found really good replacement for rear 6.5" speakers (88/89 models)

[drtidmore]

With the radio grounding gremlin behind me, my attention turned to the WAY the radio sounded. I had forgotten that the passenger's side rear 6.5" speaker had started rattling before I put the Reatta into storage a few years back, but that made itself very apparent once I had the radio working.

I looked over on Ronnie's site, but he no longer is suggesting anything for the 6.5" rear speakers, so I went out on a quest. Looked/listened to LOTS of component speakers but in the end chose a pair of Alpine SPS-610 2-way speakers (replaced both sides). As the tweeter section of the 610's could easily be disconnected, I did so and kept the factory tweeters. Disconnecting the Alpine tweeter also returned the woofer section to around an 8 ohm impedance which is close enough to the original 10ohm to not be a concern. The bass is much richer than I remember and the cost for the pair was $100, so not all that bad.

I carefully removed the GM speaker connector from the old speakers and solder the pigtail that Alpine supplied to it making a short converter cable. Speakers matched up the perfectly on the screws, so a very easy retrofit.

Given how pleased I am with the Alpine, I am going to investigate if they make the smaller version that will fit in the front enclosure (driver's side has started the death rattles)

David T

'89 Reatta (original owner)

Edited November 18, 2013 by drtidmore (see edit history)

[wws944]

The 'rattling' is usually caused by the foam surrounds rotting away. There are actually kits available on line (e.g., from http://www.newfoam.com and others) with new surrounds that can be glued to the original cones. Not too hard. In the case of higher end home speakers, the operation is commonly done - as they are often valuable to simply toss. However with car speakers, most folks don't bother.

Good idea to reuse the GM connector. Another option to avoid hacking the factory wiring harness is to find a set of Metra 72-4500 speaker connectors that have the GM connector on one side and female spades on the other. (One spade wider than the other to maintain proper phasing.) They are plug 'n' play solution.

[handmedownreatta]

i hope to find a 90-91 in the junkyard to get the 6x9 bracket.the parters think to much of them.

[wws944]

i hope to find a 90-91 in the junkyard to get the 6x9 bracket.the parters think to much of them.

A good idea. Given comparable technology speakers, it would give you an extra 1/2 octave of bass.

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

A good idea. Given comparable technology speakers, it would give you an extra 1/2 octave of bass.

A good idea if you are not running an amp. An oval speaker distorts under high volume much earlier than a round. This is not an issue if you are not going to increase power to the speaker. Hence why they are never found in high end home audio systems.

[wws944]

A good idea if you are not running an amp. An oval speaker distorts under high volume much earlier than a round. This is not an issue if you are not going to increase power to the speaker. Hence why they are never found in high end home audio systems.

There actually have been a number of examples of high end home speakers with elliptical drivers (e.g., KEF). But yes, they are not common. A car is a different situation with limited space to hide speakers.

The larger cone area of a 6x9 vs a 6.5 will lower Fs (resonant freq) and provide more surface area to move air. So at any given low bass frequency the 6x9 will have to work less to provide the same output. This means lower distortion up to the drivers cone excursion limits (Xmax.) Again assuming one is comparing speakers of comparable construction. Not fair to compare a cheapo 6x9 with stamped frame, small magnets, voice coil, and Xmax to a high end 6.5 with much better construction and operating limits.

[drtidmore]

The construction on the Alpine is clearly superior to the factory original speakers. The frame is die cast and much beefier over all. Whether the poly-mica cone with rubber surround will hold up any better than the paper/foam used in the original speakers, only time will tell. I am impressed with the tightness of the bass on these speakers. I initially hooked up just one of the Alpine units so that I could do an A/B comparison (replaced the one that I knew had failed). Granted this was not a fair test since one speaker was 25 years old and the other new, but still, I was very impressed at the improvement in bass performance in the Alpine (tighter, deeper, NO booming whatsoever).

Alpine and others sell even higher quality speakers than the SPS-610, but I do question spending more given the limitations of the factory radio head. I have given some thought to moving to an amp, but then I come back to the reality that this is a CAR!, which is NOT the best sonic environment and no amount of money is going to make that go away. These seemed like a reasonable step up in quality over factory at fairly reasonable price point.

FYI, while I got my Alpines at BestBuy, I just discovered that Crutchfield sells the same speaker in a true component design (i.e. tweeter as a separate unit entirely) for $129. Not sure that removing the tweeter from the core has any demonstrable impact on sonic performance and at the additional $30, it is questionable from a value perspective. In either case, not using the tweeter allows the woofer to operated near 8ohms rather than 4ohm of the tweeter/woofer running in parallel, which is close to the factory 10 ohm rating of the woofer section.

[Guest Jose zeta]

Jbl makes some bad 6x9's model (t595 decades) that are not easy to find or if you can find a good pair out of an old Lincoln Continental and remove the mids and tweeters to just use the woofers living the stock Reatta tweeters, I did put myself a pair of image dynamics 6,5s at the back using the stock tweeters and it sounds good with the speaker harness adapter 72-4500 (best buy stores)

[Guest Dan Gibbs]

Hey David

 

Thanks for the tip on the Alpine SPS-610's. I just finished installing a new pair that I bought at Best Buy Saturday afternoon. I knew my front driver-side woofer was rattling, but I didn't realize that the rears were both shot too until I pulled them to measure the proper size. Nothing like having the bass-reflex port be the missing foam surround hehehe.

 

Here's my serendipitous tip for the front door speakers. A few years back, I was getting some dashboard screws for my old '94 LeSabre at the junkyard. The parts car that I was in had both front door panels removed and the factory speakers were just begging me to snarf 'em, so I did. Turns out that they are an improved version of the speakers in my '88 Reatta - same exact stamped frame and same 4-ohm impedance. The great thing is, they used fabric surrounds instead of the foam surrounds. They work great and bolt right in just like factory because they are, just newer and better.

 

The GM part number to look for in the junkyard is 16157492. These were out of a circa '92 to '96 LeSabre - I didn't check the year of the Sabre that I was in as it was just like my '94. The tweeters are connectorized with the woofers so I just took them too, but they are smaller than the ones in the doors of the Reatta. You won't really need them anyway unless for a different project.

 

You'll have to swap the connectorized wires though as these were different from the Reatta, but no big deal. Just pay strict attention to the way the wire colors are on the Reatta speaker - the LeSabre's were reversed. Put the Reatta wires on the new speaker properly or you may have audio-phase cancellation and have to redo them.

 

Dan Gibbs