Moparts

Speakers for 73 B-body WTB?

Posted By: cjskotni

Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/09/12 06:53 PM

I have a 73 Charger and I am looking to be buying speakers for it soon. I am looking for what would drop in and not involve any cutting of the dash or rear deck.

I think the dash has that funky 4x10 which can be replaced with a plate to hold 2x2.5" round speakers. What about the rear deck?

Anyone sell these as a kit? They need only handle 45w RMS...not looking for a booming amp here...
Posted By: DARTH V8Я

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/09/12 08:21 PM

6"x9" for the rears is a bolt in.
Posted By: feets

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/09/12 09:03 PM

You can put a pair of 3-1/2" speakers in the single dash speaker hole. Are you sure you don't have speaker grilles off to each side?

I just bought a pair of Infinity Reference series 3032cf speakers for the Imperial.



The Imp had a pair of 3-1/2" speakers as well as a single 4x10 in the dash.

I also picked up a pair of Infinity Reference series 9632cf 6x9 speakers for the rear.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1089632CF/Infinity-Reference-9632cf.html


They're still in the boxes so I can't comment on how they sound.
Posted By: DARTH V8Я

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/09/12 09:13 PM

Feets I have the 3032's in my Talon and they sound pretty freaking good just running off my Pioneer 50w x 4 deck.
Posted By: feets

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/09/12 09:52 PM

One thing I didn't mention is the rubber surround for the cone. It will get in the way. The factory speaker mounts flush so I will need to drop the new speakers down using a spacer so the cone doesn't get squished against the speaker grille.
Posted By: DaytonaTurbo

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/09/12 09:55 PM

Any old 6x9's will fit in the back. For the front, I agree, the best is to run a pair of small speakers. They're not ideally located but they are easy to drop in the middle where that big single was.
Posted By: T2R9

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/09/12 09:59 PM

I have 2 3.5 inch Polk Audio DB 351's up front with the adapter found in the new products section and a pair of 6x9 Polk DB 651's in rear. Great sound from these with the Retro Sound unit I have. My rear deck has a 6x9 and a smaller 5x8 opening, I used a spacer from an old 6x9 to lower the one side and it works perfectly.
Posted By: cjskotni

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/10/12 02:24 AM

Quote:

I have 2 3.5 inch Polk Audio DB 351's up front with the adapter found in the new products section and a pair of 6x9 Polk DB 651's in rear. Great sound from these with the Retro Sound unit I have. My rear deck has a 6x9 and a smaller 5x8 opening, I used a spacer from an old 6x9 to lower the one side and it works perfectly.



I think that's what I have in my rear deck as the opening on the driver's side is smaller than that on the passenger side. I am guessing a 5x8" driver's and 6x9" on the passenger.

Why the heck did they do this?? Now I have to buy two sets of speakers and use only one speaker from each set!

Anybody want to go halfsies on a set of 5x8's or 6x9s with me?

I am pretty sure my dashonly has the one 4x10 dead center. I am might go for the plate that can accept the two round speakers to fill that hole for a nice round four speaker system.

Any ideas where you can find a 6x9 spacer to drop the 6x9" speaker down a bit to clear the package tray?
Posted By: DaytonaTurbo

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/10/12 03:24 AM

Even if the hole is smaller, I think it still has the 6x9 bolt pattern. I don't remember having to drill any holes when I put a set of 6x9's in, tho I do remember one side having an odd shaped hole.
Posted By: James74

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/10/12 04:30 AM

i had to drill holes on my 74....

there was a member that has some custom fiberglass inserts on the inner quarters in the trunk. wish i would have saved the pics.....
Posted By: 451Mopar

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/10/12 05:10 AM

I used the Infinity Kappa 3.5" in front in the speaker bracket listed in the new deals section.
The speakers sound great for their size. Any 3.5" speaker is not going to have very good bass response. The rear speaker shelf should be able to use 6x9" speakers. In my convertible, I used 6.5" round speakers in the rear arm rest panels. With the top down, it was still hard to get good low bass, so I put an amp and sub in the trunk.
Posted By: DynoDave

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/11/12 12:29 AM

Quote:

One thing I didn't mention is the rubber surround for the cone. It will get in the way. The factory speaker mounts flush so I will need to drop the new speakers down using a spacer so the cone doesn't get squished against the speaker grille.



FWIW...I ran into this on my '77 Royal Monaco Brougham some years back (sorry...the speaker manufacturer I used is no longer in business [Made in USA], so no recommendation to offer). I could not drop the speaker down further on the driver side due to the size of the magnet. I actually had to trim a little webbing on the back of the cluster trim, and it still would not fit. I ended up essentially raising the grilles with a layer of foam gasket material to get the needed clearance.
Posted By: MarkZ

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/11/12 12:57 AM

I can't speak to the fitment, but for the speakers on the rear deck try and come up with some sort of enclosure for the bottoms rather than leaving them open to the trunk. They'll sound on orders of magnitude better.
Posted By: T2R9

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/11/12 01:12 AM

Quote:


Any ideas where you can find a 6x9 spacer to drop the 6x9" speaker down a bit to clear the package tray?



I used the 1/2" or so cone spacer from an old 6x9, (The part glued on top to deaden the mount) cut it off and used that as the spacer on top of the new one. I did have to drill new holes and round up some longer screws. No problems. I will get a pic of the install tomorrow.
Posted By: DANA60

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/11/12 03:38 AM

The dash one is 4X10, and you can get the dual speaker shaped like the original. There are a couple companies selling them (retrosound).
The back are 6x9.
No cutting involved.

Attached picture 7159905-IMG_3514_1_1.JPG
Posted By: zrxkawboy

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/11/12 03:38 AM

another option for the dash:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_068R410N/Retrosound-R-410N.html?tp=99
Posted By: DynoDave

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/12/12 02:15 AM

Quote:

I can't speak to the fitment, but for the speakers on the rear deck try and come up with some sort of enclosure for the bottoms rather than leaving them open to the trunk. They'll sound on orders of magnitude better.



Baffles
Posted By: cjskotni

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/29/12 09:54 PM

Ok guys, I appreciate the feedback so far but now that I have restored the orignal rear speaker openings from where somebody had enlarged them years ago, I have decided what I am looking for.

I have two openings, one is a 6x9" and one is a 5x7". I'd like to put in two speakers that fit the openings (one from each set) and have them drop in from the top like factory. Thing is, seems most aftermarket speakers have the midrange/tweeter tower protruding out which would get squished by the backage tray. I want to use an OEM type tray without having to cut it...

It appears the Retrosound speakers are very dimension-conscious and would drop right in. However, they look almost wimpy and they aren't the cheapest...do they sound better than they look? Anybody here know of an other aftermarket brands that will top mount and fit the openings/package tray without any more mods than maybe drilling holes?

Any experience with the RetroSound brand?
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_068R693V2/Retrosound-R-693.html?tp=91
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_068R573N/RetroSound-R-573N.html?tp=93

Also if anybody here is in the same boat as me with a 71-74 B-body and wants to split two sets to get the speakers they need, I am willing to buy the two sets and half the cost for one of each :-)


Thanks in advance!!
Posted By: DaytonaTurbo

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/29/12 11:41 PM

Why don't you want to fasten a set of 6x9's from the bottom? With small bolts and lock nuts it's not like they're going to fall down.
Posted By: cjskotni

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/30/12 12:36 AM

Quote:

Why don't you want to fasten a set of 6x9's from the bottom? With small bolts and lock nuts it's not like they're going to fall down.



I might go that route if I can't do what I want and not have to spend 250$+ for two sets of decent speakers....

I don't mind doing a bottom mount but then won't I have to run spacers and have them sticking way down into the trunk to get them to clear the recessed speaker opening?

If you guys know of a set I can botom mount with NO spacers needed, then I may consider that route as it would be much cheaper and easier.
Posted By: cjskotni

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 04/30/12 10:15 PM



Anybody here know a specific 6x9 speaker set that will bottom mount in my car without having to use thick spacers?
Posted By: Ronnman

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 05/01/12 12:19 AM

I mounted the RetroSound 6 X 9 speakers in the rear shelf. The mounting holes lined up. I used no. 10 screws (with the heads cut off) and used two nuts to lock the remaining screw threaded studs protruding down to mount the left speaker. For the right speaker I just used no. 14 screws from the bottom. See pics in attached thread.
Ron

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...rue#Post6644325
Posted By: 1ol74charger4me

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 05/01/12 12:46 AM

http://www.turnswitch.com/index.htm Try these guys. I'm not even going to get into the ohm rating thing, it depends on the head unit anyway, but they seem to know their stuff on speakers and aren't totally out of line on price. Your car was setup for a single rear speaker and a rear defroster and that is why the different size. Another 73-4 oddity of WTH change something that works.You could also use readily available (ebay) plastic speaker spacers to space down the 6x9s and drill one for the 5x7 hole if there is enough material.70-80s GM big cars are good sources for low buck baffles, you can even use the center post mount by using epoxy to mount a bolt to the magnet. Gives a factory look to it. Just thought I would share this because its a subject I've been putting some recent thought to for my 74.
Posted By: DaytonaTurbo

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 05/01/12 04:54 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Why don't you want to fasten a set of 6x9's from the bottom? With small bolts and lock nuts it's not like they're going to fall down.



I might go that route if I can't do what I want and not have to spend 250$+ for two sets of decent speakers....

I don't mind doing a bottom mount but then won't I have to run spacers and have them sticking way down into the trunk to get them to clear the recessed speaker opening?

If you guys know of a set I can botom mount with NO spacers needed, then I may consider that route as it would be much cheaper and easier.



I really don't know what you're talking about, unless your 73 is different than my 74. My set of aftermarket 6x9's mounted flush to the bottom of the speaker openings I didn't need any spacers.
Posted By: 72roadrunnergtx

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 05/01/12 06:10 AM

Most high end 6x9” speakers come with spacers allowing a flush mount from underneath or grill hardware for a surface mount installation. As mentioned the package shelf speaker openings are of different sizes, driver side stamped for a 5x7” speaker and mounting screw holes for both 5x7” and 6x9”. One of the mods I did to my car during the restoration was graft in a 6x9” stamping from a donor car passenger side to the driver side of my car with mounting screw/studs tacked in from above allowing easy mounting from underneath.

Posted By: DANA60

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 05/01/12 12:38 PM

Ditto on the "from underneath" on the newer speakers. I ordered speakers from Retro Sound and used the front dual 4X10, but the rear ones were "wimpy" and basically put them up on the shelf and bought more manly ones and mounted them from underneath.

Attached picture 7187247-IMG_3511.jpg
Posted By: cjskotni

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 05/01/12 10:37 PM

Quote:

Ditto on the "from underneath" on the newer speakers. I ordered speakers from Retro Sound and used the front dual 4X10, but the rear ones were "wimpy" and basically put them up on the shelf and bought more manly ones and mounted them from underneath.



When you got the better speakers and mounted them underneath, did they clear the recessed lip of the smaller 5x7 opening? Did you have to use spacers to do this?


I am thinking I may go the dual 6x9 route and do a bottom mount. I just want to know the speakers will clear without spacer use. Seems the spacers are all like 1" or bigger and I don't want these speakers pushed down that far if I can avoid it.

I saw the Retrosound 6x9's and they did look very wimpy with very tiny magnets...I was thinking they would be limited with how hard they would "hit" with those tiny magnets.

I like the idea of what 72roadrunnergtx did, and I thought about doing that but I wanted to keep my deck a bit more orignal. Now I may be wishing that I did that to get around this stupid 5x7 opening.
Posted By: DANA60

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 05/01/12 10:45 PM

There is an "insulater" that will go between the sheet metal and the speaker body. You can run studs or just bolt them up. You will have to enlarge the holes in the cars sheet metal that the bolts go through. I ended up using a package tray that has the stock grates. Some, and me included way back when, cut holes in the tray and had the aftermarket speaker covers to use.

Attached picture 7188140-IMG_3511.jpg
Posted By: DaytonaTurbo

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 05/02/12 04:50 AM

No spacers that you keep dwelling on. Regular aftermarket 6x9's fit fine. Nobody sees the underside of your package tray anyway so who cares what it looks like?
Posted By: 72roadrunnergtx

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 05/02/12 04:46 PM

The 5x7” driver side 1/4-3/8” drop down stamped into the package tray will indeed physically interfere with most aftermarket quality 6x9” surround and woofer cones without the use of a spacer of some kind. Again most high end 6x9”s will come with a spacer thick enough for a flush mount but are not tall enough to provide clearance for a drop down stamping that would fit inside the circumference of the speaker frame. Clearly the OP is no longer referring to “regular” aftermarket single cone speakers that may or may not clear the drop down. Frankly, the correct approach, from a pure performance standpoint, would be to cut out the drop down and the smaller restrictive 5x7” opening anyway if installing a 6x9”. The area of the opening shouldn’t be less than the area of the woofer cone.
Still need a spacer? Stop by your local car stereo installation shop, they will likely have leftovers from previous installations in varying heights.
Posted By: cjskotni

Re: Speakers for 73 B-body WTB? - 05/02/12 05:37 PM

Quote:

The 5x7” driver side 1/4-3/8” drop down stamped into the package tray will indeed physically interfere with most aftermarket quality 6x9” surround and woofer cones without the use of a spacer of some kind. Again most high end 6x9”s will come with a spacer thick enough for a flush mount but are not tall enough to provide clearance for a drop down stamping that would fit inside the circumference of the speaker frame. Clearly the OP is no longer referring to “regular” aftermarket single cone speakers that may or may not clear the drop down. Frankly, the correct approach, from a pure performance standpoint, would be to cut out the drop down and the smaller restrictive 5x7” opening anyway if installing a 6x9”. The area of the opening shouldn’t be less than the area of the woofer cone.
Still need a spacer? Stop by your local car stereo installation shop, they will likely have leftovers from previous installations in varying heights.




You are right on the money, 72roadrunnergtx. I want to make sure they clear the recess but also aren't spaced down 1 1/2" in the trunk. I think would look wierd....I know won't hurt but still...

I pulled the trigger and got a set if KENWOOD KFC-6993PS speakers. They seemed to have a nice fat spacer built-in that the other brands seemed to lack. In fact A LOT of the major brands looked like they would top-mount only!

I also found a guy on ebay who makes 1/4" spacers which I picked a set up to hopefully account for that recessed 5x7" opening.

I will let you know how it goes!

Attached picture 7189254-Kenwood_KFC-6993PS.jpg
© 2024 Moparts Forums