I still need some help with the radio! As I stated before, the radio is a mono with two wires for the center dash speaker. After a bit of research I learned that the amp is likely a 4ohm impedance amp. The original AM radio is! So, I connected two 4ohm speakers in series (8ohm impedance) to the radio. I initially had volume but not consistently. Sometimes the volume would perform as expected and other times when turning on the radio very little if any volume. Now, if I turn it up all the way you can just barely hear the music. I assume the amp is blown? Or, a 4ohm amp driving 8ohm speakers will not work as others have indicated. But, I hooked it up to one 4ohm speaker and still no volume. Any ideas? Maybe it is just old!
Assuming you are talking 40 year old radio anything can be wrong(and usually is), but I can promise the problem is not the speakers being in series... Impedance isn't that important at maybe 2w output, the external front/rear fader basically connected either front, both or just rear to set the amount of output on selected speaker(s)...
I would agree the speakers in series shouldn't have caused the failure. Being old, again, probably correct. But, it worked well initially without a hitch (one speaker) and then wiring two speakers in series problems began to emerge! Going back to one speaker didn't correct the problem.
When I first got my car I turned on the radio, it came on and about 30secs later faded into oblivion! I hooked another radio to the original speaker and it worked so don't feel bad! The thing is 39 years old! I've had cd players that lasted 2!
The radios for '73 & up aren't that hard to find as they were a factory option and just about all Ford & Merc models used same/similar radio for the next few years... The early ones are extremely difficult to locate as they were dealer install only(at least the '70)... I've seen a pict of the '71 & '72 AM/FM whether they exist in the wild, well I dunno... From what I could tell those require a unique mount, as the face is shaped differently from the '70 and later radios...
Google " Classic car radios ". There are tons of them! Here's just one example: http://www.classiccarstereos.com/
If you're on a budget look up Pyle brand shaft style stereos. I've seen them as cheap as $25 online...on Amazon I think. Never seen one in person but I've read mixed reviews.
I had planned on welding my antenna hole up and just using an ipod since I didn't have a good factory antenna. I went with a modern style Kenwood with an aux port but since found a nice antenna. Still and aux port is a must these days...at least to me.
Still trying to figure this out Let's see if anyone has some ideas. I have the radio hooked up to the center speaker in the factory configuration. I also have a battery kill switch on the car. If I hook up the radio I can tune in a station no problem. Then turn everything off including the battery. 24 hours later turn the battery back on and still have a working radio. Repeat the process a few days later and the radio doesn't work though if you turn it up all of the way you can just hear the music. Turn the radio off, disconnect the battery, unplug the radio, hook everything up and it works. And, a few days later same problem! Thoughts?
Attaching a 8ohm speaker configuration to a 4ohm stereo is only going to pull half the power from a already weak output. Anyways sound like radio may be going. I would try temporarily replacing it and seeing if problem goes away.
