<VV> 30 watt or 80 watt replacement speakers

[craig nicol]

I am going to replace the stock speaker in my '65 sedan (without a/c) and
have read as much about it as I could find.  The consensus seems to be that
the two small speaker setup as offered by one of the vendors has a good
sound and is 
probably what I will buy.  My question is this:  with a stock a.m. radio
(and fm converter) will the 30 watt version be sufficient or should I reach
really deep in the piggy bank for the 80 watt?   I don't plan on blasting
the radio or on trying to break all the spot welds in the car with it.Does
anyone have the 30 watt version installed that can make a recommendation?
Or recommend another 
speaker?Jim 

Craig replies:
You might want to rethink your conclusion... The stock radio has one
amplifier, meaning it has one speaker output and the stock amplifier is
designed for a 10-ohm speaker.  The best sound will come from a large single
8-10 ohm speaker (rather than one or two small speakers) - it's a function
of speaker cone area.  The original 6x9 speaker has a cone area of 42 square
inches vs 12 square inches for a 4" round (or 24 for two 4" rounds).  You
will get far better sound with a rebuilt stock speaker, especially when it
comes to bass response. 

You might be able to crank-up the radio to get it loud enough with the 2x4"
speaker system, but you will be in the upper range of the amplifier's
capability and distortion will be noticeable. 

So, for better sound (good bass and low distortion) I recommend going with a
rebuilt, 10-ohm, factory speaker.

As to your 30-watt vs. 80 watt question: speaker efficiency (sound volume
per watt of amp output) goes down when the speaker is built "heavy-duty" for
bigger amplifiers. Lower efficiency requires you crank up the radio for a
given sound. Since stock radios have very small amplifiers, the bigger the
speaker's watt capacity, the more distortion you will hear from a stock
radio. 

C. Nicol, former OEM audio engineer
(P.S. this is my first post on VV in YEARS!)