Rear speaker options for 1970 convertible

Cougar Community Classic Cougar Maintenance Restoration and Repair
1

I have small front door speakers, tiny little under-dash speakers and a sub-woofer in my car, but it needs a little more. (It seems to be lacking mid-range punch.)

I would like to install 6x9s with an amp, but my car is convertible, so there is no parcel tray.

One option is 6 inch speakers in the rear arm rests. Does anyone know of any other options?

2

Back in the 80’s I had pair of 6x9 speaker boxes in my 72 convertible. I had long wires. I would move then from the seats to the vinyl top well. They worked very good.

3

If 4"x6" (±5½x7½ with frame) is larger than what you mean by “little tiny under-dash speakers”, then see how it’s done in mine:

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They are easy to remove to go back to stock look and far enough in the front not to be disturbing (my wife and I are 5’6").
I would wish to add 2 more in the back, but like you can’t figure how to fit them without making irreversible modifications.

4

My Convertible already had 4.5 inch round speakers in the rear arm rest. So I just upgraded them to better Pioneers. With the stock door speakers and them it is fairly good sounding. I do have a virgin set that I’m holding on to for if I decided to go stock.

5

Speakers have to be in an enclosure to work properly. Speakers create sound by creating an alternating high and low pressure zone in front of the cone. When there is no enclosure, the air rushes around the front edge of the cone to back side to cancel out the change in pressure. The enclosure serves to separate the air in front of the cone and behind it. You will get some sound in the mid to higher frequencies without an enclosure but certainly not any bass. Building even the most basic baffle to surround the cone will extend the response lower. As the path length from the front to the back gets longer the lower the speaker can play. If the speaker is in a box then that will do an excellent job of separating the from and back wave. There is a catch, and that is if the box is too small, the volume of air inside the box will act as a stiff spring and it will not allow the speaker to play low notes effectively.

6

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I will keep thinking about it.

7

do you have power windows? If you do you can build a speaker box that sits on top of the armrest, but you need to relocate the rear switches (pig of a job)

8

Old fashioned winders, I’m afraid.

9

Thanks xr7g428 for this explanation. They are “sealed” in the back with ¼" thick felt, which may explain why they are good enough at 70 MPH with the top down.

10

I say put some high power speakers under the seat and a dual cone in the center of the dash. Here is a link.

11

Thanks Don.

12

Thanks Don.