For blazers with factory speakers in front doors, how to wire dash speaker?

[fordsucks!]

Hey all,

1980 blazer here with factory 4x6 speakers in the front door panels. There are tiny holes in the center of dash as if for a speaker but no sound coming from there. Head unit is an aftermarket Sony tape player from the 90s, made to fit the k5... I'm wondering if anyone is familiar with these, is there a fifth speaker in the dash or was the dash speaker omitted in models with door speakers?

I have yet to take off my Dash and take a look, was wondering if you guys can give some insight before I start digging. Thanks

 

[dyeager535]

I didnt think door speakers were ever factory. But those look to be the same color as the arm pad, so...?

On the later trucks, that center speaker was not used with a multi speaker system.

 

[fordsucks!]

I didnt think door speakers were ever factory. But those look to be the same color as the arm pad, so...?

On the later trucks, that center speaker was not used with a multi speaker system.

Thanks. The speakers were a factory option for 79-80 only. I just replaced the speakers yesterday and it was all factory GM harness. I could not find any wires going up to a center speaker, nor does it make sense to have a 5th speaker so I'm assuming that my Dash is empty.

Thanks for response. If I get around to replacing my Dash I'll let y'all know if there's actually an unused 5th speaker in there, haha

 

[dyeager535]

Yep, just found that info too! Very cool. I need to look at the door shell, it would be interesting to know if all the doors had that piece of metal stamped out. I'm suspecting yes.

All the trucks I've seen with two speakers in the dash just had an empty hole in the middle where the larger speaker would go. I want to say that center-only speaker was used strictly with the AM-only head unit. I never researched it, I just don't remember seeing any higher end radios (lol higher ned, analog until what, 1988?) using that center speaker.

 

[Blue85]

I've heard that the center speaker was used sometimes with factory CB. For those who don't know, there was a factory head unit with a CB radio built in that cut from FM to CB with the squelch function. There may have also been a CB only.

Other than that I don't think any 80's truck had anything in that center slot. You would think aftermarket dash pads would just cover it up.

There are a couple types of speakers designed to get stereo from a 4x10 slot. One is a dual-voice-coil 4x10 speaker with dual tweeters. The other is 2 3.5" speakers on a 4x10 plate. I don't know if either would help a system with 4x6 speakers in the doors. I would like to hear this 4x6 setup, as it must be better than the 3.5s.

I started a thread in the audio forum about using 3 speakers up front in a R-L-R configuration. I did some experiments, but ended up back at 2 speakers.

I once had a 4x10 in the middle crossed over to only play bass. I thought it would help the tiny 3.5" dash speakers in a scenario of sleeping kids in the back and fade full front. It did help a little, but is rather complicated for the limited use.

 

[diesel4me]

I had a AM/FM/CB factory stereo in one truck ,I found it at a salvage yard in a late 70's GMC High Sierra..also got another one from a Caddy about the same vintage,that one had a separate CB unit that went under the dash rather than being integral with the radio..

Both those units played thru 4 speakers,two fronts and two rears..the squelch feature allowed you to listen to the radio,but let CB transmissions be heard when strong enough to over-ride the squelch,the sound came out of all the speakers...

In general oval speakers sound better than round ones,they usually have more bass too...

I want to agree with the thought the center speaker in the dash was only used with AM only stock radios,I do not recall GM having a mono AM/FM radio in their trucks in that era,it was either AM only or AM/FM stereo,with or without a cassette player..

 

[dyeager535]

Lots of assumptions here on my part, but I want to think that ANY CB option was pretty much a top-tier sound package at that time. I've got a few of these (all but one digital display, all pulled from higher end cars when they were still in the wrecking yards). Since I didn't pull any from the trucks, I have no idea what the trucks with CB were optioned like, but IIRC, no trucks even had a digital display radio until the late 80's...I could be wrong, the digital display radios (with CB) all fit in the existing truck radio opening.

As a matter of fact, it's what I'm running now, just haven't bothered to hook the CB up.

 

[diesel4me]

Both of the AM/FMCB's I had were digital readout..can't swear the one I pulled from the truck was the original one either,but it appeared to be..

I still have the external CB part and the mike off the Caddy one I think--a member bought the other radio off me about a year or so ago,not sure if he ever used it..

 

[shady]

My rumble Bee has those door speakers.. I just assumed they were a J.C. Whitney deal or something. I wouldn't have thought they were factory. Cool.

I did an 83 single cab a long time ago with the 3.5s in the corners hooked up normal L/R . Then made a plate for the center with another pair of 3.5s hooked up R/L. Then a pair of 6x9s behind the seat. It did fill out the front sound. But you really couldn't do any L/R balancing because of the setup

 

[Blue85]

I had a AM/FM/CB factory stereo in one truck ,I found it at a salvage yard in a late 70's GMC High Sierra..also got another one from a Caddy about the same vintage,that one had a separate CB unit that went under the dash rather than being integral with the radio..

Both those units played thru 4 speakers,two fronts and two rears..the squelch feature allowed you to listen to the radio,but let CB transmissions be heard when strong enough to over-ride the squelch,the sound came out of all the speakers...

In general oval speakers sound better than round ones,they usually have more bass too...

That's what I was talking about with the squelch feature. Seems like the coolest thing about those units. I'm sure performance wasn't optimal with one antenna for both radios and a splitter, but I remember it working pretty decent when I was a kid and having an extra antenna may have deterred some customers. The hardcore CB users would have put in all aftermarket stuff, but the integrated factory setup was great for occasional use.

All else being equal round speakers sound better than oval, but in this range of speakers cone area is the dominant factor in low end response and the oval speakers are just bigger. A 4x10 has 3x the cone area of a 3.5". A 4x6 is about twice as big as a 3.5.