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My 70 442 convert has a pair of 6" round in the rear and nothing up front. Currently has a nice working original AM FM radio. There are a ton of speakers available for the single 4x10 dash unit - what works great with the output of the original radio?
Assuming that the factory radio is 4 ohms, you'll want to find whatever 4 ohm speaker fits and has the highest sensitivity rating. Basically what that means is how efficiently it uses the available power, which a factory head unit has very little of.
I find this one interesting... I don't know if your factory radio is stereo or mono, but it gives you stereo sound from a single speaker.
Do you have air conditioning? If so, your options are more limited. The ductwork for the upper center dash doesn't leave much depth available to fit a speaker. When my original speaker went bad, I ended up having to find a used one because none of the replacements I found at the time would fit.
Yes but I won't cut my original kick panels - would remove and save them and use aftermarket. Does the sound seem to come from too low? IOW do you need that dash sound location?
Yes but I won't cut my original kick panels - would remove and save them and use aftermarket. Does the sound seem to come from too low? IOW do you need that dash sound location?
My 69 came with a round speaker and separate tweeter replacement kick panels. Original kick panels were included with the car.
Somebody makes them. Id set up a a/b switch using the radio output as one input, and then connect whatever device you wish, Bluetooth rcvr, or hardwired phone into b side.
This may be a little low tech for what you are thinking, but I just use cheap generic 4 x 10 (front) or 6 x 9 (rear) when replacing factory speakers.
Here is an example of the 4 x 10: front speaker The problem is that most modern speakers are 4-ohm (as stated above). Original radios use 10-ohm speakers. You can overload and burn out the transistors in the original radio running a 4-ohm speaker. So, to use these speakers or any other 4-ohm speaker safely, I add a 6-ohm 50-watt resistor wired in series. The original radio uses a single wire drive to the speaker and the speaker is then grounded to the car through the case to complete the circuit. I simply mount the power resistor to the metal frame of the speaker and wire it to the negative terminal of the speaker and a terminal riveted to the speaker case. I have these on my 68 Toro (factory AM/FM stereo with under dash 8-track) and my holiday coupe (also AM/FM stereo with under dash 8-track) and they work great. Both are A/C cars. I had to modify the Toro ductwork, but there is plenty of room to mount the speaker in the cutlass. 6 ohm resistor
I also add 1/8” audio jack inputs to my original radios to play MP3’s. You can see a write-up in the thread below. 1/8" audio jack install
Yes but I won't cut my original kick panels - would remove and save them and use aftermarket. Does the sound seem to come from too low? IOW do you need that dash sound location?
I installed aftermarket kick panel speakers in my car and the sound is very good. My car also has an aftermarket radio and an amplifier so there is more power than the factory radio.
This may be a little low tech for what you are thinking, but I just use cheap generic 4 x 10 (front) or 6 x 9 (rear) when replacing factory speakers.
Here is an example of the 4 x 10: front speakerThe problem is that most modern speakers are 4-ohm (as stated above). Original radios use 10-ohm speakers. You can overload and burn out the transistors in the original radio running a 4-ohm speaker. So, to use these speakers or any other 4-ohm speaker safely, I add a 6-ohm 50-watt resistor wired in series. The original radio uses a single wire drive to the speaker and the speaker is then grounded to the car through the case to complete the circuit. I simply mount the power resistor to the metal frame of the speaker and wire it to the negative terminal of the speaker and a terminal riveted to the speaker case. I have these on my 68 Toro (factory AM/FM stereo with under dash 8-track) and my holiday coupe (also AM/FM stereo with under dash 8-track) and they work great. Both are A/C cars. I had to modify the Toro ductwork, but there is plenty of room to mount the speaker in the cutlass. 6 ohm resistor
I also add 1/8” audio jack inputs to my original radios to play MP3’s. You can see a write-up in the thread below. 1/8" audio jack install
The problem with using resistors to change impedance with speakers is that volume can be reduced dramatically and the speakers can sound like crap. It's best to send the radio out and get it modded for a better amp than to run mismatched speakers.
Those are valid points which is why I started by saying that the solution may be a little low-tech for the OP. However, I will say that these do give very good sound (out of what is 50 year old technology after all). I have an expensive reproduction set of 10-ohm front speakers in my 66 chevelle with a factory AM/FM stereo and I cannot hear a difference between those and the 4-ohm speaker/ 6-ohm resistor set-up. There is also a big price difference between the two. I think when I bought the front speakers for my Chevelle they were $200 a pair (12-15 years ago), but I had to use them because the factory stereo speaker location in the kick panel has very little room and a modern speaker with a large magnet will not fit.
You can also buy one of these reproduction 10-ohm front speakers for $170 if you think the sound quality is that much better. H&H 10 ohm speaker
