I've had my car for about two years. At first, I was fine with the crappy sounding original speakers that came with the car because I wanted the complete 80's experience that I missed out on.

Now I'm over that because I can't hear my speakers with the tops off and I'm afraid to blow them out by cranking the volume on the (also original) stereo.

So I ordered a set of Pioneer 200W 3-way 4x6's for the front and 600W 3-way 6x9's for the back. I figured anything was going to be better than 23 year old paper speakers.

But now I'm reading all kinds of posts that say the stock head unit will blow out 3-ways or 5-ways because of distortion from the stock low gauge wiring, and that an amp is also needed to supply adequate power to the new speakers. Also, I read that I need a cross over because it defeats the purpose of having a separate woofer and tweeter if I send the same frequencies to them both.

So what I'm really asking is...will the new speakers sound reasonably decent off the original head with no other modifications? Am I wasting my money on the speakers without the amp & crossover to drive them? I'm not looking for an audio system that will cause hearing damage from half a mile away or a top of the line stereo system. I want to keep the stock head unit to keep my car stock, or at least appear that way. But if my so-called improvement is going to make things worse, I might as well just send the speakers back when they arrive.

 

The wire is fine. Wire does not cause distortion.

The problem is that the OEM radio has very lower power output, 3 to 5 watts per channel, IIRC.

Too little power is more damaging than too much power.

The problem with too little power is that the threshold of distortion is found much sooner in the volume department than having too much power. The problem with distortion, or more accurately in this case "clipping" is that it sends straight DC power to the speaker, causing the voice coil(s) to heat up, much more than they should. The signal to the speaker is an AC signal. This causes the speaker to move both in and out, which creates sound. When the clipping occurs, it cuts off the top and bottom of the signal, causing the voltage to go DC and attempt to hold the speaker at either end of it's travel, holding it in and/or out.

I always suggest, that as long as the original speakers are in decent condition to replace the radio first. Aftermarket radios will have higher power output than the OEM radios, usually 13 to 20 watts of clean power, 50W of distorted power. For the best option adding an external amplifier with a clean power output of 50W per channel, will be plenty for most people, using them to drive the mid and high frequency speakers. Subwoofers require more power usually.

As far as crossovers are concerned, it depends on a few factors, what you're listening to, at what volumes, etc. I do at least like to protect the smaller speakers that are usually found in the front by using a high pass filter set between 80 and 160 Hz, depending on the vehicle, speakers being used and how it sounds with the rest of the system. The lowest frequencies take the most power and cause the most problems, where clipping is concerned.

 

If it were any other car, I'd redo the entire system. But the one thing about my car that I like the best is the great condition it's in and that it's completely stock. I don't want to deviate from the stock look.

Can you hook an amp up to the original head unit? Also, I'm not getting subs, so I don't need a tremendous amount of power.

About 90% of the music I play in my Trans Am is 80's music and classic rock. I don't need to blast out the neighborhood, but I would like decent volume and clarity with the t-tops off and the windows open at 80 (or 90) mph.

One other thing to consider: I can easily replace speakers, but I don't have the talent or knowledge to properly install an amp or a crossover. For example, what's the difference between the classes and types (AB, D, with or without MOSFET, etc.) or fuse ratings?

I've also spent a lot of money on other mods this year, and I'm not sure how much more I can get away with (Married guys with kids, you know what I'm talking about!).

 

Ok, this brings up some questions for me also. I am putting a stock radio back in my Z-28. If I want to replace the stock speakers, should I go with a lower watt speaker setup? Maybe 300watt vs 500watt and lower output per speaker?

Thanks for bringing this up Mav, you may have just saved my ***.

 

No problem, Coyote, glad I could help!

 

I'd add amp(s) to the factory radio-best way would be
to "hack into"factory radio and add pre amp outputs to
bypass the radio's built in amps,but adaptors to go
from speaker level to preamp are avalible.
I have '84 delco in mine feeding ~400w"old skool"
system

 

I have a '83 Z-28 and a '92 stock Delco is going in. Really not looking for over the top loud music, just good quality.
Not wanting to mod the radio.

Sorry Mav, not wanting to hijack your thread.

 

You're not hijacking it...you're basically asking the same thing. It's all good.

 

I have a suggestion!!!why don't you two just buy new stock speakers,your all worried about being stock,then go stock,their still available http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/results.cfm
And they do sound great.

 

Actually I just got my stock radio installed and I found out I don't need speakers. The rear speakers were not working with the after market radio. But when the guy wired up the stock radio, I now have 4 good sounding speakers.

 

Manta, the link didn't work for me; it said the part number was no longer valid. Anyway, I didn't say I wanted to keep my car completely stock, but I do want to stay as close to stock as possible. The most important thing to me is that it looks stock. My car isn't a show car, and it won't ever be. So a few minor upgrades below the surface won't hurt anyone.

 

I'm only saying go stock because I didn't think you wanted to chop up your wiring.Try this part no.for the front speakers,16033662.

 

Some amplifiers have what is called a "high level" input that only involves connecting into the stock speaker wires. Which means you wouldn't need to hack into the stock HU (if that's the route you plan on taking) to add pre-amp outputs. I have a slightly older Pioneer 340W amp that has this type of input, but I'm sure there are probably others. My 87 also had 3-way Pioneer speakers installed in the sail panels with the stock POS GM 4x6s up front. Don't know how long they were there, but apparently it was long enough that the speaker surrounds on the midbass speakers wore out and were held together with nail polish . But the large cone surrounds were fine...

 

That part number shows up as speaker A. Unable to tell if it's for the 4x6 or the 6x9. Also, the package qty shows up as 1 at a price of $28.55. If it's for the pair, that's a great price. But I only paid about $20 more for what I think will be a much better speaker. If it's per speaker, then I got a sweet deal. Either way, it's a moot point since the speakers I ordered arrived at my house today.

I'm hoping my speakers come with adaptors to fit my stock wiring. Otherwise, it's nothing a trip to Best Buy can't fix.

For now, I'm going to attempt going without an amp and see how it sounds. If it sucks, I'll probably buy a 4 channel amp. But I'm not screwing around with installing it...I'll leave that to the pros.

The speaker surrounds were held together wil nail polish?? That's something you don't hear every day!