Speakers for Stock HU

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Hey, guys. I'm wanting to change out the stock speakers to something modern, and I'm sure I'll have to find a good amp to facilitate them. However, I want to keep the Delco 2700 cassette stereo, which I know gives me less to work with. I'm assuming the stock speakers are 10 ohm resistance. Is there a way to make modern speakers coupled to a modern amp work with those old radios? I've seen that the old ETRs will work with more modern speakers, and if that's my only option, I would do that. Do you guys know what to do?

 

[Old77]

Have you considered keeping the old radio in there but having like a hidden bluetooth type hu unit that'd run your upgraded tunes? There's a company (I THINK Retro Autosound) sells like a unit that you can hide anywhere that plays tunes from your phone or whatever device via bluetooth and you can hook it up through the amp that is powering the speakers. Something to think about It's going to be tough to run RCA's from the amp up to the stock radio.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

I have thought of that. I guess it's that my whole vision for the truck is having a really great sound coming from the stock radio and being to interface with it. I would do that if it boiled down to it, but I really want to make the stock unit work. I feel like too many people are trashing or shelving their stock Delcos in place of DIN style radios, and I just really want to make what came with it work.

 

[bucket]

I used to have aftermarket speakers with the original Delco radios, I thought it sounded good

 

[Old77]

Not sure what speakers you're wanting to run but you can always try running them without an amp. Should have no issues with that at all.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

I was thinking maybe turn the old 3.5 inch dash speakers into 6.5 inch kick panel speakers. I'd like to try to make something else work in the back. I've read about people replacing 4x10 speakers with 5.25 inch speakers. I'd actually like to add a 6x9 to the middle of the dash so I can utilize all five stock speaker enclosures in the Jimmy, but I've never done this before. The biggest thing that I've read when getting new speakers is that they should be close to the resistance of the old ones, but there's got to be a way to safely utilize the stock head unit with modern, lower resistance speakers.

 

[adamj]

I'll chirp in here, here's what I've got planned, and almost finished:

- keeping original Delco am/fm/cassette for stock look and not cutting dash
- running the delco's speaker outputs to a "speaker to line-level converter" which takes the high-level speaker signal and brings it down to a pair of RCA Left/Right output signals.
- inputing to a modern radio's auxiliary input
- stashing new radio under dash/inside glove compartment out of sight.

It's basically a modern system but has a cassette deck as an aux input.
Volume, seek/scan, and am/fm radio/cassettes can be run from the ac delco unit. (But for better quality, I would run from the modern radio)
Can play CDs, phone bluetooth, usb cards/devices from modern unit (I'll be using the included remote to control these inputs)

You can then wire speaker wires from the modern headunit, or install an amplifier like I'm doing for best sound (so speaker wires will be run from speakers to amp, then RCAs to radio)

Some modern radios are capable of receiving speaker-level input directly, and have a set of L/R RCA inputs on the back that can be switched to receive line or speaker level input. So you would just wire the speaker outs from the delco unit to the new radio and not need a converter since it's built in.

If you don't want all that fancy bluetooth stuff, you can just get a basic radio, wire it up, and leave it alone, and then just run the delco unit for everything.

Or, another simpler option, find an amplifier that is capable of receiving speaker-level inputs and power your new speakers like that. Many amps (including the one I just purchased) have this dual input capability, and that's how you could power your new modern 4 ohm speakers, get great sound, and also still maintain the delco functionality.

I went with the "dual system" because I wanted the handsfree calling and best sound, so I'm not limited by the declo's sound drivers. But powering speakers by way of external amplifier will be a huge improvement to the declo.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

That's very interesting. Do you have any photos of what you've been doing? Also, what would my amp options consist of for the latter option?

 

[jmcclane55]

I'll chirp in here, here's what I've got planned, and almost finished:

- keeping original Delco am/fm/cassette for stock look and not cutting dash
- running the delco's speaker outputs to a "speaker to line-level converter" which takes the high-level speaker signal and brings it down to a pair of RCA Left/Right output signals.
- inputing to a modern radio's auxiliary input
- stashing new radio under dash/inside glove compartment out of sight.

I am doing this, but inputting to an amplifier that has bluetooth. Then when I get in my truck it will automatically pair with my phone and I can stream audio via the internet.

I can also unpair from my phone and use good old fashioned AM radio too.

 

[adamj]

I am doing this, but inputting to an amplifier that has bluetooth. Then when I get in my truck it will automatically pair with my phone and I can stream audio via the internet.

I can also unpair from my phone and use good old fashioned AM radio too.

That sounds like a great solution, what amp is this?

 

[jmcclane55]

That sounds like a great solution, what amp is this?

This one:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LJX5IYU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00

I get it tomorrow but might not install it till this weekend.