Do rear deck speakers require the oem cradle/bracket?

Posted by Blu_yello_husky@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 12 comments

Recently got a car that didn't come optioned with rear speakers, I'm planning on adding some, but have no idea where to source the cradle for the speakers that would have come on it stock. Do aftermarket speakers even need these? FYI, I'm talking about that metal cradle (usually silver or gold in color) that the speaker sits in and bolts to the rear deck lid. I can't find anything online for this car or any aftermarket ones

Reply to Post

12 Comments

[-]

CardiologistOk6547@reddit

What you need completely depends on what kind of speakers you get. Some use the OEM bracket, some don't. Some need a custom bracket.

[-]

Pup111290@reddit

If your car model had an option for rear speakers you could always try the junkyard. But realistically it's not needed, as long as you have a solid surface to mount to you are good to go

[-]

Blu_yello_husky@reddit (OP)

I've thought about junkyards but tbh I've never seen another one of these in a junkyard, and I've been to all the ones near me, several times

[-]

Pup111290@reddit

You are good to just mount them then. From the factory the rear door speakers on my Suburban are just held on the plastic door panel with little plastic push clips, come to think of it I don't believe any of the 8 speakers in it even have a cradle, so it's possible that yours may not have had a cradle with factory rear speakers either

[-]

Blu_yello_husky@reddit (OP)

I've never seen a car without a cradle for the rears. I just checked all my other cars to see what those look like, they all have a similar design except for my newer car. Speaker sits in the cradle and the cradle mounts to the deck

[-]

Pup111290@reddit

My old Escort didn't have cradles for the rear deck speakers, at least not metal ones. It did have a little foam piece that kinda went around the bottom of the speaker but they were in bad shape when I got the car and I removed them when I replaced the speakers. But the speaker itself just screwed into the rear deck. Honestly don't know about the Cadillac and Caprice I had, never removed the rear deck speakers. The only cradle I remember seeing in any of the cars I have owned was the dash speakers in my old 91 Chevy pickup, but that was a plastic cradle that was a molded part of the dash. Your other option if you want a cradle is to retrofit one from a different vehicle that has the same size rear deck speakers. I can definitely see the benefit of a cradle if you can see the speaker from the trunk, it protects it when you load stuff, but I wouldn't say it's 100% needed

[-]

Chrisaudi27t@reddit

Any newer radio will happily drive four speakers if they're not huge. I'm from the UK so don't have the exact knowledge on your car. Might be worth googling rear speakers for whatever car it is, then you may find some that fit directly or you may need an adapter to make them fit properly.

[-]

Blu_yello_husky@reddit (OP)

Google and "will this fit" filters tend to get pretty inaccurate when you're looking at niche cars from 50 years ago. I can't even be sure if it's supposed to have 5x7 or 6x9 speakers, people on forums can't seem to make up their minds about what size they're supposed to have

[-]

Chrisaudi27t@reddit

You don't need brackets, just a good solid surface to mount the speakers to. Do other models of your car have rear speakers? You might be better getting a small subwoofer if you are wanting more bass. Rear speakers won't add much, as they're just for fill in sounds.

[-]

Blu_yello_husky@reddit (OP)

Other models did, yes. This one wasn't ordered with them evidently. It has the speaker grates on the rear deck, but when you go in the trunk it's just empty holes, and the radio doesn't have a balance/fade adjustment, it's just the one dash speaker. I'm not looking for 2024 sound quality. It's an old car and I dint expect it to sound any different than an old car. I'm just going to install a radio from a slightly newer model so I can get FM radio, and I don't want to blow out the 50 year old crusty dash speaker when I listen to the radio at high volume. I'm running the oe 4 speaker setup on my daily, a 40 year old oldsmobile, and im very happy with the sound quality. That's all I'm looking for with this car

[-]

DudeWhereIsMyDuduk@reddit

Just do what we did in the '90s and get some 6x9s in carpeted boxes with neon around the speaker grilles... /s

[-]

Blu_yello_husky@reddit (OP)

I want my trunk to be a functional space, thanks