petalroxannerockybingo123

I've owned a '71 442 convertible for almost 20 years, however original speakers for still operating wonderbar radio have been replaced. Would anyone know where the original speakers were located, under dash, under seat, in soft top rear space???? The present replacement speakers are almost useless especially with the top down and I do not want to cut into the car, since it's still original. Anticipated thanks for any info. Marty

Oldsguy

Welcome to CO Marty. My first thought would be to see if Rob would have an answer, he has some intimate experience with that era of converts. His username is Lady72nRob71. If he doesn't read this and chime in on his own don't hesitate to PM him. Our members are friendly and helpful.

MDchanic

I may be mistaken, but I believe that Cutlass was late to the stereo speaker placement game, compared to Chevelle, which had speakers at the left and right extremes of the dash pad in 1970.

I never had a Cutlass with an original stereo, so I haven't had these apart, but it is my impression that they only had the centrally-mounted dash pad speakers in the front, not the speakers at the corners.

In the back, stereo speakers mounted under the package tray on closed cars, and in convertibles on the horizontal steel panel behind the back seat, firing backward into the convertible top bin. You can't hear them at all with the top down, and not much with the top up.

- Eric

Sampson

Welcome to CO. Before you will get much help around here you need to post some pics. Seriously my 72 vert just had one speaker in the center of the dash. There are several options here. ClassicCarStereos.com‎
You can now get a stereo center speaker that bolts in place of the original, or kick panels with speakers, or under seat speakers without having to modify the car. Good luck. You can also get a new digital reproduction radio that looks identical to the original.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-72-Olds...fda961&vxp=mtr

Fun71

These era cars originally had one dash speaker and one rear speaker. The rear speaker on the convertibles was mounted behind the seat back. Terrible place for a speaker, especially when the top is down as it is completely muffled by the folded up top and then sealed by the top cover.

On my car, I installed aftermarket kick panels/speakers from Custom Auto Sound up front and then put two 6x9 speaker boxes in the rear. The speakers sit on the rear seat or on the rear floorboards if the top is down (99% of the time) and go into the top boot well when the top is up (really good sound as it reflects off the rear window). I put inline quick connects (RCA plugs) on the speaker wires so if I have rear seat passengers I remove the rear speakers and put them in the trunk.

Lady72nRob71

Thanks for the summons, Dan - I knew my ears were burning!
Your car would have had one 4x10 speaker in the center of the dash, and if the rear speaker option was chosen, you got one in the rear. While there are two sheet metal cutouts for speakers behind the back seat, only the one on the right was installed. A blue wire was run from the dash under the carpet on the floor, up to the speaker.
Here is what the original speakers looked like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robsalb...57602930020786
I was putting in new ones.
Here are the locations in back:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robsalb...7602930020786/
Now why the factory did not put in two is beyond me.
My car had two of the exact same series and type and part number, but the left one was spliced in with lamp cord and a wirenut. Makes me wonder...

johnnyhawthorn

The dash only has one speaker, smack in the middle behind the defroster duct like everyone is saying. If you had factory stereo, the left channel went to the dash speaker, the right channel to the rear speaker which was mounted behind the seat and was aimed into the trunk. I guess that was so the guy who was unlucky enough to hide in the trunk for free admission to the drive-in had some entertainment while he was back there.


I would suggest doing the speaker boxes on the rear seat. For my 1970 Cutlass, I bulit the boxes and covered them in vinyl to match the interior so they'd look unobtrusive. I also used RCA jacks. Then you just run the wires from the back end of the radio. Even then, the sound quality isn't all that much. I gave up on them after a few years and just went back to the single speaker in the dash. I look at it this way; we don't own these cars for the sound quality of the radio. My dash wasn't cut up to accommodate an aftermarket radio and I wasn't about to be the first one to sacrifice it.

pogo69

i didnt know the wonderbar was put in the a body car

johnnyhawthorn

A quick check of the 1970 sales guide shows only the standard AM and AM/FM radio as available for A body cars. The Wonderbar radio was not an available option.