Speaker reccomendation

[htbetz]

The rear Blapunkt speakers in my 74' 911 sound like crap. Do speakers wear out? What would I replace them with. They measure 6" x 4".
Thanks

[MAS]

Yes speakers, particularly older speakers do wear out. Mainly because of the speaker material getting brittle and/or cracking. Rear deck speakers are especially prone to this because of the extra exposure to sunlight.

Good quality new 6x4's are not expensive (well under $200 per pair, and frequently half that).

Also, almost all of the newer speakers from the major manufacturers are made out of stronger, much longer lasting material. So I suggest:

1) Go into a good car audio shop, bring a few of your favorite CDs and have a good listen to several of the leading brands (Pioneer, Alpine, Sony, etc.).

2) Make sure that the dealer uses a deck that it similar to your own in terms of power output, so you'll have a reasonable idea of what the speakers will sound like. But remember that the rear deck area on a 911 is not deep and therefore will likely not make the installed speakers sound as good as they do at the dealer's. However, you can get a good idea of how the different speakers sound relative to each other.

3) The highest quality speakers will likely have the largest and heaviest magnets. These may not fit without small extender rings to raise them slightly from the rear deck (no big deal).

4) Many new car speakers have fancy bright-colored (silver) grilles. Most install places can replace these with generic black grilles. Always a good idea, in my opinion, since the less any potential car-stereo thief notices from the outside the better.

-MAS

[old_skul]

Pioneer makes a decent set of 2-way 4x6s that fit perfectly, and they're $50 at Best Buy. I highly recommend them.

[rpiper]

Disconnect them and put money into a good pair of door speakers. Something like 6 1/2" separates. Rear speakers are not necessary.

[steve911]

I installed Kenwood 4x6's in my '85 - they come with pretty generic-looking black grills that mount on top of the rear deck. I can't remember if the '74s had the grills built into the rear deck or not. If so, you can use whatever sounds good and fits. Depending upon your situation, you may or may not have to remove the rear deck to get at the speakers, but its easy enough to remove it.

If you've not replaced the fronts, I'd do that as well, since the majority of the sound you hear in a 911 will come from them. You can replace the fronts without having to remove the door panels. I have Focals in the front on mine. I'll disagree with rpiper - the rears fill in sound, so they serve a function.

[drummer323]

I love my polk 4 X 6 plates, they rock and I've been in the music business for 30 yrs!

[scottb]

I put a set of MB Quart 4x6 in my car. They fit perfectly, and I was able to reuse the factory grills. Great sound, too!

[soup dragon]

Ive just bought a 88 911 and found there were no rear speakers just the grilles !
i managed to find a pair of jbl gto6425e speakers they fit the factory grilles perfect and are the correct depth.
cost me £20 about $35 not bad if your on a budget.

[CLKWRK]

Hello,

I found that the stock speakers in the back of my 81 sc were 8ohms, most replacement car speakers are 4ohms. After replacing them the sound was way better.

Bry

[Super_Dave_D]

Polk or Infiniti are the best out there, IMO. I think mine were like 129 at Circuit City. Major improvement over the factory speakers.

[randywebb]

They're fine but far from the best...

I like Focal & MB Quart. There are lots of fancier & way more 'spensive ones tho...

For the original poster, the selection is reduced b/c of the 4x6 form factor. Just decide how much you want to spend first. That might narrow things even more.

YOu also will probably want some very thin ones - that narrows things again.

[schoward]

question on speakers for 81 targa

my car looks to have orig Boston Acoustics 4x6 with the spacer type grill/mounting (about 1 inch spacer on bottom that sits on top of the rear tray.

Do replacements mentioned above account for this/come with spacers?

Looking for simple set of speakers to replace these worn out things - seen polk, JBL and BA in other targas with these spacers but cant find them anywhere

[defcon65]

Ditto on the Polk 4x6s - your '74 blaus were worn out? I would imagine, my '85s were toast and it was an old man's car!

[rnln]

http://cgi.ebay.com/INFINITY-Reference-6000CS-6-5-Component-Speaker-System_W0QQitemZ9714500294QQcategoryZ32819QQssPage NameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[KCinBR]

I replaced the rear speakers in my 88 Carrera with 4x6 speakers from..................... Wal-mart. I used the old speaker grills, with a very little modofication and they look original

the sound is acceptable,.....Hey it's sports car not a concert hall.
They have sufficent volume and clarity for the job, I think they were around $30 to $35.

[rs6er]

I replaced the original rear Blaupunkts about 20 years ago with custom Poldyax units. Each side has a 4"woofer and a 2" tweeter with crossovers mounted to an aluminum plate. Very hand-made looking- lots of coiled copper wire and white goopy glue. The depth of the speakers from the front of the mounting plate to the back of the woofers is 2". Unfortunately the outside edge of the cones in the woofers are shot. These were mounted behind the rear panel. There are no speaker grills. The vinyl is perforated. I want to replace these, but dont want to cut the rear panel or put grills on it. There are four bolts that project rearward behind the panel in a 4 1/2" square pattern. Are there speakers that fit onto these bolts other than the original Blaupunkts? Is anyone familiar with these custom Polydax units? If so, is it worth having the woofers reconed, or has audio technology advanced too far in the interim?

[joetiii]

I'm thinking about adding more speakers to my 72 targa and my space is limited since my kids will be traveling in the rear at times so I can't use a box in the rear footwell like was posted recently. Has anyone tried using the underdash panel by mochs that pelican sells here with the speakers built in?

If so howz it sound?

If lousy, what are my options.


thanx

joe

[randywebb]

I had one in the '75 I used to own - ripped it out and sold it.

That is a bad location to mount speakers, and they are not rigidly mounted either.

Do you want LF sound - a "Sub"?? The smuggler's box or pass. footwell area are appealing for that.

Put mids & tweeters in the door - you can aim the tweeters if you want. Not the best, but the 911 is designed to make its own audio env. with engine noise, not tunes...

If you already have door speakers, then just upgrade them.

You can add spkrs for fill in the rear deck if you want. Don't expect accurate soundstaging w/ or w/o them - but they do add some useful fill.

[snbush67]

I just mounted a pair of Bose 161 in my rear deck, they mounted right to the rear deck using the same scew holes from the old speakers. Great sound with sufficient bass. As they are 100 watts and I'm only putting 50 through them right now, I will eventually add a amp and sub but thats in the near future. Anywho here is the pic.

The best thing about them is that they leave plenty of space to look out the back window at the ricers.

[joetiii]

So I stopped by Tweeter and they got me thinking about installing a soundsystem. I've got 6.5's cut into the lower doorpanel of my 69 Targa now that are all but toast. I've read good things about Focal and MB Quartz. My first concern about speakers is that the door pocket covers 90% of the speaker. Now with a component system, I can get a tweeter just above the window crank and keep the highs direct, but I'm unsure the mids will reach out. Do either of these manufactures make a system with a separate mid driver, 6.5 mid bass and separate tweeter?

Originally posted by randywebb
Sub? The smuggler's box or pass. footwell area are appealing for that.

Put mids & tweeters in the door - you can aim the tweeters if you want. Not the best, but the 911 is designed to make its own audio env. with engine noise, not tunes...

If you already have door speakers, then just upgrade them.

BTW, I hate to sound ignorant, but what is the smugglers box?

tweeter is discontinuing the Audison amps in their lineup and have a 4 x 75 watt amp that I would plan on running under the front seat. I imagine I can run these bridged to get max volume when the top is off and the engine is pushing 5k in the highway.

Also thought about a submotion for the front but I think that will interfere with the top which spends 90% of its time there.