Did AM/FM radios come with rear speakers in 68 for Cutlass 442 convertible. If so what size and were where they placed

thanks Bruce

 

68 was, I believe, pre-stereo for A body. That simplifies things.

Any radio, AM or FM, could get something called a Bi Phonic Speaker Kit, which is a 60s way of saying we are splitting one speaker into two. Any given Olds radio, not stereo, has got one speaker output.

There are, however, two signal wires coming out the back. The chassis ground was the return. The plug had ground, power, and front signal out. The other loose blue wire was rear signal out. They were mono
and the same. Now the radio itself only has one output, and it comes out behind the tuning **** in the middle of three holes. If you had no bi phonic setup, you had one jumper that went from the power
output to the input for the front speaker wire, and this jumper was a C shaped piece of metal. In fact, you could make it all rear and use the other one if you wanted by flipping the jumper.

So, you get this biphonic thing, and it looks like a fader **** with three pins in the back, and it is a potentiometer that adjusts the signal between the top pin and the bottom that is coming from the middle pin,
with middle being the signal from the radio, and top being front and bottom being back speakers. I may have those two backwards.

So, plug in that dude, and run your speaker wire back there, and you have two speakers. Now where to put it. In a hard top or post car, the speaker was in the package tray. In a convertible, it is bolted
to the back of the back seat, and, if the top is down you won't hear it, but it is centerline or so behind the rear seat, for stock location.

Now what got interesting is when they tried to do stereo like that. Left was front and right was back. Odd stuff. Hope that helped.

Oh, I think the fronts were 4x10s and I think the back was too. If not, maybe 6x9.

10 Ohm for sure. Go check out turnswitch.com for reproduction speakers that sound ok, will plug in, and be safe.

 

I agree with about everything he said except the speaker is mounted on the passenger side of the rear seat and top well divider, At least all the ones I have seen word like that.

 

Not quite. RPO U57 Stereo Tape Player was first offered on the A-bodies in the 1968 model year. It used the same rear speaker as did RPO U80 Bi-Phonic Radio Speaker

 

Here's a pic of a factory mounted rear speaker, taken from the trunk of my '69 4-4-2 convertible with the convertible top well pushed out of the way. It's fuzzy but should give you an idea of where it goes behind the rear seat back on the passenger side. Personally, if you are installing a stock radio, the AM/FM mono with rear speaker is a better radio than the AM/FM stereo radio. The problem with rear speakers in convertibles of that era is that, if the top is down, the sound from the rear speaker is so muffled it may as well not even be there. That's why I like the mono sound better - if the rear speaker is muffled, you still get all of the sound out of the front speaker with a mono radio. With a stereo radio and the top down, you only get half of the sound!

Randy C.

 

This is where mine is located. I am not sure if they came from the factory this way but the two speakers I pulled out of the car were in this same location with pre tapped holes already. These are 6x9 speakers.








Again I dont know they came from the factory this way.

 

!st i would like to say this forum is a blessing , a great place for people with a common interest to come together to help fellow enthusiasts.

I recently purchased an 8 track player for A body mine is a 68 Cutlass S Convertible.

I have the original AM radio but would like to purchase an AM/FM. Is there a wiring diagram available showing how it came from the factory for mono and stereo.

Thanks everyone.