Speaker Upgrade. What to Get

PDLarson · Post by **PDLarson** » 05 May 2012, 01:14

The connectors that plug into the speakers are labeled with a 1 and 2. 1 is + and 2 is - This is true on the front doors anyway, not sure about the rest. The plug is keyed with a little slot so it can only go in the right way. The side that is keyed is the positive side.

I just replaced my front door speakers with Alpine 4 ohm component speakers, SPS-610C. I had my door panels apart and wanted to get something in before finishing the panels. I grabbed a factory speaker from the JY but it was in worse shape than my bad one. The factory speakers can be removed from the bracket by breaking the tabs off of the back and gently hammering around the bracket. It is glued to the speaker but the brackets do come off in one piece. Then any 6.5 inch speaker can be attached to the bracket. Well, one caveat, I have not put my door panels back on yet but I don't think I'll have a problem fitting them back on. For the speaker I used, the crossover had to be located at the bottom of the bracket or else it would not fit between the door and bracket properly when reattaching the bracket to the door.

PDLarson · Post by **PDLarson** » 08 May 2012, 16:47

I have fitted the front door panels back on and there was no issue with fit. I still hear a little rattling when rockin' the Volvo so maybe some Dynamat should be installed. I am not 100% sure I am satisfied with the speaker upgrade but I destroyed my OEM speakers in the process so no turning back now without a visit to more JYs.

Before:

After:

The door wasn't changed other than the speaker, just different lighting.

PDLarson · Post by **PDLarson** » 08 May 2012, 23:01

I have been working on speakers and keep getting my 4 and 8 ohm mixed up. Now I know why. I keep reading that Volvo uses 8 ohm speakers. Look at the picture below. This is the back of the speaker I pulled from the V70XC pictured above. It clearly says 4ohm. What gives? I do have the 8 speaker system and both of the speakers from the front doors 3533620 and 3533621 both say 4 ohm. The Alpines I installed are 4 ohm. I started looking at 8 ohm 6.5 inch speakers but then looked again at my speakers and yep, 4 ohm. What's up?

I'm very confused

Thames · Post by **Thames** » 04 Jul 2012, 08:50

Im in the same ballpark.

I bought Infinity 6502 for the front doors. I installed only one speaker so far, so I can use the BALANCE knob to hear the tonal difference. Much cleaner/clearer tone. Less bass however....

PDLarson · Post by **PDLarson** » 21 Oct 2012, 09:15

Well I've been running these Alpines for several months now and thought I would report back. At first, I wasn't real pleased with them. I just had to retrain myself, after too many years of turning the bass all or most of the way up and treble about the same, now I just leave them both centered, the balance just a touch toward favoring the rear and I am actually very pleased with the Alpines in the front and the OEM speakers in the rear doors. All of my OEM dash (dont have center) and rear pillar speakers are working quite well. I'm using a SC-901 HU.

I would still like to find a place to install a Kicker Hideaway in my car without loosing the spare tire or the third row seat which I actually use.

blazen244 · Post by **blazen244** » 22 Oct 2012, 21:13

I would go with something like the Alpine or the Infinity's. go with the upgrade pretty much what you would get from Walmart would be equal or less than the factory speakers. You can also change up a few things while you're at it. I deleted the rear door speakers and put Boston Acoustics in the deck(6X9) and Infinity Kappas in the front doors. This lightens the load the radio is handling and also gives more options if you're going to amp them. You can also add a Dyno Mat type wrap for the doors which will improve the sound also. Which ever one you go with try for something that have a tweeter built in or come with one so when you delete the dash tweets you will improve the sound and not take away from it.

blazen244 · Post by **blazen244** » 22 Oct 2012, 21:17

KEWROCK wrote:Hey anybody on this?
I'm looking for a decent set of front door speakers. I got a pair of Scosche 6.5" in Walmart. I did the passenger side, sounded about 80% of the factory speaker still in the driver side. I took it out and put in an Alpine SPE6000. That sounded like complete garbage compared to the factory side. I'm replacing 4ohms with 4ohms, so that's not the problem. I also tried reversing the polarity. What gives? Are the factory speakers *that* good? Should I just get a used Volvo speaker off Ebay?

I really don't want to be bothered with amps and stuff, I went through that stage when I was a kid. I just want equal or slightly better sound. The used Ebay route will just be another old speaker, because Volvo changed them for the 2001 model.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

It shouldn't matter when you're comparing Ohm to Ohm but keep in mind that the tweeter in the dash is also connected in line with the fronts. Disconnect the tweet then see what it sounds llike

blazen244 · Post by **blazen244** » 22 Oct 2012, 21:20

PDLarson wrote:Well I've been running these Alpines for several months now and thought I would report back. At first, I wasn't real pleased with them. I just had to retrain myself, after too many years of turning the bass all or most of the way up and treble about the same, now I just leave them both centered, the balance just a touch toward favoring the rear and I am actually very pleased with the Alpines in the front and the OEM speakers in the rear doors. All of my OEM dash (dont have center) and rear pillar speakers are working quite well. I'm using a SC-901 HU.

I would still like to find a place to install a Kicker Hideaway in my car without loosing the spare tire or the third row seat which I actually use.

Not sure what the rear of the car is made of on the inside I've never been in a wagon but you can install two free-air woofers in the rear one on each side and insulate the inner wall back there and mount the amp on the back of the seat and get a great sound out of it.