When I bought my 80, the PO had replaced all four door speakers with Kenwoods, disconnecting the front tweeters. And it sounded like crap. I can't imagine what it must have sounded like with the stock speakers. I wanted to add Sirius satellite radio, so I figured it was time to see if these speakers were worth anything in the process. And they are - I went with a Pioneer DEH-P3000IB deck, which is pretty basic for a receiver that can handle a sat radio hookup.
The sound is fantastic upgrading from the factory junk. Anybody who has replaced speakers only and kept the factory receiver hasn't realized half of the potential improvement. The problem was that now I had good clarity and actually wanted the volume up whereas any real volume was pretty painful with the factory receiver. So I decided it was time to replace the factory "sub" with something that would add good bass without any need to blow out the windows. A powered sub (built in amp) wired with RCA jacks fit the bill.
I chose the Kenwood KSC-SWI, which has a 6.5" powered speaker and a second 6.5" reflective (non-powered) speaker that is driven by the powered speaker for $250 from Crutchfield. The idea was that at about 3.5" high, you typically mount these under the driver's seat. I figured it would be close, but maybe I could also mount it in the stock location somehow. It really doesn't fit under the driver's seat if you are going to mount it to a piece of plywood as suggested, so I set out to figure out the stock location.
First order of business was to remove the stock junk, which had ceased working all together. Then I looked at the various mount brackets that came with the sub as well as the idea of using the stock mount bracket if possible. After messing around with it, I realized the sub would fit perfectly mounted vertically near the stock location, but how to mount it? After a few different ideas, I suddenly realized that if I bent the brackets that came with the sub it would mount perfectly into the pinch seam near the seat belt.
Now I had a goal - fit a powered sub into the stock location. I first used dynamat on most of the sheetmetal and then bent the brackets, marked the required bolt holes, and drilled. That pinch seam is surprisingly thick and makes an excellent mount. The sub fits in so tight and so perfectly it practically seems made for this space. Even without the mount bolts tightened, the entire unit simply could not move at all, and with bolts tightened it is rock solid. You can't move it a millimeter, and the two drums line up pretty well with the stock cover and vent.
So it was time to test...and...nothing. I had wired it up to the 12v power for the original amp. This was enough to show power to the remote control (you can adjust output levels with a wired remote), but ultimately not enough to power the system. I finally figured that this might be the problem as I had verified my ground and ran the power straight to the positive battery terminal, and boom, I had bass.
So now I have satellite radio, which is too cool as I was out crawling last weekend with sat radio the entire time out in the High Country way beyond cell phone coverage, and the system flat out shines. The addition of the sub opens up the entire range and this relatively small powered sub is a perfect complement to the capabilities of the relatively small door mounted speakers. It is an entire level above the premium 240W Bose system in my minivan in terms of sound clarity (not volume), and that's a very nice system. I went from absolute ear-pain crap to a near audiophile system with a simple $130 receiver, satellite radio adapter, and subwoofer (very nice door speakers already installed). Hopefully that will help those looking for real bass in their systems know that this Kenwood unit will mount up perfectly in the stock location. Just make sure you use Dynamat or an equivalent so your newfound bass is not accompanied by any newfound buzzes or rattles.
One other thing - Crutchfield sends you a "pocket" that mounts up to the factory brackets to fill in the space below the receiver for free, so now I have a little bit of extra storage in the dash. See the third pic.
The sound is fantastic upgrading from the factory junk. Anybody who has replaced speakers only and kept the factory receiver hasn't realized half of the potential improvement. The problem was that now I had good clarity and actually wanted the volume up whereas any real volume was pretty painful with the factory receiver. So I decided it was time to replace the factory "sub" with something that would add good bass without any need to blow out the windows. A powered sub (built in amp) wired with RCA jacks fit the bill.
I chose the Kenwood KSC-SWI, which has a 6.5" powered speaker and a second 6.5" reflective (non-powered) speaker that is driven by the powered speaker for $250 from Crutchfield. The idea was that at about 3.5" high, you typically mount these under the driver's seat. I figured it would be close, but maybe I could also mount it in the stock location somehow. It really doesn't fit under the driver's seat if you are going to mount it to a piece of plywood as suggested, so I set out to figure out the stock location.
First order of business was to remove the stock junk, which had ceased working all together. Then I looked at the various mount brackets that came with the sub as well as the idea of using the stock mount bracket if possible. After messing around with it, I realized the sub would fit perfectly mounted vertically near the stock location, but how to mount it? After a few different ideas, I suddenly realized that if I bent the brackets that came with the sub it would mount perfectly into the pinch seam near the seat belt.
Now I had a goal - fit a powered sub into the stock location. I first used dynamat on most of the sheetmetal and then bent the brackets, marked the required bolt holes, and drilled. That pinch seam is surprisingly thick and makes an excellent mount. The sub fits in so tight and so perfectly it practically seems made for this space. Even without the mount bolts tightened, the entire unit simply could not move at all, and with bolts tightened it is rock solid. You can't move it a millimeter, and the two drums line up pretty well with the stock cover and vent.
So it was time to test...and...nothing. I had wired it up to the 12v power for the original amp. This was enough to show power to the remote control (you can adjust output levels with a wired remote), but ultimately not enough to power the system. I finally figured that this might be the problem as I had verified my ground and ran the power straight to the positive battery terminal, and boom, I had bass.
So now I have satellite radio, which is too cool as I was out crawling last weekend with sat radio the entire time out in the High Country way beyond cell phone coverage, and the system flat out shines. The addition of the sub opens up the entire range and this relatively small powered sub is a perfect complement to the capabilities of the relatively small door mounted speakers. It is an entire level above the premium 240W Bose system in my minivan in terms of sound clarity (not volume), and that's a very nice system. I went from absolute ear-pain crap to a near audiophile system with a simple $130 receiver, satellite radio adapter, and subwoofer (very nice door speakers already installed). Hopefully that will help those looking for real bass in their systems know that this Kenwood unit will mount up perfectly in the stock location. Just make sure you use Dynamat or an equivalent so your newfound bass is not accompanied by any newfound buzzes or rattles.
One other thing - Crutchfield sends you a "pocket" that mounts up to the factory brackets to fill in the space below the receiver for free, so now I have a little bit of extra storage in the dash. See the third pic.
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they seem all about the same
