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i purchased an original am/fm radio (not stereo) for my 73....and pulled out this cluster after market piece of crap! most of the wiring is in tact on the new radio, i have the power supply from the car plugged into it, and there is a bundle of wires that come out of the back of the radio..most of those wire go to the convector/amp thing (what is that exactly?) anyway, i'm left with three loose wires for speakers i presume....two black ones and a green i believe. does anyone know the correct way to configure the speakers from here? one black one seems to be a common ground, and i can get the radio to work when using it along with one of the other wires...problem is when i hook up the other speaker with the common ground and the remaining wire, i lose volume and "fullness" of sound? what am i doing wrong? do i even need this convector thingie? i changed the speakers out to an upgraded version that i purchased from corvette central...thanks, any help would be appreciated, rick
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Re: C3 radio question...anyone?
Rick------
You DEFINITELY NEED the "convector". It is a component of the radio which is externally mounted in a Corvette for "packaging" reasons (if it were included as part of the radio chassis as it is in most period radios, it wouldn't fit in the Corvette dash). You must use it for the radio to function.
All of the wires involved are shown in the AIM wiring diagram and the AIM UPC U-69 section. The wiring diagram is also found in your factory Chassis Service Manual. The wiring diagram is absolutely the best way to figure out what wires go where. The colors, origins, and terminations of the wires are all shown.
The speakers for your radio MUST be 10 OHM impedence for the stock radio to work correctly and not be damaged. Usually, you can get away with 8 OHM speakers, but you absolutely CANNOT use 4 OHM speakers with a stock-type radio.In Appreciation of John Hinckley -
Re: C3 radio question...anyone?
thanks for the info joe! i just looked back in the corvette central catalog for a description of the speakers that i bought....30watts 4 ohms. "perfect replacement speakers for 68-76 corvette 2 speaker sound systems" WHY would they sell these 4 ohm speakers for stock replacements? are you saying that i definately should not use these??? rickComment
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Re: C3 radio question...anyone?
Rick-----
Yes, you DEFINITELY should not use these with a STOCK radio. If you had an aftermarket stereo they would be perfect----most aftermarket stereos are designed for use with 4 OHM speakers and many are dual-rated for either4 or 8 ohm. However, the stock factory Corvette radios require 10 OHM (although, as I say, 8 OHM will work ok). If you look at the radio chassis carefully, you will find it either stamped on the chassis or on a paper tag (if it hasn't fallen off) that 10 OHM speakers are REQUIRED to prevent damage to the radio.
I can tell you, for certain, that 4 OHM speakers will sound absolutely TERRIBLE with a stock radio. Plus, if one uses them for very long, they'll ruin the radio. There's not too much danger of that happening, though. The sound is so bad with them that you'd never listen to them for very long.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
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Re: C3 radio question...anyone?
thanks, and i can vouch for the sound, they sound awful! that must be the problem....i'm glad i didn't put it all back together yet! rickComment
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