What are the speaker requirements for an FM conversion?

wonderwire

Team Member
Moderator
In most situations, the original speaker will be worn out unless it has been changed in the last few years. The electrical specifications for a speaker for the conversion would be a four ohm speaker, which is the standard for new speakers now, and it should be able to handle 30 to 50 watts of audio power, and unfortunately, the original speaker would only be able to handle around 3 or 4 watts if it was in good shape, so it would not stand up to the higher power that the FM conversion can put out which is 45 watts per channel, or a total of 180 watts of audio power for all four channels. This single speaker situation would only apply if a person was to only use the orginal front speaker. One can set the configuration for one (the front speaker), two (one in front and one in the rear package deck), or four (two in front and two out back), so it can be seen that using the single speaker configuration will give you a mono sound, which the car had originally with only the front speaker. Using two speakers, one in front and one in the package deck can give you a stereo sound but working from front to back rather than side to side as a normal stereo. These two scenarios can be used so as to keep the original configuration of many cars. One can also use four speakers with two in the front as either a dual-cone speaker, which is actually two speakers in one speaker frame and would mount in the regular single speaker hole, or two small speakers in the spot where the original front speaker used to be but mounted side by side in a very shallow "v" position facing up. The back two speakers can be mounted in the back package deck which have cutouts for two speakers or you can use a dual-cone speaker in the single speaker mounting again in the package deck. These both configurations will be able to have much better sound quality and still keep the car looking completely original but have a full spectrum audio sound in AM and FM. An alternate configuration, which would be in a "retro mod" style, would be to use speakers in custom speaker boxes under the dash in the corners and possibly the same idea in the back if there is no room on the package deck for extra speakers. This will give you full stereo sound with a compromise on originality.

Cheers,
Cliff
 
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