Help me design my upgrade '76 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible

[amarzano]

Noob to the forum and what's out there in the mobile audio market these days. 

 

I have a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado. The car has low miles and is very stock. I purchased this car as a tribute to my Dad, who always dreamed of owning a Caddy, but never had it happen. It had a ton of the usual old car problems that I have been working thru. My next two items are the exterior cosmetics and the - where you come in - audio. I would really appreciate some suggestions (specifics) and ideas on how to select and build a system that sounds great and uses high end components - while setting some realistic expectations on the end result.  I have stopped by a few shops and gotten some big quotes, but again am worried that it may look good, but realistically not sound as good as the price tags..  So - I would like to do much of this  myself and with the kids - if possible. 

 

I do have some constraints.

- keep the head-unit (I had the stock 8 track sent off and gutted with a digital tuner, amp, BT, Aux in and RCA line outs. The 8 track still works so that will be kinda fun to play occasionally. 

- keep it stock looking

- No really obvious cutting or detracting from the stock look

- The Trunk is fair game to install an enclosure, amp rack, etc.

- Stock speaker locations are not the best / optimal size. They car came with:

       2 x 3 1/2 speakers in each dash corner

       2 x 6x9(?) speakers mounted behind the rear seat back , firing into the trunk. Might be ok if the top is up, but muffled when the top is down and the fiberglass tonneau cover  

       installed. 

 

My crazy ideas thus far. 

  A pair of 4" in the dash (A pair of 6 1/2's would be great - IF I could figure out where to mount them Kick Panels?)

  A pair of tweeters (maybe mounted in a pod on top of the dash grills or in the A-pillars if I could figure that out)

  A pair of 6x9's in the stock rear location

  Some sort of enclosure in the trunk

  1 x 6 channel amp for the speakers 

  1 x 1 channel amp for the sub

  1 x DSP (or maybe the audio control d6.1200 - one less box).

  1 sub enclosure - might have to outsource this if I expect it to look and sound decent.

  Sound Dead under the carpets, doors, trunk

 

I am hoping this is the right forum for this and can get some great suggestions on the speakers - especially the fronts. This is a big car and with the top down there is a lot of wind noise. I am hoping for SQ and Volume to over come the noise at Freeway speeds. I have really been looking at what folks are doing on Harleys thinking there might be an option in there?? I also have never had much luck with bass and convertibles in the past, so that is going to be a challenge as well (at least for me).

 

I have a bunch of photos of other Eldorado and can show what each of the locations looks like, if that is helpful.

 

Thank you!

 

Alex

SF Bay Area.

 

[Dafaseles]

First, let me start by saying beautiful car. I don't need to see it.... I'm a cadillac dude. Never owned one, but would love to. 

There are a lot of good SQ brands out there. Then there are what people consider SQL brands. Brands that maybe won't sound as great as the SQ brands, but will get louder, but still maintain a decent level of sound quality and low distortion. 

SQ brands, such as Focal, Audio Frog, BLAM, Stereo Integrity, JL Audio, among others. 

Then some SQL brands are Digital Design, B2 Audio, B&C, Fi. Concrete Audio. 

I can't tell you which brand you should get. That's a decision you will have to make. I don't know your listening preferences, nor have I personally heard all these brands. 

But the quality of the sound is mostly dependant on the install. Sound deadening is a big part of it. It'll keep road noise out, while raising the resonant frequency of the sheet metal, making it less likely to vibrate and influence the sound coming from the speakers. So don't cheap out on the deadening. 

The tweeters you want to try and keep them high, on axis to your ears. I've seen little pods that mount to the A- pillar out the dash board that holds them. They're not too bad looking. If I can find a picture of them, I'll send it to you. 

My buddy just put a little stereo in his 60 impala. He put the 6.5's in kick panels specifically made for his car. They fit nice, he painted them red to match his interior, and they sound pretty good. 

If you want to go with a3 way system, I've read that guys with old cars will put a pair of 8" mids bass speakers under the front seats in little, sealed, enclosures. 

As for the sub, from the way you described it, you don't need to be heard for blocks. You just want something to add to the mids and highs, and blend well. I'll tell you what, the best sounding bass I've heard in a convertible was an infinite baffle setup. It's not an easy task to accomplish, but then again, it's not super hard either. Fi makes a subwoofer specifically for infinite baffle applications. The IB3 series. Stereo Integrity does as well, though the name escapes me right now. You'd want to use a specific subwoofer for an infinite baffle, because there's no enclosure to help the suspension keep the driver under control. 

If not an IB setup, a nice sealed box for a 400-800 watt 10"or 12" would sound very clean. 

I'm from the bay area too by the way. 

 

 

[amarzano]

Dafaseles 

Thank you for the response. You've named most of the speaker brands I am looking at in your SQ list. The only other is the Morel Virtus Nano Carbon Series which I added to the list because of the super thin 6.5".  What I might end up doing (and I have always been told this is a bad plan) is to mix and match a bit. Several of these Mfgs have a tweeter and 3.5" mid. The issue is that there is no room for a traditional 6.5". I was thinking of perhaps adding the Morel 6.5 subs in a small enclosure under the dash/footwell and build my own 3-way set up. Not sure if this works better in an open mount or a sealed enclosure. I started thinking of how to cut / fit larger speakers into these spaces, but now thinking get the right size and add the subs. Is a good idea - any suggestions?

 

Yes I will probably not be heard coming down the street, but do want it loud enough to be clear at highway speeds and the bass to be felt. On bass, I always thought smaller woofers and more of them, vs a very large sub would give tighter sound, not sure if that still holds with all the advances.

 

Thank you,

Alex

 

[Dafaseles]

13 minutes ago, amarzano said:

Dafaseles 

Thank you for the response. You've named most of the speaker brands I am looking at in your SQ list. The only other is the Morel Virtus Nano Carbon Series which I added to the list because of the super thin 6.5".  What I might end up doing (and I have always been told this is a bad plan) is to mix and match a bit. Several of these Mfgs have a tweeter and 3.5" mid. The issue is that there is no room for a traditional 6.5". I was thinking of perhaps adding the Morel 6.5 subs in a small enclosure under the dash/footwell and build my own 3-way set up. Not sure if this works better in an open mount or a sealed enclosure. I started thinking of how to cut / fit larger speakers into these spaces, but now thinking get the right size and add the subs. Is a good idea - any suggestions?

 

Yes I will probably not be heard coming down the street, but do want it loud enough to be clear at highway speeds and the bass to be felt. On bass, I always thought smaller woofers and more of them, vs a very large sub would give tighter sound, not sure if that still holds with all the advances.

 

Thank you,

Alex

 

Beautiful caddy! 

Morel is definitely high regarded as well. I was just naming things off the top of my head. 

If you wanted to go 3 way, I don't see anything wrong with mixing and matching. As long as you're going active (hence the DSP) and the frequency response of each can be set up in a way that they'll blend together. Meaning- don't get a mid bass that has a frequency response of 40 hz to 200 hz and then get a mid range that has a frequency response of 800 hz to 2000 hz. Try and find a set that overlaps a little, so you can set your crossovers so you don't miss a note. 

Sorry if you already know this, but I'd rather say it and not have to, than should have said it and didn't....

In av3 way setup, you have your tweeter, your mid range speaker, and your mid bass speaker. Then you have your subwoofer. 

If you built something for some nice 6.5's to be your mid bass, an enclosure of some sort would be needed. Ported or sealed, that's up to you and your listening preferences. But I wouldn't recommend an open mount (or at least what I'm picturing open mount to be in my head which would be sort of an infinite baffle setup). I apologize if I'm picturing that wrong. 

As far as the sub goes, you can damn near make any (almost any) subwoofer sound however you want it in the right enclosure. 

Cone area will always be king when it comes to volume, power being the queen, but that makes the enclosure a God.