Re: Upgrading Rear Speakers

[Richard Bernecker <rbernie@mindspring.com>]

Brian Wanamaker wrote:
> 
> I want to upgrade the rear speakers in my '98 GLX? It came with the non-bose
> system, but I've changed everything but the rear speakers to Blau
> components. Some time ago, I removed one of the factory speaker/baffle
> assemblys from the rear window shelf to see how I'd go about swapping out
> the speaker. It didn't look like I could easily get the speaker out of the
> factory baffle without doing some damage. Then, I placed a baffle from one
> of my front Blau speakers on the window shelf as a test, and it wasn't large
> enough to cover up the ugly area that had been covered up by the factory
> baffle. I ended up leaving the factory rear speakers in place.
> 
> Is it possible to get the factory assembly apart and put in an upgrade
> speaker, or is there a better way to handle this?


I've not found an aftermaket grill that fit properly. That's not to 
say that they don't exist - just that I couldn't find one. 

In the interest of mounting some decent speakers about six months
ago, I took the plunge and disassebled the stock grill assy. To do
this, you have to first unscrew the speakers from under the rear deck 
(7mm socket, IIRC), CAREFULLY peel the grill out of the frame (bend 
back the two tabs and use a round pick stuck in the metal holes of 
the grill to lever the glued-in grill out of its recess in the frame), 
pick the black RTV-like sealant out of the allen-type mounting bolts, 
unscrew the mounting bolds from the frame, and then figger out a way 
to wiggle the speaker out of the plastic frame itself. It took me 
about 1 1/2 hours per speaker, and in the end I destroyed the stock 
paper cones trying to get the old speakers out of the plastic frame. 
Sounds bad, but it's more time-consuming than difficult. In reality, 
the worst part of the job was trying to get the metal grills back 
into the frames once I'd replaced the speakers. This part of the job 
definitely sucked big-time, and it was virtually impossible to get 
the grills re-mounted into the frame without making them look like
absolute crap. 

If I had to do it again, I'd make a donut-shaped adapter (1/4" carpet-
covered MDF or black lucite, 180mm ID and maybe 220mm OD), so I could
use a "normal-sized" aftermarket speaker grill set. It would be far 
easier than disassembling the stock grill/frame set and most likely 
would look a damn sight better than bent-up stock grills jammed back
into their frame. :-)

Richard Bernecker