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Picking up an original 72 F250 Highboy. Want to upgrade the stereo with a Retro Sound head unit and an upgraded 2 way speaker in the dash. Wanted to put some more speakers in for better sound. Would love to get some ideas on best speaker options in a bumpside that will look and sound best! Thx
I am building a 72 highboy as well. I ended up adding another stereo below my dash because I wanted a cd player in mine. I left the non working AM radio in the original location. Anyway, I had to make a new bracket to mount a different speaker in the under dash location and also made two cab corner mounts out of sheet metal. On my cab corner speakers, I had to stretch cloth material over them for covers because the ones that came with the speakers wouldnt clear the in-cab tank. Besides what I have done, I have seen others use the headliners with built in speakers, build a kind of center console with speakers(two wheel drive A/T only), speaker mounts on the floor of cab down by your feet in the corners, and some cut holes in the doors for speakers. I think that is pretty much every scenario that I have seen. As far as best sounding speakers, Im not up and up on that. I used some cheaper Pyle speakers for now. I think it was a 6x8 under the dash and two 6x9s in the cab corners without searching back through the build.
I still have the gas tank behind my seat, and don't want to relocate it. I found some cab corner 6x9 speaker brackets, but you must remove your gas tank for those to fit. You fit them in your cab corners with a gas tank still there?
I didn't want to cut any of the sheet metal in the truck so I removed the tank behind the seat (gains a couple inches to put the seat back farther too) and just use the tank under the bed. Then built back wall panels with 6 x 9's in the corners and a mini amp in the center. Also built a center console with Speakers in the sides of it with a wireless phone charger, cup holders, and a USB plug.
You definitely have to pull the tank out to fit them in the corners. This is in my 72 f250 4x4. That turned out nice FoPar1972. I did get rid of the in-cab tank on my 70 f250 since I had a auxiliary tank.
I bought one of those ABS headliners that has provisions for 4 5" round speakers and a spot for the radio. I am also going to fo what fopar did behind the seat, but that is a can that has been kicked quite aways down the road!
I’ve been going back and forth in my head with this for weeks. I love the idea of a custom center console for speakers, until I remember that the reason I love driving my ‘72 is that there is so much open space. I don’t want to part with my gas tank behind the seat either (since it’s original.)
Last night I ordered a Bluetooth receiver dongle, a 4 channel amplifier, and a pair of decent 6.5” speakers. I’m going to mount the speakers to the kick panels underneath the dashboard. I’ve talked to many guys at car shows who have the retro sound radios and I have yet to hear anyone really happy with the sound, you’re just paying for the retro look. (That $400 could get you an awesome amplifier or receiver) I’m going to leave the original radio in the dash, non functioning, and just put the amplifier under the seat with the Bluetooth receiver attached as an input. I don’t listen to regular radio or CDs, it’s all either AppleMusic or Pandora or the SXM app. I feel like it’ll be the best of both worlds without having to look at an out of place receiver in the cab.
I’m going to see how it sounds before I put something modern into the old slot on the dashboard.
My dream would be to find a spare behind-the-seat fuel tank that I could mount a subwoofer into and use the whole tank as a sub enclosure box.
PO cut holes for 6 1/2's in my kick panels. the only reason i don't love them there is trying to find a less intrusive speaker grille. i do have a comment on the retro sound stuff... i have a retro sound head unit and a custom sound head unit. both seem to work well, but they both look and feel incredibly cheap in real life. any chrome on them is over plastic. they look good from a distance, but in the cab, unless you are just glancing at it at night, you know it's not the original and it looks like the cheapest thing you got from Walmart or something.
I’ve been going back and forth in my head with this for weeks. I love the idea of a custom center console for speakers, until I remember that the reason I love driving my ‘72 is that there is so much open space. I don’t want to part with my gas tank behind the seat either (since it’s original.)
Last night I ordered a Bluetooth receiver dongle, a 4 channel amplifier, and a pair of decent 6.5” speakers. I’m going to mount the speakers to the kick panels underneath the dashboard. I’ve talked to many guys at car shows who have the retro sound radios and I have yet to hear anyone really happy with the sound, you’re just paying for the retro look. (That $400 could get you an awesome amplifier or receiver) I’m going to leave the original radio in the dash, non functioning, and just put the amplifier under the seat with the Bluetooth receiver attached as an input. I don’t listen to regular radio or CDs, it’s all either AppleMusic or Pandora or the SXM app. I feel like it’ll be the best of both worlds without having to look at an out of place receiver in the cab.
I’m going to see how it sounds before I put something modern into the old slot on the dashboard.
My dream would be to find a spare behind-the-seat fuel tank that I could mount a subwoofer into and use the whole tank as a sub enclosure box.
PO cut holes for 6 1/2's in my kick panels. the only reason i don't love them there is trying to find a less intrusive speaker grille. i do have a comment on the retro sound stuff... i have a retro sound head unit and a custom sound head unit. both seem to work well, but they both look and feel incredibly cheap in real life. any chrome on them is over plastic. they look good from a distance, but in the cab, unless you are just glancing at it at night, you know it's not the original and it looks like the cheapest thing you got from Walmart or something.
they do offer just the black versions which might be better and look less cheap. I was going to run the retro sound head unit, JBL dual 4" speakers in the dash, JBL 6.5 in pods in the kick pannels, a compact kicker amp and a powered kicker 8" sub under the bench seat.
I've bought 2 head units from Classic Car Stereos and have been very happy with both. The ***** are wrong but I like that it does at least say "Ford" on the face plate. It's easy to use and with the add-on of the Bluetooth adapter for $45 you still come in under $300.00 They have other head units that have more options and cost more but this one works great for me.
