Sonic Nirvana - How to Build Kick Pods in Classic Chevy Truck

[par4tom]

Open up the back of the kickpods and let them vent out to the cab. You will lose a bit of snap in the snare drum and bass guitar, but you'll avoid a hump in the frequency response in the higher octaves...you can try and compensate for the loss in lower frequencies by lowering the x over point to around 65 hz, 6 db rolloff. Try 12 db roll off as well.
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[nsb29]

Originally Posted by par4tom

I've had a couple of requests in the past few weeks on how I built my kick pods for my 1961 truck (Took 2nd place at the 68th Grand National Roadster Show in January 2017), and thought I would share some thoughts on how to achieve "sonic nirvana" in your own truck...if there is such a thing! congratulations on 2nd place

I'll start with a photo of my driver side kick pod here, share some theory on what sizes will and will not work for speakers in kick pods and why, talk a bit about speaker placement and alignment and then finish with how I built my own kick pods. If I had known there was going to be so much interest, I would have taken more pictures while I was building them.

For you younger guys out there...I wish I would have had this information about 20 years ago when I was still competing in car sound...I've learned from some of the best minds in the world!

congratulations on 2nd place lets see sum pictures

[par4tom]

Here's a couple...

[par4tom]

And a couple more. This is my dad and mom holding the trophy. I hope they had as much fun as I did...maybe next year we can make a few upgrades and go back and win...

The guy behind me and myself, were the only ones to do almost all our own work. The guy in front of me dropped like $300k in his rig...a lot of nice rides!

[BIGglaSS]

Lots of great info here, thanks for sharing. Congrats at the GNRS, your truck looks great!

I have been planning my audio system to use 5.25"/1" silk tweets in the kick vents, and one down-fire 8" sub. I already bought a Zapco 5 ch amp (overkill). Way too many to choices. My head is spinning on what brand and type of components to use. Hope I'm headed down the right track.

[par4tom]

Look at a JL Audio 8w sub, I have heard great things in Hertz mids/tweets. Go listen to some at your local stereo shop and get the ones you like the sound of best. You'll probably end up spending between 300 to 400 of mids and tweets. Let me know if you have any questions along the way...

[BIGglaSS]

Originally Posted by par4tom

Look at a JL Audio 8w sub, I have heard great things in Hertz mids/tweets. Go listen to some at your local stereo shop and get the ones you like the sound of best. You'll probably end up spending between 300 to 400 of mids and tweets. Let me know if you have any questions along the way...

Thanks. I have looked at JL, JBL, Polk, CDT, Hertz, Alpine, Morel, Focal, Scanspeak.... Are you happy with CDT? I was looking at their CL series components.

[par4tom]

I do like the CDT...and if you need help with design or choice, call them. They were extremely helpful. I would buy the CDT again...

[JMC1965]

Just researching to do sound in my restoration. I'm continually impressed with art, mechanical, and engineering knowledge on the forum.

thanks for sharing. I see some of these kick panels in my future

[88Stanger]

Awesome write up, sorry to bring up such an old write up, but this is good info.

[88Stanger]

Originally Posted by par4tom

After that detour, let's get back to front sound stage issues. As I said earlier, our objective is to create an illusion of sound coming from over the top of the dash. And since 6 1/2 inch mids, or 5 1/4 inch mids won't fit on the dash, we are now stuck with a second dilemma what size speakers to buy and where to place them.

There have been many arguments over the years about what speakers are best, or which size speakers are best, and I won't get into that too much right here. Although I will say, buy good mids and tweets and buy as large of a driver as you can fit into the kickpod and still get acceptable performance.

Here is a very important point of speaker size:

1. If you are able to use the cowl vents as a type of infinite baffle (meaning the back of the speaker is vented out to the cowl vent), then going with solid pair of 6 1/2" midranges will work best. If you do not plan to use the cowl vents, DO NOT USE 6 1/2" drivers in a sealed kick pod. You simply will not get stellar performance out of this large of a driver.

Many people try to get around this by cutting the back of the kick pods out and venting the 6 1/2" drivers out into the cab. This is a huge mistake! There will be phasing issues and sound wave cancellation issues using this methodology.

Again, if you are stuck using the kick pod as an enclosure, you will actually get better performance and have fewer phasing problems and cancellations with a 5 1/4" driver or even a 4" drive. A good 5 1/4" driver or good 4" drive in a sealed enclosure, will outperform a 6 1/2" drive in a sealed kickpod.

In my application, I used the cowl vents with a good water shield in the vent to keep our rain and moisture and used a 6 1/2" drive. My crossover point is at 80 hz and is at a 12 db slope.

In the picture below you can see the first version of kickpod I made (I since redid them) showing a 6 1/2" midbass driver and a 2" mid/tweet driver down below it. I milled a Lexan beauty ring to hid the screws on the midbass driver.

"Water Shield"? What exactly is this?