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Hooking up really cheap speakers to stock receiver in older car

A

archcommus

Diamond Member
Dad's 92 Sable has stock receiver and speakers. The speakers do not sound good, they cut out, lack volume, and have no bass. If I bought him some really cheap speakers, like these for the front, and these for the back, would he definitely see an improvement, or are those speakers too cheap to even be worth considering?

I also know nothing about speaker installation and don't feel like messing with it, is it absurd to pay Circuit City's install prices? Also can I be certain the inability of the current speakers to get very loud is due to the speakers themselves and not the receiver?
 
I'm sure even those speakers would be an improvement over the stock ones. And yes, having CC install them is going to be overpriced. Unless for some reason you have to disassemble the entire dashboard to get to them, installing speakers is pretty easy.
 
The problem with speakers cutting out might be related to the head unit though...or worse, the wiring. If it were me I'd replace the speakers and the HU.
 
Yeah I just don't know about taking the doors apart. It's an older car, things might not go back together quite perfectly.

How about these for the front instead. We're talking 175 W up front and another 175 W in back. Can I be sure his receiver will have no issue with that? I just don't want to replace all four speakers and still have bad sound maybe because of the receiver somehow.

Also CC tells me 6 1/2's won't fit this car but Crutchfield tells me it will.
 
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
The problem with speakers cutting out might be related to the head unit though...or worse, the wiring. If it were me I'd replace the speakers and the HU.
Click to expand...
Yeah that was my fear as well. That's working up to an expensive Christmas gift for a college student though heh.

 
Jules, would you say it's possible for the head unit to be responsible for low volume or lack of bass, as well? Or only the possible cracking.
 
Even cheap new speakers will sound better than 14 year old stock junk. Bonus because the ones you have there are 2-ways, and not dual-cone, like the ones that are probably in there now.

I'd replace those first and see what happens. If you still have problems, you could pick up a used head unit for pennies on Ebay...you can get a basic one even new for much less than $100. The last one I got cost $49.99 brand new at Best Buy - and it was a detachable face CD deck with a line-input jack and even a set of preamp outputs. And I bought that 5 years ago - I still have it in my Honda, and it still works great (surprisingly).

And don't pay the CC install fees - it's usually pretty easy to just do it yourself. Think of it this way - if you do it on your own, you'll have some money left over for a HU.
 
Originally posted by: Black88GTA
Even cheap new speakers will sound better than 14 year old stock junk. Bonus because the ones you have there are 2-ways, and not dual-cone, like the ones that are probably in there now.

I'd replace those first and see what happens. If you still have problems, you could pick up a used head unit for pennies on Ebay...you can get a basic one even new for much less than $100. The last one I got cost $49.99 brand new at Best Buy - and it was a detachable face CD deck with a line-input jack and even a set of preamp outputs. And I bought that 5 years ago - I still have it in my Honda, and it still works great (surprisingly).

And don't pay the CC install fees - it's usually pretty easy to just do it yourself. Think of it this way - if you do it on your own, you'll have some money left over for a HU.
Click to expand...
Well I could get all four speakers for $60, and you're right if I installed them myself it wouldn't be a big deal to also get a head unit if necessary. But it's his car not mine so if there is any sense of problems or issues or leaving his doors apart for more than a few hours he will probably be upset, I don't know if I trust myself or have the tools.

Any pros here?
 
I used to have an 89 Lincoln Continental - same chassis as your dad's Sable. During the time I had it, I installed a set of 5-1/4" component speakers in the doors, a pair of 3-1/2"s in the dash, and some 6x9s in the back. I cut the plug to the factory amp and wired in standard RCA plugs so I could use an aftermarket amp with the factory preamp wiring to power the speakers (I ran my own speaker wires from the amp though), and installed an additional amp to run subwoofers. Although mine had the premium sound / JVC components in it, so it was set up differently than yours. I would be very surprised if yours had a factory amp.

The stereo in mine sounded INCREDIBLE once was done with it, although i went through a number of alternators. 😱 And the trunk rattled.

It's been a while (8 - 9 years??) since I've had that car, but IIRC, once you unscrew the armrest (don't remember how many screws, 2 I think), the rest of the door panel will be fastened on with plastic clips - get a trim panel remover and carefully pull these out, then lift up on the door panel and it should come right off. Don't forget to unscrew the little chrome door lock indicators that pop up when the doors are unlocked. I just let the door panels hang there while I took out the old speakers and put in the new ones. Factory speaker plug harnesses are not required, but necessary if you don't want to cut your wiring. Make sure to match the speaker polarity when you put the wires in. If you wire it up backwards, it'll sound terrible and it's not fun going back in just to switch the wires.

The rear deck was really easy, just pull off the factory grilles and undo the 4 screws. The speakers were accessible from inside the trunk. Although, I think it required a bottom-mount speaker - some speakers won't mount properly unless they are sitting on top of the mounting surface, and if I remember right, the factory ones are designed to sit below it.

My car didn't originally have dash speakers, but there were grilles, holes, and plugs there for them - so I got some and put them in there. Helped a lot with the high notes, but those little speakers like to blow up if you crank them loud. Bass blockers are a must for these if you add them.
 
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