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Stereo System

When purchased the Corvette had an older Sony CD player, the original speakers in the dash and in the rear deck.

Both sets were replaced with speakers of dubious quality and price. The result was not nearly satisfying. There was no doubt it would all soon be trashed.

The second time around the equipment included a JVC KD-SX980 CD Receiver with changer controls, two Alpine SPR- 694A 6" x 9" R-series coaxial two-way speakers for the rear, two Pioneer TS-A4657 4" x 6" 2-Way speakers for the front, and a Alpine MRP-T130 2/1 Channel V-Power series amplifier. Not to mention a healthy supply of power lines and new speaker wire in the rear.

The head unit was installed in place of the old Sony. Installation was straight forward. This unit will playback MP3 encoded disks. This allows numerous conventional CDs to be compressed on to a single CD. Considering the limited space available in a Corvette this is a nice feature.

The front speakers were installed in the dash as were the old ones. These are direct driven by the head unit.

The rear speakers required new boxes to be made to fit. This is a tedious and difficult job. There are many compound angles and the work area is not what you would call spacious. After a number of hours they were built installed and insulated. The rear speakers are driven by the amplifier.

The interior had been previously insulated with Phatmat which has a metal skin. To prevent abrasion and possibly short circuits all new rear wiring was run inside split loom. The front speaker used the existing leads.

The amplifier was mounted in right rear storage compartment where the tire jack and lug wrench normally go. This was an ideal location for the amp as it is easy to get to and safe. The jack and wrench were relocated to the rear bumper (click for detail).

A small 80mm computer fan was installed to circulate air around the amp. The power was supplied by a 8 gauge cable and fused via the newly installed rear fuse panel (click for detail).

Of course no system would be complete without a remote control. Now instead of leaning forward all of four inches to change the volume the remote can be used saving precious energy for really important matters.