Question: Front speaker install for '71...and rear speaker suggestions?

[Verf]

Either I'm doing something wrong or I just don't use the 'search' feature correctly or I'm just completely lost . Anyway, with the odd weather we've been having in New England this year, I was able to take the Vette outta hibernation early this year. Gave the pedal 3 pushes and she fired right up, sweet! But when I turned the radio on to rock out to my favorites Oldies cassettes, I noticed the passenger speaker had given up the good fight. I had been wanting to replace them as the hiss was getting worse. The previous owner has a classic Corvette USA1 cassette radio installed, but left the original speakers in.

My question is how do you replace the front speakers? And how tough a job is it?

Another question is I'd like to add rear speakers, but with her being a 'vert, space is a premium and wondered if/how others had installed rear speakers.

And not being an audiophile, suggestions on what speakers (I know, this is more opinion than anything) people are happy with.

Thanks,

Butch

 

[Crimson Thunder]

The passenger side speaker is a piece of cake, the drivers side however is a different story since the steering column has to be lowered to get the panel off. I have a set of 6x9's in the back of mine that are absolutely useless when the top is down (which is 99.9% of the time). My previous owner installed 5x7's in the kick panels using RTV to glue them to the back of the panel. I removed them a long time ago because i thought they were "Bubba" but may reinstall some new speakers there to get rid of the 6x9's in the back that I can't hear anyway.

Welcome to the CAC.

 

[Verf]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

I have the same issue with the speakers the previous owner put in the back...can't hear them unless standing still. I'm too tall to ever drive her with the top up, so losing a front speaker sucks. I was really hoping to not need to do any 'major' surgeries. Maybe I'll take it to the local audio shop and see what they would hit me for installation. They put the radio in and tried all sorts of different places to put a cd changer...

 

[bill81vette]

Welcome to CAC!!!
enjoy!!!!

please stop by the new members section and introduce yourself!!!

 

[Verf]

Welcome to CAC!!!
enjoy!!!!

please stop by the new members section and introduce yourself!!!

Will do, thanks!

 

[SVO]

Your original dash speakers mount to a die cast speaker mount and the speaker mount uses short mounting screws to attach to the bottom side of the dash pad. Which means you pretty much have to use the original speaker mount to mount a speaker, and the original speakers are a weird size. Which makes replacement speakers a challenge. The original speakers are also a 10 ohm speaker and most aftermarket stereos use a 4 ohm or a 8 ohm speaker. 68-69 Corvettes used a speaker mounted in the kick panels, so that could be an optional mounting location should you decide to not drop the steering column to get to the driver side speaker. The 78-82 Corvettes had a optional rear speaker that mounted in the rear corners of the back storage area, which could be another optional mounting location.

I have seen one total bubba job which mounted speakers in the soft top compartment lid. But don't take that as a recommendation.

 

[Verf]

SVO, thanks for the info! While I can and have installed many a stereo and speaker set up, I don't know how the 10 ohm vs a lesser one affects it all. And I now wonder if thats what killed the speakers in the first place. As I said earlier, the previous owner, my Dad, had a car audio place install a one of the 'newer' style cassette players with CORVETTE on the face. I wonder if it being newer and only the 4-8 ohm damaged the original speaker needing 10 ohms? He also had them wire some removable speakers for the back compartment, but shes always driven with the top down and only hear them at a stop, lol