Hello everyone, I have a 1986 IROC with the original Delco UX1 with EQ. I had the radio professionally refurbished and am very pleased BUT I think my 40 year old 6x9 speakers could stand an upgrade. I have read a few posts about the question of 4 ohm aftermarket vs 10 ohm original GM. Has anyone found an aftermarket upgrade in 8 or 10 ohm? Any online searches always bring plenty of 4 ohm upgrades but the only 8-10 seem to be cheap looking replacements, anybody got any experience or advice? Thank you, Todd C

 

Having spent my fair share of time in the junkyard, I’d suggest early / mid 2000s Malibu / Grand Am / Alero


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• Front speakers: 8 ohms
  
• Rear speakers: 4 ohms
  

 

This is only an issue when dealing with the FRONT speakers - when connecting to a factory Delco head unit. Factory (Thirdgen) fronts are 10 OHM and when they get replaced with 4-OHM speakers there are problems. (Some other GM cars use a different configuration; but still based on the same principal..... Fiero factory system for example has 2 front 10-OHM 4x10s and 2 rear 4-OHM 4x6s. ) Just do NOT install 4 4-OHM speakers on a factory head unit !! It WILL overheat the AMP chips in the radio and at some point it WILL burn them out. If you use HIGHER OHMS than the AMP rating you will NOT burn out the AMP / AMP chips; if you use lower OHM speakers,.. you will.

A factory Delco was made to power 2 4-OHM rear 6x9's so installing aftermarket 4-OHM speakers is not a problem.

The biggest mistake guys seem to make when installing aftermarket rear speakers is to install a 3-way rear 6x9s. Thee factory (Thirdgen) set-up pushes all the system LOWs ( BASS ) thru the rear speakers and when 3-way are installed there are too many HIGH tones. I'd advise installing a duel cone 6x9 woofer,.... same type as the original Thirdgen 6x9 speaker.

 

Just what I needed to know, thank you!