In-dash Speaker for '69?

Tachin · 12-14-2008, 10:31 AM

Does anybody know where I can find a radio speaker to fit into the center dash on my '69? The opening looks like it will take an 8x3'' speaker but I don't think anyone makes that size anymore.

Christien · Christien's Garage

I've seen these guys on ebay a few times (no affiliation):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-911-912-Stereo-Radio-Dash-Speaker-Upgrade-T-E-S_W0QQitemZ360116020512QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCar_Audi o_Video?hash=item360116020512&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=72%3A64|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

ebay # 360116020512 if that link doesn't work.

Otherwise, I've got a pair of 3-inch speakers stuffed in there. Not pretty, I had to bend the speaker rims a bit, but once the grill is back in place it looks fine. A PO rewired the dash speaker for left and right (original was mono), which helps. I think I'll pick this up and just remove the dash speakers:

Pelican catalogue # PEL-MOCH-1000

Tachin · 12-14-2008, 12:39 PM

Thanks Christen - How did you rewire the two 3.5'' speakers to go into the 2-jack mono radio? I have a 40 year old blaupunkt in there with only two speaker jacks.

thanks

Christien · Christien's Garage

The head unit in my car was replaced by a previous owner with a modern Clarion. I would imagine the rewiring was done at that time.

When you say the Blaupunkt has two speaker jacks, do you mean a left and a right, two mono jacks, or a single mono, with + and - terminals? Any chance you've got a picture? In any case, I'm sure I could figure out a solution for you.

Tachin · 12-14-2008, 01:02 PM

The two speaker jacks in this photo are on the far right, above the power input. They take banana clip type plugs. I'm pretty sure these are intended for one speaker.

I call cruchfield to see if they know of a box to combine 4 wires into 2, but they didn't know. Radio Shack didn't know either.

There must be some type of speaker select switch that would combine these.

I also pinged the ebay seller of that dual 3.5'' combo piece you posted in your message above.

Thanks much!

Christien · Christien's Garage

Hmm, interesting. Thanks for posting the pics. I'm by no means an expert at old electronics, but I don't think this would be that difficult. I'll bet you absolutely mystified the monkey at Radio Shack - those guys are useless. I'm going to guess that the output is mono, and both those banana plug jacks put out the exact same signal, as opposed to left and right. (someone please correct me if I'm wrong and I'll edit this post, so as not to confuse future people reading this thread!)

If it were mine, I'd just get two banana plugs, peel the wire sheath back and splice the two together, then run that line to the single speaker. Seems to me to be the easiest, cheapest way to hook it up.