Dash speaker options for 71-74 oem am-fm stereo

[tommyg29]

Been searching for someone who has or sells an 8 ohm speaker that is a direct fit into the football opening with 10.5" hole to hole. Of course it has the single plug, so one speaker, not the double 3.5" setup many are going to. Im guessing the original 10w am-fm stereo in my car plays one channel front, and the other to the rear speakers?
On ebay and everywhere else I found, they advertise "68 to 70" or 66-70". Theyre similar looking. Will those fit without hacking the dash frame? Did that on a 71 cuda last year, and it wasnt pretty or fun with the windshield in the way. Dont want to do that again. Looking for a simple plug in and drop in.
Thanks.

 

[Lazerwolf]

I looked for a single speaker as well for my 74 Charger. Found a few companies that will do the original, but you paid big for it. I ended up buying the Kenwood dual 3 1/2" ones (KMDS5) from Year One, who has sale going on right now. Yes, the radio has two channels, front and back. I created two very simple Y plugs, connecting the 3 1/2"'s together and plugging these into my original plug. Dropped right in. Did the same for a couple of Kenwood speakers in back, since I do not not rear defrost. I would say sound is average but since it's being driven by the original 40 year old radio, I'm happy with it.

 

[tommyg29]

So just Y connect from the single pair from the radio off to the two new speakers.
Do you still need 8 ohm speakers? A single 4x10 I found online available for as cheap as $20 (model AS-641sp, which should work...its only a 10 watt radio, and Im obviously not an audiophile) says on the label "4-8 ohm compatible"
For $20 I might give it a shot.

 

[Lazerwolf]

Yep, had some extra speaker wire and 16 or 18 gauge connector, don't recall exactly which ones fit. The front channel powers both 3 1/2" speakers just fine. I don't recall anything about them being 8 ohm speakers. I'm no audiophile either but it may be worth a $20 shot on the other one. I think the ones from Year One with a discount code were around $80 and I know those will work. The ones I put in the rear are Kenwood KFC-6965R, 3 way 400W speakers. Not my first choice but the local Best Buy had an open box for $30. I did the same Y trick from the factory harness to these two rear speakers since the factory only had one. I'm not going to win any stereo contests with these 4 speakers but I'm more than happy with the sound.

In hind site, I do believe you could probably build one like Year for cheaper and use better speakers. It is just a about a 1/4-1/2" piece of football shaped plastic with two 3 1/2" speaker holes cut in it and mounted. You could use the original one for a template on shape and location of holes to drill for the screws. Build a couple Y connectors and your golden.

 

[idrivemopar]

If you want to stay original, and have your original speaker, you can have it reconed. I sent mine to The Speaker Exchange and they re worked it for $80 bucks. They did a real nice job, replaced the coil, cone, and the dust cover on it, kept original plug on it.

Here is what it looks like.

 

[tommyg29]

I wish I had the original. I found two old 4" Pioneer speakers just kind of sitting in the hole. I threw them out.

 

[tommyg29]

Putting the new speaker in and noticed my factory speaker connection actually has two black wires going into the oem connector, and one green wire. Why 2 black wires?

 

[idrivemopar]

Does your car have a front/rear fader knob right above the dash cluster? That may be why, my car has two green and two black wires on the factory connector, but it also has the fader for front to rear. I think all the harnesses were wired for the various options, front/rear, or front and stereo rear even if they just had the front speaker.

 

[tommyg29]

No dash fader. My fader is one of the outer dials on the am-fm stereo radio. The other outer dial is treble/bass.
I found a speaker similar to the one in the picture you posted (not the exact same one) plugged it into the connector and it works. Sounds crappy though, but Ive been spoiled by modern equipment