[Rgoatman]

Hi,
I have a '69 GTO with the original am radio and optional rear speaker, so it has the front/rear balance control on the right hand radio knob. Since day one the control has always behaved the opposite of what the bezel says. Turn it to full front, you get full rear speaker. Turn it to full rear, you get full front speaker. The bezel is correct part number. It's not possible to 'mis-connect' the wiring, the pin connectors only fit one way, and it matches schematics. Only thing I can think of is that the wires on the fader were soldered on the wrong pins at the factory. Also noticed that my fader is part number 7308401 and not 7309432 as listed in the GTO Restoration Guide and assembly manual. Maybe they had to use a different division part? I find no reference to a 7308401 GM part. Anyone have a similar experience or insight?

Thank you.

[Scott Thelander]

Revived !

So
Going thru some radio stuff
And
I see there are 2 different fader part numbers
Same knob 9784359
7308401. 1376849
And
7308400 1376833

Can anyone help ID these

7308402. Shows in the book. Is this one of those parts that has a different number on the box than on the item??

I need to pair them up with radios

1 was with a 1969 reverb set up

The other was stored with a 69 am-fm mono

Sold one on a AM radio. A couple years ago
But didn’t bother comparing the faders

Please notice. Wire end angle at the fader
And
The foot or anchor finger changes

Thanks

Scott

[Half-Inch Stud]

I had the AM/FM with Front REAR fader RIGHT Knob. on a Firebird. It Faded correctly. Fader knob was knurled black, and not sure if/how front/rear was labeled.

[OG68]

I've been going through this lately only with a 68 GTO. As Scott mentioned there were at least two different fader switches and it depends upon whether the rear speaker was factory or dealer installed.

Not certain of what speakers each assembly plant used but the '68 Delco Radio manual indicates the following:

Factory Installed:
Front speaker only - One positive terminal, negative speaker output to ground
F & R Speakers -
Front speaker, two terminals, pos and neg, feeding back to switch plugs.
Rear Speaker, one positive terminal, neg to ground.

Dealer Installed: Dealer installation was with the original Factory single terminal speaker if so equipped. A two terminal rear speaker was installed and the fader switch wiring had a white and black wire to the rear. I have seen different versions of this rear harness.

So two different faders were used. The green speaker positive wire could be on one end or the other of the switch, depending upon where the two terminal speaker was located.

[OG68]

And the Reverb used single terminal speakers at both ends.




There seems to be some ambiguity about how each system was wired. The service manual is inconclusive but I imagine it's based upon the Factory install.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Interesting to see 14V rather than 12V. 14V being close to correct while running.

[north]

Never noticed the two versus one wire front speaker in 68’s, definitely wasn’t the case in 69 (except the Firebird 4 speaker system). The mono (AM or AM/FM) radio with integrated rear speaker control came out in 1970 but the bezel (Speaker F-R) was the same as 69. They do all operate seemingly opposite of what they should but I think they were designed that way for some reason since every car I’ve ever come across with them worked that same way.

[OG68]

I wonder if there was a problem at the factories installing the wrong switch or speaker. It seems that this early '68 bulletin was an attempt to address that.

Was there a similar bulletin for 69 models?

[north]

I have a mostly (but not 100%) complete 69 service bulletin binder and there is no mention of fader issues but as mentioned 69’s never used a two wire speaker (except the Chevy spec’d 4 speaker stereo Firebird set up so there is no different speaker model to change to.

[Half-Inch Stud]

...Never seen a 2-wire front&center speaker.