Hey I'm a little disgusted with my 72 right at the moment, besides still overheating, the wrong throwout bearing and the trans continues to leak, I finished rigging the stereo and am completely unsatisfied with the sound quality. My car came with a custom autosound brand USA-5 deck installed in the console but with no speakers. So essentially a 6 year old deck with zero miles. To finish it off I ran RCA pre amp outs to a 100 watts RMS Pioneer amp and then added new Alpine R series 2 way 6x9 speakers in individual boxes. I test drove the speakers before buying. Loved them. Great bass for a 6x9 with excellent mids and highs. Good crunchy rock speakers. I figured 50 watts RMS each should get em popping, especially in this tiny interior. Well, it all sounds like complete poop! Horrible. It sounds like AM radio. I've tuned all the adjustments on the amp and deck, did it with the engine off and man I cannot make this sound like anything worth listening too. I've tested it with tapes (ya it has a tape deck), FM radio (which comes in strong on my OE stereo based cars) and MP-3 adapter (through the tape deck). IT ALL SUCKS!
Are these just crap decks or what? Rip it out? E-bay it? Seriously R series Alpines are GOOD speakers. I even tried em with and without batting in the boxes. No bass pop. Just mud. My 2000 Xterra stock sound system sounds way better.

I am disgusted with my C3. Was gonna cruise our local Sonic Burger last night but just didn't feel like sitting in her.

I have the Custom Autosound model 630.  No tape deck, but it has the USB input for a flash drive and an aux (headphone jack) input.  Like you, I've run the RCA outs to a 100w x 2 amplifier, and built a speaker box that sits in the cargo area.  It's mounted high so the Tops still slide underneath.

The radio sounds good, but the quality is just average.  The display is very hard to read, and the USB didn't work until I cut the cord and spliced a new one on.  I wouldn't recommend it to someone considering a modern stereo install, except that it fits the holes perfectly, is very compact, and looks 70's (ish). 

I put new speakers in the dash (yours are in the kick panel, I believe) and am running those straight from the radio and the amplified 6x9's from the rear RCA output.

(My interior light now resides where the wires are coming out of the speaker box.)

Darryl

Good idea on pushing the box up...can you still drop your window tray? I have dash mounted from speakers. New OE replacements....why would anyone spend money on OE replacements? I connected them first, tested and pulled the wires off at the deck, they were that bad. I'm thinking your new 630 is a better radio. I have found many comments on the net about these decks not being about sound quality but rather looks. It does look great...and it is very hard to read when its on. Good thing my engine is loud and lumpy. Gives me something to listen to.

That window tray is looooooooong gone.  I'm sure Bubba ripped that out back in the 70's. 

Dad installed a sound bar from MidAmerica (I think) in his '69.  The speakers are smaller, and don't have near the same punch as the 6x9's that I have.  It works with the window tray.  If I can find a picture, I'll post it.


Edit: I don't have any pictures, and come to think of it, it was probably Eckler's.  Anyway, here is the model he has, shown on Corvette America's site.

http://www.corvettemods.com/68-82-C3-Corvette-Soundbar-System_p_9524.html




|UPDATED|5/17/2014 12:32:20 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

I've never owned a CAS stereo but have never heard any real positive reviews of them...poor sound quality, noisy, etc.  The best they have to offer is they can fit many older cars and allow some type of updated capability.

I just installed a Retrosound RC900C with what ever was installed in the front speakers and a set of pioneer 6 x 9's in back with there own enclosures(NOW where am I going to put the golf clubs:-) ) When I say just, I mean just plugged in the stereo today. Putting all the lines and speakers is what did it to my back that made me miss the gathering. I just wanted some good news and wanted to see it power up. Well, it did but it doesn't sound that good. The front speakers suck and I haven't adjusted any of the sound levels yet. That being said I'm not expecting to get the same sound out of this car as my SUV or even the first generation Camaros I've done. There just isn't enough cabin space to "balance" the sound. I can tell by the way the speakers sound that the bass is going to be iffy. The whole back of the cabin is going to be vibrating along with the speakers. I'm sure I'll work out the bugs and get it sounding better, it'll just take time and beer!

I have a Sony that sounded like crap....not enough power to push the rear speakers. I added a Rockford Fosgate Punch PBR300X2 to power the rears. Working great! The rear is filled I with sound finally with fading to the front speakers I can hear. This amp is small. I velco'd it to the wall in the jack area behind the passenger seat. The 5 hour drive to the "Gathering" was musically enriched! Results may vary....but that's my story and I'm sticking to it?

I suppose my initial question was somewhat rhetorical. The deck blows. My speakers and amp had no chance of success. Too bad since it looks really nice...fits the theme of the interior really well. I'll have to measure the opening and see what will fit...if its a standard shape or what....any tips on that?

OK, the radio could suck because, well radios suck. I've had good quality reception and poor. OE radios, more importantly their antennas are designed with the car in mind. Cassette is going to suck because now we are so used to listening to MP3's and listening to an MP3 thru the cassette is still going to sound like you are listening to a cassette. I used to spend way too much on audio equipment. Got the best cassette player/recorder I could afford, would have gone with a reel to reel but I couldn't find one for the car! I was completely blown away with the first CD player I heard. I had to buy it right there and then. Couldn't get it in the states yet, I was in Toronto at the time. Anyway, you'll want to look for a head unit that has an MP3 or aux plug. Does your amp have a direct aux plug? You could test the sound by plugging the MP3 player right into that.

I could just plug the mp3 into the amps RCA inputs....that is a good idea! I've put a number of decks into pickups etc. Similar small interior challenges. The only time I've had systems fall below expectations were with low end decks. The pioneer amp I'm using was used to power a rockford 10" 8 ohm sub. It had enough poop to thump my truck easily. It should run the 6x9's with ease. I think the CAS deck is the worst I've ever listened too. But, to be thorough I'll do the MP3 direct connect. Thanks for that idea Dave!