84Red

I know I am getting ahead of myself but I just gotta know...

My truck has the top tier mechanical radio, will add a pic of it tomorrow, 2 ***** (not shaft *****) and the cassete player. I have what I am guessing is the original speakers in the doors and the dash was cracked where the middle speaker would have been so he cut it out and made a wooden cover. I want to keep the original radio, but have upgraded speakers in the doors and either a 3rd speaker in the dash spot and a subwoofer behind the seat, or have a smaller subwoofer in the dash spot. I dont know for sure, but it seems the door speakers are an easy swap, but how would I wire in the sub and other speaker? I found a wire diagram that shows the wiring to the door speakers and the colors of them but nothing about anything else.

Braggs

Modern head units usually have a low power output that is used for the sub (RCA plugs). You can tie into any of the regular speaker wires, but when you plug them into your amp, you'll need to make sure it's plugged into the high-level inputs (sometimes called speaker level inputs).

84Red

Ok. You know more about speakers than i do haha. So what do i need as of now to get some better sound? For now I was just thinking door speakers. Found some nice alpines 6.5" on amazon for $30 normally 75 for a pair.

Braggs

Yeah, some new door speakers is probably the best first step. I need new ones myself since only the driver's side works. The dash speaker is relatively easy to get to also (just a few screws to remove the dash pad). I'd measure the ones that are there before you buy, just to make sure you're not going to have to cut metal.

Later a new head unit might be advisable if you don't have cassette tapes laying around and want to listen to something besides AM baseball (har har, I know it has FM too). Of course you'll have to get a head unit mounting adapter (usually available at walmart, etc).

Braggs

Without getting too much into the techincal mumbo jumbo, speakers work better when one side is enclosed. This means solid mounting, good window seals, and a replacement door diaphragm (the old trucks had a sheet of tar paper between the door panel and the door). I used some 5 mil black plastic on mine sealed with some silicone I had lying around. It keeps the road and wind noise down too. Of course some insulation or sound barrier (like dynamat) inside the door will help hold the sound into the vehicle and keep the outside noise out too, but that's really optional how far you want to go.

84Red

Sounds good, and I like the original head radio because I have a cassette adaptor. It looks like a normal cassette but has an auxillary cord that plugs into a headphone jack so you can play music off a phone or ipod. Pretty cheap online around $20 and well worth it imo