86 Radio JBL to Standard?

[Tiggie]

Traded a friend a newer radio for this one, as he needed the newer one for his 88 LTC.

My friend thought this came from an 86 LTC.

I'd like to use it in a car not equipped with premium sound. Will this work in such an application?

The car in question isn't a Panther, but the 87 Tbird my parents bought new. The original dealer claimed Ford had a radio shortage and shipped the car sans radio. They installed a Blaupunkt unit but it just doesn't look the part, even though it's been in the car since day 1. They botched the wiring too, so I am not worried about plugs matching up.

[gadget73]

Needs an amplifier. On their own they have no power amplifier onboard and will not drive a speaker. They will drive certain 4 channel premium sound amps but not others, a JBL amp of course, or you can modify it to have RCA jacks and feed an aftermarket amp.


reason only some premium sound amps, some of them have a 10 ohm load resistor. It won't drive that. Others have a 1k and it'll do fine with that. I have no idea why some got one and some got the other, or which applications got what without looking it up. A lot of premium sound amps are only 2 channel. It'll drive it but of course you only get front speakers since the rear speaks would have run from the head unit.

[Tiggie]

That was my concern, that it needed an amp. Guess I'll throw it in the stash in case a premium sound car comes into my life and needs a head unit. I really prefer the look of a stock radio.