heminut
Well-Known Member
Years ago I put some new 3.5" Radio Shack speakers in my 3 speaker dash. It was a real PIA! The larger magnets required me to get in there with a rotary file in a drill and open up the openings in the dash frame (NOT the dash pad frame) to clear the bigger magnets on the speakers, and it wasn't easy. I am in the process of replacing my dash pad, and the Radio Shack speakers are trashed, cones literally falling apart.
So, in my quest to find something better, I came across some part #05059062AB used late model Chrysler 3.5 speakers on eBay and bought them. The magnets are considerably smaller than what's out there on the aftermarket 3.5" speakers so I figured that was a plus. The other plus was that the used speakers came with the factory wiring harness plugs, which I spliced into my existing speaker wires. When I got them I found that they bolt right onto the 3 speaker dash grills.
Something that concerned me was that these speakers are rated at 4 Ohms and most aftermarket systems use 8 Ohm speakers. I tried plugging these speakers into the system and they didn't sound very good (kind of tinny). I saw that there was a small diode looking thing (I'm not an electrical guy so that's the best way I know to describe them) on the speakers and one wire feed ran through it.
Being an experimenter, and only having $30 in these speakers, I thought what the hell, lets eliminate that diode thingy and see what happens. I clipped the two little wires coming out of the diode and removed it and then bent the two wires together and soldered them together. I now had both speaker wires feeding straight into the voice coils. I plugged the speaker back in and turned the stereo back on and the sound was MUCH better, much more like what I expected from a late model factory speaker! These speakers are definitely going to be installed with my new dash pad.
I hope this helps anyone who might be looking for a reasonably priced replacement speaker for their E body 3 speaker dash, I think these speakers are an economical solution and fit better that any aftermarket speaker out there.
So, in my quest to find something better, I came across some part #05059062AB used late model Chrysler 3.5 speakers on eBay and bought them. The magnets are considerably smaller than what's out there on the aftermarket 3.5" speakers so I figured that was a plus. The other plus was that the used speakers came with the factory wiring harness plugs, which I spliced into my existing speaker wires. When I got them I found that they bolt right onto the 3 speaker dash grills.
Something that concerned me was that these speakers are rated at 4 Ohms and most aftermarket systems use 8 Ohm speakers. I tried plugging these speakers into the system and they didn't sound very good (kind of tinny). I saw that there was a small diode looking thing (I'm not an electrical guy so that's the best way I know to describe them) on the speakers and one wire feed ran through it.
Being an experimenter, and only having $30 in these speakers, I thought what the hell, lets eliminate that diode thingy and see what happens. I clipped the two little wires coming out of the diode and removed it and then bent the two wires together and soldered them together. I now had both speaker wires feeding straight into the voice coils. I plugged the speaker back in and turned the stereo back on and the sound was MUCH better, much more like what I expected from a late model factory speaker! These speakers are definitely going to be installed with my new dash pad.
I hope this helps anyone who might be looking for a reasonably priced replacement speaker for their E body 3 speaker dash, I think these speakers are an economical solution and fit better that any aftermarket speaker out there.