Truck Radio Options? Looking for suggestions!

[zieg85]

Original factory speakers are 16 ohm I believe.

[frotosride]

They may be and that would make more sense because the factory amp in the radio isn't stable below 4ohms

[roundhouse]

Explain please?

How do I tell what ohms my speakers are etc ?

[frotosride]

I guess the easiest way to put this is to think of ohms as a valve the higher the ohms the less flow(more resistance) and like wise the lower the ohms the more flow(less resistance).  How this applies to redios/amplifiers. The amplifier be it a stand alone or one inside a radio/head unit is specifically designed to putout a specific amount of wattage base on the resistance of the speakers you are powering. When you lower the resistance the amplifier will be like heck yes I can push harder...and it will push its self beyond its intended output and burn the reisstors an possible catch fire. Most speakers are labeled on the back of the magnet. If there isn't a label you can simply use a multimeter to check ohms by placing it on the ohms symbol and connecting to +/- terminals. The ohms viewed by the miltimete will Bea little off but know that speakers are typically onlymade in 4,8,16ohms.
 Hope this helps a little

[78BIG-TEN]

A lot of the older GM speakers were tagged 10 ohms

[roundhouse]

these are the ones in the dash

[roundhouse]

and this

[frotosride]

Well at least you got good quality. Mbquarts has good clarity. These are 4 ohmspeakers with a nominal input of 30-80 watts. They will not sound the greatest with the factory radio mainly due to the low wattage output of the factory radio. If you hook up an amp you will enjoy them a lot more. The crossovers are post amp so they would be wired as close to the speakers as you can.

[roundhouse]

Well at least you got good quality. Mbquarts has good clarity. These are 4 ohmspeakers with a nominal input of 30-80 watts. They will not sound the greatest with the factory radio mainly due to the low wattage output of the factory radio. If you hook up an amp you will enjoy them a lot more. The crossovers are post amp so they would be wired as close to the speakers as you can.

We're planning on an amp.  We have a couple laying around

Also have the matching 5" mb quarts with separate tweeters and crossovers for the kick panels
Since they already have holes hacked in them

Get some 6x9s in the cab corners
Maybe a sub under the seat

[roundhouse]

When i wire up the amp. Using the stock factory radio Do I need a line output  converter ?

[frotosride]

It depends on the amp. Most older amps and especially cheaper ones allow you to wire the speaker outputs to the amp. You can tell your amp has this feature if it has a pig tail connector with the wires protruding from it. Other wise for the best sound quality and least feed back from the electrical system you will need one. Just make sure that you hook up the ground for the auxiliary adapter and don't join it to any other grounds.

[IdahoMan]

How do the new production of radios compare to the OEM radios?

I believe my radio is OEM and I really like it. You can turn the tuning knob and it perfectly and crisply moves to each radio channel. Occasionally it will be

[frotosride]

If all you want is to listen to the radio you may not notice a difference. However the factory radio is designed to only put out specific frequencies designed for the factory speakers when you amplify it you will surely notice a lot of feedback but it's true my up to how good sound quality you want