Under dash speaker opinion

[K5Rob]

Looking for opinions. This is all budget oriented. Not a resto or hi end or anything like that, I have been sitting on a nice pair of 4x6 aftermarket speakers i planned to cut in under the dash before i realized that its tight. I actually screwed up and cut in the passenger side one before realizing there’s no way on the driver side. Not like me and Im mad about it but Im just trying to do too much at once with little free time. So then my idea was to keep the 4x6 on the right and run a replacement 3.5” ($20) on the left. I could run the second 4x6 in the middle and i mean I’m sure it would sound plenty adequate for my needs. I would probably just steal a rear channel for the center one as I am not running anything in the rear. Option B is to count my losses, patch my hole and just run the 2 replacement 3.5” speakers. I suppose this would be more “correct” but the damage has sort of already been done. I think option A is suitable for this truck but just wanted some thoughts. Part of me feels like this is a hack and part of me feels like work with what you’ve got and it’s only speakers. All will be hidden under dash pad. What’s your guys thoughts?

 

[83Stepper]

Personally I'd just patch the passengers side and run the 3.5" on both sides. Running some cheapo Pyles in the dash with some cheap 6x9's in the rear. Sounds good enough for me, besides the truck is too damned loud anyways to notice anyways lol.

 

[Sad Sack]

^^^^^What he said^^^^^. Just watch height, you don't want the dash pad bulging upwards. I ended up going with these for the height (2.75" most important aspect), price and faith in products sound. Nice part was they only cost under $24. Bound to be more $$ now though. Did you ride have a 4 speaker system or just the two fronts?

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[K5Rob]

Thanks, ok I will run the 2 - 3.5” then. Those kenwoods are nice, i found something very similar. I had 2 - 6x9s in back from the PO which I decided to remove. Just fronts only will be fine for me. My interior is all stripped down.

What are your thoughts about running the 2 - 3.5” on the sides and 1 - 4x6 in the middle?

 

[Ricko1966]

Thanks, ok I will run the 2 - 3.5” then. Those kenwoods are nice, i found something very similar. I had 2 - 6x9s in back from the PO which I decided to remove. Just fronts only will be fine for me. My interior is all stripped down.

What are your thoughts about running the 2 - 3.5” on the sides and 1 - 4x6 in the middle?

Your stereo separation will be really strange. Your left and right channels will be doing what they are supposed to,but then 1 channel from the rear which is going to change the separation completely. Separation from say 4 feet down to 2 feet with an extra channel 2 feet away playing duplicate of your new center channel. I am also not sure if it will burn the rear channel out running 1 speaker. Not running a speaker on a channel used to burnnup the out put IC learned the hard way,but that was 45 years ago,I'd bet output circuitry has changed maybe a non issue now.

 

[K5Rob]

Your stereo separation will be really strange. Your left and right channels will be doing what they are supposed to,but then 1 channel from the rear which is going to change the separation completely. Separation from say 4 feet down to 2 feet with an extra channel 2 feet away playing duplicate of your new center channel. I am also not sure if it will burn the rear channel out running 1 speaker.

Okay sounds good, did not realise this, i wont risk it

 

[Turbo4whl]

Kick panel speakers.

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$32 bucks on ebay

CLICK HERE

Or $163 at the stereo store

 

[HUFFINCOSMOLINE]

Kick panel speakers.

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$32 bucks on ebay

CLICK HERE

Or $163 at the stereo store

I bought the same kick panels from EBay. Here is a pic of the passenger side. They painted up nicely. My only concern is on the driver side, I can see there is going to be interference setting my park brake. What did you do? Move the pedal over?

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[Turbo4whl]

What did you do?

Those speaker panels were not available when I installed the stereo in my truck. Front speakers mounted in the doors. Two more behind the seat in the cab corners, in custom mounts. Also bought a book, and built a sealed sub-woofer box. Amplifier under the seat for the sub. All Sony equipment.

 

[HUFFINCOSMOLINE]

Those speaker panels were not available when I installed the stereo in my truck. Front speakers mounted in the doors. Two more behind the seat in the cab corners, in custom mounts. Also bought a book, and built a sealed sub-woofer box. Amplifier under the seat for the sub. All Sony equipment.

I gotcha. Sounds like a nice setup

 

[BadBowtie]

Yeah, I tried those lower kick panel type speakers on my 1969 C10 SWB. First time I set my parking brake, WHAM!!! There went my pretty tan finish and a bent in mesh grill face. I had no sound deadening behind it either- Just original GM steel. CRAZY!!

 

[Steelbuddha]

If you want to get anal about the dash speakers, you could likely 3D print a couple of plastic baffles/buckets to go behind them so they project more. Or Crutchfield or somebody might already sell them.

My truck solution has always been whatever will fit in the dash holes (usually 3.5's) and then cut 6x9's into the doors, low and forward. Seems to work as well as anything, including Kicker boxes and overhead sound bars powered by big amps. Good for hearing loss, but doesn't necessarily improve audio quality.

 

[86Blueberry454]

For mine I got some inner cab corner metal speaker holders off Ebay, stuffed the inside of the cab corner with poly fil from my ole lady's craft bin and put some Kicker 6x9s in there. I'm running one of them custom auto sound head units to a 2 channel amp behind the seat for some extra power to those 6x9's and it sounds okay. No speakers at all in the front for now. I do like that LMC headliner with the speaker setup but my truck has no interior plastic option and I don't think I'll make the effort to go that route.