I have a perfect pacakage tray for speakers. It is curved toward the front of the car. Looks like it would be a natural spot for a set of speakers. The problem is, I planned on putting a pleated panel up there to match the interior. How do you hide the speakers? I thought of painting the speaker grilles the same color as the interior but they still may look out of place. Any suggestions?
Before you go punching holes in the upholstery try it without doing the holes. You have nothing to lose trying it. I've got a heavy material over my speakers and it comes through fine without holes.
We always perforate the material over the speakers. The problem is when you don't, you'll turn up the sound to compensate which makes it easier to blow them out. If you plan on having your package tray covered in pleats, it means you'll have foam and the vinyl blocking the sound. I don't think you'd regret having the perforation......slim
Like Slim said, you're going to lose alot of sound through that material. The other thing you need to remember is that the speaker is pushing air and will eventually push your material up and out with out perforation holes, and of course blow your speakers in the process. Larry
If you have enough power in the amp, try a speaker box in the trunk and fire them through the back seat.If you lose some of the highs then put a small set under the dash on each side and let the rest come through the back seat. You can also get small thinline 6 by 10's and put them under the front seats in boxes
yeah.. uhm. shouldn't say this, but I put a pair of 12's in the back shelf of my caddy, and six 2 inchers, all hidden. I cut out the original tin for the shelf, leaving the edges and the supports for the trunk. I then bolted in a sheet of 3/4 inch pine, cut to fit, and cut out holes for the speakers. Then I cut out a sheet of 1/8 inch plywood, to fit the rear shelf, and drilled 1/4 inch holes in it as close as possible, where the speakers are. I covered the plywood with thin marine carpet, and covered the whole mess. Nobody knows the carpet isn't stock unless they are caddy guys, and you won't see the speakers from the trunk once I put in a panel. Just an idea, but cheap is good, and hidden is better.
Thanks guys. I am still looking at this one. I'll post pics tomorrow of the rear tray, so you can get a better idea.
Root, We just re-did the interior in the '33 and I had to deal with the same thing. My rear package tray is 3/4 inch tuck and roll. We cut out the hole for the speakers and stapled speaker cloth on from the bottom. It can be died to match your color but I just left it black. The speakers were then mounted from the bottom. It made for a pretty clean installation. On the '32, they dyed the speaker covers the same color as the interior and it looks pretty good too. Just a couple more data points. Doc.
The best way to hide anything is to put it right out in the open, and made it "blend". If it looks like it is supposed to be there, it doesn't stand out... My shoebox has a set of the old chrome "music note" covers from Night Prowlers. They seem to look pretty at home.
yeah im thinking about mounting my 6x9's in the 53 chevy finally had them laying between the front and back seat in speaker boxes for the last two or three months now im thinkin about putting them in the package tray where the belong but i dont know what to do about grilles thinking "music notes' or "organ pipes" but i really dont know
Hello..If your using cloth don't worry, cover right over them.. If your using leather or vinyl. Use same color cloth, sow to the material..I wouldn't punch holes.. Duane.
It's gonna be pleated vinyl. I don't like the organ covers but I'll look into the music notes. I thought about just painting the grilles and moving on.
I get a kick out of you guys trying to hide the speakers in a custom. Dual 6X9 speakers on the package tray was something to be proud of in the early 60s when customs ruled. I knew guys that put speaker grills in just for the look. They couldn't afford the radio or the speakers. Even the round door or kick panel speakers were chrome to make them stand out and be noticed. The holes in the leather say Boyd Coddington to me. Nothing wrong with that but it's a pure 80s-90's styling cue for me. In the late 50s, chrome speaker grills were a statement to be proud of. I bought 2 of the chrome grills with the musical note stamped into them off of Ebay because that was the hot lick back then. They are a reproduction of an after market grill that was sold in the 50s-60s. We wanted to show off our state of the art radios. The Beatles in 64 or 65 were the first R&R group to really use stereo and you needed an 8 track to hear that. We was proud of our speakers
I mounted mids and highs on each side of the rear window under the headliner and put a pair of 18" subs behind the back seat. Of course my car has no package shelf.
In my '53, I found a spot just in front of the rear seat down near the floor that should fit a 6x9 speaker without a ton of modification to the sheet metal. I'm going to try that. I also considered the package tray for a while and thought that some home air vent covers would look neat if you could find the right ones. They would already have a "louvered" look to them.
I think I will be going with round speakers instead of a 6x9. I'm gonna hafta lay it all out. Also depends on how much money I have when I get there as well.
I know this is a super old thread, but any new news on this? Im dealing with the same thing right now in my '53 Olds. I have a factory spot in the rear package tray in the center for a speaker. Does anyone have any photos of a factory '53 Olds package tray with the speaker, im guessing the holiday loaded version had this. I am remaking the kick panels that had speakers in them someone put there before I had the car, Im taking the speakers out. Also installing a speaker behind the factory clock where the original 1 speaker was. But Ill need more than one so still trying to figure it all out.
Yeah,the thread is 6 years old but I'll offer up what we did in the wagon. I was going to use speaker grills but have you seen what comes with speakers today,,they are some kind of fugly plastic super zooty crap. We used a leather craft punch and mounted the speakers behind the material. HRP Kick panel up front. Side panel in the rear cargo area.
I did mine this way...pleated centre section and smooth sides where the speakers are with perforations for the sound. Works great for sound.
Depends how picky you are about your music. The high frequencies will not come through the thick material. Try making some tuck and roll shaped dies out of wood or something to match the pattern in your rolls and pleats and stamp your wire mesh grills to blend in with the material and paint to match.
I cut my holes in the package tray to mount my speakers. I then used luwan and cut it to fit the shape of the package tray. I cut out the shape of the speakers in the luwan then stretched home stereo speaker material over that and glued it to the luwan. It blends in I think and the material is thin so you can hear the tunes. The chrome speaker is my third brake light.
My thoughts at first to but this is a cruiser right. I tried to hide mine. Wound up making speaker covers for the back and just cut holes in the door panels but not the vynal. Even with the frt speakers covered and hidden it does make a noticable difference in overall sound. The rear covers where made of masonite and a pvc screen i found in the fabric shop which matches the screen overlay in the lower dash on my 51 ford dash. Pleats are a different story. You may have to make some proper covers if you want some kind of nice sound i can't see why that would hurt.
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