Last night I replaced the stock Becker with poor sound quality with an inexpensive Blaupunkt CD head unit, 4 X 50 Watts peak. Although I examined the console fader wiring to decipher it, I spliced in entirely behind the old radio. This leaves the fader in-circuit to the rear speakers, non-functional except to fade back the volume to them if wished. It adds no series impedance in the center position.

The new unit is pretty basic, but has bass and treble and a loudness button. The stock speakers actually seem to have some limited bass response now that there is sufficient power to find it, at low to moderate volume levels. I can't say much for their response accuracy, though, so I may eventually replace them with a smoother and more neutral sounding model. Crutchfield lists only a 4" Sony model as a replacement, and I haven't listened to it. Any other recommendations?

P.S. I am only interested in music at low sound levels, but I want good fidelity.

Steve

sbourg,

There are many speaker manufactorers that make 4" speakers for your 4" dash. Companies like Infinity, Boston Acoustics, Polk Audio and I think MB Quart all make pretty good speakers. Replace all 4 speakers and you'll notice a big difference in the way your car sounds.

However, be forewarned. 4" will not give you good bass notes, especially by powering them with a deck.


Hope this helps,
Vu

The rear speakers were beginning to show distress - sound of voice coil bottoming - so I replaced them with a pair of Boston Acoustics FX-4. Excellent performance, and much better bass! Installation was drop-in, other than I soldered on the MB plug from the old speakers. I will replace the fronts too, if they take the same size, since I can't select different bass settings for front and back.

Thanks for the recommendation!

Steve

Well, I pulled a front speaker grille to see what I would find, and it appears the fronts drop out from underneath the dash, somehow - there are no speaker attachments visible from above, the speaker just poked through the round cutout. There IS a bolt-head over to one side, away from the speaker but concealed when the grill is on. I didn't want to loosen it for fear of hardware dropping out of reach, and since it appeared the speaker wasn't coming out that way anyhow.

Does anyone know if these front speakers are the same as the rear? Thanks.

Steve

I just upgraded my speakers this weekend. The front speakers in my 86 are held in with clips. They remove from the top(thankfully). I used a slotted screwdriver and carefully pried up until the clips released. I installed a pair of coaxial Polk audio 4". The tweeter dome grille was removed and they just barely fit under the stock covers. If you are only using single cone speakers, it will be no probelm, simply remove the old speaker, connect the wires to the new speakers and drop in, I secured the speaker with a 3M product that is kind of like caulk, but it remains soft and pliable, and is non staining. I modified the rear deck and put in a pair of Infinity 6.5" and finally have somewhat decent sound. The entire install took about 1.5 hours, including modifing the rear deck. For a little better bass response, I do plan on adding an 8" sub in place of the "first aid kit" and fabricating a new rear deck. If you need any help with the front speaker install, do not hesitate to ask! Good Luck

Thanks for the front speaker tip, 190guy! On close inspection, I found my speakers have clips too, and pop right out. They appear to be identical to the original rear speakers, but with the mounting flanges missing and the clips installed. I think I can install another pair of the Boston Acoustics there, with minimal changes, using the original grills.

Steve

btw, the unit you replaced with an inexpensive Blaupunkt was made by Alpine.

The unit I replaced said 'Becker', everything labled in German except the 'Made in Germany' caption, and had the factory 'anti-theft' circuit that requires re-entering the code every time power is removed - whoever's factory may have assembled it. It was only a two-amp unit with very low volume and somewhat garbled sound. Having been in electronics for many decades, I still couldn't tell for sure if the outputs were faulty or this was a failing in its design.

The Blaupunkt sounds vastly better - wherever it may be made.

Steve