I'm about to upgrade the tunes in my 69 pickup, and thought I'd start a thread here where I can post pictures, ask & answer questions, and discuss this or that.

Currently have an older Pioneer head unit mounted in the stock location (using a flipped Volvo mounting kit). It works fine, I will probably keep it. I usually just tune it to the classic rock station, but it has a USB port so I can play music from a flash drive, or connect my iPhone or an iPod to it if I want.

Dash speakers, I currently have two 3.5 "dash speakers" mounted on a 5x7 plate that I cut out of thin sheet metal to fit the original opening. I'm debating whether to remove / replace these - I really can't hear them anyway so it might be pointless.

Up above my head on both sides I mounted some old computer speakers using a little angle bracket. As you can imagine, the sound quality is crap, and of course there's no bass. It was just a cheap easy way to get sound in the truck several years ago and I never bothered to come up with a better plan before now.

So I'm gonna trash the next-to-my-head computer speakers and instead go with a Highliner kit. I just ordered it for $222 from usautoparts website. Every review I read on these went something like this: "the headliner is great, it's so cool, but the speakers are crap".

So I also ordered 2 sets of 4" Kicker speakers from crutchfield, so the ones that comes in the Highliner kit won't be used. I have these same Kicker 4's in the dash of my old Mustang and they actually sound pretty good. So I have a good feeling about putting them in my truck.

I'll run all 4 of these speakers from a 4-channel amp (mounted under the seat), something that matches them well (neighborhood of 50 watts each maximum). Regardless of how good a 4" is you are not getting much bass out of it, and if you push bass to it you're just gonna beat it to death, so I've ordered an FMOD filter to stop the lower frequencies from getting to them in the first place.

To have some bass, I'm planning to put an underseat active subwoofer, either an 8 or a 10 (slimline), but I haven't ordered this yet.

In my Highliner, the DIN radio spot which it comes with, I have decided to mount a power strip thing, has a standard 12V outlet, a second outlet with has 2 USB ports, and the third spot has a digital voltage readout. I figure with this, there will never be a problem finding a place to charge a phone, for myself or for my passenger.

 

For anyone not familiar with the Highliner setup, here is a picture showing what you get, along with another picture showing a pretty slick install (not mine, I found this on the internet, but the only come in black so that means this was painted or stained to match, and I think looks great).

 

Nice Cracker. Subb'ed. Not looking at putting a radio in mine but I dig audio installs. Keeps the pics coming!

 

Cool I'm looking to do the same thing once my truck returns from the paint shop.

I've been looking at these stereos
1968-1972 Ford Truck Radio - Ford Pickup Stereo | Classic Car Stereos

Look forward to what you put together and pictures too

Thanks
Kenny

 

I threw the one that came with my 69 away, the PO drilled through the roof installing it !!

 

The highliner?! He drilled through the roof? lol
Damn I would have liked to get it from you instead of it going in the trash

 

IMHO they aren't worth the money, they look cheap and sound like the audio is playing from a tin can.

 

Subscribed..........

 

pchelp the sound comes from the speakers. The ones they give you in the kit are paper cone 10 watt junk. Toss the crap & put something decent. And if you knew that someone would have paid 100 or 150 for your used Highliner you'd have kept it out of the trash probably.

 

What's the saying? One man's trash is other man's treasure.

 

I just bought one of these:
https://www.retromanufacturing.com/p...k-malibu-radio

and 6x9 in aftermarket door panels, secondskin sound deadener in the doors.

 

I went around and around with where to put my speakers. I didn't want to cut into the doors or the kick panel area so I made some kick panels. It was my first attempt at using polyester and resin. For the most part I'm happy with the result, but I may make a second set and make some changes. They sound good.

This did cause an interference with the dimmer switch on the floor and the parking brake. I'm working on a solution for the parking brake and the dimmer switch was simply moved to the right.

The next plan is to put some 6x9's and a sub behind the seat. The 6x9's will sit in the rear corners.

This was during the clean up process, cutting the hole out.


Painted and ready to install, well one of them. I kind of jumped the gun and painted this to see what it would look like before test fitting it in the truck.


Some test fitting.


Finished and installed. Sorry for the dark pictures.



Passenger side. I may end up doing something above the panel where you can see the body color eventually. Not sure yet.

 

fswells those kick panels came out great, very slick. I may try to duplicate that. You'll have to post up some pics when you do your 6x9's also.

 

Thanks Cracker! It may be a while before the 6x9's and sub get addressed, but I'll post them up when i do.

 

This kick panel install is the best solution IMHO. And they look great. I made a box for behind the seat. Installed two piston style subs in the middle of it. And 5 1/4" separates on the ends. I figured their sound would come forward in between the seat sides and the doors. Which it may but from seat position they sound muffled. I did try temporally mounting the separate tweeter in different spots.