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Thread: 1953 Studebaker Truck Product Selection

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    Noob rton20s's Avatar
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    1953 Studebaker Truck Product Selection

    A good friend of my father in law has asked me to help him put together a "little stereo" for his '53 Studebaker pickup. The truck is a bit of a "rat rod" sitting on a 90s Chevy fullsize chassis, powered by a 4.8L V8 with a heavily patina'd finish. There are no stock speaker locations, but a previous owner cut 5" holes at the bottom front of the doors to install speakers in the past. Mounting depth looks like about 3" without baffles and the openings are currently empty.

    This isn't a photo of his truck, but it has a similar interior. As you can see there is a door card on the upper half of the door, and the lower half is exposed sheet metal. Visuals are for context for equipment selections aesthetics.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    I wasn't given a budget, but I think he is wanting to keep it quite low cost. He mentioned that he does still use CDs, but also uses BT from an android smart phone. My thought was to start with a simple head unit install with a pair of coaxials in the door locations. Depending on how it turned out and if wanted more, we could look at adding a subwoofer and amp down the line. For the head unit + coaxials I told him it would probably be around $400 all in (wiring, CLD, etc.) and I would help him out with the install and tuning.

    I've been looking at the following head units. Which would you choose, or would you go for something else entirely?

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    Kenwood KDC-X304 - $120
    Pros
    Fairly clean look
    CD Player
    13 band paragraphic EQ
    Per channel time alignment & level adjustment
    L/R independent tweeter shelf filter
    Flexible crossovers
    Numbered presets on face

    Cons
    Bordering on "disco" lighting
    "22W" head unit power
    Front USB only

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    JVC KD-T915BTS - $130
    Pros
    CD Player
    Front/Rear USB
    13 band paragraphic EQ
    Per channel time alignment & level adjustment
    L/R independent tweeter shelf filter
    3-way active crossover available
    Numbered presets on face

    Cons
    Busy look / "disco" lighting
    "22W" head unit power

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    Kenwood KDC-X998 - $171
    Pros
    Clean look
    Former single DIN flagship
    CD Player
    Front/Rear USB
    13 band paragraphic EQ
    Per channel time alignment & level adjustment
    L/R independent tweeter shelf filter
    Flexible crossovers

    Cons
    Outlet - Scratch & Dent
    Getting Old/Out of Date
    "22W" head unit power
    No numbered presets on face

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    Sony DSX-GS80 - $178
    Pros
    Cleanest look
    Front/Rear USB
    45W channel (+3 deebees!)
    Tuning App
    Per channel time alignment
    Numbered presets on face

    Cons
    No CD player
    10 band graphic EQ
    Less flexible crossovers
    No independent channel level adjustments
    No tweeter shelf filters

    On the coax side of things, I was leaning toward the Kenwood KFX-X174. If budget allows, I would probably also look at the JBL GTO620 or Audiofrog GS62.
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    Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Especially if you have personal experience with any of the products listed. I'm also open to any suggestions for a different plan of attack.
    New Truck | No System
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    Noob TheTodd's Avatar
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    Re: 1953 Studebaker Truck Product Selection

    I had the X998 (actually still have it) and the only reason I replaced it was the CD player stopped working. It’s a fantastic sounding unit and you can set it up so that each time you press the tuning/track buttons it switches through the presets instead of searching. I go through the presets one by one anyway so I always liked that feature... when I rarely listened to the radio. If I’m not mistaken you can also access the presets directly from the remote. If he’s willing to give up the CDs I’d be willing to sell mine for relatively cheap. It looks darn near new and I have everything but the manual (it didn’t come with it when I bought it from a friend). It thinks there’s a CD in so it won’t load a CD. I’ve tried everything and can’t get it to work but all my music is on a flash drive so I rarely needed it.

    I haven’t heard any of the speakers so I can’t chime in on them but I’ve heard people have really good things to say about the Kenwood & obviously you probably can’t ever go wrong with AFs.

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    Noob rton20s's Avatar
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    Re: 1953 Studebaker Truck Product Selection

    Thanks TheTodd. I appreciate the feedback on the X998 and the offer. I will get in touch with you if that is something he is interested in.
    New Truck | No System
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    Senior Member chithead's Avatar
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    Re: 1953 Studebaker Truck Product Selection

    You should add the Morel Maximo 6 on the coax list - a VERY nice and relatively affordable driver for sure.

    Is there anyway at all to add a double din head unit, like under the dash?
    Are you not entertained?!?!


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    Re: 1953 Studebaker Truck Product Selection

    I had the chance to listen to the gs6 coax last week in a jeep sumpinorother, low in the front doors and I was
    blown away !
    there were no other speakers in the vehicle apart from a 12" sub in the rear.
    The music was coming from the windshield, a very good illusion and precise and clear.
    Very impressive.

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    Re: 1953 Studebaker Truck Product Selection

    Mybe the MB can go into the centre?
    Horns probably won't work in the holes in the corners, or would they?
    You would need less power for them if they went low enough.

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    Noob rton20s's Avatar
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    Re: 1953 Studebaker Truck Product Selection

    Quote Originally Posted by chithead View Post
    You should add the Morel Maximo 6 on the coax list - a VERY nice and relatively affordable driver for sure.

    Is there anyway at all to add a double din head unit, like under the dash?
    I think the morel Maximo 6 are definitely worth consideration. I might have to pop into a couple of the local shops to see if I can give any of these coaxes a listen. It has been a long time since I have given a coax speaker consideration. Really though, I'm not sure what anyone is even going to have in store. Even if it is just on a sound board.

    I'm actually really curious how close of a representation the Crutchfield SpeakerCompare listening tool provides. I've messed around with a little bit just as a curiosity and was a bit surprised at what I thought sounded good vs what didn't. Some were so bad that I was surprised manufacturer's hadn't contacted Crutchfield and demanded their products be removed from the tool.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lurch View Post
    I had the chance to listen to the gs6 coax last week in a jeep sumpinorother, low in the front doors and I was
    blown away !
    there were no other speakers in the vehicle apart from a 12" sub in the rear.
    The music was coming from the windshield, a very good illusion and precise and clear.
    Very impressive.
    Thanks for the feedback on the Sonys. I've heard a lot of good things about the GS line. The prices have crept up a bit over the last few years, but still pretty reasonable. One nice thing about the Sony GS coax is that it has the ability to bi-amp them very easily. This could help even more in the tuning department.

    Quote Originally Posted by Holmz View Post
    Mybe the MB can go into the centre?
    Horns probably won't work in the holes in the corners, or would they?
    You would need less power for them if they went low enough.
    I'm really not sure what you are suggesting? My thought for a subwoofer, if he chose to add one, was to build a small enclosure in the center above the transmission hump. "Midbasses" would be the coaxes in the doors. And horns would take the price of the build to a whole different level, IF I could even get them to fit. Seating orientation seems to be pretty vertical in a '53 Studebaker and there isn't a whole lot of depth underneath the dash.
    New Truck | No System
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    Noob rton20s's Avatar
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    Re: 1953 Studebaker Truck Product Selection

    Quote Originally Posted by chithead View Post
    Is there anyway at all to add a double din head unit, like under the dash?
    An under-dash DD is a possibility. The single DIN is likely going to be an under-dash mount anyway. Do you think there is an advantage to a DD unit? Other than a simpler aesthetic?
    New Truck | No System
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    Noob JCsAudio's Avatar
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    Re: 1953 Studebaker Truck Product Selection

    I think that the single din units that I had worked better than the double dins I have now in terms of how fast they load and switch modes and seem to have less issues overall. My favorite was the Alpine 149 for the SQ and 9 band parametric EQ and the Sony single din (forget the model) that had 40 wpc built in. That Sony actually sounded real good just because of that built in amplifier and my wife also found it intuitive to use.

    Someone is eventually going to say it but AudioFrog coaxial speakers would undoubtedly sound great.
    Mazda CX5 AF GB10, AF GB25, AF GB60, JL VX800/8i, AF GB12 sealed, Mmats M1400.1

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    https://www.diymobileaudio.com/threa.../#post-5608901






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    Re: 1953 Studebaker Truck Product Selection

    Sorry rton20, when I mentioned " gs6 " I was referring to the FROG coax, they really did sound amazing.

    There..... Frogs mentioned ��

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