1957-1958 Buick Century BLAM Premium Stereo Kit

1957-1958 Buick Century Stereo Kit with 2 ohm Speakers & Silk Dome Tweeters

This BLAM 1957-1958 Buick Century stereo package is ideal for classic cars because the 2 ohm speakers allow for more power from the amplifier. More power means your speakers play louder, clearer, and sound better. With silk dome tweeters, you get smoother, richer, and louder output without the harshness that you can sometimes get from hard dome tweeters.

Radio Options

For the radio in this 1957-1958 Buick Century BLAM stereo kit, you have the option to select between 3 different Custom Autosound radios. The radios fit in your original dash location, provide a classic look, and offer the modern features you expect in a radio today.

• USA-230: AM/FM + AUX
• USA-630: AM/FM + AUX + USB + Optional Bluetooth + Optional CD
• USA-740: Bluetooth Built In + AM/FM + AUX + USB + Optional CD + 7 Color LCD + Subwoofer Pre-out/Control

Speakers

What is BLAM?

BLAM stands for Bonneville Labs and More. Guy Bonneville is the president of BLAM and was the head of Focal's car audio division. When Focal was bought out, Guy Bonneville started BLAM as a passion project that strives to deliver the best sound experience possible.

BLAM speakers deliver "The French Sound." When high-fidelity came into being, the French valued vocals and the emotion vocals convey. BLAM speakers are designed to deliver crytal clear vocals, with natural, warm tones.

BLAM Relax 6x9 Speakers

The BLAM Relax series 6x9s are 2 way speakers with 2 ohm voice coils and silk dome tweeters. BLAM speakers are designed to deliver crytal clear vocals, with natural, warm tones. The 2 ohm voice coil allows these speakers to play louder and simply sound better. Most amplifiers will put out 1.5x-2x the power at 2 ohms than they do at 4 ohms. With the BLAM 6x9s, you are getting more power and more value from your amplifier because of the 2 ohm voice coil and the extra power. When you take that power and use it in combination with high end speakers, you create a sound experience that simply sounds better.

BLAM Relax 4" Speakers

For the dash speaker, two BLAM 4" Relax series speakers are mounted to a direct-fit speaker plate. This allows you to play in stereo from a single speaker location. Like the 6x9s, the 4" speakers are also 2 ohm speakers to maximize the power output from your amplifier. Like the 6x9s, the 4" BLAM Relax speakers have silk dome tweeters to deliver rich, warm, balanced, and natural sound. These speakers play louder and sound better without being harsh.

Amplifier Options

4 or 5 Channel Amplifier?

This kit includes your choice between several 4 channel and 5 channel amplifiers. We recommend the 4 channel amplifiers for installations that do not include a subwoofer. The 5 channel amplifier options are perfect for powering the 4 speakers and a subwoofer.

JL Audio RD400/4 400W 4 Ch.

The JL Audio RD400/4 puts out 100 watts per channel at 2 ohms to deliver superior clarity and volume to your speakers. This amplifier comes with LED clipping indicators which allow you to maximize output while ensuring that you are not clipping the input or output signals. The RD400/4 has both high pass, low pass, and all pass filters with 12dB/octave filter slope. This amp accepts both high and low level inputs, but you will need speaker wire to RCA adapters if you choose to run high level inputs.

We like this amp because you get 100 watts of clean JL Audio power in a fairly compact footprint and it has LED clipping indicators. One thing to note, you must keep the gain turned down for the front 4" speakers. The 6x9s should have any problems, but you don't want to send 100 watts of power to the 4" speakers up front.

Audison SR Series 520W 4 Ch.

The Audison SR series amplifiers use Class D circuitry and deliver plenty of super clean power at an affordable price point. This amplifier puts out 130 watts per channel at 2 ohms. This is more than enough power for the BLAM relax series speakers. This amplifier allows you to keep the gain turned down while still delivering all the power the speakers want. The SR series amplifiers are designed to compete with the JL Audio XD series and deliver more power at a lower price point. Audison is all about sound quality and these SR series amplifiers deliver. Like the RD400/4, the SR has low-pass, high-pass, and all-pass filters at 12dB/Octave. This amp also accepts both high and low level inputs and it includes the pigtail harnesses that will allow you to connect speaker wire directly into the amplifier.

Rockford Fosgate Power Mini 400W 4 Ch.

The Rockford Fosgate T400X4ad amplifier is super compact yet delivers tons of power. This amplifier puts out 100W RMS to each channel at 2 ohms, providing plenty of power for all 4 speakers.

There are three things that make this amplifier stand out:

• The size of the amplifier. This amp measures 8.3" x 4.3" x 1.6".
• 100W RMS x 4 with a constant power circuit.
• CLEAN Setup with LED clipping indicators that ensure that you optimize your gain settings

JL Audio RD900/5 900W 5 Ch.

The JL Audio RD900/5 is essentially the same amplifier as the RD400/4, but it has a 500 watt amplifier built-in to power a subwoofer. This amp will put out 100 watts to each speaker at 2 ohms and puts out 500 watts to the subwoofer channel at 2 ohms. It also has the LED clipping indicators to help optimize your gain settings. This amplifier uses JL's ultrafast, NexD switching technology to efficiently power the speakers. This amp as 12dB/Octave filter slopes with high pass filters for channels 1-4 and a low-pass filter for the subwoofer channel. The RD900/5 accepts both high and low level inputs and it has a selectable input switch. The selectable input switch allows you to power 5 channel of output with only 4 channels of input. This is ideal if you have a USA-230 or USA-630 radio which does not have a subwoofer pre-out. The amplifier takes the 4 channel of input, sums them, and uses that signal for the subwoofer while filtering out the high frequency signals that the subwoofer can't play.

Audison SR 1000W 5 Channel

The Audison SR5.600 is rated at 115 watts to each speaker at 2 ohms and puts out 550 watts to the subwoofer channel. This amplifier delivers enough clean power to the speakers and the subwoofer for a well-balanced, full-range stereo system. The Audison SR amplifiers are all about delivering clean power in a fairly compact footprint. Compared to the RD900/5, this amplifier is going to deliver more power to both the speakers and the subwoofer. It accpets both high and low level inputs and it has 2/4/6 channel input switches. If you opt for the USA-230 or USA-630 radio, make sure to set the SUB Input switch to the "OFF" position because those radios do not have a subwoofer pre-out.

Subwoofers

Do you need a subwoofer?

Need? No. Do we recommend it? 100%

If you want the best sound quality possible in your classic car, you need to add a subwoofer. Even if you don't like bass, adding a subwoofer allows you to fill out the bottom end to deliver that "Home Theater Quality" sound system. There are no bad choices here, only different brands, sizes, and enclosures. The 10" Kicker Comp RT down-firing enclosure rocks. So does the 12" JL Audio TW3 and everything in between. These subwoofers are not designed to be that annoying kid at the stoplight that is rattling your vehicle from 3 cars back. Instead, we recommend a subwoofer because it allows you to hear and feel that kick drum from "Hotel California" like you are live at a concert. If you want home theater-quality sound, you need a subwoofer to reproduce those bass frequencies and all the options within this kit are low profile, and will not take up your entire trunk.

10" Kicker Comp RT Down Firing

These enclosures kick ass. You can put this in your trunk, the subwoofer fires down, you can still throw all your stuff on top of the box without needing to worry. With a 400W RMS rating, you can give this subwoofer plenty of power, it doesn't take up much space, and it delivers tight clean bass.

12" Kicker Comp RT Down Firing

This is the same thing as the 10" listed above, just bigger, badder, better (and slightly more expensive). A 12" can do everything a 10" subwoofer can, but a 10" can't do everything a 12" can.

10" JL Audio TW3

The JL Audio TW3 subwoofers are the benchmark for low-profile car audio subwoofers. The 10" TW3 can handle 400 watts, it comes installed in a very low profile enclosure, and it delivers the bass output and sound quality you expect from a JL Audio subwoofer. There is nothing bad to say about a JL Audio TW3.

12" JL Audio TW3

This is a similar situation as the Kicker Comp RT down-firing enclosures. A 12" is louder, hits harder, and in our option sound better than a 10 inch, but you pay more. If you like 10s or you just don't want to spend up for a 12", that's fair.

There are no bad options among the subwoofers available for this package.

The Other Stuff

In addition to the radio, speakers, amplifier, and optional subwoofer, we include an amp wiring kit and speaker wire. The amp wiring kit is either an 8 AWG or 4 AWG kit, depending on the amplifier you choose. The Rockford Fosgate T400X4ad comes with an 8 AWG kit, all the other options include a 4 AWG kit. We include the RCAs needed for installation and we include 30 feet of 16 AWG speaker wire. The wire we include is 100% OFC copper wire built to the American Wire Gauge spec. This is the good stuff. It's not cheap junk.

Othing Things You Might Need

• Additional speaker wire. We include 30 feet. This is enough for most cars, but some vehicles and installations need more.
• A bass knob to quickly adjust the subwoofer level if you choose to add a sub
• CD-1 if you want to play CDs with the USA-630, USA-740, or Slidebar Radios
• BluKit or 12V RCA Bluetooth Adapter to add Bluetooth to the USA-230, USA-630, or Slidebar radio.

Why you should buy this kit

The real benefit of the BLAM 1957-1958 Buick Century stereo kit is the 2 ohm speakers. Because the speakers are at 2 Ohms, the amp is more efficient and delivers more power to the speakers. More power equals more volume and better clarity. At the same time, the BLAM speakers are efficient, high end speakers. The founder of BLAM came from Focal and is known for creating high fidelity, beautiful sounding car speakers. If you want super clean, natural sound, with plenty of power and volume, this kit will deliver.