Big rear speakers, coupe/spider/Zag

[SubGothius]

Has anyone successfully mounted 6x9" speakers, without cutting metal, in the rear side panels of their Beta coupe or spider/Zagato? I'm considering this for my '79 Zag, would prolly "stealth mount" the speakers behind the trim panel on each side, replacing the stock vinyl covering on those panels with either perforated vinyl or acoustically-transparent fabric (so as not to have an obvious, surface-mounted speaker grille). There's a pretty big opening in the metal frame behind the trim panel, but not sure offhand if a 6x9" oval would fit in there without cutting metal... :?: If not, what's the largest speaker anyone's managed to fit back there? :?:

[Betazag]

Hi. I installed a new Alpine deck and trunk-mounted disk changer in my 82 Beta Zagato. I needed bigger speakers but I knew it would not be an easy job. I ended up buying some premium Pioneer 6X9 speakers and then tried to figure out how to mount them in the back. I ended up having to enlarge the rear speaker holes...I used a cordless reciprocating saw with a metal cutting blade to achieve this. The hole could only be enlarged enough to accept the magnet on the speaker. I then made new panels out of several layers of plywood, cut out the holes for the speakers and covered the panels in black vinyl that matched the leather perfectly. The new panels rest on top of the armrests...I had to cut out a place on the bottom of the panel to allow the front seatbelt to pass through and make clearance for the ashtray lid. Speakers sound great! The only drawback that needs addressing is that the shoulderbelt has stiff operation...a small long roller under the panel would help the seatbelt move more freely. I also need some big front speakers now...the small ones I installed in the stock locations under the hood releases just don't get it! I might have to put 4X6 speakers in the bottom of the doors. Does anyone have advice on that project? Thanks, Betazag

[jp]

Is trunk mounted changer the only way to go? I want to install an in dash cd player but cannot seem to find one that will work without a lot of cutting

JP

[SubGothius]

For in-dash CD-changers, IMHO the Nakamichi MusicBank series (usually have a model number starting with MB-...) can't be beat for convenience, size, design and audiophile-grade sound quality. These changers load thru a single CD slot on the face, just like a single-disc player (not easy to tell it's a changer at all, really). You literally cannot imagine what warmth and stereo-imaging realism is possible in a car until you've tried a Nak head unit with a quality amp and good, well-placed speakers.

Nak's later-model mobile MusicBanks are full CD-changers+radio receivers combined in a single DIN-size head unit (thus would require mods to a stock later-model Beta dash to fit, but if you do it right, you can retain the stock anti-theft "no radio" snap-in panel); however, being fairly new yet, these are a bit spendy (but well worth it if you have the means), and their earlier freestanding changers (some roughly DIN-size holding 4-6 CDs, earliest ones are a bit taller holding 7 CDs) can be had for a steal on eBay and may fit well either inside your centre console bin (under your cigar lighter), under or inside the glovebox (well, the latter with the box liner removed), or the early ones could be mounted between the front seats, above the handbrake lever (where a bit of careful trimming could camouflage it as a stock console armrest).

A pity to read about all the mods necessary to do 6x9"s in the back. In that case, I'd prolly prefer to install whatever would fit behind the stock trim panels without cutting metal and put a subwoofer in the trunk instead. Since bass frequencies are largely non-directional (your ears can't really tell where they're emanating from), big speakers in front won't help much if you've got your bass covered with big speakers and/or a sub in back.

I like some aspects of Francois Dion's setup (described in the Beta pages at Viva-Lancia (http://viva-lancia.com/beta/sound.html)): a spare-tire sub in the trunk (with a small hole/slot cut in the rear bulkhead to port the soundwaves); modest-size midranges in the rear side panels and front kick panels; and tweeters mounted in the top of the dash above the side vents, aimed at the windshield for reflective stereo imaging (almost all of our perception of stereo imaging and any directional/point-source location comes from the tweeters' positioning alone).

You could also stealth-mount tweeters inside the side vents (which vents never seem very effective anywho), behind the stock vent grilles. If your dashtop is already cracked beyond redemption, you might consider getting a rigid-plastic dashcap (I think the Beta dashcaps sold in the US are all made by the same co., no matter who you buy from, so shop around for best price) and mount the tweeters in that; you could even carve "buckets" into the top of the stock dash to accomodate the tweeters, then cut slots/louvers (using e.g. a Dremel tool) in the dashcap above those locations, so the tweeters would be hidden under what appear at a glance to be side-window defroster slots in the dash.

[Gregory Smith]

I recently replaced the previous owner's 5x8 speakers with 6x9 versions. depending on the speaker dimensions, it can be done. For mine I had to enlarge the hole already in the side panel above the armrest, but the real problem was the metal. I used a ball peen hammer to roll over the edge of the flange where the targa bar is welded on to gain the extra room needed. More difficult was pre-drilling mounting screw holes in the cuved metal, as drill bits generally don't like to bend much.

I would have used 6" Infinity speakers but they wouldn't cover the hole of the old speaker. No interference with the metal behind, if you surface mount on the panel. To mount on the metal directly you're going to have to use 5" models.

I used a non-vulanized roofing material to seal off the various holes in the area for better sound.

For me the hardest part was finding speakers that looked right, just about everything out there looks like a spaceship, far too modern for my '81 model. The front kick panels at least hide the speakers, though also a tight fit. Some 5" speakers use a 4-5/8" cutout, about the limit in there. I used some black foam rubber weatherstripping to seal around the fronts, as they had just a smidge of air gap and also used more roofing (like dynamat but cheaper and lighter) to seal up the space.

I guess my point is it can be done, just takes time and lots of different speaker measuring!