I have a 1988 244 with power windows. I have a newer Alpine deck, with just the two front door speakers. I think I killed them when I was driving to the coast about a month ago and turned the stereo up so I could hear it with the sunroof open. Probably my fault. I'm also thinking about adding rear speakers, as I wired it for this when I installed the deck. I found some JL audio speakes that seemed like a pretty good deal, but I'm really not shure if that's the best I could get for my money. Should I rewiere the front speakers while I'm at it? Would I bennifit from adding an amp? If so, what would would I yield? Guy at the stereo shop told me it was a necisity for me. Don't know about that. Just wondering if it's worth the money.

If you're going to be driving with the air noise from the snrf to contend with, you will definitely need both better speakers than the ancient OEM and more of them. You might even wind up with a pair of larger speakers in the rear deck as well as the rear doors.
If you want me to hunt it up for you, I have somewhere a brand new amp which I think was about 70 x 4. I have about $100 in it, but went a different direction on the project and never installed it.
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We have met the enemy and they is us. [Pogo] S70 T5 cop car : Rough Rider tires& suspension, Walmart fog lights, eBay speakers, ambiance by Pall Mall, trim by Le Duc d'Tape, 8-channel THD by OEM amps

Hey, regarding the amp, I have the $180 or so Alpine head unit, the one just before the one that plays MP3 CDs. 4 factory speakers running straight to the head unit sounds pretty good, I think they must be better speakers than the ones that came in older models. Really, the head unit has a built-in amp, so I don't see how you could gain anything unless you get an amp with significantly more power than the built-in amp (I think mine has 20W per speaker).

PS, I had a factory amp, which I took out because it used a weird plug, does anybody know how powerful that amp is? It's a 1990 740 Ti with 4 door speakers.

Thanks, good luck Nick
Richard

Sorry-think I got a couple of blank posts somehow. Anyway, the model number or part number on the amp will tell what is needed to know to say how many watts your factory amp was. Could have been anywhere from 4x15 to 4x40. The amps were interchangeable with upgrades, and all took the "wierd plug"; if yours was a typical 1988-1992 installation, it would have had a harness with 14-pin plugs at each extermity to tie the amp to the head unit and the vehicle harness, plus a round 6-pin din cable to connect the pre-amp outlet on the head unit to the inmput on the amp. If you had an amp with part number 3533004, for example, it would have been 4 x 20, probably mounted up near the steering column
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We have met the enemy and they is us. [Pogo] S70 T5 cop car : Rough Rider tires& suspension, Walmart fog lights, eBay speakers, ambiance by Pall Mall, trim by Le Duc d'Tape, 8-channel THD by OEM amps

20w/channel peak, so my prolly 10w or less RMS. Better than nothing, but not by much. Most headunits these days put around 20w or so RMS across 4 channels.

Pull the grill to see if they are indeed the factory speakers - paper cone, foam surround. If so, then definitely consider upgrading them. They make a much bigger difference than the head unit.

-- Kane ... afterall, it's where the sound eminates from.
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Blossom II - '91 745Ti/M46 ... Bubbles - '74 144GL/BW35 ... Buttercup - '86 245GL/AW70 ... The Wayback Machine - '64 P220/M40

wow i just did a little updating myself to the fronts..i bought the Kenwood 4 inch component kit from Crutchfield...kits was awesome, they sound great, I mounted the tweeters in the door angled towards passengers slightly...went along with my nice Panasonic H/U and amp/sub hidden in back removable flooring..(wagon)

Hey i checked again on crutchfield for those kenwoods, they arent listing them now, i bought them last week ill try to find you a model number...they sent me all i needed to make it work, and they fit great with ,my electric windows...can take pics and emailin if you want

robert

Stock front speakers? They were weak to begin with, so it's not a suprise they're worse now. Even many no-name brand speakers are better than the stock ones.

The stock wires are pretty light gauge. They'll work, but they're not optimal.

Adding rear speakers are good - more speakers, more sound. :)

You can almost always benefit from an auxillary amp, but if you're not cranking it that loud, such is not necessary. It will depend on the speakers you purchase and their efficiency. Do note you have limited depth in the front doors too, so choose carefully.

-- Kane
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Blossom II - '91 745Ti/M46 ... Bubbles - '74 144GL/BW35 ... Buttercup - '86 245GL/AW70 ... The Wayback Machine - '64 P220/M40

You can go with a mild amp to power the rear speakers and let the head unit power the fronts. I did that with an 84 Mustang GT I had in high school. It was JVC all around. In the early 90s, JVC produced an amp/EQ unit good for 50w which I mounted under the dash below the glovebox. The extra power made for a rich, full sound.

In fact I used that system in three cars altogether. I put the stock system back in the Mustang when I sold it, and moved the JVC to an 84 Monte Carlo until I was hit in it (a hit and run - someone blew a stop sign and then drove off!). I pulled it out of that car and put it in my wife's 92 Plymouth Sundance until it was totaled in yet another accident. Needless to say, I got my money's worth out of that system.

Sorry for the digression. Upon further reflection, today's head units are more powerful, so if you get an amp, you may wind up using it to power a small subwoofer, and let the head unit power the speakers in the stock locations.

My current Volvo's audio system is all stock and the head unit has a tape stuck in it. :-( I drive 100 miles round trip each day with respect to my commute, so a new system is becoming increasingly important. I am thinking of going all Blaupunkt this fall, as there is a Blaupunkt factory service center/outlet store in Bensenville, IL that has competitive pricing. I will likely wind up buying a head unit, four speakers, the smallest amp Blaupunkt makes, and a single 10" subwoofer.

Wish you well!

Kevin

92 Volvo 240 140k miles
97 Chevy Astro 124k miles