Speakers

[1989randyboy]

I need to replace the speakers in my '89. I'm concerned about the 10 ohm rating of the Delco speakers. Will using another rating damage my radio? If I can use another rating what should I choose? I don't want to damage my radio.

[Guest Dan Gibbs]

Here ya go Randy

 

http://forums.aaca.org/topic/227027-found-really-good-replacement-for-rear-65-speakers-8889-models/

 

I just did this today. My tip for the front speakers is at the bottom of the thread.

[wws944]

The front speakers have a 4 ohm impedance.  The rears, at least in the 'vert, are 10 ohm.  Note that the CDM box (radio/amplifier) uses the same amplfier chip type for both front and rear.  So clearly it was designed for a somewhat wide variation in impedance.  Not sure I would use 2 ohm speakers, but others here have.

[Cargirl]

I put Polk Audio's in the front and Kenwood's in the back and they are all 4 ohm's and work great. If your going from 10 to 4 ohms they speakers will actually be a bit louder at 4 ohms. Just for the record, even though the Polk's are more expensive, they Kenwood's sound fantastic!

[Guest Dan Gibbs]

I just got through test-wiring the new Kicker 11HS8 8" micro powered-subwoofer in my front floorboard and leaning on the passenger seat so I can fiddle with the levels and crossover settings. Gonna test it out this week b&f to work (assuming no rain).

 

Listened to a bit of Alice Cooper's radio show for a few minutes and it seemed to add some "goodness" to the overall sound with some classic rock playing. My desire is to use the front/rear speakers as the mids/highs and fill the lower end with a touch of the sub. The Alpine SPS-610's have definitely made a big difference over the destroyed factory speakers in back.

 

I'm not going for that hippity-hoppity-thunder-crap here either; just trying to get my Reatta's stereo to sound as good as my '97's Concert Sound system. Or maybe even a bit better as the Reatta has a five-band EQ and the Sabre just has bass/treble hehehe.

 

Dan

[KDirk]

Dan,

Does this Kicker micro sub fit under the seat well? I need one for my convertible (rear speakers are 4x10 and low end is terribly lacking). I don't need bass that will break the pinch welds in the body but it needs an upgrade from it's current setup (and all 4 speakers have been upgraded). I have ben eyeing various slim/under seat jobs as I don't want to chew up any trunk space and your solution sounds promising. Appreciate your feedback.

KDirk

[Cargirl]

I mounted this Kicker PT250 in my convertible and it fit like a glove. I am thrilled by the improvement in sound quality and would encourage anyone make this fairly simple upgrade to your stock unit for mind blowing results. The hook-ups and pretty straight forward and it took me a couple hours to complete. The PT250 looks like it came with the car from the factory since the gray carpet matches so closely to the stock truck carpet.

 

[KDirk]

Brenda,

Thanks for the suggestion, it looks great and I'm sure it sounds excellent. I'd do that save for the space it takes in the trunk. Since spare room is more of an issue in the convertible than in the coupe, I've been leaning towards a slim-line under seat unit. Space under the seat is wasted anyway, so this option appeals to me more. This will not have quite the punch of the trunk mounted unit you have, but will be a good tradeoff for size/space consumed versus improvement in sound. A tradeoff I'm willling to make to keep my trunk fully usable.

Of course, if there are no good under seat solutions, I will consider a trunk mounted sub. The few under seat units I've looked at already are slightly too large to fit well under the passenger seat. I'm hoping Dan will chime in with some feedback on the one he is installing.

KDirk

[1989randyboy]

Thanks for all the replies! My speakers have dissintegrated from age. They are popping from the bad cones. It's a '89 base model (red). Fun car!

[Guest Dan Gibbs]

Hey Kevin
 
Sorry for the delay - busy week. I did get to drive the Reatta yesterday and I can say
that I'm REALLY enjoying the new Alpine SPS-610's in the back, the better 94-ish LeSabre
woofer in the driver's door (haven't gotten the pass-side one in yet), and the Kicker
11HS8 sub laying flat under a towel in the front-pass floorboard.

Listening to the local classic-rock station is becoming amazing and I even tried
Van Halen's 1984 from my iPhone and the system EQ's well for me and just "giddyups".
It gets nice and loud with plenty of fidelity and no noticeable distortion. The factory
tweeters have tons of highs if you want it - I have to back them off somewhat and I'm a
guy who likes highs for definition.
 
I've found an EQ curve on the factory radio that sounds like it avoids the DDL in the
radio so it is working great.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/49770894@N03/19812316628/in/dateposted-public/

 

This is possibly the best stereo system I've had in a car of mine since 1984 - of course

I've never had mad money to spend on a good stereo system before either. The local radio
station played Aerosmith's song 'Make It' from '73 and I've never heard it sound so
good and full from highs to lows.
 
Again, I'm just using the sub to put the bass-guitar and low-toms/bass-drum back
into the song mix. It all turns the Reatta interior into a great set of old
headphones hehehe.
 
I just went and looked to see if the 11HS8 will fit under the passenger seat. It
won't because of the power seat mechanism motor/tranny/drive-cables. If it wasn't
for those items, it will fit. It could be worth finding a set of manual seat rails
though just to be able to tuck it under there. Another option that I'm thinking
now of doing, is to put the passenger seat in an "accomodating" position, and then
removing the motor/tranny/drive-cables. The whole drive-sys is usually mounted on
a cross-brace bracket that un-bolts from the outer rails.
 
It is a very small unit and will provide more than enough bass for all but the most
deaf thumpers. Another cool thing is the included small wired remote bass-level
control which allows you to easily adjust the low kick for different songs/music.
 
There are other brands of the mini subs and one I was looking at online was the Pyle
PLBASS8. It seems to sell for around $120 and it is probably a good unit. I bought
the Kicker 11HS8 because I couldn't wait, but it is $299 in stock at Best Buy,
albeit a solidly built unit.

[D-a-n-i-e-l]

I did a couple stereo mods of my own. Sound slightly better than stock. LMAO.

[KDirk]

Dan, thanks for the writeup. I bought the Kicker HS118 sub yesterday used from a local guy for $120 in spotless condition. Was kind of choking on the $300 new price so did a little craigslist search and lucked out. Kind of bummed it won't fit under the seat but it is a good compact unit so maybe I'll put it in the trunk after all. It is a well built unit no doubt, much better than some of the bargain units I've seen in person.

I have good speakers (aftermarket) in all my coupes and aftermarket Alpine head units in both 91's so don't really feel the need for the sub in those setups; not that it wouldn't help I'm sure. The convertible however was lacking due to the limits of the rear 4x10 speaker form factor. With the top down it is even worse, so it is getting a sub. The Alpine HU (50W x 4) I have in it can start breaking up the 4x10's at about 25% master gain which is not really that loud of a listening level with the top dropped. now the kicker will take the abuse.

KDirk

[Guest PontiacDude210]

I'm running JVC heads in both my Reattae, the sunroof coupe has JVC DRVN speakers and Rockford Fosgate subs(beware, trunk latch means split box with tall subs). I much prefer MTX subs but the RFs were too good a deal to pass up.

As far as self contained subs, I bought a Dual brand SBP8(I think that's the model) for my fiancee and she loves it. It's small, larger than you might want in your front seat though. And it isn't messy like a lot of component setups. It looks good too.

Alpine may be the only big brand I haven't played with yet. I can tell you I'm a big JVC fanboy, and that Sony builds great heads but tinny subs.

[DAVES89]

I mounted this Kicker PT250 in my convertible and it fit like a glove. I am thrilled by the improvement in sound quality and would encourage anyone make this fairly simple upgrade to your stock unit for mind blowing results. The hook-ups and pretty straight forward and it took me a couple hours to complete. The PT250 looks like it came with the car from the factory since the gray carpet matches so closely to the stock truck carpet.

 

DSCN1101.JPG

And it is on the shelf at Walmart for $194.**

[Cargirl]

Great point Dave! If you don't like it, very easy to return

[DAVES89]

Hey Cargirl I am looking to buy that Kicker unit you bought from Walmart. What came with the unit and what do I have to buy. Can you give a quick tutorial on how you wired it in? I like the idea of how selk contained it is. I am thinking of wiring all 3 of my Reattas the same way so all I have to do is unplug it to transfer from car to car. Thanks...

[drtidmore]

Hey Kevin

 

Sorry for the delay - busy week. I did get to drive the Reatta yesterday and I can say

that I'm REALLY enjoying the new Alpine SPS-610's in the back

I did the Alpine 610s in the rear a couple of years ago and concur that they are really nice. I did the Alpine 510s in the doors but disconnected the Alpine tweeters using the original GM dome tweeters as they were still in excellent shape.  I do wish for a more solid bass response, so a mini-sub woofer may be on my list of future enhancements. 

Edited August 7, 2015 by drtidmore (see edit history)

[DAVES89]

Hey Cargirl I am looking to buy that Kicker unit you bought from Walmart. What came with the unit and what do I have to buy. Can you give a quick tutorial on how you wired it in? I like the idea of how selk contained it is. I am thinking of wiring all 3 of my Reattas the same way so all I have to do is unplug it to transfer from car to car. Thanks...

 

 I called Kicker today and one can buy all the harness's from them direct. I believe next week I will be buying one [ a PT250] from Walmart and then buying two wiring "set ups" from Kicker. This way I can swap out the powered sub woofer and make all my cars "plug and play". This particular unit has a pigtail that everything is in [power lead, ground, speaker leads]. You just unplug the harness and can remove the unit.

Edited August 7, 2015 by DAVES89 (see edit history)

[DAVES89]

I thought I would take a quick look at Ebay before buying this unit at Walmart. Instead of paying $200.00 there [Walmart] I found a new one on ebay for $99.95 plus freight. After I get that one wired in I will order from Kicker two wiring kits and wire up the 'Vert and the Black.

 Just want to be sure I am happy with my purchase before I go through the extra labor and expense...

Edited August 7, 2015 by DAVES89 (see edit history)

[Cargirl]

Beware of buying used sub-woofers. They can be blown or near blown when you get them even if they look new. Buy it at Walmart and you can take it back the next day if your not delighted. The wiring is pretty straight forward. Of the wires needed you can catch most in the truck. The ground & speaker wires are a breeze. I ran the wires for off/on, positive lead and adjustable tone up through the door sill. They hide rather easily and you can run them right to the front. I mounted the off/on and tone adjustment close to the hood pull under the dash. They are hidden and easy to reach and are away from your legs. I was going to mount them in the storage area above the CD player but decided against it. I still think two controls would look good there but would not have a stock look. Make sure your positive wire is the correct gauge wire and run it to the fuse block or battery. Al the wires can be run under the grey truck carpet so you do not have to see any wires at all, it is all very neat and tidy. There is a quick disconnect on the sub so if you need to remove it for a long trip for luggage, that would be an easy task. That's about it. The difference in a stock unit that is functioning properly and a stock unit that has a sub for help with depth of sound is striking. The Reatta is the most perfect vessel for a fantastic sound system. The placement of the speakers is amazing and it sounds better than my home stereo and the separation is almost as good as head phones.

[DAVES89]

Thanks for your concern cargirl. I read the description and it reads "new" as well as being a business with over 3000 "solds" and a 99% approval rate so I think I am good. I read up on the install of that unit and it appears to be a "simple" install just as you describe. The real thing that sold me was the single plug concept. Once again it allows me to wire all 3 cars the same and just swap the powered subwoofer from car to car.

 Thanks for breaking ground on this and the endorsement of this unit. I am looking forward to hearing the difference.

[DAVES89]

Just finished the install. I tapped into the rear speakers, ran the ground to the EBCM screws. I then took off the rear trim behind the seat from just behind the passenger door around to the upper brake lights/pass through door. Fished the power wire and the remote bass switch wire through the opening under the rear speaker, tucked these wires under the rear deck carpet and down into the channel of other wires. Removed the kick panel on the passenger side and ran the wires in the loom of wires over to the center console ending in the fuse box. Tapped into the cigarette fuse, mounted the remote bass switch and I was done.

 A very nice addition to my stock '89 radio [with upgraded speakers all around]. It really enhances the bass and I am pleased to have added it to my stereo.

 Everything I needed was in the box [it was brand new]. I only needed a couple of solderless terminals to extend the ground lead, "scotch loks" to tap into the rear speakers, and a tap for the fuse box. Also used electrical tape to wrap the wires to make a neat lead and some tie straps to keep the wires out of the way. 

[Cargirl]

Congrats on the job, what a remarkable different in sound, right? It's great to make improvements to our cars, makes you feel good about yourself

[DAVES89]

I haven't driven it yet, but it sounded good in the garage. When I got to the inside of the car I started it up to run the A/C while I was running the leads. It is really muggy. Finished about noon, ate lunch, took a nap, watched "Fort Apache" with John Wayne and Henry Fonda [would have liked to be on the set with those two and listened to their political differences]. Pounded around on the computer, vacuumed the Red and now will take it for a spin to see how it is "on the road".

 If I really like it I will order two more harness's for the other two Reatas so I can just swap the unit from car to car. 

 Thanks for the recommendation.

 My wife is on a "retreat" with my two daughters. They went to Door County for shopping and wine tasting.

 Just me and the dog at home doing what we want to do...

[DAVES89]

Took the Red out for a spin to "road test" the new powered subwoofer. I really like it. I'm to old to crank it real far, but for what I listen to [60's-80's rock] it is just right. Like Cargirl said it slides right in the trunk right up to the pass through door. The angle of the ski door replicates the angle of the sub woofer box so no wasted space or need to fasten it down. 

 As I have said on an earlier post, I will be ordering more harness's from Kicker to move this unit from car to car as is needed.

[DAVES89]

 I got the Kicker harness so I installed it into the vert. I didn't order the remote bass control as I think the grahic equalizer does a good job of controlling that. As a matter of fact in the Red I only had the remote bass control mounted by velcro to see if I liked it. I have know removed it.

 Anyway the nice thing is that with the slide controls on the 'verts graphic equalizer and the radio screen showing volume levels I was able to set up the Kicker unit the way I like it. So now I can just swap the unit from car to car, with no need to adjust the unit and just use the graphic control on the radio to ad or take away bass.

 Very nice setup. If you have more then one car the Kicker 250 is the way to go with the sub woofer/amp set up and "snap in" harness. 

[Fox W.]

I obviously can't let others hear my car in a meaningful way without one hearing it in person but I personally think the sound is just sublime.  I will make at least a video sometime if people are interested,  showing some of what I have installed, but the list is:

 

Speakers:

Rears:  Focal Polyglass 165 CVX 6.5-Inch 

Fronts: Focal Polyglass 130 VR 5-1/4" component speaker system

Sub: Focal IBus 20

Amp: MRP-F300 - Alpine 4-Channel 300 Watt V-Power Series Amplifier (Nothing special, but for my purposes majority of money goes in to speakers.)

 

Inputs:

ASUS Xonar U7 USB 7.1-Channel USB Sound Card (24-bit high end DAC)

AudioControl EQL Trunk Mount Equalizer and Pre-Amplifier 

Thinkpad laptop

7" touch screen

Centrafuse UI

 

People are very opinionated about this kind of stuff so I'll keep it simple and say that I'm not big in to the car-audio thing, and I did zero-research from other forums that focus on this area..  My goals were purely to have very crisp high quality sound that was like having live music almost, and by some miracle I managed something like that, and that is what my passengers even say without me mentioning it.  The main reason are the Focal speakers, just fantastic sound.  The sub was perfect for me to fill-in some missing bass but not meant for any competitions.   It also let me cut the other four off with a high-pass to keep it clean, and the EQ/pre-amp lets me get a clean and very adjustable signal to the amp.   The high quality DAC with 24-bit and some flac files are very realized with the speakers, it starts to really matter what your audio source is when your speakers will let you hear everything so well.

 

Anyway that's what I did.  Thanks.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Fox W. (see edit history)

[DAVES89]

With the summer driving season upon us, I thought this might be a good series of posts giving others ideas of what can be done. I think other then A/C questions the audio is the next most asked about issue.

[89RedDarkGrey]

I enjoy LOUD thumping bass in my car. I built a system that I'm happy with. The "shelf" is 1" marine waterproof plywood, covered with black material, the same as the speaker enclosures and trunk.The 2 Sub enclosures, and Caps are bolted to it, and Amps are attached to the Sub enclosures. The unit is about 40 pounds, and fits perfectly on the rear compartment area. The Head Unit's memory +5v is always connected, but the main power is switched from inside the arm rest compartment. All 4 speakers have blue LED.

 

SPEAKERS   REAR= 2 12" Pioneer 450 watt Ferro fluid (subs)

                       FRONT= 2 6" Dual Illuminite 250 watt 3-way

 

AMPS  3 200 watt (bridged) Sosche  VR3 with 2 Sosche 1 Farad Digital Caps

 

HEAD UNIT Jensen CD315X 30Wx4

 

EQ  Boss AVA 1202 120W

 

Music storage is USB thumb drives, remote FM transmitter, plugged into lighter- stowed away in armrest with Head Unit face in case.

 

 

 

All images are zoomable.

 

 

[Dashmaster]

My setup is to be stealth as it can be.Sound control is from the CRT Radio  I used the instructions on Ronnie's site to gut the power amp side if a Factory Radio module and wire in preamp outputs. I installed Crutchfield Sound Ordnance P series separates in all  locations, using the factory tweeters with SO Crossovers. Ran this setup with small old Sony 18W amp sounded good but not much low end. Sony amp blew a cap so I just installed a Sony 444 amp wired 2 channel Left, Right, Mono to JL audio 8 inch sub. I now have good balanced sound that can get somewhat loud.Trip to the Charlotte Auto Fair was my first long run with it. Running a Bluetooth FM modulator. I had hours of clean music for the trip. Loved the Google Map directions coming thru the audio system too.

Edited April 18, 2017 by Dashmaster (see edit history)