Potential Human

This article is written assuming the reader has no experience with car audio. I did this because i have no experience with car audio. If the article is too dumbed down, i apologize, but it should be adequately comprehensive as a result.  Also, I didn’t have a camera at the time of this post.  So you’ll have to bear with me.

The first step is choosing replacement speakers.

With this being a pretty cheap car, i chose cheap speakers from the king of cheap: Walmart. While shopping for the speakers, i noticed that walmart offered 2-way, 3-way, and 4-way speakers. Not being familiar with these terms, i asked several of the friendly “associates” in the electronics department to clarify. They each offered nothing more than a slack-jawed bovine stare, followed by a slurred “…duhhidunno.” So i went to the tire center and asked one of the techs who was more than happy to explain it. Each “way,” he explained, refers to a frequency range handled by a separate driver in the speaker. A 2-way speaker will have a large driver for low and mid-range sound, and a tweeter for high frequency sound.

Another thing to note is the form factor. ‘95 subaru sedans come with four 6.5 inch speakers: 1 on each of the front doors, and 2 on the rear deck. I bought two sets of 2 pioneer speakers for a total price of around 80 bucks.

Now let’s get to the nitty gritty…We’ll start with the front speakers.

removing the front door panels:

/*Caveat*/
I cannot overemphasize the need for finesse when removing these parts. It is really easy to damage important pieces, and a real pain in the ass to replace them.
/*End Caveat*/

With a flat-head screwdriver, gently pry the bezel (aka frame, border) out from behind the door latch lever. You will feel it click as the retainer clips are freed from the door panel. Slide the bezel toward the rear of the car and it should come out easily. Next, remove the Phillips screw from the bottom of the interior door handle and remove the plastic cup from the door panel. I used this cup to hold all of my screws while installing the speaker.

When both of these tasks are completed, gently lift the entire panel while pulling it toward you (away from the door) to dislodge the top clips. Wiggle the panel away from the door to dislodge the remaining round plastic clips around the perimeter of the door. Take care not to stress the wiring harness (if equipped) which is attached to the switch panel. The harness is attached to the switch panel via a rectangular plastic clip. Squeeze the sides of this clip while gently wiggling it to pull it apart. This may take some skill.

Once everything is free, remove the door panel completely and set it in a safe place.

You will see that three Phillips screws attach each speaker to a plastic mounting bracket which is attached to the door by three Phillips screws. The speaker wires (blue and white) are connected via a 2 pin plastic clip. Start by disconnecting this clip. Next, remove the mounting bracket, and finally the speaker from the mounting bracket. Put these screws in that cup you pulled out of the door. Now, blast the old speaker with a shotgun and bury all the pieces behind a Starbucks. The world is now a better place without that lo-fi piece of shit.

The speakers I bought came with pigtails which had to be attached to leads on the rear of the driver. The leads were different sizes, so it made it easy to get the order right (attach the colored wire to the colored wire, the white to the white). I chose to splice the pigtails in behind the original clip in order to leave the car-side harness intact. And since I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to this stuff, I left music playing to be sure the wires were connected properly.

There is a slot built in to the speaker side (car interior side) of the mounting bracket to accommodate the speaker wires. Route the wires through this slot before mounting the new speaker into the bracket. A word to the wise: Make sure you mount the speaker *securely* into the bracket or it will rattle once you get the door panel back on. I found this out the hard way and had to do the whole thing twice.

When everything is connected, CAREFULLY replace the door panel so as not to puncture the new speaker. Do this by reversing the steps above. Attach the switch panel to the wiring harness. Bring the panel in from the top and lower it into place. It should line up along the top clips with almost no effort. If you have to press to line it up, then you’re probably about to break something. Take care to make sure it lines up properly, and THEN press the round clips in around the perimeter. Replace the latch lever bezel and handle cup and you’re 25% done.

The process is almost identical on the passenger side except the wiring connector is smaller (fewer connections).

Now the back speakers. These were kind of a bitch given the close proximity of the screws to the back window. But i digress…Take the covers off first. I just pried them out and threw them away, because my new speakers came with their own covers. If you insist on retaining these covers, it means you need to take apart the whole rear deck, which i didn’t do, so I’m not going to explain how. Onward.

The good news is that you can access the back (magnet side) of these speakers through the trunk. This means there is no need to remove the plastic bracket from the rear deck. Start by disconnecting the wires. They are attached via black plastic connectors which I never did figure out how to disconnect, so I just cut them off. I saved the connectors just in case, but they’ll probably just get lost among all the crap in my trunk.

Next, use the stubbiest (shortest) Phillips-head screwdriver you can find to remove the three screws which anchor each speaker to its bracket. Once these screws are removed, it is remarkably difficult to free the stock speakers from their brackets because of the magnet in the driver. Since they are such poor speakers, I felt little remorse after pounding them up with my fist. A hammer or wrench would likely do the trick as well. We like to refer to this as “percussive maintenance” around the shop. In all seriousness, it doesn’t take all that much force, but it will take a good love tap. After the old speakers are freed, construct a sacrificial altar inside an abandoned building and burn them.

Feed the wire harness into the passenger cabin on each side before splicing the pigtails in. Again, i left music playing to insure they were connected properly. Feed the wires back into the trunk and screw the speakers back down to their brackets. Replace the covers and you’re all done!

Hope this was helpful.