Rear Deck Speakers

Circuit City doesn't specialize in car audio, they're a discount electronics and A/V department store. I wouldn't let them touch a car.

Were those prices for the speakers only, or including labor? (I'm guessing including labor...)

Check with the dealer and see what the speaker alone costs. Replacing a deck speaker is pretty trivial; you should be able to do it yourself. The speakers are usually mounted with four screws or nuts and have spade terminals on the wire--they just pull off the old one and push on the new one. Be sure to get the wires oriented the same; if you hook them up backwards your stereo will sound funny.

Or find a store that actually specializes in car audio and get a quote from them--should be a much better price than the dealer and far better quality than Circuit City.

As a last resort, pull the blown speaker and see if Radio Shack has an equivalent part--then buy two so they'll match. RS quality is slightly better than Circuit City.

Gary

If you can't install the speakers yourself (pretty simple if you have basic hand tools) try a car stereo shop, they can probably give you a better deal.

Prices mentioned above are including labor. The single speaker from the dealer is $230. After reading your post, I'm positive I could replace it myself, so that would save some money...I should look into that.

I really don't want to get any sort of aftermarket speakers (from Circuit City, car stereo shop, etc.) because then I would have to replace my head unit -- I was told at an independent car shop that no speakers would work with my head unit. This would also mean that I would have to replace all other speakers, because none of my speakers would work with the new unit. I thought this was just their way of cheating me into buying more, but two other shops said the same thing, so I'm pretty sure they're honest.

I found a set of speakers from a 1994 940 turbo on eBay currently at $39.99, does anyone know if they would fit a 1993 940 base? They look to be the same size.

Update: The part number for the eBay speakers is 3533383.

That's ridiculous - any speaker works.

Here's a list of speakers as low as $30/pr:

Just pick one that requires the lowest wattage - they have a toll free help line if you need advice.

But before you buy anything, swap L & R speakers (or the wires) to be SURE it's not the head unit that's the problem

Why? I ran aftermarket speakers off my stock head unit for a while before I replaced that, they sounded better than the originals. Speakers are speakers, you can drive them with anything so long as they can handle the power and are adequately sensitive.

They should have the same impedance; that will help keep the system balanced and won't risk damaging anything (putting 4 ohm speakers on an amp designed for 8 ohm speakers isn't good).

Gary

In article , Robert wrote: [ ... ]

I would imagine so; most of the differences in stereo systems are in the head units. Manufacturers want things to be as easy to build as possible and with as many common parts as possible, so the same speakers are probably used in both cars.

Gary

Thanks for all your help, guys.

I checked up on replacing just the speakers: I would need a set of 8 ohm speakers, which can't really be found anywhere; they're a bit obsolete. So in order to get aftermarket speakers, I would need a new head unit, amplifier, and 4 ohm speakers for the front of the car -- it would actually just be much more economical to replace them with OEM speakers, even if they aren't quite as good.

So I haven't bid on the eBay speakers yet, and the auction does have a few more days, but I did confirm that they are the exact ones I need -- and since I have only blown one speakers, I will only need to replace that one and I can keep the other as a spare.

Thanks for all your help, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Go ahead and run standard 4 ohm speakers, they'll be fine. 8 ohm is common for home stereo use so Radio Shack or someplace similar probably has some 8 ohm drivers that are at least as good as the stock stuff but in a pinch the real world impedance is all over the place, I've found most amps designed for 8 ohm speakers will drive 4 ohms just fine. The max volume just occurs at a slightly lower knob position.

I replaced the self-destructing OE rear speakers on our 850 with some aftermarket Blaupunkts. Sure the new ones were nominally 4 ohms and the originals nominally 8 ohms. Four years and counting with no ill effects. It isn't worth worrying about.