BUILD THREAD Do I get a membership card now?
- Thread starter 81cutlass
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Well ever since i've bought this car the radio has been awful.
Car is a factory radio delete car and was dealer add on GM factory radio from new. Had some audiovox speakers in from 1980. Fronts were both blown and the drivers rear was non functional and the passenger rear was very static-y past 1/3 volume. Assumed they were all bad.
Bought some kickers for the front and pioneer 4x10's for the back but i put the new 4x10's in the 2+2 and was going to put the lackluster sounding but functional stock GM speakers out of the 2+2 in the wagon and put the new kickers in front.
Problem is the 4x10's i took out of the wagon in the rear fender wells are short and the old 2+2 speakers won't fit. Magnets hit the fender wells. Hooked up both anyways and the passenger side still sounds static-y and the drivers side has volume but it's VERY quiet even at full blast. Only way to hear it is to go full volume on the head unit and unplug the passenger side.
Pulled both 4x10's out entirely and hooked up the new kickers in front. Same thing as the rear now, drivers front is very quiet and passenger side is full of static. I think the issue lies in the head unit and not the speakers themselves.
So that raises the question, do factory head units go out where they just make static on the right side and put very little volume out on the passenger side? Is it a wiring issue?
I don't like the manual tuner anyways and would like to go electronic ultimately. Issue is I need a new radio faceplate although to go to a DIN 1.5 radio without the dial holes. Does a pre 83 regal have the correct woodgrain to match my other trim panels? I know cutlass trim changed pattern in 86 but did buicks change their woodgrain pattern also? If I can just swap the head unit to a 82-88 digital tuner and get a new faceplate, I'll just go with that.
Anyone sell a low profile 4x10? I need something like the left, the right is what all the new ones I found look like.
Car is a factory radio delete car and was dealer add on GM factory radio from new. Had some audiovox speakers in from 1980. Fronts were both blown and the drivers rear was non functional and the passenger rear was very static-y past 1/3 volume. Assumed they were all bad.
Bought some kickers for the front and pioneer 4x10's for the back but i put the new 4x10's in the 2+2 and was going to put the lackluster sounding but functional stock GM speakers out of the 2+2 in the wagon and put the new kickers in front.
Problem is the 4x10's i took out of the wagon in the rear fender wells are short and the old 2+2 speakers won't fit. Magnets hit the fender wells. Hooked up both anyways and the passenger side still sounds static-y and the drivers side has volume but it's VERY quiet even at full blast. Only way to hear it is to go full volume on the head unit and unplug the passenger side.
Pulled both 4x10's out entirely and hooked up the new kickers in front. Same thing as the rear now, drivers front is very quiet and passenger side is full of static. I think the issue lies in the head unit and not the speakers themselves.
So that raises the question, do factory head units go out where they just make static on the right side and put very little volume out on the passenger side? Is it a wiring issue?
I don't like the manual tuner anyways and would like to go electronic ultimately. Issue is I need a new radio faceplate although to go to a DIN 1.5 radio without the dial holes. Does a pre 83 regal have the correct woodgrain to match my other trim panels? I know cutlass trim changed pattern in 86 but did buicks change their woodgrain pattern also? If I can just swap the head unit to a 82-88 digital tuner and get a new faceplate, I'll just go with that.
Anyone sell a low profile 4x10? I need something like the left, the right is what all the new ones I found look like.
Man...I'm jealous. Can't wait to get mine down here and get it running again! 🙂
It is a pretty shallow depth between the plastic panel and the metal wheelhouse. Whatever 4 x 10's I used cleared.
Did you make sure the Balance control is centered? If everything is still apart, test all the speaker leads to ground- one may have gotten pinched somewhere.
Yeah the balance and fade was centered.
Took the radio out and didn't recognize how it was wired. It's actually a dealer install audiovox system and uses common grounds. Whole setup was a matched set installed in 79 when it was new.
There is only 4 feed wires and a ground lug on the side of the radio housing. Strangely enough it sounds way better with no ground at all? As soon as I hooked the ground up it got full of static and biased 95% to the passenger side.
So how it is now is the speaker out wire goes to each speaker positive terminal in the dash and then the negative terminals which used to be commonly crimped to the ring terminal and fastened to the radio case, are just hanging out in the air. Basically the negatives on both speakers are wired together so it's using the right speaker out as the ground for the left speaker and vise versa. I know it's TOTALLY wrong but somehow works better than it used it.
I am throwing the aftermarket dealer add on radio out and replacing it with a digital tuner GM DIN1.5 once I collect the parts so I am going to leave it as is.
Took the radio out and didn't recognize how it was wired. It's actually a dealer install audiovox system and uses common grounds. Whole setup was a matched set installed in 79 when it was new.
There is only 4 feed wires and a ground lug on the side of the radio housing. Strangely enough it sounds way better with no ground at all? As soon as I hooked the ground up it got full of static and biased 95% to the passenger side.
So how it is now is the speaker out wire goes to each speaker positive terminal in the dash and then the negative terminals which used to be commonly crimped to the ring terminal and fastened to the radio case, are just hanging out in the air. Basically the negatives on both speakers are wired together so it's using the right speaker out as the ground for the left speaker and vise versa. I know it's TOTALLY wrong but somehow works better than it used it.
I am throwing the aftermarket dealer add on radio out and replacing it with a digital tuner GM DIN1.5 once I collect the parts so I am going to leave it as is.
Ahhhh, the old common ground trick- haven't seen one of those in years! Since the audio signal is AC, I guess it kind of puts all the speakers in some sort of weird daisy chain with the ground unhooked?
I'd still check to see if a speaker wire is grounded. That would explain a lot. If it's grounded somewhere other than the radio, your potentials get thrown off. Also, if one is grounded, that's why it works unhooked at the radio.
I'd still check to see if a speaker wire is grounded. That would explain a lot. If it's grounded somewhere other than the radio, your potentials get thrown off. Also, if one is grounded, that's why it works unhooked at the radio.
Trust me, the car's not a trailer queen! I had borrowed a friends pickup and trailer when my 2+2 broke the axle shaft last weekend. He lives an hr and half east of me so I had to load the wagon on the trailer, haul it back to his place and unload the wagon and drive home.
Wagon is still holding in (knock on woodgrain 😛)
Wagon is still holding in (knock on woodgrain 😛)
Well I changed my blown shocks over to a set of KYB gas adjusts i got off one of the ebay 15% off ontop of a $40 kyb rebate and free summit shipping through ebay. Ended up with the set for like $65 or something.
Also changed my oil filter for the first time in 10k miles or something (not kidding). The thing still eats 1 qt of oil every tank of fuel and I have put those 10K miles all on used oil from my fiance's fusion. Not kidding.
Changed the filter today since it was up changing the shocks and cut it open. Honestly, its not bad at all. I was happy, no bearing materal or anything!
Also changed my oil filter for the first time in 10k miles or something (not kidding). The thing still eats 1 qt of oil every tank of fuel and I have put those 10K miles all on used oil from my fiance's fusion. Not kidding.
Changed the filter today since it was up changing the shocks and cut it open. Honestly, its not bad at all. I was happy, no bearing materal or anything!
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