Chevy & GMC Vans

I'm new here just took the van of my grand dads hands and I want to replace the old speakers thoughout...And I noticed that there is a spot on the upper door for another speaker...I know it was part of the premium sound and just want to add that extra speaker to my van. Thanks

What else are you doing to it? Nothing will drop right in, but you can make some aftermarket equipment fit in there. I have a component front speaker set and I cut out those plates to put my tweeters there. The reason I ask what else is being done is b/c the original radio barely has the power to drive the lower speakers, and adding more would probably not help much.. may even do more harm than good. If you are going to put in any more speakers, especially a component set, you really should have an amp.. The other problem I have found (and it may not matter if you dont really pay attention to the sound quality much) that those point downward slightly and it really throws off the imaging up front.. I am (eventually) going to mak some fiberglass inserts that reangle the tweeter to a more level position. I found if I cup my hand below it to redirect the sound up to my ear more it makes a HUGE difference.

As for your options in there besides a tweeter, the smallest aftermarket coax speakers are generally a 3.5" or a 4'. Either one could probably be made to fit, but you will be cutting the door panel out a bit and using the grill that comes with the speaker, so make sure you choose a pair that comes with grills! Your main issue will be depth.. There is not much cutting on the actual door behind the panel that can really be done. You should be able to pull that piece off with out removing the whole panel so you can see what I mean..

Also, I have never come across a van with speakers there.. I am not too sure if that was an optional speaker location or if it was where the non powered window cranks would be.. anyone have a van with something there other than the blanks?

I used Crutchfield to determine what would fit.
My Pioneer speakers fit with no alterations. I think they were 6".

Edit: I didn't realize you were talking about the pillar speakers

Use this link:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-uzU81ORuN5 ... 2Easpx&sl=

The stock HU is out there's a Dual headunit my cousin put in there atm. And I've seen only a few with the speaker it was normally like loaded Astros and Safaris. I might just stick with putting speakers in the lower doors and in the rear for right now, until i get a better headunit.

i'll get some pics of how i did mine with infinity 3.5" speakers

cd0156 wrote:Also, I have never come across a van with speakers there.. I am not too sure if that was an optional speaker location or if it was where the non powered window cranks would be.. anyone have a van with something there other than the blanks?

My wife's '98 has two speakers in each door. I've never seen OEM pillar speakers in an Astro/Safari though as the Crutchfield site indicates. Anyone out there have some? That would be nice to have...

9dawgs wrote:My wife's '98 has two speakers in each door. I've never seen OEM pillar speakers in an Astro/Safari though as the Crutchfield site indicates. Anyone out there have some? That would be nice to have...

The pillar speakers are for the pillars next to the back doors. I'm pretty sure every one of my window vans had speakers there, only one I don't recall for sure is my 1986.

Had them in both my '90 and '99

My Astro has them - they are still the stock ones at the moment. My understanding is that they are 4 x 6 speakers but a shallow depth, and IF you have rear A/C even shallower as they hit something back there. I am talking about the speakers in the rear pillars next to the hatch door. I left the stock speakers and have them running off my rear channel in the aftermarket JVC headunit I installed, I installed 6 x 9's in the bottom rear doors inplace of the stock 6.5", ran them off a new amp I installed, and added a speaker plug where I can add a sub, off the bridged output of the same amp that powers the 6 x 9's. So I have the amp running of the rear RCA outputs of the deck. The front I replaced the stock 6.5" with a decent aftermarket set. That's all I did, system pounds when I have the sub in, and is decent with just the 6 x 9's and upgraded speakers. I know I took some photo's in a previous thread, just do a search if you want more info, lots of stereo upgrades in here.

ihatemybike wrote:The pillar speakers are for the pillars next to the back doors. I'm pretty sure every one of my window vans had speakers there, only one I don't recall for sure is my 1986.

Oh, well I have them too. I thought you were talking about the front pillars on either side of the windshield. My bad....

My '99 Landrover Discovery has pillar speakers in the front and they sound great.