# Do you remember your first attempt at Car audio



## wagonmaster

My first attempt was in my 70 Buick GS Stage 1. A pioneer Supertuner II twin shaft. A set of pioneer 6x9s in the back deck. and a pair of Jet Sound 6 1/2 in the doors. 
My next car was a 75 Buick Century Indy Pace car. A cheap small chassis twin shaft. I purchased for IIRC like $60. at a Car audio tent sale. I think I just used the stock speakers. 
My third attempt was one of the best, yeah right. 1970 GTO. The same twin shaft out of the pace car. would fit in the dash of the GTO. so I put it in the glove box. Along with a $19.95 booster/EQ. on top. with a set of Kenwood 6x9s in the deck. I remember one of the channels going out on the booster so I wired the speakers to one remaining channel. 
The time period was 1982-1985.

What horrors did you create when you first got into car audio. 

Tim


----------



## Lou Frasier2

my 1976 chevy chevette 2 door 4 speed,it was back in 1985 and i had put 2 8s in a plywood box i cant remember my gear but i just drove around blasting exodus and slayer and it sounded good at the time,looking back at it it probably sounded like utter poop


----------



## Lycancatt

87 jetta sedan, Panasonic cd headunit with stock speakers in the front, and 3 way home built radio shack parts speakers in the trunk, the pair took up the whole trunk and were powered off the deck..it..kinda..sounded ok..

this was in 1998, I guess I'm young lol.


----------



## XSIV SPL

My first car audio project was in a 1976 Grand Prix, and involved a Royal Sound AM/FM-Cassette HU, some sort of swap-meet quality booster-EQ which my sister gave me for xmas, and some speakers I don't even recall...

My first upgrade came after some a-hole broke my window and stole my swap-meet booster-EQ, speakers and a bunch of cassette tapes... I then ended up with an Alphasonik EQ and a 100x2 JVC amp along with some Jensen "triax" 6x9s... I think I was pretty proud of that back then, but I'd like to go back in time and hear how horrible that actually sounded 

Thanks for posting this question, wagonmaster  It's like therapy for me to go back and remember where this disease actually started


----------



## i loved orion

1979 toyota corolla SR5.

Pioneer shaft type super tuner II head unit with missing knobs (wedged pennies in the splits at the ends of the shafts to turn). 

Kicker 3.5" components without tweeter in the doors. Speakers had been dug out of the dumpster behind stillwater designs and the cones were silaconed back together where they had been knifed by the employees in an attempt to "destroy" them im sure. Pioneer gm 800 (20x2 rated if i recall correctly and that was probably rated on the high side)

2 Pioneer impp freeair 10's in a Q logic dual bandpass driven full range off of an alpine 3519 (35x2 I think) amplifier that got so hot even at 4 ohm stereo that you would burn your hand on it. I had either 14 or 10 gauge power wire ran to the amp and it eventually got so hot that it melted all of the plastic coating off of the wire. 

Yes, it was quite the sq machine


----------



## XSIV SPL

Lycancatt said:


> 87 jetta sedan, Panasonic cd headunit with stock speakers in the front, and 3 way home built radio shack parts speakers in the trunk, the pair took up the whole trunk and were powered off the deck..it..kinda..sounded ok..
> 
> this was in 1998, I guess I'm young lol.


LOL, Mike, weren't you like 13 yrs old in 1998?


----------



## Weigel21

Must I?

My very first "system" was a factory radio in an 88 Ford Tempo w/ factory speakers and a Radio shack 12" woofer powered off the HU by tapping into one of the rear speakers and the sub being left in it's cardboard box, but taped up in an attempt to make it a "sealed enclosure". 

This was my very first car and I was 14 with no idea of what I was doing (obviously). This was back in 98' as well for me too.


----------



## JimmyDee

1987... 

Bought a Chevy Sprint (my first car).

Got a used Clarion tape deck, free from a garage sale. Installed it, and blew my driver's side factory door speaker, within about an hour.

Went to Radio Shack, and go a set of Realistic speakers, and installed them.

As I recall... I actually thought it sounded OK!

I was 19.


----------



## Lycancatt

XSIV SPL said:


> LOL, Mike, weren't you like 13 yrs old in 1998?



yep, 13! been tinkering with audio for a few years already and had friends with older brothers and it was a cool way to get into the teenage cool crowd.


----------



## bgalaxy

Mine was in a 67 Ford galaxie. 2 GS redline 15's on 2 Profile baja 200's Few too mant sets of JBL bi9's 


So glad picture taking wasn't the norm back then


----------



## XSIV SPL

Lycancatt said:


> yep, 13! been tinkering with audio for a few years already and had friends with older brothers and it was a cool way to get into the teenage cool crowd.


It didn't work- you're still a huge nerd! (But I do love 'ya man!)


----------



## claydo

Oh god....here goes.....freaking sparkomatic ff only tape deck, realistic 150 watt (yes, it said 150 watts) eq booster, powering two kenwood ported boxes with 10s and lil horn tweets mounted behind the seat resting comfortably between yer back and the gas tank, tweets pointed up, in a 1970 ford longbed.........lmao. I was amazed when I moved up from the booster to a real pioneer amp rated at 100 watts.......it's was eardrum splitting loud. Other than a complete lack of any bass below about 70hz, I was quite fond of it after the dose of the real amps power. Not long after that I removed the two post mounts and stepped up to the alpine tape deck....which let me actually rewind! (GASP!)


----------



## stills

Chevy s-10
Kenwood changer run through the stock delco head unit. Hid the display in my sun visor. 
Orion moon & stars amp can't remember the model. 240 or 260gt
Two mtx terminator eights in a tiny box built in shop class. It may of been .5 cuft
Jbl 4x6 coax in the dash. 

I live In The country so back then a cd changer with an RF setup was mind blowing. Two small subs that got fairly loud killed em too. 

Upgraded to a single Orion 10"dvc when the XTR's came out. Smoked said Orion amp shortly afterward. That was my crash course in driver impedance at 16. 

Went with an eclipse ECD head unit and a soundstream ref 300 later and the rest is history. That was around '91


----------



## hot9dog

Oh lord, here we go. In my VW baja, a Targa twin shaft that I bought off of a friend (hot,stolen ), with a Unic amp powering a set of home speakers thrown in the back. Wires EVERYWHERE! I bungee corded the home speakers in the back so they wouldn't flop around. ... I thought I was "Billy bad ass" typical 15 year old. Lololol


----------



## SHAGGS

Weigel21 said:


> the sub being left in it's cardboard box, but taped up in an attempt to make it a "sealed enclosure".


I feel better knowing I wasn't the only one to try that.:blush:

I'll play
1st car- '85 LeSabre 4dr (nick named "Smokey Brown") 
Kenwood CD player, stock speakers. Sounded OK.
Spun a main bearing before I could save up for subs and an amp.

2nd car- '84 Jeep Cherokee 4dr 4x4 
Same CD player, all speakers were shot, so I put a pair of 3-way 8" Bose bookshelf speakers, from my bedroom, on the back seat. 
A garage sale, unpowered, ported, Cerwin Vega home theater "10, in the back, rounded out the sound. 
Powered by a garage sale 4 channel Alpine, bridged rear for the sub.
Made it 4 months before the amp went into protect.
Didn't sound 1/2 bad, not 1/2 good either...
How that system never got stolen, is still beyond me.:surprised:

After that, my attempts were far better planned (and funded).


----------



## mathematics

in higher school. I drove my dad's 96 grand am. put sony xplod 6x9's in the rear deck and xplod components up front. for the dec I went with the pioneer OLED unit with the dolphins. I made a kit for it using the shell of those textured aluminum tool cases that look like an oversized briefcase. it didn't match a single thing in the car lol. I think I later added an MTX amp and sub to it.


----------



## dallasneon

My first crack at car audio...jeez! This was probably around 92', but 87 olds cutless factory tape deck. I bought some 3.5" wizzer cone infinity speakers for the dash from circuit city and I bought a kicker C12 from the kid next door. My granddad built me a tiny sealed box out of osb and I ran it off the factory tape deck rear channels. I think my mom & dad bought me a Kenwood cd player the next Christmas and I saved enough money to buy a Coustic AMP102 for the sub. From there it was a snowball effect and it's been out of control ever since.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


----------



## AVIDEDTR

80s Chevette. JBL GTQ 400 and GTQ 200 amps. MB Quart 2way passives. Dual JBL GTX 10's ported. Eclipse CDP. It was my learning car.


----------



## Weigel21

@ SHAGGS 
Yep, sounded "AWESOME" for about 10 minutes. LOL

Second attempt was with the same 88' tempo "after" I finally got my drivers license, first attempt I hadn't but a learners permit. 

Anyways, second attempt was a complete "audio overhaul". Replaced the OEM tape deck with an Audiovox Rampage CD player, replaced the front speakers with a set of Sony 3-ways from Wally World, set of 6x9's (don't recall the brand) from Fingerhut (from the late 80's early 90's), Road Gear 250W amp (think it was rated for 35x2 130x1) powering a 6.5" Jensen tube sub. 

What's worse, I merely tapped into the wiring for the stereo for my power/ground/remote for the amp. Had the amp sitting in front of the center console on the carpet, damn thing would get so hot in a matter of minutes to burn a person's leg. 

How it never blew fuses or caused a fire, I'll never know. 

Since then, I've gotten better with my installs.


----------



## SHAGGS

Hey, I was 12 or 13, and they were Urban's. Caution to the wind....

I thought the diagram on the box, that showed the cutout and overall diameter, meant to cut there.


----------



## ZMan2k2

14 years old, found some 6x9s in the garage, and my bro-in-law provided the twin shaft. This was in a 79 Suzuki 4x4. I put the 6x9s in a random sized box, particle board, and drilled some holes in the ends to port them. I did hide the wires as best I could.

It was my dad's 4x4, and he always joked he had the loudest AM radio on the block.


----------



## 1963SS

I remember it like it was yesterday. I used my "shoot at me" money as a down payment on a brand new 1969 Charger R/T. I installed an Audiovox Sound Exploder (power booster) in line with my factory head unit. The power booster was about as big as two packs of cigarettes and it made 1250 watts. (It said so right on the box). Then I installed a pair of Audiovox 6 x 9 speakers in the rear deck. They were "only" rated at 1000 watts. I was afraid I was going to blow them up.

I was not satisfied with the factory 8 track sound quality so a few weeks later I bought me a under dash 45 RPM record player. The first 45 I bought for it was Bob Dylan's "Lay, Lady Lay". Ahhhh, yesterday. I miss the old days when I wasn't fat, still had hair and wore bell bottom pants.:blush:


----------



## Weigel21

SHAGGS said:


> Hey, I was 12 or 13, and they were Urban's. Caution to the wind....
> 
> I thought the diagram on the box, that showed the cutout and overall diameter, meant to cut there.


No, I hear you, that's the same way it was for me too. The Radio Shack box had a punch out template that I actually thought meant the sub were to be used in the box it came inside. Sounded pretty weak/sloppy, and just flat out bad when it first powered up, so that's then the duct tape came out. Helped some and like I said, it sounded "awesome" for about 10 minutes. I think the driver blew within a matter of hours, or I finally came to a point where I realized what I was hearing was not as good as I initially thought. Regardless, the woofer came out and ended up in the trash. 

It was a freebie, but I'm thinking in hind sight, it wasn't a bad driver, just VERY poorly installed/utilized by myself. I think it was actually a loud speaker for use with a guitar.


----------



## SHAGGS

It also didn't help that I was trying to run it off a crappy bookshelf stereo.:laugh:

I eventually made a crappy plywood box, that made a brief appearance in my first car.
Ran speaker wire, from my home stereo, out my bedroom window to the trunk, so I could listen to them in the car. Ah, youth....


----------



## 63flip

Wow! This brings back some memories. I really don't remember the gear but I do the instal. It was in a 1974 Impala 4 dr. I had a CD player, probably Pioneer or Kenwood an amp and a pair of 12's. My Impala had the single speaker in the dash so I was set for my mids and highs. The amp installation ended up being a learning experience in fuses after the fire! Since the car was about a city block long I was lucky to have money for wires so an in-line fuse just wasn't in the budget. Ran the power wire down the the door jamb. The amp got hot enough to fry eggs on. About a week later my buddy was getting in and pinched the power wire resulting in the "fire". The good ol days!


----------



## annoyingrob

For my first install, I wanted everything. Three way active front and rear, processors, high end speakers, anything I could spend money on, but was quickly brought down to earth realizing it probably wouldn't sound good. Instead I decided to research and buy pieces one by one, recognizing what they added to the sound, and the deficiencies with what remained, deciding what should be upgraded next.

The first install is more of a timeline:
- A borrowed Pioneer DEH-P3500 head unit powering just the stock fronts, and an IDMAX12 running off of a borrowed JBL BP1200.1. At this point the only thing I "KNEW" was that I wanted an IDMAX sub. I don't regret it, but it was the most expensive piece ever.
- The BP1200.1 was swapped out with an Elemental Designs Nine.1. Now I have a solid sub-stage, but it overwhelms the rest of the sound.
- The stock fronts were replaced with a set of CDT EF-61FG components running passive off of head unit. The sound is marginally improved, but is still lacking presumably due to power.
- The fronts were then amplified off of a borrowed PG 2180. Significant improvement in sound quality.
- The 2180 was swapped out with an ED Nine.4, still running passive to the components. Marginal perceived improvement, but this change was done largely to facilitate moving to an active setup in the future.
- The HU was swapped out for an Pioneer DEH-p880prs, allowing the fronts to then be run active. Significant improvement in quality, but most of this is due to tuning.
- Tuning
- Tuning
- Tuning
- Tuning
- Tuning
......

- Realizing that my overall enjoyment and the perceived sound quality I get out of the vehicle is made 90% up from the tuning, not the quality of components used. 


Which of course led into my "second" system in another vehicle which was largely a reverse of this. Start with the tuning capabilities, and junk components and then incrementally improve components only when absolutely convinced that the deficiencies cannot be tuned out. Surprisingly cheaper to attain good sound that way and a lot of fun.


----------



## BadSS

Wow,,, trying to clear the cob webs – 1979 Chevy Monza - stock dual shaft 8-track “stereo”. I put that in quotes because it had a single 4x10 speaker in the center of the dash and a 6x9 speaker in the driver’s side rear hatch area – the fader was actually the right/left balance. 

Within months, I added an AudioVox Amp 600, 5-band, graphic equalizer, power booster (60 watts max RMS) that had a backlit power meter, which looked pretty cool. Shortly thereafter, I installed of a pair of Jensen 5.25” separates in the kick-panels with the tweeter/super-tweeter pods at each corner of the dash (used double sided tape). 

Next summer job paycheck went toward custom enclosures and a pair of Jensen 6x9 coaxials for the rear hatch area. This was a HUGE improvement over stock, but the rear boxes were too small and the front speakers actually put out more bass,,,, and that wasn’t much!! However, it sounded better than most folks my age was running at that time. 

A few months later, I sold the rear Coaxials and bought a pair of cheap KLH 10” 3-way home speakers for the rear hatch. NOW,,, I was really able to rock “Double Vision” and “Highway to Hell” - lol. Looking back on it, I can’t believe I didn’t melt down that Audiovox booster.


----------



## Barnaby

I had to steal pics since I have none from 1988. It was in a 1979 Mazda RX7 back in my college days.

Proton 214CD HU
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/EsAAAOSwcwhVPodo/$_1.JPG

Two Alphasonik amps.
A-225/A240
http://thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mQhAPz6aW9UFqGogeISa-nw.jpg

Alphasonik PEQ-7
http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/images/g/3fYAAOSwiLdWAHZL/s-l225.jpg

For speakers I started with an Infinity 3 way separates. 6x9s in the empty space behind the seats, 4" mids in the factory kick panels and surface mount emit tweeters on the doors. All passive x-overs. Eventually progressed to (2) 10" Goldsound woofers to replace the 6x9s.

Second build was in my brothers Nissan extended cab truck.
Sony CD player
ADS PQ8 and PS5 amps with a AX2 crossover
And in true DIYMA form, (4) 8" House brand Madisound woofers, (2) 4" Madisound mids and (2) Peerless tweeters.
Custom box for the amps/subs. I think I still have the perf tool we used to get sound fro thee tweets through the factory door panels.


----------



## mdlnewman

Circa 1987 
1979 Mustang Indy pace car 
Rockford Fosgate had a kit with 3.5 mid, 3/4 tweets in a plate and 2 8" subs
Mids in stock location, figured out how to mount the tweets in the a/c vents
Self made crappy ported enclosure with shag carpet 
Punch 75 amp powered it all
Clarion hu of some sort.

After coming in second in my class in an OKC show I purchased a Rockfor OEQ-1 to tune it. Of course I never bothered to take to another show hehe.

My mother swears she could here me coming from 1/4 mile away.


----------



## mrnix

early 1990s my first install was a 1978 Chrysler Cordoba (I think Sir Mix-A-Lot sang about it in "My Hooptie"). Best buy put in a JVC cassette player to replace the factory 8-track, and I added a LA Sound 100 watt amp with something called "Pro-Thump" subs, had 2 12s in a sealed box, later upgraded to 2 used Cerwin Vega 12s. I wish I knew what dynamat was back then.


----------



## ebrahim

Mine was a Pioneer 6 in dash cd / DVD player with BA SL 60's powered by Scosche amp plus my pair of BA G 1 12s powered by an Orion Cobalt 800.1 DEI model. My pioneer got stolen at a local dealer and I sold the rest when I went HAT. Still on the hunt for that Pioneer on eBay as well as on here. I think I got it in 2008 or 2009 from a pioneer dealer. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## PorkCereal

Boston acoustic coaxles. 3 Memphis studio 10s in the back of a fox body Mustang. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk


----------



## chasinbass

hot9dog said:


> Oh lord, here we go. In my VW baja, a Targa twin shaft that I bought off of a friend (hot,stolen ), with a Unic amp powering a set of home speakers thrown in the back. Wires EVERYWHERE! I bungee corded the home speakers in the back so they wouldn't flop around. ... I thought I was "Billy bad ass" typical 15 year old. Lololol


OMG I couldn't remember my first stereo until I read your post LOL I had that same exact setup right down to the bungee cord holding big house speakers. Ha ha wiring was the same always something shorting out or coming loose and my Hu was under the seat not even mounted Ha ! I am glad I saw this its making me laugh ! I dont know what year that was for you but for me it was probably 1978 !!


----------



## lucas569

circa 1987-1990

LOL i was salivating over stereos since 13yrs old so i bought every issue of CA&E i could get my mits on. I read the Crutchfield handbook like a 1000x !

Before i could even drive my mom let me install a custom fitted ported Pyle subwoofer powered by a RF punch amp. Pioneer dual shaft cassette radio with Acoustic Research 6x9's in the rear deck. 

back then i thought it was all about having music coming from the back, when she sold me the car at 16 yrs old (1983 Buick skylark) I installed morel separates (shop owner introduced me to them, this guy would later make like 3 winning iasca cars) in the front doors along with kicker 3" mids in the dash. I was in hog heaven. 

except my install wouldn't let me roll my windows down due to the huge morel tweeters LOL

it later morphed to all RF amps, sub changed to JL (punch 30,45 & 75) i was the coolest kid in hs LMAO.

i delivered papers in the morning and afternoon and worked all summers to save up for these expensive goodies. 

i used to carry my spare tire and jack behind my seat, the old style jacks that went into the bumper and had the crow bar! 

the good ol days....


----------



## llebcire

My first was something like a low end Sherwood tape deck, Concord CA 100.2 amp and a Pyle Driver full range box in the back seat. Think it was a pair of 12s with sealed back 3" midranges and 1" soft dome tweeters. Wasn't carpeted it was like a textured vinyl all circa late 1980's. Also my first (and only) system to get stolen.

-Eric

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk


----------



## misterjones

hehe...

In 1988 I was given a 1981 Ford Escort. Blue, slight rust at the bottom (this was, after all, Michigan... old cars rust there). The previous owner had installed a Sparkomatic AM/FM cassette deck in the dash. I lived two blocks from a Murray's Auto Parts store and all but lived in there. I outfitted the rear with a pair of Sparkomatic 3 way 6x9's (the joints with the orange surrounds), then installed a pair of Sparkomatic 3.5" speakers in the dash. That wasn't enough, though, so I saved up some more money and bought a Sparkomatic 40W amp. ALL OF YOU that lived through the 80's know the one...










YEAH BOY!!! The BIG BLACK BUTTON!!! The bane of every serious installer back in the 80's! I installed it under the dash and attached it to the rear 6x9's within minutes and was down the block with my King Tee "Bass" cassette single trying to lay my mack down to some chicks.

After I got clowned for how bad it really sounded I tried my hand at building subwoofers. I bought a pair of 6.5" polypropylene cone woofers from Radio Shack and a little book they sold on how to build speakers. I had built a box out of 1/2" pressboard or something like that and then changed it around so the radio was driving the front and rear speakers, then I ran the sparkomatic amp in parallel off the rear speaker leads and sent it to the box. Improved, but it still sucked. I ended up buying a Realistic 40W+40W amp (IIRC it was was 40x40) sticking that on a new version of the subs and moving the Sparkomatic back to the 6x9's... both amps being driven off the speaker leads from the rear.

I sold the car with all the stuff in it. About 8 months later I got my first job at a real car audio shop during the summer after my senior year.


----------



## diy.phil

^ I had the Sparkomatic 6x9 with the orange surrounds too!! (Late 80's)


----------



## wurgerd9

Oh yeah, I remember... how can it be that no one has mentioned KRACO yet (or maybe I read through too fast?) Anyway I was 16 in 1982 and had a 1952 Ford F1 pickup. One of the first things I did was buy a Kraco similar to this one pictured, but mine was wood grain with the eq, but no auto reverse. I didn't know anything about building a box and sealing it, but I did build boxes to go in the rear corners of the cab (3/8 plywood I think) for these fine Kraco 6x9s pictured! A little while later, I found some "Hi-Tech" speakers at a state fair tent booth, 6 1/2" and put them in the kick panels. A short time later I "upgraded" to the incredible Kraco Stackmaster! Found a pic of that too! After these initial attempts, I discovered Crutchfield catalogs and started learning about quality


----------



## I'm not new

16 years old, 1987 GMC s15 standard cab.

Head unit was an old JVC pull out cd unit that required the disc be loaded into a tray that fit the cd player.
Amplifier was a Sony XM-3040 bridged two channel.
Speakers, Pyramid Phase 3 tennas mounted int MTX truck boxes with peizo tweeters firing upward.

Amp wedged under the passenger side of the bench seat, 12 gauge speaker wire, 10 gauge power and ground, and no name RCA's.

Later added an Audio Control 2xs and some Boss 4 channel amp powering dash speakers( 2 channels unused ) and the Sony pushing two beat down Orion Cobalt 12's.
Then came 2, 8 ohm Savard Rap 12's, Sony running 3 channel with the front channels running a pair of Pioneer 4x6" coaxials.

Many incarnations in that truck and a lot of learning...and the occasional release of smelly, magic smoke. This was around 1993 or so.


----------



## neuspeedescort

i was 15. craig under dash mount tape deck under the seat of my riding lawnmower. ran one channel to a 6x9 stuck to the fender. wasn't pretty but i didn't have a car yet.


----------



## FastKat

My first car audio install was in an 16 year old 1984 BMW 318i that I got out of a junk yard in high school. I installed a Kenwood h/u, left the stock 4" paper cone woofers in the front kick panels, and installed a set of 6.5" Pyramid (or was it Audiovox?) Silver Series speakers in the rear deck... all out of the junk yard. I thought it was the greatest! I'd love to hear it now...


----------



## AyOne

My first was a '91 Subaru Justy with a silver and purple Panasonic HU, a 200 watt Optimus amp on a 15w6 lol. Attached a 3ft board to the top of the sub box that I free aired mb quart comps on as a "rear deck", powered those of the HU. No front stage, only rear fill.:laugh:.


----------



## leonpiper69

I thought I was the only one guilty of such horror.

I can recall mocking things up in my room before I had a car. And buying gear before cars etc.

My first REAL system (bout 1990-1991 ish) and I thought I was the koolest kid. At 16 or 17 I had an 86 Plymouth Lazer turbo (metallic blue) and I had the best set up. All was used gear except the sub because ....well...BASS I mean I was 16 after all.

Head Unit Alpine pull out tape deck with a matching alpine pullout CD deck so I could use both .

Front stage..... 3 1/2" Clarions run of the head unit full range, not even a bass blocker (not that I knew what one was back then).

factory rear speakers

and low end was a sparkling brand new Orion 15" XTR in a 3 cu ft sealed box I made out of particle board run off a black Jenson 2x150W bridged that luckily had a low pass filter or I probably would have ran it full range.

There wasn't even carpet on the box, I hadn't learned how to do that yet. Of course all I played were bass tapes and cds. I had no idea what SQ even was.

After that car died I had a 2 chevette that I had two bookshelf speakers in the back along with a borrowed iso bandpass box with two 15" crunch subs in it powered by something big and borrowed because I needed my bass. I don't remember exactly what the amp brand was but it was blue and I think I remember some kind of a picture of an ocean wave on it???

That car also had my first attempt at installing an alarm. I didn't even no what a relay was back then and pretty much just hooked up the power and shock sensor. And at 17 had the balls (or naivety to show it to a shop to get my very first job installing where I mostly cleaned and ran cars back and forth to dealerships while I learned a LOT more).

Funny to think how bad some of these cars sounded back in the day.


----------



## GEM592

1976 Chevy Luv. I cut up the seat support to fit an Audio Express POS 15 (just on the driver side mind you) that I couldn't power. So I went looking for amps because I wanted it to bump. It gets worse from here, and that is not really even the worst story. 

How about going to the swap meet to get 6x9s, building boxes and covering with home carpeting, then just putting both of them on the floor on the passenger's side so I could see if the cone was moving or not. Yes they were the clear cone 6x9s that you could put lights behind.


----------



## Cheezburgers

I never really upgraded the head units or speakers in any of my first cars. First was a Lexus es300, factory stereo was decent for the time, so went from adding a soundstream spl12 and reference 300, to an rf power 800.2 with a trio of kicker comps, then ma audio maw12v6, then a pair of jl 12w6. I was about 15 at the time I began my own setup, but was working on my older neighbors since around 13, and readying every Crutchfield cover to cover since 8 or 9


----------



## nhtunes

'69 Buick Electra- Jensen Triaxles on the rear deck, a Kenwood headunit and some sort of mini amp booster thingy. All through my favorite Wisconsin Discount Stereo.


----------



## Crazychile

I remember back in the 80's where you would see a ton of people place 6x9s ON their rear deck angled towards the front. They wouldn't even mount it in the panel. That's a great way to make a 6x9 sound like a 4 inch!

But I guess people thought it looked cool. It also made them really easy to steal.


----------



## benny z

i remember well. i was 16...it was 1995.

my first car - a red '85 honda civic hatchback 1500s.

there was a local audio shop in my home town and the owner was an older man with a lot of patience - he gave me my first “sq” demo in his van with dash-mounted mids/tweets, door mid basses, and a sub in the back. it created an image on the dash and i was hooked.

of course, being 16 i had very little money so i bought what i could - a pair of alpine tweeters and some 4” rockford fosgate midrange drivers. i used in-line caps on the tweeters, put them in the corners of the dash, and somehow ran them in series w/ the midranges in the doors off the head unit. next paycheck i picked up some old pioneer bass tubes from a pawn shop, and went back to the audio shop to buy a rockford fosgate amp to drive them.

i remember it being an enjoyable system for me at the time. and all my friends thought it was the ****.

now i have much nicer equipment set up properly and all my friends think it’s ****ty.


----------



## brumledb

I was 14 yrs old and the vehicle was a '89 model GMC S15. 2-kicker impulse 10's in an OSB box being pushed by a pyramid amp (don't remember the model at this point).

I went through a lot of different setups in that truck. Seems not a lot has changed for me between now and then  Except now my setups cost a lot more and probably sound a lot better. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Truthunter

It was 1992 and I was 16. My first car was a 1984 civic sedan. My uncle showed me how to install an old Jensen tape deck he had laying around in the garage. Soon after I replaced the front door speakers with Audiovox 4" dual-cones I bought from Kmart. Shortly after that I replaced the Jensen with a brand new Pioneer Supertuner III tape deck. Then I replaced the door speakers with Panasonic 4" coax's & my uncle helped me replace the sun damaged rear deck and install 6.5" back there (no speakers back there from the factory).


----------



## Crazychile

In high school we drove late 60's to early 70's land sharks. The standard setup was a 2 shaft cassette deck into an under dash booster EQ that fed 6x9s in the rear deck. This was before anyone knew what a subwoofer was. All in price for a system like this was usually under $200 and it took most of a day to install, because wiring harness adapters didn't exist yet.


----------



## ChrisB

I remember my first system to some extent. I installed a Sony twin shaft cassette deck with only a tone control and no RCA outputs, a pair of Jensen 6x9s, and some EQ/Booster that my uncle gave me in a 1981 Chevrolet Malibu Classic. The Sony powered the 3.5s in the dash and the booster powered the 6x9s. That sent me down a long path of constant gear swapping in my quest for LOUDER music, lol.


----------



## MikeS

Installed a pair of panasonic 6.5" dual cones in volvo doors with old blaupunkt tape deck, in.. I guess it was 1992 or something and I was too young to drive. 

exact model VINTAGE AUTORADIO CASSETTE BLAUPUNKT MELBOURNE SQR 26 TAPE RADIO CAR TOP NICE | eBay


----------



## rob feature

Not my first attempt (although my first honest attempt at anything beyond head unit and 6x9s), but my first good lesson.

Fuses are good. 

So are fire extinguishers :laugh:


----------



## TallTexan

My first "install" was back in the 70s when I was in high school. I remember putting in an add on 8-track player in our family station wagon. After I finally found what I thought was a power wire, the unit powered up. I excitedly got my brother for a listen. So we jump in the car, close the doors, turn the key on, and nothing . 

So I open the door to get out, and the unit powers on. I had tapped into to the interior lights


----------



## rob3980

Just saw this thread and am LMAO. My first attempt at car audio was in my 83 Trans Am which was also my first car in 1998. I had 2 12" Black Phantom subs ran off a BOSS amp and a Aiwa deck. It was not very good. Kept it for about a week until I went to the local car audio shop which i then found out a friend of the family owned so he hooked me up with 2 JL W3s in a Q Logic box , some Rockford Fanatic Q's all ran off Crossfire amps. That thing was loud and ive been into car audio ever since. 

Now im running Hertz Millies , Audison Bit ten D, JL Stealth Box and a JL HD900/5. Im about to swap out the BIT Ten and HD amp for the Audison 5.1K HD and BIT ONE HD. 

Also yesterday i just picked up some old school Diamond Audio that i used to run back in the 2004-2007 years. D5 1200.1, D5 300.4, 15" D9, and a set of Hertz Millie Pros all for $1000. Tested and it all works and the Sub and Speakers are still brand new in the box so im pretty happy with that purchase and it should provide some good listening in my work van.


----------



## knever3

rob3980 said:


> Just saw this thread and am LMAO. My first attempt at car audio was in my 83 Trans Am which was also my first car in 1998. I had 2 12" Black Phantom subs ran off a BOSS amp and a Aiwa deck. It was not very good. Kept it for about a week until I went to the local car audio shop which i then found out a friend of the family owned so he hooked me up with 2 JL W3s in a Q Logic box , some Rockford Fanatic Q's all ran off Crossfire amps. That thing was loud and ive been into car audio ever since.
> 
> Now im running Hertz Millies , Audison Bit ten D, JL Stealth Box and a JL HD900/5. Im about to swap out the BIT Ten and HD amp for the Audison 5.1K HD and BIT ONE HD.
> 
> Also yesterday i just picked up some old school Diamond Audio that i used to run back in the 2004-2007 years. D5 1200.1, D5 300.4, 15" D9, and a set of Hertz Millie Pros all for $1000. Tested and it all works and the Sub and Speakers are still brand new in the box so im pretty happy with that purchase and it should provide some good listening in my work van.


Pics or it didn't happen!!!!


----------



## knever3

Back in 1994 when I was 14 I used to hang out with my cousin Ben. We would love making stuff in his dads shop like a go-cart made out of steel shelving and an old and I mean OLD lawn mower. I took up audio somehow at a very young age and found speakers and equalizers and such from junk yards and garage sales. My first car came to be at age 14, I couldn't drive it yet so it sat in the yard for a year before I got my learners permit and then my actual license. I feel for the kids now with that whole graduated license deal. I remember driving 100 miles to and from my Grandma's cabin in January when I was a fresh 15yo.

Anyway my actual first car came from my uncle that my dad graciously paid $500 for me as a starter car. A 1979 Dodge Omni 024 hatch. I loved that car, 4 speed and I loved the looks of the car inside and out. I installed a Pioneer pull out cassette deck and I used a piece of 1/4" plywood and stained it to match the wood grain on the dash. At that time I didn't know that made actual install kits. The car came with a factory 5x7 in the middle of the steel dash. I cut some holes in the doors and bought some Pioneer 6.5" coaxes. I bought some Jensen 8's and then soon returned them for a pair of Jensen 12's. I ran them off a borrowed Kraco amp that was "140x2". It was not bridgeable and I would borrow it from a guy at school on the weekends. That got old for him so I lusted after the 100x4 amp from Jensen at the local Target store!! That was too rich for my blood so I bought the 100x2 amp and when my parents saw it they made me return it!! 

I guess that's is the real reason why I have the car audio bug, I was told I couldn't have it at the time. Nothing is as big as a motivator as being told you can't do or have something in life. Anyway I couldn't buy an amp so my cousin Ben found a Radio Shack 40+40w power booster in the junk yard and I installed it under the dash. Wow!! That thing rocked! I later bought one for my friend new and it sucked. The OLD vintage one found in the junk yard was way more powerful. I ran the amp through a keyboard I borrowed from my sister that had a record function. You could push a button, record your voice and play the keys in any tone you wanted. I had a CB at the time and an amp that I later used on a horn under the hood for a good time with the keyboard.

My first car:




















This is the amp I lusted after:










This is the amp I used to borrow from a guy in my drafting class:










This is the amp my parents forced me to return to Target:










I think this the Radio Shack power booster that rocked.


----------



## pyfocal

knever3 said:


> Back in 1994 when I was 14 I used to hang out with my cousin Ben. We would love making stuff in his dads shop like a go-cart made out of steel shelving and an old and I mean OLD lawn mower. I took up audio somehow at a very young age and found speakers and equalizers and such from junk yards and garage sales. My first car came to be at age 14, I couldn't drive it yet so it sat in the yard for a year before I got my learners permit and then my actual license. I feel for the kids now with that whole graduated license deal. I remember driving 100 miles to and from my Grandma's cabin in January when I was a fresh 15yo.
> 
> Anyway my actual first car came from my uncle that my dad graciously paid $500 for me as a starter car. A 1979 Dodge Omni 024 hatch. I loved that car, 4 speed and I loved the looks of the car inside and out. I installed a Pioneer pull out cassette deck and I used a piece of 1/4" plywood and stained it to match the wood grain on the dash. At that time I didn't know that made actual install kits. The car came with a factory 5x7 in the middle of the steel dash. I cut some holes in the doors and bought some Pioneer 6.5" coaxes. I bought some Jensen 8's and then soon returned them for a pair of Jensen 12's. I ran them off a borrowed Kraco amp that was "140x2". It was not bridgeable and I would borrow it from a guy at school on the weekends. That got old for him so I lusted after the 100x4 amp from Jensen at the local Target store!! That was too rich for my blood so I bought the 100x2 amp and when my parents saw it they made me return it!!
> 
> I guess that's is the real reason why I have the car audio bug, I was told I couldn't have it at the time. Nothing is as big as a motivator as being told you can't do or have something in life. Anyway I couldn't buy an amp so my cousin Ben found a Radio Shack 40+40w power booster in the junk yard and I installed it under the dash. Wow!! That thing rocked! I later bought one for my friend new and it sucked. The OLD vintage one found in the junk yard was way more powerful. I ran the amp through a keyboard I borrowed from my sister that had a record function. You could push a button, record your voice and play the keys in any tone you wanted. I had a CB at the time and an amp that I later used on a horn under the hood for a good time with the keyboard.
> 
> My first car:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the amp I lusted after:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the amp I used to borrow from a guy in my drafting class:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the amp my parents forced me to return to Target:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think this the Radio Shack power booster that rocked.


I still have that same blue Jenson amp and it still works good. I put it in my work truck a year or so ago for a week until I got another amp I had ordered. It hadn't seen power in 15 years or so. LOL


----------



## rob3980

knever3 said:


> Pics or it didn't happen!!!!




I wish I had pics of my TA man. Gave the car to a guy to restore and he took off with it. Never seen it since. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## garysummers

Attempted this 5.1 system in the late 90's.
Everything was built, partially installed, had the car in a friends warehouse awaiting time to finish. Warehouse got robbed, lost all the gear, much of it custom modded.


----------



## el_bob-o

rob feature said:


> Not my first attempt (although my first honest attempt at anything beyond head unit and 6x9s), but my first good lesson.
> 
> Fuses are good.
> 
> So are fire extinguishers :laugh:


I put a remote start system in one of my CRX's and it looked pretty similar to that, wire wise, while it was being installed. Luckily it never caught fire though.


----------



## Buickmike

First attempt was meh at best. Bought a Mobil Authority amp and it was absolute crap. I did buy a VII Hifonics Cupid at 16 yrs old and that was a nice amp. I think by the time I had my drivers license I had an Alpine 7903 to the Cupid, which ran a pair of Infinity RS 5.25" components and a bunch of different subs off that amp. (Kenwood 10's, followed by an MTX road thunder 10", followed by a Crunch Pro 15", followed by a RF Punch Pro 12", followed by a JL 12". Good times.

Before that, I think the Cupid ran off an Alpine 2 shaft take deck with Alpine 6.5" coax in the front, Pioneer 6X9 in the back, and those Kenwood subs. All in a '77 Celica. 

That would have been the first audio system back in '92.


----------



## JH1973

I had a 79 Monte Carlo and my buddy had just installed his Alphasonik amp powering two MTX 10" subs.That was my first taste of car audio with real power.I couldn't believe how powerful a car audio system could be until that moment.Funny thing is he had me build him the box because I had natural carpentry skills.

I wanted a good system for myself after hearing his.Already had a Blaupunkt head unit powering 4x10's in the back deck,so I just tried expounding on that.Bought two MTX 10" subs and a Rockford Fosgate Punch 75 amp.I never could get it to sound right.Had no idea what I was doing and this was back in the days when crossovers were hard to come by without $$$ and I had very little of that in my late teens.The subs ended up getting stolen out of my back seat and I don't know what ever happened to that amp.It was barely used,I know that.I remember in one of my cars a few years later having an Alpine pullout head unit and some Boston Acoustic component speakers in front.I mounted the tweeters in my A-pillar literally above my head.

Wow,great thread,thanks for starting it.Really brings back memories of my naive youth.....lol


----------



## JayinMI

knever3 said:


> I think this the Radio Shack power booster that rocked.


I remember those!

My *first* setup in my first car was a Midland analog AM/FM/auto stop tape player with some 4" speakers that came as a set meant for a boat. My mom's BF got it for me and helped me put it in. Neither of us knew anything about this stuff. That got me sound until I could get a "system."

I had friends who worked at Radio Shack, so I bought a lot of my stuff there.

My first "system" was a Radio Shack Realistic AM/FM/Auto Stop digital tuning cassette deck, high leveled into a 40 Watt 7 band booster EQ then the signal out of that was high leveled into 2 (!) 40+40 Watt Boosters, each one running a Radio Shack 8" DVC sub in a leaky box I built out of plywood with a jigsaw. lol I had Kraco 5" shallow mount speakers in the doors.

I worked with a guy who had an new Escort GT and he had 2 Rockford Pro Series 10's in a 4th order bandpass box run off the rear channels of the factory premium sound amp with coils on the subs. That was what piqued my interest in Car Audio.

I eventually moved on to a Pioneer Premier DEH-44 3/4 detachable faceplate, 25x2 or 15x4 and one GOLD PLATED pre out feeding an MTX RTX-01a (the silver one), which ran into a Sony XM-4040 running 3 channel mode to a set of components I bought at radio Shack on close out (they were cheap so I thought I'd try them out) in my first door pods I ever built, and then other 2 channels were bridged to an Orion XTR10. The box was firing up at the back window. No leaks this time.

All of that was in a 1970 VW bug from 90-93.

Jay


----------



## Tremelune

In high school I wired my giant living room speakers in place of the rear speakers in my dad's '79 300D wagon and was profoundly disappointed when it wasn't any louder than before.


----------



## unix_usr

Had an insane number of pyramid audio speakers (4x10, 2x12, 2x15, multiple sets of coax and boxed 6x9) amplified with a pyramid amps too - in a 1981 Mercedes 300D 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## impulse

Alpine cassete (pull out)
Pyramid 4 band EQ with built in amp that said 2000 watts on top lol. My first actual amp was a DIN, Radio Shack rated at 40 watts RMS x 2. I think it was their Realistic brand. Always had alternator whine like a mofo.
Pair of Jenson 6x9's and a 10 inch Jenson sub.

Later upgraded to a Jenson 4 channel (it was blue and huge at only 50 watts per ch) and in 1995 I finally broke down and bought an RF Punch 60ix. Damn that was a powerful little amp and it would take 2 ohm bridged like a champ despite a 4 ohm rating.


----------



## Markous

Alpine CDA-7873 - 60w x 4 of V-Drive goodness
MB Quart Discus 5x7's - damn bright sounding titanium tweeters
Alpine MRV-100M (x2) The smallest of the V12's
Pioneer Premier 10" (x2) the ones with a copper colored spike dustcap

and a Stinger 1 farad crapacitor for the amps

Put all this gear in a '94 Ranger when i got my first fat tax return when i started in the Steam/Pipefitter trade in 2001.


----------



## gallileo60

Wow, Well I guess im not alone...My first Car Stereo install back in 74 or 75 Consisted of An Awesome Pioneer, I Want to say Supertuner, with a "power booster" driving Sound Design Home speakers with 12 or 15 inch Woofers..No one could ride in the back, as they took up every inch of seat space...The front had some kind of 6 inch round door speakers...This was in a 1964 push button Automatic Dodge Polara 2 door....It really did sound ok for back then..The cool thing was you could take them out and set them on the trunk for the beach....Had a million setups since then...Even did like some other guy said, and had a home Audio Source Sub in my 84 buick regal....Cut the back deck out so i could fit 4 6X9's in it.....That was in about 87....The bug bit shortly thereafter.....1 12, 2 15's, 8 15's...Divorce.......


----------



## FlyingEagle

Circa 1996+

Car Domain post with pictures: http://www.cardomain.com/member/ariesgod/

Vehicle: 1986 Dodge Aries
System: PG = Phoenix Gold US 
Panasonic CD player running to a tape cassette adapter
Pioneer tape deck
2x 5x7 PG XS coaxial rear deck speakers
2X 6.5 PG XS coxial front kickpanel speakers
Custom made kickpanels aimed directly at listeners head
Deck to PG Line Driver - output 6-8 volts
QTRX twisted pair shielded PG RCA cables 3.3 and 17 foot lengths <- still have these!
AMP yellow PG ZX350 400w RMS
1.5 Farad Capacitor
PG competition battery isolator - probably the finned 15" long model
2 batteries
BOX:
4 x10" PG XS series subs (150-200W RMS? each?)
Medium bandpass design with twin 4"x11" deep ports?
2 ohm stereo?

All of this was pieced together over a few years worth of paychecks, and took up many hours of my life that should have been spent sleeping and or being productive. Oh, and I learned the benefits of starting with a better signal source and work forward from there. Portable CD player to tape deck WHAT!!!  The Crystal Method and The Prodigy could have sounded so much better had I just spent the money on an Alpine unit that was on the sound wall at the shop where I bought all this gear.


----------



## breweryrat

Nice thread, Brings back lots of memories. My first was a top notch pyramid Casette deck with built in eq, a radio shack booster and a pair of Jensens and I thought I was rockin in my 84 Datsun pickup. I think that added up to about $70 and a trip to the flea market.


----------



## chasingSQ

rob feature said:


> Not my first attempt (although my first honest attempt at anything beyond head unit and 6x9s), but my first good lesson.
> 
> Fuses are good.
> 
> So are fire extinguishers :laugh:



love the flip phone that was gansta ! back in the day


----------



## Indevolatile

Ah, well...

My first vehicle was an army green Dodge d100 pickup that my dad helped me buy at a surplus auction. It had no provision for a radio whatsoever. I bought a Pioneer tape deck at the local Fred Meyers, stuck it in the glove box, and ran both the acc and power wires directly to the battery. Then a friend of mine sold me a pair of bookshelf speakers that I wedged behind the seat. I ran the speaker wire along the top of the transmission hump and stuck it down to the vinyl floor with duct tape. I remember it sounding pretty good, I just had to remember to turn it off or my battery would go dead.


----------



## JPOSEY

I wish I had a picture of it. I built a ported box which I had no idea to build. It housed two RF 10" subs. We are talking 1986. The port was outside the box and into the back deck of a car. Tuning a box? What was that? I just wanted it ported into the car. Radio Shack wire and it looked a mess.


----------



## Notdumasilook

O lordy....yeah, had a craig 8 track hooked to a fugly radioshack car amp that came with all speaker leads attached...each lead had an inline fuse. Wads of wire.... in a big ole station wagon. My "speakers" were the old radioshack Mk1s with 15nch woofers. HAH.. I still have those speakers hooked to my HT.. memories


----------



## mcgsxr

The first setup I ever ran was a mix of low priced gear I found locally and put into my first car - a 1985 Camry 4 door - in 1991.

I ran a Clarion deck with 5.25 coaxs (deck power), a DEI 300w power amp, and an Orion 12 inch in IB. I removed the rear seats, siliconed in a board, and mounted up the 12. I drove around for weeks with no backseat. Such fun!


----------



## karmajack

Had to be 1992-ish. Low 80's Ford Escort hatchback. Most of the stuff I got back then at that age is hand me downs or trades. Pretty sure the car came with a cheap aftermarket cassette player to start with. No RCA's. I replaced the fronts with some low budget Sony co-ex's. Blown rears disconnected. Got one of those old blue Jensen amps. One of those old Pyramid low pass x-overs with line level in's. And a set of beat up 8" ported Kickers. Those little Pyramid x-overs were the **** back in the no budget days. The Kickers were soon replaced by a JBL 15 in a obnoxiously huge and poorly built box. That system seem to last about 2 years before I could afford buying new and better stuff.


----------



## P0234

My first system was in a Nissan 240 back in 92. A borrowed Mtx 10 tube that also had mids and highs in it powered by a Kraco "170 watt" amp. Amp put on layaway at Kmart and paid for in coins, mostly pennies. Wired using lamp cord!


----------



## Veeb0rg

My first sound system.. oh boy that brings back some what was I thinking memories.

I had a 1983 ford ltd (the small one, not the crownvic). Would have been around 1995 or so. Jensen A1000 amp with 2 Urban audio 12's in a truck box someone gave me that had 2 10inch holes cut into the back of it. The headunit was I think a weird old JVC cassette deck that I traded a Jensen tapedeck for. The Jensen didn't have RCA's but the JVC did.

That poor car was a mess but I was in highschool only had half a clue as to what I was doing and had no money to do it with.


----------



## ThorzHammer

My first install was an under dash 8-track tape player and a pair of full range 4" speaker in the rear package shelf back in '74 IIRC. Been too long ago to remember the make. It had a headphone jack which made it great on family trips in a car that only had an AM radio in it.


----------



## rmenergy

Oh man, brings back memories!!!

First car was a 66 Mustang. Ended up having multiple renditions in it but to start things off was entertaining. Bought a sweet Clarion 6770 used off a friend(rich one) who was "upgrading". Bought a G&S OD10 & a G&S 75x2 amp from a local shop & had them design a bandpass box that I made in woodshop class. Ended up with a pair of 4" Crystal coax in the dash & a set of 6.5" Crystal coax on the rear deck(the metal tweeters would make me think my ears were bleeding haha). 

Ran that G&S amp in 3ch mode to power the entire system as I couldn't afford a second amp at the time(I could have if I didn't "have" to have the OD10, should have listened to the shop owner & bought a G&S GE7010 & a second amp but what's the fun in that).

Anyway, I thought it was the best thing going for a while until I heard my friends small pickup(Toyota or Nissan). He had all Realistic speakers 4-8" woofers(sealed behind the seat), pair of 6.5" mids in the doors & either a 3" or 4" mid & tweeter on the dash. Don't remember the electronic x-over or 3 small amps he was running but damn it sounded WAY better than my setup. Bug hit hard at that point.


----------



## mcgsxr

I know I will never forget the first time I sat in a car with a full system in it. It was around 1990 or 1991.

A local pizza delivery guy I knew had a bunch of gear in his Golf hatchback.

2x15 Orion subs in the hatch
4x8 Orion subs on top of the 15's in the hatch
4x6.5 Orion mids in custom door panels
2x MTX tweeters in the door panels by the mids

I forget which Alpine deck. I know the amp was an Orion HCCA250. Must have been loaded down to 0.5ohms stereo.

He played Yes - 90125 - Owner of a Lonely Heart. The BASS was effortless and staggering. I will never forget that experience!


----------



## gabrialm

My first ever attempt at car audio was in 2005 and it was not pretty. Had 100 bucks to spend so went to Walmart, got the cheapest loaded sub box I could find. I think it was a crappy 6.5" woofer in a prefab box that came with a crappy CCA amp kit for 50 bucks. Spent another 20 on a used aftermarket head unit that was super beat up and 20 bucks on a pair of used coaxials for the front doors. Spent the other 10 bucks on a Big Mac and a Coke then got to work.

I already had a used 4 channel amp that I bridged two channels for the sub and used 1 channel for each coaxial.

It was ghetto but I was really proud of it at the time. IIRC I put it into my 1995 Sunfire I had that I bought for 500 bucks from the dealership I worked at in the detail bay.


----------



## diy.phil

just you 
you have 8-track there too??


----------



## cgm246

EIRST CAR STEREO 
PLYMOUTH DUSTER 1974 RED
ADDED A CLARION 2 KNOB RADIO AND CASSETTE PLAYER 
WITH A KENWOOD 5 CHANNEL EQ UNIT UNDER THE DASH
AND 6X9 IN THE REAR DESK, AND 6.5 COAXIALS FROM PIONEER
CAR WAS BROKEN INTO AND EQUIPMENT WAS STOLEN BY A LOCAL THUG AFTER A YEAR.


----------



## Justintime

1984 Toyota Celica 
Kenwood pull out tape deck, 6/12 Kappa Infitiy, Pyle 7 band equalizer until I forgot to pull out the deck one day, got broken in and got everything stolen in 1994.


----------



## coffee_junkee

I was fortunate enough to have an older friend who lived down the street teach me the ropes. He was always working on someone's car at home between deployments. Patience for days, this fella. He allowed me to watch and sometimes help as he did these crazy installs. I would go home and try these things on my own car with limited success, so I learned by trial and error.

Mowed lawns for an entire summer and blew the whole shebang in one afternoon on my '88 Celebrity sedan.

Sony CDX-5260, JBL GTQ-200, PPI Art A300w, Audiocontrol EQX II, Kicker Impluse 12, Polk 4x6 plates, and Polk 6x9's. The PPI and EQX were pawn shop specials and the rest was all new. 

My mom was seriously pissed I blew all my dough on silly electronics.


----------



## moparnut

It was 1989 and my first ride was a 65 Malibu 4 door that had the original AM radio with a single speaker in the dash. The am didn't work. My friend had an 8 track player with an 8 track to cassette adapter and a cassette to headphone jack adapter that he gave me. I used my portable CD player. I didn't have any speakers so I disassembled a boom box for the massive 4" speakers which were mounted in the rear deck.

I graduated high school in 91 and went into the military. When I returned from Korea in 95, my first real system went into my 93 S-10. It consisted of an Alpine CDM-7818 in dash CD with the 6 disc changer, a set of JL Audio 5 1/4" components, 3 JL Audio 8W6 subs, PPI A404, PPI A300, and a crossover that I do not remember the model.


----------



## Extended Power

First attempt was a Clarion tape deck, with a Clarion EQ-900, and Sparkomatic 4-way 6x9's.
Still have the EQ-900.
Then I moved up to using an Alpine 3539 at 150watts a side to power a pair of Coustic 12" subs, along with an Alpine 3537 for the 6" Alpine mid bass, and Apline tweeters. All controlled through a Coustic XM3 crossover.
Still have the tweeters, 3539, and the XM3.


----------



## mattkim1337

Spent my entire budget on 50$ Kicker coax's and a tiny 10' sub box at Best Buy. Attached the speakers with some duct tape and a few flimsy screws. The sub went down tro maybe 55hz and I thought it was the best thing ever.


----------



## rob3980

In 1998 it was a 83 trans am. Black Phantom subs and a Boss amp. Pretty sure I could fart louder lol. Ended up installing that and the next day going to the local audio shop and ordering a qlogic box loaded with 2 JL Audio 12” W3s and a crossfire amp. Eventually added 2 sets of Rockford fanatic q comps with another crossfire amp. I have had a system in every car since.


----------



## 17Challenger

1989, I saved up for a used coustic 105A. I had no clue what I was doing, wired it wrong and fried it. 2 years later I was winning IASCA competitions doing all of my own installs and fabricating.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## SUX 2BU

Extended Power said:


> First attempt was a Clarion tape deck, with a Clarion EQ-900, and Sparkomatic 4-way 6x9's.
> Still have the EQ-900.
> Then I moved up to using an Alpine 3539 at 150watts a side to power a pair of Coustic 12" subs, along with an Alpine 3537 for the 6" Alpine mid bass, and Apline tweeters. All controlled through a Coustic XM3 crossover.
> Still have the tweeters, 3539, and the XM3.


Love the 3539. I have 3 myself and am running 2 currently. Also like the 3525 and 3523 siblings to it and have a number of those as well. Amazingly small footprint for the power output considering they are 30 years old!


----------



## Bluesound

My dad had an 88 Toyota pickup with a Sherwood twin stalk tape deck and Jensen coaxials in the doors. I remember the head unit said it had 3 watts by 2. Lol. When I was bitten by the bug he surprised me by upgrading to some Pioneer Premier coaxials. This is all circa 1992 or 93. Anyway, I got a pair of Kenwood 3.5 speakers and rigged them into the factory dash locations that were designed for 4 inchers. I remember being so proud because I wired them in parallel to squeeze out 6 watts per channel... so about 2 weeks later the tape player died and I had to drive around with cool new speakers and no sound until Christmas when Mom got me an Alpine 7514 tape deck. I still think it sounded pretty good for not having subs. My Dad was not happy about the whole situation


----------



## therapture

1979 F150 regular cab but in the year 1989. Some kind of tape deck feeding a Coustic XM3 crossover and into a Coustic 460 and some purple colored Majestic amp. Coustic fed two MTX 12” in about 2ft sealed. The Majestic ran a pair of kicker 6.5” mounted on an mdf panel and screwed to the door no sealing or deadening at all. The amp was mounted lengthwise on the trans tunnel so a middle seat passenger rested their feet on it ?

It was kinda loud and had solid bass...the 12’s kicked you real good in the back.


----------



## WhiteNoise

My first was back in the mid 80's and was an old 1980 Reneault LeCar. 16 years old and I put an old Kraco deck in with two kraco 6x9's in shoe boxes with duct tape. I also had a realistic eq. I thought it sounded awesome at the time.../sigh


----------



## tacofox

have a feeling I am younger than most here, but mine was in a 2000 ford explorer sport 2 door I had back in highschool. I took a behemoth down-firing home theater 10" vented sub box, put a $50 pioneer subwoofer in it and powered it with some cheap 175w amp from a garage sale, ran it off the stock headunit and door speakers with some crappy schoshe LOC. thought I was the best thing since sliced bread. I ended up breaking that box (and dented my roof / blew out my leaf springs and a brake line) while off roading in a cow pasture jumping over rolling hills. ahh good times, I was pulling clumps of dirt and grass from my undercarriage for months


----------



## SUX 2BU

That story reminds me of a guy I knew of in high school who had a Bronco II and had four RF Punch 10's with the chrome baskets (those were a big $$ upgrade over the regular Punch 10s!) in a box with the baskets exposed. He did something similar and busted those huge rear quarter windows. The windows cost well over $1000 each to replace and that was in the early 90s.


----------



## rmenergy

WhiteNoise said:


> My first was back in the mid 80's and was an old 1980 Reneault LeCar. 16 years old and I put an old Kraco deck in with two kraco 6x9's in shoe boxes with duct tape. I also had a realistic eq. I thought it sounded awesome at the time.../sigh


My grandfather owned 1/2 of a wrecking yard when I was a kid. That is the car he brought home for me to learn to drive a manual on the ranch haha!!! It was such a POS(wrecking yard car) that he wanted me learning on it instead of one of the ranch trucks. Good times.


----------



## couchflambeau

1980-something Plymouth Turismo (with the pos 1.6L Peugot motor)... Clarion Pull-out... Blaupunkt 4" surface mount speakers in the hatch, Infinity 5 1/4" in the doors, Sansui amp bridged mono to a pair of hideous 8" Pyle subs... Tiny 4x20w Alpine amp on the fronts and rears...

Life was so much simpler then....


----------



## DPGstereo

1983 Camero Z28
Kenwood 3.5" coaxiale in dash with speaker level frequency limiters.
Bose 2-way metal enclosed speaker system under each front seat, sitting at front of seat, firing forward, with speaker wire capacitors limiters.
Altec Lancing 6x9's in rear sides.
AR home speakers (tweet and 10") on rear deck, firing upwards.
Alpine single din analoge tuner.
4 proprietary din-plug amps, din plugs (3-2x100watts, 2x35watts)
Alpine EQ

At that time, Alpine and Kenwood used the same din plug for signal/power to amps.

One night, while out raising hell in the car, sliding around like the 'Bandit", as one should do at 16 year old...all of the sudden the bass drum in a Rush song changed. Very pronounced, punchy.You could feel it? 
Next day I notice that one of the home speakers had slidden off the rear deck, down into the lower storage area. So I put it back up on the rear deck...got in car.. bass was gone? Finally figured out that by positioning/locating the home speakers, back-to-back in the lower storage compartment/hole..the bass changed. Like positioning a speaker in the corner of a room, loaded up. Sounded like a sub in todays systems. 
Wow..that changed everything.

At the time, I had become friends with the owner of a local tv/stereo repair shop owner. He taught me about using capacitors as limiters, on speaker wire, to limit bass frequencies to smaller speakers. Another game changer. Cross-overs were not common use like today.
Oh, how times have changed.


----------



## RVARZR

1996 Jeep Cherokee, 

Eclipse CD head unit that you had to remember what CD you keyed the stupid thing to and hope that you didn't lose or damage that CD. MB quart low line 5.25 components, a pair of Phoenix Gold XS-15 subs in a HUGE sealed box, PG M50 bridged into 2 ohms powering those bad boys getting hot enough to grill a steak on those pretty gold cooling fins. A Kicker Impulse 2x85 or so amp running in parallel putting out maybe 2 x 150 into 2Ω powering both the front components and the rear eclipse 3 way 6X9s in boxes that rode on top of the sub box. It actually didn't sound too bad for the era and it served as the mobile sound system at many a high school party back in woods since in a small rural town we apparently didn't have much else to do.


----------



## Wiggler

My 1993 Nissan Hardbody (single cab) XE from summer 1997 to winter 1999. Those 90's Nissan trucks were so super easy to tinker with. I started out with Blaupunkt Madison CD 127, (I liked the factory style look) and Boston Acoustics Rally series 6.5 Later upgraded to RF coaxials to handle the Orion amp). From there, I just went nuts and crammed so much stuff behind the bench seat that it was ridiculous. Since the Madison had a wired 3.5mm AUX input, I put in a Blaupunkt Jackson CM 148 cassette unit in the in lower DIN pocket space, and ran it through the RCA to 3.5mm adapter, and then proceeded to stuff all of this BEHIND THE BENCH SEAT: 

*10 disc Blaupunkt CDC A08,
*2 Pioneer 6x9s in enclosures
*Kenwood KAC 648s mounted to back cab wall. ( later an Orion Cobalt CS 200.4)
*JBL POWER series 10" in truck sub enclosure
*Lightning Audio strike series 0.5 farad capacitor

All this and I was still able to keep the factory Hydraulic jack in its mounting bracket!! (also behind the bench seat) 

To make things even more ridiculous, I put some JBL add- on tweeters at the top of the A-pillar and powered those by the head unit speaker outputs.

It was all completely off the wall and a hodge-podge of mismatched gear. All the car-audio shop guys just looked at the floor while shaking their heads in disapproval.... lol! 
I didn't give a crap, it was my build and I did it the way I wanted it.


----------



## chilly

Back in 1989 I broke the bank and splashed out on a top of the range Pioneer cassette head unit, an amp and pair of subwoofers. Thing is I didn't realise subwoofers only played bass. I just thought they were just huge speakers and bigger would sound better. Anyway, I made an MDF parcel shelf, fitted the subs and covered it with accoustic cloth. I had no idea what the gain and filter knobs did on the amp, so I figured the higher they were cranked up the better. It's taken me 30 years to realise why it didn't sound too good. Maybe some midrange speakers and tweeters might have helped a little


----------



## leondb

Kind of old post but had to jump on it

1987 Tercel
Kenwood CD player
Kenwood 3.5 coaxials
Jensen 6x9s
Two Pioneer 8” in two tube shaped enclosures
Pyramid 4 channel amp ?
Kicker Impulse 652


----------



## itwilldo

My first aftermarket system had a eight track tape deck. With a pair of 6x9 Jensen in the front doors and in the package panel. All put in my Oldsmobile F85 442. My first competition system was in my 70 Cadillac Eldorado. Sony tape deck with a CD changer, HiFonics Amps and MB Quart mids and highs and two G&S Redline subs. And a several others over the years.


----------



## kanadian-kaos

1984 Firebird 5.0L with T-tops

Pioneer cassette deck
Alpine 1/2 din 9 band EQ
Pioneer 2 way 4x6 in the dash
Pioneer 4 way 6x9 in the rear
2 Channel 100watt amplifier powering the rears

It sounded like crap. I really needed a CD changer and a sub.


----------



## leondb

itwilldo said:


> My first aftermarket system had a eight track tape deck. With a pair of 6x9 Jensen in the front doors and in the package panel. All put in my Oldsmobile F85 442. My first competition system was in my 70 Cadillac Eldorado. Sony tape deck with a CD changer, HiFonics Amps and MB Quart mids and highs and two G&S Redline subs. And a several others over the years.


JENSEN 6x9’s!!! I had a set as well. ? You know, I had a few Jensen Specials(I think)speakers, ran 2x10 Custom cab for my old school Silvertone tube guitar amp, those sounded really nice. I also ran a single 10 in a Crate 5 watt tube amp. Brings back memories seeing the Jensen name.


----------



## soco_canyon

Mine is happening now.
:computer:


----------



## scooterfrog

87 jeep cherokee
alpine tape deck
boston acoustics 757 coax in doors
boston acoustic 767 coax in hatch
asd ps5 on the doors

then original punch 150 on sub bzooka and later a pair jl10w 
then boston pro sereis 5.2 in hte doors.


----------



## nazarah

Mine was in a mid 80's (I think?) Plymouth Sundance. Just a Sony head unit with 2 10" RF punch subs in a sealed box in the trunk and some relatively cheap amp that I can't remember. Felt pretty accomplished when it all worked  This was the first car I learned to apply window tint on as well.


----------



## Weigel21

nazarah said:


> Mine was in a mid 80's (I think?) Plymouth Sundance. Just a Sony head unit with 2 10" RF punch subs in a sealed box in the trunk and some relatively cheap amp that I can't remember. Felt pretty accomplished when it all worked <img src="http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" class="inlineimg" /> This was the first car I learned to apply window tint on as well.


Ah window tint. Not too fond of doing such myself. Only have one attempt under my belt and I gotta tell you, fixed side windows (easy), rear window (sucked), door windows (don't know, I ****ed up and decided the hell with it). 

Definitely learned a thing or two I'd do differently and a couple mistakes I'd not repeat, but in the end, I think I'll just pay $300 or whatever to have it done by someone with more experience.


----------



## Tone

I was 16 and had a Lime green 1971 Mustang notchback with a Craig cassette deck, wired to a Grundig 20x2 amplifier and 6x9 speakers in the back wheel well areas. Funny thing is the deck was powered at about 10 watts per channel and I wired those outputs to the Grundig amp low level inputs - so it went crazy loud at about 1/10th the deck volume.


----------



## jfrank81

First car was a 1992 Chevy Beretta. Started with a 300w Jensen amp running an MTX Road Thunder 12” in a sealed box I built. Source was a Sony Discman running through a cassette adaptor in the factory radio. Until...

I got a job at Circuit City selling car stereo equipment. Then it became an obsession. The discounts were far to good to not have new stuff all the time.


----------



## Ge0

Back in 1988 I built my first car subwoofer constructed of two plastic 5 gallon buckets bolted together back to back with a Omaha brand home audio 12" driver I bought at a garage sale. The sub was powered by a Kawasaki brand EQ booster I bought at a flea market mounted under my dash. The car was a metallic sea blue Cutlass Supreme with 1 missing chrome spoke hub cap. The source unit was the stock FM/AM cassette deck.

Ghetto yes. Sounded like ****. But, I spent the next 25 to 30 years trying to figure out why 

Ge0


----------



## Ge0

In 1990 I graduated to a red 1969 5.0 Mustang GT. I put my mom and dads home speakers in the back seat and powered it with my flea market EQ booster. All I can remember is that system was loud as hell. Metallica Ride the Lightning sounded so sweet!!!

Ge0


----------



## ForeignerPhan

I turned 60 two months ago so I'm older than the vast majority of you guys (and gals) but judging by some of the comments my generation is fairly well represented in this thread  . 

My first system was pretty darn terrible and I knew it at the time as well so that gives you an idea of just how horrific it truly was.

It must've been '79 or '80 when my parents bought me an Audiovox under-the-dash 8-track player which came with a pair of crappy 4" wizzer cone speakers. Subwoofers were from a "galaxy far,far away" in those days so outside of 6x9's you weren't gonna get much bass outta your system. I was in college at the time and I was driving a '70 Beetle. If I remember correctly my dad did almost all of the installation because my knowledge/skill level was practically non-existent.

So, the end result was the Audiovox unit driving the crappy 4 inchers which my dad simply mounted to a board which he laid over the rear cargo compartment behind the back seat..no power booster, the speakers weren't sealed(not that it mattered I'm sure). Yeah ,it was as bad as it sounds but I was still happy to have it so I could listen to Foreigner, Boston, etc whenever I liked.

Great thread, BTW...hilarious!


----------



## MusicStudent1

This is my first post. I got into car audio when I was in high school In the early ‘80s. I put a realistic tape deck in my 76 dodge colt. My friend had to help me because I didn’t even understand that ground and (-) were the same thing! My real breakthrough Came 10 years later when I built a subwoofer box out of plywood and put a big Jensen 12” subwoofer in it. I think I had a 100w amp powering it. Everything was in the trunk. Wow!
I built the box “wrong” because the 1/4” thick plywood was probably flexing. It sounded phenomenal! 

well....I burned the voice coil on the Jensen. Then I fried the amp when the wires got crossed.

good times..,,I am now ready to get back into it.


----------



## sirvent_95

My first car audio system was a Sony XR-C350 cassette player with "D-Bass" in a 1990 Ford Tempo. I got the Sony 3-Way triaxial speakers (6 1/2" front doors and 6X9 in the rear deck). I remember being puzzled when the rear speakers didn't fit the holes because I never knew how much Ford loved 6X8 speakers. I thought that 6X9 was the only sensible rear deck speakers. Hahaha. I had to use tin snips to pry the rear deck opening larger so the speakers would sort of fit. 

I later added a pair of swap meet quality twelves in a box with the little piezo tweeters in the trunk, powered by an Optimus 180W amplifier...once bridged down to 1/2 Ohm I think when I added a third twelve at one point. Hahaha. I fried that amp, repaired it, cut a huge circular hole in the heatsink to add a cooling fan. It never melted down again. Memories...

Thank goodness I'm doing better than that nowadays.


----------



## ANS

I was 18 years old and had my 2004 Toyota Corolla with an Alpine CDA-9887 with Focal Access Components in the front and coaxials in the rear deck. I later upgraded with a Rockford Fosgate Punch P8004 4 channel. I remember having radio reception issues with the Alpine, could never get it to work right, ended up swapping a Clarion single din in that could active crossover for the front components. Learned a lot with that car, especially with doing sound deadener. For the first three months after the initial install I had wires running all over the place. Wasn't until I watched some installers at a local car toys doing installs and learned how to clean up my mess.


----------

