Who here remember outfitting your car with aftermarket audio

[Purerock105]

Oh man....my dad did that slide mount thing with our 8 track when cb's became a thing. That way he could just swap them out. I hated riding in the car with him when he put that cb in....just useless noise instead of cool music. Probably around the same timeframe.

The CB is still mostly useless noise. 😂

I don't even have mine hooked up in the BIG trk anymore.

 

[kgrencer]

I remember being the cool kid in high school carrying around my faceplate to my head unit. Id put it on the desk so everyone knew I had an alpine

 

[Stormtrooper1320]

I remember being the cool kid in high school carrying around my faceplate to my head unit. Id put it on the desk so everyone knew I had an alpine

That's great! The last Pioneer that I had also had a removable face and it came with this case to carry it in that looked like a sunglass case. I just used to take the face off, put it in the case, then toss the case under the seat. Figured that if anyone looked inside, they'd figure I had the face with me.

 

[Purerock105]

The Sonys had a fake plastic vent cover that attached to front of radio. 😂

Nope, no fancy pants stereo in here. Move along.

 

[DGatzby]

Musical reference? Uhhhh.....whatever tape they had laying in the car at the time. Loud was most people seemed to care about at the time...so.... loud it was.
Somewhere around '85 I started to take musical clarity a bit more seriously when I got my first home cd player. It was a Pioneer single disc. I got myself an Onkyo receiver, and some Cerwin-Vega speakers and I was living the dream. After that, I would take either a Kenny G cd or some smooth jazz to the stereo store to check out components. All of those stereo stores back then used to want to crank up some rock and show you how loud it was, and when I'd tell them to throw in one of my cd's. Some smooth jazz would tell the tale pretty quickly on what they were trying to sell me.
I loved Cerwin-Vega speakers, and still have my 4th set. I may have to dig them out and see if they still work.....

Wow. Did not think anyone else still appreciated them. I have the 12T towers I bought in 1975! Had the woofers re-done a few years ago. That is when the young man informed me they don't make speakers like that any longer and I should plan on keeping them forever if I cared. We have kept them "oiled" and they look better than the day I bought them. I have them in my "family room" that contains a complete surround sound system, they are the right and left mains. I use the hi-tech "newer" built-in's for the side R-L channels. I probably need to give the attenuators some attention soon as they are a bit scratchy but these things still play great and loud! My system also has a 15" woofer, in addition to their two 12" drivers, movies can be pretty realistic.

The other night I was watching Jon Wick fairly loud because I was alone and have not been in the Hellcat for months. She came home and was upstairs above the Family Room during some of the gun battles. She was absolutely certain that she was hearing FIREWORKS outside.

Of course, pictures or it did not happen! Just shot....

 

[Stormtrooper1320]

Wow. Did not think anyone else still appreciated them. I have the 12T towers I bought in 1975! Had the woofers re-done a few years ago. That is when the young man informed me they don't make speakers like that any longer and I should plan on keeping them forever if I cared. We have kept them "oiled" and they look better than the day I bought them. I have them in my "family room" that contains a complete surround sound system, they are the right and left mains. I use the hi-tech "newer" built-in's for the side R-L channels. I probably need to give the attenuators some attention soon as they are a bit scratchy but these things still play great and loud! My system also has a 15" woofer, in addition to their two 12" drivers, movies can be pretty realistic.

The other night I was watching Jon Wick fairly loud because I was alone and have not been in the Hellcat for months. She came home and was upstairs above the Family Room during some of the gun battles. She was absolutely certain that she was hearing FIREWORKS outside.

Of course, pictures or it did not happen! Just shot....
View attachment 11786

I love Cerwin-Vega's. You could crank them up and they would take what you threw at them. I went through 3 sets of the D-series when they came out starting with the D-3, then gave those to my sister and got a set of D-5's. Sole those to a friend and got D-7's. By the time I was ready to move to D-9's, they had come out with the VS-series (somewhere around '94-'95). So I bought a set of the VS-120's. They have a 12 inch woofer and they sound awesome...well...at least they did the last time I used them...about 20 years ago. Omg...I'm getting old
So, after mentioning them the other day, I went to storage and pulled them out. Still in their original factory boxes. I need to make room in the basement for them so that I can hook up my old school stereo.
Cerwin-Vega has gone through several buy-outs over the past and I think they are owned by Gibson now. You used to be able to send them your speakers and they would repair them for you (refoam and such). I'm not sure if they still do that. They do at least have a website now, and new speakers.
I'll take some better pics once I move them inside and set them up.

 

[DGatzby]

I love Cerwin-Vega's. You could crank them up and they would take what you threw at them. I went through 3 sets of the D-series when they came out starting with the D-3, then gave those to my sister and got a set of D-5's. Sole those to a friend and got D-7's. By the time I was ready to move to D-9's, they had come out with the VS-series (somewhere around '94-'95). So I bought a set of the VS-120's. They have a 12 inch woofer and they sound awesome...well...at least they did the last time I used them...about 20 years ago. Omg...I'm getting old
So, after mentioning them the other day, I went to storage and pulled them out. Still in their original factory boxes. I need to make room in the basement for them so that I can hook up my old school stereo.
Cerwin-Vega has gone through several buy-outs over the past and I think they are owned by Gibson now. You used to be able to send them your speakers and they would repair them for you (refoam and such). I'm not sure if they still do that. They do at least have a website now, and new speakers.
I'll take some better pics once I move them inside and set them up.

View attachment 11788

Same here. Still have the boxes because until I uncorked them about 10-15 years ago in my home of 27 years, that is where they rested for decades!

My friend, screw the old electronics, they play great without pops and static running digital media now and "newer" amplifiers and preamps.

 

[Stormtrooper1320]

Same here. Still have the boxes because until I uncorked them about 10-15 years ago in my home of 27 years, that is where they rested for decades!

My friend, screw the old electronics, they play great without pops and static running digital media now and "newer" amplifiers and preamps.

Yeah...I hear ya. The hard part is that I bought an Onkyo 7 speaker surround system about 3 years ago and I love that it takes up hardly any room, plus it sounds amazing....especially when playing John Wick or similar type movies at a higher volume level
Now that my basement is finished, I'd like to set something up down there. So I thought the Vega's might be nice for that. I'd hate to just toss them, that's why I'm hoping that they still work, or that I can get them repaired for a decent price if they don't. There was a guy called "The Speaker Doctor" that fixed them. I bought a small set of Vega's from him years ago that I use in my garage.

 

[Jimmy N.]

Yes, I have installed a few aftermarket stereos. But I can proudly say that later I have also removed about as many.

Once a vehicle is truly fun to drive, and driven accordingly, I don't think there's any need for music.
I don't really hear the radio in the Challenger when on a good road. But when caught behind traffic, I do.

 

[71 Beep]

Yes a bunch. Pioneer, Jensen, Alpine, Sony, Craig Road Rated, Motorola 8 track under dash, vibrasonic unit. My dad was an electrician in the Navy and had his own radio and TV repair business. Lots of knowledge and great to learn from him. Also a home vintage stereo guy and kept my high school stuff. Kenwood KA-9100, RtR Series IV Model E and D speakers. Like my bass.

 

[SilverBillet]

I bought this 440 6BBL Road Runner in 1972 with 9100 miles on it. It was a radio delete car. The first thing I did was buy a relatively nice Sony cassette player to mount under the dash. Cassettes were the “in” thing back then when everyone else had 8 tracks. I don’t know why but I figured out how to mount it with existing holes. I guess I designed it to be temporary. I ran wires to the back seat and just had loose speakers, that I could easily unplug and remove, sitting in both corners of the back seat. Loved to listen to my CSNY, Doors, The Hollys, Stones, Doobie Bros., Spooky Tooth, King Crimson, etc. on the way to the track on Sunday’s with my 11” M&H’s in the trunk! Different back then but much the same as taking a drive today with my 900W HK cranked up!

 

[motorhead]

The last stereo install I did was a component system in my wagon. Built a custom hatch over the spare tire well with the amps mounted to its underside, and the nitrous bottle sits beneath them. The whole car has been "dynamatted" so it thunks and doesn't sound all tinny and rattley. The head unit was a nice piece at the time of purchase, but like most head units, it was outdated before I installed it.

Here are some build/install pics:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversi...tiac-lemans-station-wagon-3.html#post18008647

https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversi...tiac-lemans-station-wagon-3.html#post18010621

https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversi...tiac-lemans-station-wagon-4.html#post18058316

Which is why when I rebuilt my MCSS's interior I did a full stereo delete; because if I need tunes I will just play them from my phone to a Bluetooth speaker on the seat. I'll replace my phone every few years anyway so it will always be current.

 

[Purerock105]

^^^I read the LS1tech threads. "Kids sitting on tailgate eating ice-cream". Good times. 👍🍻🇺🇸