72 skylark. The previous owner had put in a modern head unit, but did not put in any speakers in the car. I cannot survive without music on my drive to work. I have a few questions. 1. Can anyone tell me a little about the center channel speaker that is in the dash? How can this be removed, and is it worth replacing with something more modern? Thoughts and ideas on what to replace it with, if the answer to the previous question is yes? 2. There is nothing in the package tray. He put a new tray in and covered it with the liner. He said he didnt cut the holes in the event that the new owner didnt want to put anything back there. Are these worth putting speakers into? Any ideas on what the best "fitting" replacement is? 3. Anyone have pictures of the "kick panel" speakers installed? Looks like on the drivers side, they would interfere with the parking break, but curious how they work/look. 4. Anything else I should know about the car in regards to the sound system or tips, tricks, and ideas? Mind you, with time I can upgrade, but trying to keep the cost down at this time. Appreciate everyone's help in advance. Jeremy
You can do a search on the site and find several installations others have done. Simplest is 2 6X9 in the package tray. Run your wires under the carpet under the rear seat into the trunk. There is a 6X9 hole on one side and a defrost hole on the other. You can use the defrost hole for a 6X9 without cutting up the hole. If you want more you can add a amp to power the rears, depends on your head unit. The center speaker is a pain to get to, especially if you have AC. Any dual speakers you put in there will be marginal, there are units available. I have never done kick panel speakers because of the parking brake. You could do door speakers. Depends on your level of skill.
Thanks for the input on that. It think I will do the rear speakers, I need to get the grills to go on the top of the package tray. If you have done this, do you know what speakers you may have used that will fit well? Do you know how the center speaker is mounted up there? Hard to see from the bottom. I fear that just the rear speakers will not be enough sound for cruising with the windows down on the open road.
I have made my own set-up for a 72 we had. Took semi-thin Masonite type card board and cut out 2 holes for two 3.5 or 4 inch speakers that I had purchased. So, now I have a left & a right channel. The factory speaker is held in by a bracket with one 1/4 20 stud and a nut holding it up there (if I'm correct). I fabricated a metal bracket that would utilize the same stud to hold my set up. Worked like a champ! I also know that the aftermarket sells something similar if making your own is not possible (see Classic Car stereos.com). I have also use the pre-fabricated kick panels with the built in speakers in another car, but I don't have an emergency cable set-up so as per clearance I don't know, but it should work. Most cars, that the kick panels are made for do have e-brakes. I would suggest to call the company if in doubt. I also replace the chintzy speakers that come with the kick panels and upgraded them to a better quality speaker. I have to say, that set up sounds incredible in my car. Hope this helps.
Hello and welcome! There is a bracket that hold the center speaker to the under side of the dash. If you remove the radio and dash trim piece, you may be able to look up there and see it. I just got done installing a Retrosound head unit and Morel speakers in my 69 GS400. I didn't mess with the stock dash speaker, so I don't know how it comes out, but I saw it in there. Along the lines of ownership, someone had already cut my kick panels for speakers. I installed 5.25" shallow mount speakers in place of the ones that were already there. I'm not sure about the 72, but the 69 kick panels were pretty thin. I added a flat piece of rigid plastic behind the new speakers for more support and had to trim a little bit of the sheet metal behind the kick panels to get the speakers to sit where I wanted them to. The parking brake clears them well. The 6x9 speakers in the back took a lot more work. The Morel units mount from the top, so I had to cut out the 6x9 holes in the metal and package shelf material to make them work. I also put foam baffles behind all of the speakers, more for protection than anything else. These mounted through the top as well, behind the speakers. Everything turned out pretty nice and sounds great! If you get the Morel speakers (got mine and everything else from Crutchfield), you have to buy the speaker wire, too. Mine did not come with it. I wish I would have taken pictures of the process to share, but once I get going on a project like that, I forget about that kind of thing.
You will want to mount your 6X9's under the package tray. I used a old school grill like this: https://www.classicindustries.com/product/1957/chevrolet/belair/parts/tf138208.html Any good pair of 6X9 speakers will work, depends on your wallet. I like pioneer and used Pioneer TS-A6990F. You will need appropriate hardware to install them. I used flat head allen screws with washers and lock nuts. The dash speaker, as mentioned above, is behind the radio and the center AC duct. To take the duct out you need to remove the dash pad. It's also easier if you pull the radio and the glove box. So its a pain unless you are doing all that for other reasons. The speaker is a 4X10. I replaced the OEM one with a older pair I found on ebay. I mounted one in the dash and the other below the dash. I added tweeters at the top of the kick panel where the dash rolls under. I was going for non-obtrusive. Here you can see the dash speaker(the bracket is bent because the magnet is bigger than the OEM): Tweeters and the other 4X10:
Here’s my kick panel speakers they’re 3.5” I have them as midrange, I have two in center dash where the factory speaker was, those are tweeters, and 6x9’s mounted from underneath the package tray that are used as woofers
