My new 131.....

[farranwilliam]

Congrats Kevin, you have a beautiful treasure and I hope you will enjoy using it for many years to come, I look forward to seeing it in the near future and I expect it will be the main attraction at all future meetings all best wishes Joe.

[kev131]

nice car, can you tell me the name and the code of this blue paint? The upholstery is that from july 1982, unfortunately of lower quality than previous herringbone velour.

Blu Met 452. 

[kev131]

I was pleased to get these three dimensional rear speakers with the car but on closer inspection they are too big for the space...and a bit ostentatious so out they came within a few days of getting the car home. I wanted a more discrete set and bought a pair of 17cm Pioneer flush speakers at the weekend. Paired with the existing JVC 4x45w stereo that came with the car the sound is astonishing. Far better than any of my modern cars with loads of distortion free bass. As my dedicated 3MA car a good sound system is a must and the head unit will be replaced shortly with a DAB radio with all the modern input options. The best door speakers I can find will also be fitted and on the basis of the rears alone, I'm really looking forward to the result.

Oh and a new aerial (Theo's favourit model) replaced the unusual existing set up. Strangely it is much easier to hold a station now! 

[c.a.c131]

"The best door speakers I can find will also be fitted"

I hope you are not going to cut holes in the door cards of this Super Kev ? like you did in the white Super I own now ! It's a sin to cut door cards that have lasted almost 30 years with no holes butchered in them.

[Thotos]

I wanted a more discrete set

If discrete is what you wanted you should have used my Trevi 'hidden speaker' method  
http://www.betaboyz.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=395.msg1574#msg1574



I was so pleased with the result that I used the same method for my Gamma



The problem with the 131 is that the fuel tank filler tube takes up valuable 'speaker space' so any speakers on the rear shelf are too close together to offer descent stereo spacial separation.

That aerial under the seat would never work! When my Gamma was being restored I had the aerial hole in the rear wing welded up as I don't think aerials look nice (especially little limp rubber things) and I created a hidden aerial in the A-pillar. I had to use an aerial amplifier but it works quite well and now nothing spoils the beautiful lines of the Gamma   

I need to find a photo, or even better a video, of your Sport at speed Kevin so you can see how silly that floppy bendy rubber thing you call an aerial looks 

[mirafioriman]

A roof aerial is my preferred option.

[kev131]

That's a neat job Theo. Are the high frequency sounds not dampened or muffled a bit? I do like to see my speakers so will stick to my plan thanks. The front speakers in the location Fiat intended them to be will take care of the stereo separation. The primary role for the rears is bass which as you know is location neutral.

I've driven more than 35000kms in 131s over the last 6 years (and hope to do the same over the next 6) and a good sound system is very important to me.

Do you remember the 6 foot long bendy aerials that were popular in the 70s.? Great wern't they...? 

If my rubber aerial is bending with the wind it's performing as expected and not generating much wind strain like you get with the chrome telescopics. Anyway I can't see it... so it looks like it's only bothering you for which I sincerely apologise!! 

A thought that occurred to me the other day was one from my early days as a car owner - That the car stereos were worth more than the cars they were fitted to!! 

[mirafioriman]

If you cover the shelf with acoustic cloth or carpet then the sound passes through. Sub bass isn't directional but quite quickly as you go up in frequency you do start to notice where it's coming from. Anything above about 80Hz and it starts to drag the sound backwards.

I always advise people to get the best components they can up front and just go with a sub in the boot. It's harder on a car like a 131 as it's a saloon and the tank is between the boot and rear seating area.

When I had my Alfa 164 the subs fired through the ski hatch which worked well as a compromise.

It's hard but it is possible to get a free air sub mounted in a 131 back shelf. I squeezed a 12" in there once

[c.a.c131]

It's so rare now to see door cards that have not had speaker holes cut in them. This is why I don?t like door cards with holes in them, when you cut the cards you cut a big hole in the plastic protector at the back of the door cards that stops the wood getting wet, after awhile it will rot and the door cards will warp too.

Please Kev don?t cut holes in them.

Has anyone got a set of door cards the same as Kev's with the speaker holes in them and help save these uncut door cards ?

Some photo's of the plastic protector with a big hole cut in it.  

[mirafioriman]

Every 131 I have ever had (all UK RHD cars) has had front speakers fitted to the door cards. As far as I know they were standard fitment on UK cars.

[c.a.c131]

All the Irish Fiat's had the radio's, speaker's and aerial's fitted by Fiat Ireland or Fiat dealers they came from the factory with no radio's, speaker's and aerial's.  

It was always the distributor's that would decide if the car's were sold with the radio's or not.

[bellamacchina]

I am happy to have Racing doorcards without holes, and they stay this way
Oh, I also have them with holes

[mirafioriman]

Speaker holes really don't bother me. They still retain the factory look. Would be different if someone had hacked them about in different places I guess.

If I was going to fit bigger speakers I would probably make up a set of door cards to save hacking original ones about.

[Thotos]

That's a neat job Theo. Are the high frequency sounds not dampened or muffled a bit?

Not if proper acoustic cloth is used (which I did  ) That's the same stuff they use in front of speaker cabinets.

The problem with 'my method' is that the speaker is in fact fitted behind the baffle to be flush with it and that does tend to affect high frequencies which are directional. That's why manufacturers made three dimensional speakers like your old ones so the tweeters are facing forward to direct the high frequencies into the cabin.

Sub woofers in the boot can sound good but not with cars that have the fuel tank behind the rear seat like the 131. Plus they take up a lot of boot space. In the Gamma I have a sub-woofer with built in 120W amplifier under the passenger seat  

 

[mirafioriman]

Subs can work even in saloon cars like the 131 with the tank in the way. A big part of the job is getting significant bass up front. The biggest and best components you can get well mounted and well powered.

Subs really just add a bit of bottom end. I was surprised when I listened to a top team Pioneer competition car how little the subs actually did. Listening to this car helped me to choose what components to buy.

Ended up with Pioneer PRS components in my W126 Mercedes mounted in the front doors. There are no stock speaker locations in the doors on these cars so custom fabrication was needed. They were powered by a Helix A2 competition amp with about 150 watts RMS per channel.

As for the sub it was a JL audio 12 W7 powered by a Phase Linear Opus 1 (about 800 watts RMS at the 3 ohms the JL runs at)

The bass is never going to be as 'loud' as in a hatchback but it did the job in the Merc