harness and plug and play.