hey, I know this might sound stupid but I was wondering if I could keep my stock head unit if I installed new speakers? I'm worried about them being to powerful for the stock head unit. (Alpine Type S 6x9 and 4x6 on 83 Trans Am) Is that possible ? Second I've heard the 6x9 fit with no mods in the rear panels but wat kind of mods do i need to do to fit the 4x9 under the dash panel?

 

Sure you can keep it. I don't know what the output rating is but I'm sure its not great. It can only output so much power to the speakers, so you will be limited by that. If you want to fully benefit from more powerful speakers you'll have to either upgrade your head unit (again I don't even know the rating of your new speakers), or instal an amplifier for them.

 

Chances are you'll be more than pleased with new speakers. You can always change the headunit which will make them sound even better. If you are still looking for more you can then add an amplifier. Enjoy, those Alpines will sound very good!

 

Right, I agree, they aren't going to sound bad I'm just saying that you won't be able to fully take advantage of more powerful speakers without pushing them with something other than the (stock in this case) head unit. They will sound better, even keeping the stock HU.

edit: It sounded like he was asking if it would be harmful to run a more powerful speaker, if the HU could not handle the extra power usage. That's why I say power usage will be limited by the HU, no harm done to the HU.

 

Thx guys ... its just cuz if it is possible i'd rather not change the HU and keep that old school look ... I find that a new deck just takes that away and i'm scared i will have to do to many mods. ( I am keeping the car all stock so i wanna eventually be able to put all the pieces i take out back kinda thing u know) ... Does anybody know about the installation of the 6x9 and 4x6 any mods required???

 

chances r that the speakers will blow because using less power for the speakers hurt them worst than using more power. Because the distortion that the speakers will have coming from the fact unit that cant handle pushing the speakers the way they should be. u really need to put an amp on them if u wanna keep the fact unit! even a newer unit wont push them like they should the only way for clarity and solid sound is to put an amp on the speakers!

 

For what he wants to do he's in no danger. The head unit will power those speakers just fine! There are plenty of people out there with aftermarket speakers and no amplifier who haven't experienced any problems.

 

I think you're both right.
More speakers are blown from not enough power than to much. That's due to overdriving the amp causing it to start clipping. Clipping is basically distorted audio wattage spikes. These can be deadly even to great speakers. But as long as he's careful, everything will be fine. Who likes to listen to distorting overdriven speakers anyway.

At lower levels, the aftermarket speakers will definitly sound better than stock, they just won't be living up to their full potential.

It is possible to add an amp to your stock headunit using a line-level adaptor. It reduces the speaker level outputs of your stock headunit to levels that can be used by an amp's RCA line-level inputs.
Or, some amps (usually low-end amps, sometimes called boosters) even have speaker level inputs, but I'd go with a decent amp and the line-level adaptor.
These methods of adding an amp may not satisfy the purists. The sound will not be as good when using adapters instead of higher quality direct connections, but it will improve your particular system. It will make it louder without distorting as soon (if you find you want more volume).

 

The rear speakers should fit fine as long as they are not way deep at the magnet. The front speakers are oddballs, try what you have and maybe they will fit in the brackets, maybe not though.

 

thx for the help... i finally decided to get a new deck the Alpine CDE-9873 something pretty basic ... but it sounds great !! the speakers fit like a charm... only minor adjustements were needed to make them fit in the front brackets because the magnet was too big ... next step is new weather stripping on the drivers side and figuring out why my power window on the drivers side suddenly stopped working yesterday !