Should I fit a stero?

[Sledgewomble]

Lucy has just passed her MOT and we're looking forward to attending several events this year.

She's completely original and has never had a stero fitted.

Should I fit one to keep kids happy or just buy them an iPod each?

[spud]

Fit one- but don't butcher the mounting to fit a modern type. They look awful anyway, the majority of 'em. All flashing lights and images and tack!! Fit one of these:
http://www.moss-europe.co.uk/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexID=18428

They fit the original aperture- you don't have to cut it to fit it. And you can use your ipad/mp3/card/whatever player with them.

Andrew.

[Neil-yaj396]

Not cheap though!

[rossocorsa]

Another option fit a Bluetooth streaming device such as the io play this can be hidden behind the dash and you stream music from your phone, it has its own amplifier not tried this on a beta but it ought to work well and can be almost completely hidden if you wanted

[glovebeast]

My HPE VX also never had a stereo fitted. If I did go for the retro radio from Moss, what to about speakers? There is no way I'm going to butcher door panels - what are the options?

[MattNoVAT]

There is provision to fit front speakers behind the vinyl cover panel that is behind the map pockets in the foot wells.

I have seen rear speakers fitted on the rear parcel shelf but it was a very tight fit.

[rossocorsa]

There is provision to fit front speakers behind the vinyl cover panel that is behind the map pockets in the foot wells.

I have seen rear speakers fitted on the rear parcel shelf but it was a very tight fit.

Not exactly the best thought out place for the speakers always thought it was a bit of a mess up by Lancia, I think early cars had provision in the doors instead which was probably better acoustically, not something I've really pondered yet as my car is still in a state of suspended restoration

[peteracs]

On the early Spyders S2 pre f/l (I assume Coupes as well) there are provision for speakers at the lower front of the doors where the plastic 'chrome' kick plates are. Some of the kick plates have holes in them to allow the sound through, I  also have some others which are solid. Interestingly when I bought my car it had the solid ones and they were drilled to allow the sound to come through, so not sure which came first or if it was an option if you had a radio from new.

Peter

[Fulvia 3]

In my Fulvia coupe I have fitted a modern Sony HiFi, hidden in the glove box. As Beta’s glove box is quite bigger, there is plenty of space left for … the gloves. I have also fitted -hidden next to the center console- a remote control with cable (once the closed box did not allow the cordless one to operate). Finally a DIN cable in the console’s shelf secures connection of MP3s and Phone devices.
Finally, as Fulvia had no place for speakers, I have drilled a series of small round holes on the rear shelf and placed the speakers beneath.
The result is nice, as only close inspection can allow someone to notice the presence of the remote control.

[When I bought my BETA spider, a period radio had been already fitted and speakers were fitted in the places provided behind the map pockets.]

[Hawk]

The remote control is easy to see - it's just under that big sign

[spud]

The remote control is easy to see - it's just under that big sign

 

[spud]

Not cheap though!

Quite reasonable, I think. It's an almost unique design with a limited market- there are only a couple of manufacturers offering this kind of thing.

Then again, original spindle radios are plentiful for virtually free as they are worthless at this point in time- give it a few years and they'll be 'period correct classic' and worth a fortune. Personally I can't stand their limitations- poor sounding radio as they're usually AM and cassette only. Cassettes weren't too bad actually but who has a cassette recorder in their home hifi set up now...? I doubt many of you...
I really think the retrosound is a great solution and I plan to fit one in my VX.

Andrew.

[spud]

...what to about speakers? There is no way I'm going to butcher door panels - what are the options?

The door panels were never the best option as a location for speakers anyway- they get damp too easily and they're pointing straight into your legs usually. The factory location is behind the map pockets in the footwell- there is actually a circle cut out of the metal to allow a speaker to be set into it. Poor location, poor directional sound and way too small for any bass response.
I plan to make some kind of speaker enclosures where the map pockets were in the footwells- something that will allow the speaker to be angled upwards towards the driver, and then fit a subwoofer in the boot area; probably tucked into the left-hand side opposite the spare wheel. If you have a separate bass enclosure it removes the need for your other speakers to be spectacularly good or unnecessarily large- the difficult thing for a small speaker to reproduce is bass. Asking a door panel mounted speaker to reproduce deep, convincing bass is too much; you'll only be disappointed. It'll either be sadly lacking in low frequency response or it'll vibrate the panel like crazy.
And the thing that is always totally overlooked by virtually everyone who is attempting to fit a stereo (or improve on what they've got) is sound deadening. Older cars, such as ours, are seriously pathetic in this department. People fitting bigger amps and bigger speakers; not realising they're not tackling the very reason as to why they're doing it- noise! I'm currently about half way through applying some noise killing sound insulation- a multi layered, multi material installation that is proven to be effective in reducing vibration (structural) noise and higher frequency (airbourne) noise. I'm hoping it'll negate the need for any silly big amps. As a musician and a recording engineer I am quite fussy about sound/frequency response etc. A car is the worst possible environment to attempt to get a good sound but it can be done with a little planning and some money. It's never going to be cheap but there is absolutely no point in spending money on a nice hifi if you're going to be competing with big dbs of road noise and wind noise. Obviously, some people aren't so critical of sound and are quite happy as long as they can hear it- tolerating all kinds of hiss and noise and distortion. Me? that drives me nuts! I have to have nice audio in a car as sometimes it's the only thing that keeps you focused on a long journey. If it sounds $hite I'm more likely not to put it on as it'll just annoy me! 
Having said all this it is possible to get a reasonable quality of sound in most cars for a few hundred quid; you don't have to go crazy. But by fitting speakers into the footwells of a Beta where Lancia intended them and coupling them with a standard Blaupunkt spindle radio from the 70's (which is exactly what the dashboard aperture was designed for) isn't even going to get you close to reasonable. It'll just sound crap. The very least you must do to get anything like a 'hifi' sound is fit a separate bass speaker somewhere.
Once I've built my front footwell angled speaker boxes I will of course post the results here and if they prove to be good I'll gladly post a 'how to' guide for them with all the measurements etc. so it'll be quick and easy for anyone else to build some.
But it ain't gonna be anytime soon as I'm already 2 years behind on my interior retrim...   

Andrew.

[peteracs]

Hi Andrew

Piece of cake then, now how about designing one for the Spyder.....

Peter

[rossocorsa]

I've always found it quite easy to live with an old lancia without any music it's nice to listen to a proper engine.

[Neil-yaj396]

My small small door speakers used to sound ok (behind the panel no holes) with my period Sharp radio. But as Spud states one of them was wrecked when water got into the passenger door during a lay up.

[Sledgewomble]

Kids are getting iPod shuffles

Would have gone for the retro option until the speaker issue raised its head

[Thotos]

Would have gone for the retro option until the speaker issue raised its head

Speakers don't have to show. In the Trevi, I've covered the rear parcel shelf in acoustic speaker cloth which hides the speakers very well  





http://www.betaboyz.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=395.msg1574#msg1574

I was so pleased with the result that I used the same trick in the Gamma (actually looks better now it's been stretched better)  



http://gammaconsortium.com/lanciagammaforum/index.php?topic=475.msg8535#msg8535

[Hawk]

To my mind, unless you are driving a modern car, getting a sound any where near 'hi fi' is a waste of money.  The road / engine noise will completely negate the benefits.

However, that doesn't mean you can't have decent sound.  Agree that the only way to approach this is with a dedicated sub - although I have looked at some 9x6s in the rear panel of my spider to supplement the footwell speakers. 

[WestonE]

Guys

I have a Montecarlo with a great tuned engine so now I just use the iPhone in a Tom Tom iPhone cradle and Bose Noise cancelling headphones. I have phone, navigation and good sound quality where the Sony 4 x 100 head unit and 4 x decent quality modern speakers have no purpose over 45 MPH. I can see me saving weight and space and removing them next time I am working on the interior. I am of course working to improve the noise levels but 200 BHP and 8500 RPM close to your head has it's down side.

Getting speakers into my Spyder without ruining the door cards on my tidy VX interior remain a challenge as the footwell speakers without something of scale higher up and behind me is not worth doing. I have seen speakers cut into Coupe rear seat foam making them invisible but I suspect the great Bose headphones will get more use.

Eric