Delco 16009960 and aftermarket speakers

[HunterRotten]

I've done a fair bit of googling and forum searching and I'm just really confusing myself. There is a lot of contradicting information going on. I'm getting waaaay ahead of myself by researching this now but I'd like to have it figured out so when the time comes its not stressful and or confusing.

I was given a Delco 16009960 AM/FM radio that is out of an early 80's blazer. (That's what I was told anyway.) It was part of a deal I made when purchasing my big block along with a sliding rear window.

I'm glad I got this radio as it saves me the money I'd have to put down later on a retrosound system. I know the retrosound is arguably better but what's better than saving money??

Anyways, I have a set of the 6x9 speaker brackets I bought off of the classifieds section. They're really nice and actually they're at the body shop getting painted with the rest of my cab.

The trouble I'm having is ohms. From what I could gather this stock Delco radio wants 8-10 ohm speakers. I've found some that would work but I'm kind of scared of them being garbage. How do I get it to run some 4 ohm 6x9 alpines or something? I don't want to kill the thing. I also want to use two 4" speakers in the stock under dash location. (1978)


Thanks.

[James the III]

Originally Posted by HunterRotten

I've done a fair bit of googling and forum searching and I'm just really confusing myself. There is a lot of contradicting information going on. I'm getting waaaay ahead of myself by researching this now but I'd like to have it figured out so when the time comes its not stressful and or confusing.

I was given a Delco 16009960 AM/FM radio that is out of an early 80's blazer. (That's what I was told anyway.) It was part of a deal I made when purchasing my big block along with a sliding rear window.

I'm glad I got this radio as it saves me the money I'd have to put down later on a retrosound system. I know the retrosound is arguably better but what's better than saving money??

Anyways, I have a set of the 6x9 speaker brackets I bought off of the classifieds section. They're really nice and actually they're at the body shop getting painted with the rest of my cab.

The trouble I'm having is ohms. From what I could gather this stock Delco radio wants 8-10 ohm speakers. I've found some that would work but I'm kind of scared of them being garbage. How do I get it to run some 4 ohm 6x9 alpines or something? I don't want to kill the thing. I also want to use two 4" speakers in the stock under dash location. (1978)


Thanks.

You won't harm it really.. as many have replaces factory speakers for aftermarket 4 ohm..
IIRC the delco radios are 2 amp radios.. (front left and rear right share that one amp chip) so 10 ohm with 2 speakers hooked up comes in at 5 ohm load..

if this is the case you can wire the pair (l/f l/r & r/r,r/f ) with the fronts reversed polarity (- wire on the + post ) this will give you 4 ohm load..

Then when you get the newer head unit.. wire it - to - and + to + like normal

You can also get 8 ohm drivers if you want here..
http://www.parts-express.com/

but then what ever radio you install later.. that list the watts in 4 ohm will be cut in half with 8 ohm drivers..


note the photo's are only there to show how the ohm load works with 2 drivers on one ampchannel /chip , you would not be wiring it this way..
you'd be wiring the right &left rear(4 wires) as + wire to + speaker lug and the front left and right(4 wires) - wire to + speaker lug ad +wire to - speaker lug..
and you have to run the -&+ wire from radio to speaker.. no using the truck body as the speaker -.. like many older radios did..

[HunterRotten]

Thanks for the information and it makes sense but how would wiring it like that affect the quality of sound? I know I shouldn't expect much from a stock HU but I'm curious.

Is there a way I can just use the headunit as just that and run an amplifier? What kind of amp would work with the stock HU or how do I make it work?

I'm doing this build with my dad and I'm learning from him but he is entirely clueless with audio and I am as well so this is a learning experience for us both.

[James the III]

Originally Posted by HunterRotten

Thanks for the information and it makes sense but how would wiring it like that affect the quality of sound? I know I shouldn't expect much from a stock HU but I'm curious.

Is there a way I can just use the headunit as just that and run an amplifier? What kind of amp would work with the stock HU or how do I make it work?

I'm doing this build with my dad and I'm learning from him but he is entirely clueless with audio and I am as well so this is a learning experience for us both.

Many g.m. cars/trucks owners replaced the speakers with aftermarket ones. with 4 ohms..
and the radios worked fine.. I'm sure if you had it blasting at close to full volume, for long periods ,it most likely over heat the amp chips..
So ,you can just run it..

Any amp with speaker level inputs will work with it if you go down that road..
if you want to use that same amp with the new head unit down the road..
get one with line level(rca) and speaker level inputs.