It's time to update my sound system in my D 250. factory speakers still in the doors (6X9's) only the passenger one works; the 83 vintage, factory AM-FM Stereo actually still works decent (the range surprises me actually) but the truck has NO clock in it, and I'm tired of digging the phone outta my pocket to see the time.
SO I have a Mopar factory radio (AM FM cassette from a late 90s minivan or something) it even has the (I THINK that's what its for) plug for an MP3 or a remote CD player on the back which I honestly don't see myself utilizing. To be honest I doubt I'll ever even use the tape player, even though I actually still have quite a few. I also have the factory connectors pirated from a newer Mopar in a junkyard, as a start to being able to wire that newer radio in. the newer OE Mopar radio even fits the same hole as the old radio did.

I replaced the junk, 26 year old 6X9s in the doors with a set of JVC 6X9s found on sale (clearance table even, last years stock) already; even cut out the door panels (metal; remember those?) so the whole speaker is exposed, not just 2 "hole saw holes" piggybacked next to each other on the doors, as was OE practice;
I have no intentions of any subs, amps, etc; not needed, as a reg. sized p/u cab is not a very big area; a couple of my pet peeves are (1) cars where the entire trunk are taken up by subs/amps rendering the trunk useless; (2) jury rigged stereo wiring; wires pinched between the fender and door, on their way to the eng compartment; fire waiting to happen; (3) twanging trunk lids and such, in traffic (4) my vehicle vibrating because of someone else's stereo; but yet I gotta have my Classic Rock! (Frampton-Boz Scaggs-Steely Dan-CCR-CSNY- the Who,anybody??) having a just turned 16 son, who will probably be driving this truck at least SOME of the time, is another reason to keep it to sounding decent but not able to be turned up "too" loud. not like today's teens need any more cop magnets than they already have! but it does need to sound, at least decent. as in at least a couple steps better than the single speaker, AM-only, stock radio in my 78 Fury does, at least.

My questions are about other speaker placement in these cabs; at 6', I gotta have the seat all the way back I hate "eating" my knees; behind the seat boxes, are OUT; I have a pair of new in the box, 4" pioneer "surface mount" speakers; probably 10+ years old, but never unboxed since bought, and free from my brother, who bought them for who-knows-what, years ago, and they made it as far as his shelf, and never into whatever he got them for.

I'm thinking of putting them facing forward, 1 above my head, and 1 in the same spot on the pass side of the cab; but even though they came for free, and the fact that I have them in-hand already, would these sound decent, OR should I figure out a way to mount some different ones in the cab corners (maybe some 5X7s, 4X6s, 5-1/4" rounds), possibly stack multiples in the corners, instead of these overhead ones? or would having them be so close to the seat back, mean that instead of really hearing much, the seat back would absorb most of the sound, anyways?
one of the best sounding set of speakers I have ever had, was a set of either 5-1/4 (or were they 6 inchers) from pioneer, that came with seperate tweeters, and crossovers, as a package deal; put the larger rounds in the dash of one of my old Diplomats (actually cut the face of the dash for them, back then) and the tweeters on the seat belt posts above the top anchor points. Being an ex squad (fire chief's ride, actually) that car was pretty torn up when I got it anyways. plenty of excess wiring laying around there, too many screw holes from former acessories, etc.

I'm not looking to get crazy here, just want to upgrade a bit; if I had the seperate digital clock that was optional on these trucks in the day (found the plug for it in the dash, even) I might even leave the vintage 1983 AM-FM-stereo in there. has the old school preset knobs where you pull the knob out then push in to set the station.

One more curiosity; We are all hearing talk of this "digital TV" changeover that Big brother is mandating, its date being pushed back to June; when it finally does go through, will that have any effect on radios/stereos, be they in cars or homes?? (the one in the garage comes to mind; my "antenna" consists of speaker wire run up into the peak of the gables, that's all) while in the garage, the stereo is a constant

Then replacement is a great option... which is probably worthwhile anyways, since that old '83 stereo MIGHT put out all of 15 watts...
There was no such option that I am aware of. That hole in the back is most likely for the steering wheel controls found on some of the rigs from the same era as the stereo.
Even with a low-end unit nowadays (from a good brand) you can get good sound for relatively little money. You would be surprised what you can do with $7 speakers and an $80 stereo. Alot of it has to do with what the speakers are encased in. A door works well for bass since it basically acts like an enclosed box, but having the speakers that low to the floor typically causes issues with high frequency sound in that it's bouncing around the inside of the truck before hitting your ears.
The 4" pioneers are great, and always have been. I have used those in trucks and cars alike, in a million different spots, and they almost always produce wonderful results.
Speakers behind the seat would only do much good as woofers. The seat will absorb most everything else, and the higher frequencies would bounce around so much before getting out from behind, they won't sound quite right anyways.
If you have the 4" speakers, I would suggest mounting them somewhere in the midrange of the cab, as opposed to at the top. You can get cheap tweeters that sound as decent as a tweeter in any other speaker for about $20-30 bucks at most car audio shops. Mount the tweeters up top, the 6x9's in the doors, and then decide whether to place the 4" in there. You may find that the tweeters and 6x9's are all you really need.
If you put new speakers in there, it will still sound about the same as it did with the old speakers (when the truck was new of course) which really isn't saying much. As I mentioned earlier, that old stereo might be putting out 15w so the amplifier in there will start to distort fairly quickly, given that the truck has newer, more power-friendly speakers to work with.

Example:

My '87 Volvo came factory with a 25w Blaupunkt cassette deck. I installed my cheap 6.5" $7 speakers in the package tray, and my 4" $30 Pioneer rounds in the front doors. That Blaupunkt would barely get above 1/2 volume before it started distorting, which in turn meant that it really wasn't loud at all. Of course, I am a "youngster" so I like to have louder music.

Regardless, I installed a Pioneer CD deck that I bought last year for $80, and the sound quality, and volume of the pioneer was amazing, even with those cheap speakers. If you are going to do it, do it right. Otherwise, you still may not be happy (and your kid may not be either... but to each his own).
AM, FM channels will not be affected. The "Digital Switch" is for television units only. They do offer HD radio kits that will install into your existing stereo, but those are for optional channels, and is not required... at least not yet. I think that the government may have an even larger issue if they decided to swap all the AM FM to digital only... that would be a mistake to say the least...

The real point here is that if you want it to sound decent, leaving original equipment in there isn't going to do it for you. It would be the same as if the stereo had gone out (don't hold your breath) and you installed a "new" stereo onto those old speakers. The first time the higher wattage of the new stereo gets unleashed, those old paper coned speakers get trashed.

A tip for finding a good spot to mount speakers is by simply sticking them in various places (via tape, or the magnet itself if possible) and then turning the radio on to your listening volume, to make sure you can hear them. Ideally, you would not have to change the fader or balance settings to achieve the sound distribution you seek.



~THOR~

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on that plug in that's on the back of the newer radio, which I gave $30. for (incl shipping from CT), got it from a member here and of other Mopar boards I go to claimed that was what it was for; I don't really care, since I'm not gonna use it anyway; it's round, the size of a nickel, and kinda resembles some of the "mic ports" on a CB.

and yeah, the OE paper speakers are SHOT, to say the least! somehow, the drivers side is more "wasted" than the passenger one was.

might have to make a run to the flea market when the kid gets home.

i second the comment about pioneer having really nice decks at low prices, thats what ive run since i got my license( ok only 7 years..)but i like them alot and they seem to hold up good.
you mentioned your component system from before, i just redid my main 4 speakers in my stratus daily driver, (infinity kappa series 6x9s in the back deck, infinity reference series 6.5 and tweeter component set, bass blockers(high pass filters) on those, 2x alpine type r subs with rockford amp bridged at 1ohm, 1280 watts rms, yes rms, not max, but im very respectful, keep them turned down low except on the highway, i understand not everyone wants to hear 'highway 61 revisited' blasted at them...i figured may as well buy something that wouldnt blow if i turned it up a little every now and then, got steals on ebay) and its very nice to have the high end the tweeters provide at ear level, im pretty sure youll want to run a crossover if you go with tweeters, otherwise youll be running the wrong impedance and could ruin the internal amp in the stereo youre putting in. i have a set of pioneer 6x9s that have held up extremely well for me, so if you dont want to invest in buying a component set like you had before (crossover matched to tweeter/midrange speaker) and i understand you might not want to, im young with no dependents, and thats the one splurge i allowed myself with my tax refund....then i would just stick with those pioneers because theyre pretty good and you already have them. random side note, i put some infinity 4x6 plate speakers in two vehicles for a friend, theyre supposed to be a best buy only item but you can find them on ebay, it has a 4 inch woofer, tweeter, and matched crossover built into a 4x6 plate. those sound pretty good. just some misc. rambling thoughts.

sorry, you posted since i started typing lol...you wont get the full benefit of getting a component set by picking up any crossover and tweeters, by the time you piece together a setup, you might be well on your way to more then a component set with the right crossover.

nother Q; both the Pioneer 4" I have and the JVC 6X9s are "4 ohm"speakers; used to be all the car speakers were 8 ohm; whats the big deal about mixing them, and is there a way to know which is "right" for my "head unit"?

I also just replaced the 4X6s in the dash of my Wrangler; 2nd set I've had to put in that one; when I got that Jeep 9 years ago it had (1) out of the 4 factory speakers working; so I put some polk ones in the dash then; the cones never "blew" but instead seperated from the metal cage; under the "bead" that holds the cone in were traces of what looked like yellow 3M "weatherstrip adhesive"; not put there by me; musta been the factory adhesive, but they started that telltale "twang" of a blown speaker not long before I had to park that Jeep for being hurt and under Dr's orders not to drive a stick; I put a set of Alpines in there this time; the 6" Sony "3 way" rounds I put into the factory "sound bar" all those years ago appear to stil be OK; that one has a Pioneer "50X4" AM/FM/CD that was put in about the same time as the orig set of speakers I put in there. I looked at the Infinitys at Best Buy before buying the Alpines elsewhere in town and boy, they were sure PRICED like "exclusive" merchandise; they were like $120. I may add a small amp to that one so I can still hear it over the wind when the top's off; maybe a 100 watt or so.

in my '01 Cherokee (wife's driver) I have the stock AM FM-tape player with new 6" rounds in all 4 factory locations, (don't remember the brand; i think 2 Pioneers and 2 from someone else's) that I replaced about a year ago; that don't sound too bad.

now to find something to upgrade the single speaker, AM-only, in the Fury!

im not too good with ohms, i just stick with 4 ohm except my subs and used a calculator/friend/guy at best buy, to tell me how to wire them up at 1 ohm. i believe they would underpower the speakers (by half if i understand right) and would fry the internal amp on an 8 ohm system.

on some of the trucks there is a mounting area behind the seat.it is in the corner about a third of the way up the cab in the area between the door and the slightly below the rear window.usually had 6x9's installed there.the location allows the seat to go all the way back.unfortunately my truck was a govt. stripper model so i don't have that mount area on my truck.

Now that you mention it I have seen those; the seat and slider window in my truck came from a 93 at the pick n pull. I think they started that in the "later" versions of that body style (81-93)

Its been a while I thought this thread was "buried"; I see someone revived it; with the 4 inchers above my head it has more of a "loudepeaker at the county fair" sound than I like; I have another set of 6X9s here in the garage, that I am thinking of putting into the cab corners similar to how the quoted message describes (I did something similar when I had the 90 Dakota) but I didn't also have 6X9s in the doors on that truck (IIRC they were 5-1/4 or 6" rounds in the doors) It sounds like crap with the 6X9s down low and forward and the 4 inchers at my head. I gotta do something different with the 4"'ers. I think the set in the garage (bought for the fury but the factory cutouts only allowed for 5X7s so i went with those iin taht car instead. I put another late 90s OEM Mopar radio in there; I definitely could not have done power Tour on a single speaker AM only, POS!

On the truck, I may try the 4s in the corners, as high as I can get them below the rear cab pillar and see if it sounds better. as it is now it sounds better with the 6X9's only, than with the 4"'ers connected too.