Radio speakers

[oilnsteel]

Does anyone have any experience with the underseat speakers sold for vintage cars with no room to mount them elsewhere?

JT

[RadioRoy]

The under seat speakers I have seen are generally sub woofers.

What model/year/body style of car do you have?

[StudeRich]

It depends what type of Audio equipment you are going to connect the Speaker or Speakers to.

Most Stock Radios and for sure the Transistorized '62 to '66 type, require a not so common 10 OHM not the common 8 or 4-8 OHM.

[Bud]

The later Studebaker/Delco radios with a transistor output will tolerate an 8 ohm speaker without self destructing, but on a good day there isn't more than about 3 watts output from any of those radios so driving a modern speaker isn't the best idea especially if the new speaker is under the seat. Also using two 8 ohm speakers in parallel drops the impedance to 4 ohms which will most likely cause the output transistor to self destruct along with taking the emitter resistor with it. If you have a radio from 1957 and earlier, they have a tube output section which can make more output power and tolerate speaker a impedance that isn't optimal without self destructing but still don't have enough output power to make modern speakers sound decent. Bud

[oilnsteel]

The vehicle in question is a 1957 pickup truck. I have finally got it quieted down enough to actually hear a radio, and have the later bezel that I can put a radio in like SI sells, but where to put the speakers and make them look like they belong in the truck?

[Bud]

Mounting speakers is tough in old Studebaker trucks as there really isn't a good spot to mount them. I would recommend checking with a shop that specializes in auto radio and speaker installation as they should be able to help you with finding a satisfactory location to mount speakers. Bud

[sweetolbob]

Mounting speakers is tough in old Studebaker trucks as there really isn't a good spot to mount them. I would recommend checking with a shop that specializes in auto radio and speaker installation as they should be able to help you with finding a satisfactory location to mount speakers. Bud

Good suggestion. Having had a couple 50's era Chebby Pickup I can agree. If you don't want to cut into the body check some of these out for mounting on the kick panels or under seat. All this assumes you will be using a "modern" radio no the OEM. Usually one place to mount conventional speakers is in the doors but that requires cutting out a section which I suspect you are not want to do.

https://muchneeded.com/best-surface-mounted-speakers/

Bob

[Bud]

sweetolbob's suggestion for using surface mount speakers is a good one, but about the only place they could be mounted is on the kick panels which is what I did years ago in a friend's 1955 pick up. Anyone that either drives or rides in the truck has to be aware not to damage the speakers with their feet which could be a problem . Bud

[StudeRich]

I have the same "C" Cab as your '57 in my '62 1 Ton, it had the Original "Transtar" Delco Radio under the dash on the Left of the Column.
As you can see the Speaker goes in a Metal Box on the Right Kick panel.

There really is not a actual "Bezel" except the Chrome Faceplate of the Radio not easily removed.
The "Mounting Plate" was a simple flat piece of Quilted Aluminum with curved ends to help hide the exposed Radio.
The R Series '49-'53 and '54 to '56 Mounted IN the dash but '57 to '64's do not.

/Cut/If you don't want to cut into the body check some of these out for mounting on the kick panels or under seat. /Cut/Bob

This does not work on "C" Cabs, as there is No "under seat"!

[RadioRoy]

Looking at a friend's 57 Transtar years ago, I wondered if large diameter PVC tubes could be mounted vertically at the rear corners of the cab, going down to the floor. Placing the speakers on the top of the tubes and capping the bottom of the tubes would make speaker cabinets out of them. The fact that they would be up by the driver's and passenger's ears would mean that less audio volume would be required.

The kick panel speakers could be mounted as high as the bottom of the dash and that might keep them away from wondering feet.

That speaker in Rich's friend's truck is the bottom of the radio box. Motorola made a Transtar radio by putting a Transtar label on one of their standard universal radios and some models had the built in speaker.

[BobWaitz]

I tucked a pair of speakers behind the seats in my M5. I installed a non-functioning stock radio but replaced the speaker with a dual-voice coil speaker (https://www.retromanufacturing.com/b...-coil-speakers) that fit in the defunct radio and routed the speaker wires into the glove compartment. Then I put an inexpensive 12-volt 4-channel receiver in there so it looks like the radio works.
The unit in the glove box is like this one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Digita...QAAOSwSHZWeqMD

It plays MP3s on a thumb drive, or takes input from my 8-track player. It also has an AM/FM receiver.

Untitled by Bob W, on Flickr