Door Speaker Brackets - 96 Grand Prix

[quakerj]

I'm replacing the speakers in my '96 Grand Prix which has the upgraded 8 speaker sound system.  The door speakers (5-1/4") have a separate tweeter so that makes up 4 speakers; did the rears come with a separate tweeter as well (I can't tell as mine are aftermarket), or are there another 2 speakers hanging out somewhere?

Also my car is missing the left (drivers) speaker bracket (large plastic piece the speaker mounts to), there is currently no speaker in that location at all and no way to mount one without that bracket.  I'd like to pick one up at the junkyard but they have no Grand Prix around my year, just '97+ models.  Does anyone know if all W-Body cars of this vintage got that speaker bracket?  I know there's a few mid 90's Cutlass Supremes and other models at the junkyard, just wondering if these might have the same speaker setup mine does.  Or perhaps there's aftermarket brackets available?  Any help would be appreciated.

[jiggity76]

The part #'s are different for a 96 Cutlass Supreme sedan and a 96 Grand Prix sedan so I don't think they share the same speaker bracket. 

Do you have a 96 Grand Prix sedan?

[jiggity76]

Also, from factory, I believe the sedans should have a 6 speaker system like my 96 CS sedan.  Two speakers in each front door and the two in the rear parcel shelf.  None in the rear doors.

Edited June 18, 2020 by jiggity76

[quakerj]

I have an SE coupe.  Do you have a part number for the bracket in the driver's door?  That might help me locate one.

[jiggity76]

If you go to GMPartsGiant.com, you can look up the part number for them.  I didn't see any NOS ones available so a parts car or junkyard might be your best option.

My door speaker on my 91 Cutlass was missing completely.  I have a parts car that luckily had it.  I've been thru what your dealing with now.

[Amanita]

On 6/17/2020 at 9:32 PM, quakerj said:

I'm replacing the speakers in my '96 Grand Prix which has the upgraded 8 speaker sound system.  The door speakers (5-1/4") have a separate tweeter so that makes up 4 speakers; did the rears come with a separate tweeter as well (I can't tell as mine are aftermarket), or are there another 2 speakers hanging out somewhere?

Also my car is missing the left (drivers) speaker bracket (large plastic piece the speaker mounts to), there is currently no speaker in that location at all and no way to mount one without that bracket.  I'd like to pick one up at the junkyard but they have no Grand Prix around my year, just '97+ models.  Does anyone know if all W-Body cars of this vintage got that speaker bracket?  I know there's a few mid 90's Cutlass Supremes and other models at the junkyard, just wondering if these might have the same speaker setup mine does.  Or perhaps there's aftermarket brackets available?  Any help would be appreciated.

You've got dual coil rear speakers. Instead of there being two physical speakers each speaker has two plugs. You're going to specifically get dual coil speakers like these if you want to replace them, I had to do this over the summer with mine.
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-ZUqrU8EbZqD/p_068R69N/RetroSound-R-69N.html

[bluecalais79]

On 6/19/2020 at 12:14 AM, Amanita said:

You've got dual coil rear speakers. Instead of there being two physical speakers each speaker has two plugs. You're going to specifically get dual coil speakers like these if you want to replace them, I had to do this over the summer with mine.
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-ZUqrU8EbZqD/p_068R69N/RetroSound-R-69N.html

And these are great speakers, I'm going to get another set so I can install them in my 1996 CS

[quakerj]

I don't quite see the point in replacing the factory dual voice coil rear speakers with the same... Are there two separate speaker cones in each speaker, or are they simply dual voice coil like one would find on a subwoofer?  Because if it's the latter, the only advantage to having DVC is installation flexibility-- you can wire them for two different impedances, which is a moot point as most any aftermarket (and nearly all factory) car stereo wants to see a 4 ohm load.  So in that case, any car speaker will do the trick, not just these expensive DVC woofers.  But if there's two cones in each factory speaker, I still don't get the purpose-- you have stereo sound anyways because there's two speakers on the rear shelf.

The speaker you linked to (on Crutchfield) is intended for older cars equipped with monophonic sound systems (i.e only one speaker front and/or back).  It allows you to hook a left and right channel to the same speaker in order to create a 2-channel stereo effect from a modern head unit, all out of one speaker.  That's why there's two tweeters (left and right), and the signals are combined at the woofer, which is obviously only one channel since there's only one cone.  It's also super low profile (which involves compromises in sound quality / output) to fit in the tight spaces that were typical in those very old cars.

I'm perplexed why one would choose that $89.00 speaker, when its main advantage (the ability to recreate a stereo sound from one speaker location) doesn't apply to our cars.

I'm curious why GM did it this way. If I had to guess is that GM used two voice coils @ 4 ohm so they could increase the total power just by sending two channels to it, instead of having to design a higher power amplifier. I'm just guessing here since the PO removed the stock head unit and factory speakers before I got it.  Since I'm not using the factory head unit /amp, I'm just going to buy a regular single voice coil car speaker (where I have dozens of options) instead of limiting my choices to the couple rare DVC speakers that are available.

I haven't had any luck at all yet in finding the drivers door plastic speaker bracket.  I have a feeling I'm going to have to fabricate something.  I have a couple ideas that might work but it's going to be time consuming.

 

 

[jiggity76]

32 minutes ago, quakerj said:

I don't quite see the point in replacing the factory dual voice coil rear speakers with the same... Are there two separate speaker cones in each speaker, or are they simply dual voice coil like one would find on a subwoofer?  Because if it's the latter, the only advantage to having DVC is installation flexibility-- you can wire them for two different impedances, which is a moot point as most any aftermarket (and nearly all factory) car stereo wants to see a 4 ohm load.  So in that case, any car speaker will do the trick, not just these expensive DVC woofers.  But if there's two cones in each factory speaker, I still don't get the purpose-- you have stereo sound anyways because there's two speakers on the rear shelf.

The speaker you linked to (on Crutchfield) is intended for older cars equipped with monophonic sound systems (i.e only one speaker front and/or back).  It allows you to hook a left and right channel to the same speaker in order to create a 2-channel stereo effect from a modern head unit, all out of one speaker.  That's why there's two tweeters (left and right), and the signals are combined at the woofer, which is obviously only one channel since there's only one cone.  It's also super low profile (which involves compromises in sound quality / output) to fit in the tight spaces that were typical in those very old cars.

I'm perplexed why one would choose that $89.00 speaker, when its main advantage (the ability to recreate a stereo sound from one speaker location) doesn't apply to our cars.

I'm curious why GM did it this way. If I had to guess is that GM used two voice coils @ 4 ohm so they could increase the total power just by sending two channels to it, instead of having to design a higher power amplifier. I'm just guessing here since the PO removed the stock head unit and factory speakers before I got it.  Since I'm not using the factory head unit /amp, I'm just going to buy a regular single voice coil car speaker (where I have dozens of options) instead of limiting my choices to the couple rare DVC speakers that are available.

I haven't had any luck at all yet in finding the drivers door plastic speaker bracket.  I have a feeling I'm going to have to fabricate something.  I have a couple ideas that might work but it's going to be time consuming.

 

 

I just PM'd ya.

[RPE1992GPSE]

The rear speakers have one coil for low frequencies and one coil for high frequencies.  They're simply DVC coaxial speakers.