One thing that has been bothering me since buying the Subaru is a slightly buzzy front driver’s side speaker. I found a set of replacement speakers at Pick n Pull last time I was there that would do nicely.
Here’s a tip on Pick n Pull speakers: don’t go for the luxury, high-end cars for replacement 6-inch speakers - they all have separate tweeters and subwoofers and generally have all sorts of speakers that might be great, but definitely aren’t the do-all 6-inch speaker that we need. Instead, head to the rusty Honda Civic with skateboarding stickers on it. The teenager that owned that car probably spent a bit of money upgrading his stereo before he blew up the transmission or rolled it into a tree. Those are the ones we want, and they're a steal at $10/pair.
First thing is first, out comes the door card. Subaru made this dead easy - one screw. Just one screw does it, hidden in the door pull area. Out comes the door pull:
The door handle trim is pried out:
And then the whole door card is popped off the plastic snaps that hold it to the door:
Refreshingly easy! Other cars can be much more difficult with hidden screws in odd places and easily-breakable fasteners that were designed to be used once only.
The old speaker comes out with three screws and one electrical connection. Old speaker (left) vs. new speaker (right):
The new speaker has a much bigger magnet and a plastic cone, and sounds much much better. We still need that electrical connector from the old speaker to make it work. Cut, strip, twist, put on heat shrink tubing:
And solder… poorly (it’s still better than the twist & tape technique, anyway):
Then heat up the shrink tube and watch it do its magical shrinking:
And in goes the new speaker! Note that the window is down - when installing new speakers there is a potential for them to interfere with the window when it is rolled down. Starting with the window down lets you know right away if there is a problem with the fit. No problem here.
Reassemble your door and repeat on the other side.
Now… rock out!
All credit goes to Jarrod164 for his great writeup for this procedure!
Here’s a tip on Pick n Pull speakers: don’t go for the luxury, high-end cars for replacement 6-inch speakers - they all have separate tweeters and subwoofers and generally have all sorts of speakers that might be great, but definitely aren’t the do-all 6-inch speaker that we need. Instead, head to the rusty Honda Civic with skateboarding stickers on it. The teenager that owned that car probably spent a bit of money upgrading his stereo before he blew up the transmission or rolled it into a tree. Those are the ones we want, and they're a steal at $10/pair.
First thing is first, out comes the door card. Subaru made this dead easy - one screw. Just one screw does it, hidden in the door pull area. Out comes the door pull:
The door handle trim is pried out:
And then the whole door card is popped off the plastic snaps that hold it to the door:
Refreshingly easy! Other cars can be much more difficult with hidden screws in odd places and easily-breakable fasteners that were designed to be used once only.
The old speaker comes out with three screws and one electrical connection. Old speaker (left) vs. new speaker (right):
The new speaker has a much bigger magnet and a plastic cone, and sounds much much better. We still need that electrical connector from the old speaker to make it work. Cut, strip, twist, put on heat shrink tubing:
And solder… poorly (it’s still better than the twist & tape technique, anyway):
Then heat up the shrink tube and watch it do its magical shrinking:
And in goes the new speaker! Note that the window is down - when installing new speakers there is a potential for them to interfere with the window when it is rolled down. Starting with the window down lets you know right away if there is a problem with the fit. No problem here.
Reassemble your door and repeat on the other side.
Now… rock out!
All credit goes to Jarrod164 for his great writeup for this procedure!
No comments:
Post a Comment