Kick panels with speaker holes?

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sneke_eyez

sneke_eyez

1974 Dodge Dart 2dr 318V8
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I've been looking around at some basic options for expanding my stereo in the Dart. The stock front speaker in the dash just isn't cutting it, and I don't want to cut into the door panels to put speakers in them.
I have thought about trying to cut holes in my stock kick panels, but don't want to mess them up, as they're in pretty good shape.

Does anyone have any experience with the ones that Year One/Paddock sell?

http://www.yearone.com/serverfiles/fbshopmain2.asp?hid=111CD13343

Ideally, I'd like to go with something larger than 4'' in the front, just from an audio standpoint, but it seems like thats all I can find is the ones with 4'' holes.

Anyone cut the holes in them by themselves and had success?
If not, have you used the pre-made ones from Year One?

Just curious before I spend the $$$.
Thanks!
 
there was a fella back in 2007 ('74 Sport) that was making a
center speaker bracket that would hold two 3.5 speaker and go in
with no cutting and play off the windshield and sound pretty good.
 
ive had both the dual dash speakers and the kicks.

the dual dash speakers were OK. all they were really helful for was imaging. used a cheap set of dual cone speakers, with a pair of universal surface mount dome tweeters at the upper corners of the windshield. like i said, helped with imaging, and the mid/high were good,k but no lower end sound reporduction.

ive tried dual voice coil 4X10, dual 4 inch 3 ways, etc all in the factory opening.

what im running now is a set of stock kick panels, cut out to fit a set of blaupunkt components. 5.25 midbass, recessed mount tweeters. made a set of angled cups to mount the tweets, that way they pointed at you, not your feet.

the imaging in not that great, but they do sound much better. i think that my final audio system will be:
the componnt kicks
dual 4 inch in the dash,
6X9 deck
1 12 in the trunk.

head unit will run the dash and the deck, amps for kicks and sub.

hope this helps.

michael
 
The ones that the Paddock used to sell are different from the ones in the YO link. They had either Taiwan 100 watt speakers or 130 watt Pioneers.

The panel itself is ABS plastic. It won't take nearly as much flexing as the stock KPs will. If the carpet is not overly thick, the panel fits perfectly. Even the screw hole lines up.

I bought the Taiwan speakers and have them hooked up to a Clarion head unit and a 32 watt RMS @ 8 Ω/ch amp. The sound is OK. They are a light on bass response, but I expected that.
 
Our Scamp had 6.5" Xplods (pieces of garbage but whatever) mounted in holes in the factory kick panels, so it's doable. Measure twice, cut once.
 
my first 1973 swinger had holes cut with speakers in the kick pannels I will have to check but I think I threw them away
 
I have the Year One kick panel ones with the 4 inch speakers in my Dart, and they're adequate.
It definitely improved the sound, along with the 9 inch oval speakers I put in the rear deck above the back seat.
 
i made my own out of 'glass about 6 years ago with a set of 6.5" alpine components. i tired a few other things and nothing compared to this setup. bass to spare and some good highs too with separate tweaters. i have a JL 75x4 amp in the trunk. i have some good JL 6x9s in the package tray, which has room for improvement, they sound like crap now compared to the kick panels. the 6.5s take up a lot of room down there though.
 
I bought a used set of kick panels and some angled mounting rings off of ebay. I am going to run some Boston 6.5s in them. I have them mocked up right now, but haven't done any finishing of them yet.
 
Find some kick panels that were already cut up and do a little fiberglass work. Best sound and bang for the buck. And you get to mess around and learn how to work with fiberglass. My dad made some fiberglass ones for his truck, they came out great. Im going to make some for the dart once i fix my windshield leak.
 
I cut holes in my kicks years and years ago for some litle 4" or 4.5" spark-o-matics. Might as well not have hooked them up. Zero improvement. Of course, back then 6x9's were the penicle of car audio performance! I think on this resto, I'm going "stereo delete" just to avoid the headache.
 
Famous Frank on the Barracuda Owners Group can hook you up too. I don't have much info for him at hand, but here's his FaceBook page. He's an authorized dealer for lots of automotive products and a VERY nice guy.
 
I'm having the same problem with my 69 convert. So I don't have the package tray to work with. I'm thinking of doing the kickpanel speakers with a good sub woofer under the rear seat. Don't know if it will work, but got to try something
 
these worked well for me,
3.5 kickers in the dash, kenwood 6.5s in the kick panels, kenwood 6x9s in the package tray, kenwood 700x4 amp in the trunk powers the 6x9s and the 6.5s, kenwood head unit runs the dash speakers.

http://www.vintagevibes.net/mopar.htm
 

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I have been thinking of finding a used set of kickpanels, cutting holes, painting them to match the originals. Lot cheaper to pay $40-50 for a used kickpanels and another $50 or so for speakers. I will be hooking it to an 8-track, and don't have a package shelf, and am keeping the original am, thought about underseat speakers, too.
 
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