Stereo Relocation
 

intro paragraph (feel free to skip): first i searched and didn't get results, then i went straight to the interior/exterior/audio section to see what it was all about. not too many heads in there, so i thought i'd ask here (may post there for more suggestions)...

okay, i have a 91 coupe. its hot in texas and i have no a/c. once the car is parked, it turns into an oven (though i have a certificate for tint i will use once my car is running). instead of rolling the windows up and locking my doors to keep my... seats from being stolen... (i have nothing valuable in the car) i may just leave the windows halfway down everywhere i go. i'll still lock the doors so the alarm is engaged, though.

question; where is a good place to relocate the stereo? i want it away from heat (i've had one or 2 kinds that have shut off due to heat in the normal center console area) and mostly out of site. only place i can think of is the glove compartment. its sort of a far lean and my glovebox's lock doesn't always work. does anybody have an awesome place to mount a stereo that's somewhat secretive, yet still not a pain to get to when switching cds?

thanks,

casio

get a new deck with a remote controll......you can also get a CD changer with a remote control.

i have a new Kenwood which has a remote. my remote doesnt open my cd case and swap cds, though. ;)
i have a cd changer, too, but its kinda chunky and an Alpine (i dont think it will work with my Kenwood deck). i'd rather sell it. i am sticking purely to the cd deck which has to be close enough for me to swap cds easily.

personally I'm putting everything everything in either the glove or rear bin.

put it in the rear bin. You can easily reach around to change cds.....maybe even mount it vertically in between the bins. Just an idea.

Ah I wish I had some pics of how I did my friends..


Basically the best bet is to get a solid rear floor IE one without the bins.

What i did was mount the cd changer and stereo right behind the passenger seat. Ill try to draw a picture of what im talking about:

http://wittybastard.com/STEREO.JPG

The red dotted boxes show where the stereo and cd changer were located. Only the front were visible.

All you have to do is cut out a hold large enough for the face to stick through then mount it inside.

I used the same technique to mount a small 8 inch subwoofer and an amplifier behind the drivers seat completley hidden. I cut open a hole on the top and installed a 120mm computer fan to ventilate the compartment.

Make sense?

there's one wire, which i dont know what exactly it does, but i'm worried about its length. it doesnt appear to be a normal copper wire. i'm not looking to run wires all the way into the rear. i really feel there's no better place than the stock location, sadly. i'm just lookin for ideas, though. not sure what i'm gonna do.

i looked at the glove box when i was cleaning it out and noticed how shallow it is. i dont even know if my stereo will fit in there without some modifying. i havent gone out and checked yet.

i have seen one car (in a junkyard) without bins. it just had ghetto pieces of wood flat against where the bins would go. my bins are actually in my room. i just recently put the two (fiberglass?) pieces back in to hold up the carpet and bins (when they get put back in). i still would like the stereo somewhere where i can safely change cds.

Get a tape deck with changer control, thats what I have, put the changer in the drivers side bin (very easy to reach around and change cds,10 disc no need to really) then it just looks like you have a crappy tape deck and no one will want to jack it. Works even better for me cause my deck is fairly old, and if it has a detachable face, leave a tape in there in plain sight no one will take a second look.

In my RX7 I actually put em where the bins are.

I cut out the carpet in the bins but just left the lid in place that way i could just pop it open and change CDs

If you just cut out the carpet, theres still enough plastic around the top of the bin to vertically mount a cd changer in there.

You could easily fab up something to hold a stereo in the bin as well.

The obvious advantage to using the bins is that you can lock them up when you leave the car.


It's a good days work to do a good wiring job to relocate the stereo back there but IT IS WORTH IT.

anytime you can have a stock stereo visible, do it. Most thieves just take passing glances for stereo equipment. If none is visible, then theres nothing to take in their mind.


The wiring is pretty simple really. You have to run new wire from the dash speakers to the rear bins. You will also need to run a good 8 guage at minimum power wire to the back.

If you are really interested in doing it, its not hard at all and ill be glad to walk you through it.

If you take out the seats, front carpet, and storage bin you can easily do a professional wiring job that will offer lots of expandability in the future as well as possibly bieng more durable than the stock wiring.

well, i have had a minidisc player for the last few months, but looking in my car from the outside through UNtinted windows, you cant tell what it is. it has a detachable face, but minidisc players arent really in-stock many places and so i bought a display. it has double sided tape and the face is still attached to the player. i already bought a Kenwood deck, and may sell my Alpine minidisc player. i have an alpine cd changer which i never used and may also sell. i really just want an incognito, yet convenient place for my stereo. just seing if anyone had some places that suited me.

i dont see how you could be happy with a stereo behind you. i mean, without going out, sitting in my car and seeing what it would be like, it seems like too much trouble. i had thought about mounting it vertically where my center console is (aka cupholder).
there's still that one wire i'm worried about. i'd have to take a picture of it. i wonder if my Kenwood has the same connection as my minidisc player had. i shall check..

haha, nevermind, the wire i was referring to is my FM/AM antenna input. i absolutely NEVER use the radio. not an exaggeration, a 100% true statement. i never use a radio in a car. well then i'm not worried about lengthening the wires if necessary.

Passenger side bin really isnt too bad.

Like i said i had a changer in there myself before and i changed CD's while driving quite often without even having to look.

It was well within an arms reach.

EDIT: What is the color of the wire you are concerned about?

^^its not a "color," per se. its an eighth inch (i believe) wire, but its radio, so i couldnt care less.

If you arent concerned about extending wires, that will be easy then if you dont plan to add an amp later. All you have to do is extened al the wires to the new location, no big deal.

oh yea, wires are no biggie. a bit of a hassle, but nothing drastic. the bigger problem is finding a spot i like that no one can look in my car and want to jack my cd player. also, mounting it so it looks nice.
i definately wont run an amp. i have had 4 speakers the whole time i've owned the car (2 in doors, 2 in/under dash). i have 2 older cerwin vegas i'm going to mount on the rear strut towers. my stereo was never satisfactory, as far as sound goes, before.

My car is like that, Mazda did that on some of the base models. Just unscrew the screws holding the wood on and there are bins there, just not with the lids.