New Rear Speakers vs Trunk Subwoofer Options

[GTMike]

Hey all,

I am having Rockford Fosgate P142 4" and PPS4-8 8" speakers installed in the doors. I have too limited skills with doors to do it myself. Should I purchase upgraded speaker wire or use what is already there?

Has anyone installed Fosgate PPS4-6 6.75" speakers in the rear? Would P165s 6.5" components work better? I might be able use the tweets in the doors. What else works?

I have a set amount of funds that will either get the rears swapped out or to have a Fosgate P300-12 powered subwoofer (300 watt RMS) installed in the trunk of my vert.

Using the stock 8 speaker amp. I am not stuck on Fosgate, they appear to be the best option in most cases for what I have to spend. Saving 33-50% on eBay.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
GTMike

[richee3]

Installing speakers is very easy to do. You can do it yourself. The larger speakers in the doors are actually subwoofers, so you may find yourself satisfied with the sound of you amplify your system. I personally like a small, low powered sub in the trunk but you may be satisfied with the 8" door subs. Running new wire is optional. It's a good idea since the stock wiring is older, but totally unnecessary. If you amplify the speakers and run a decent amount of power, you'll want larger wire for sure.

There are how-to's in the stickies for installing speakers, or numerous how-to's all over the internet. The door panels are easy to remove and mounting the speakers is a breeze.

[igpx12]

I upgraded to pioneer 250W 2 way speakers that were 6 3/4" all around. I took my old front speakers and cut out the speaker part of them and used the metal ring as an adapter for the smaller speakers. Besides that cobjob the rest of the install was bolt in, I ended up cutting the wires on the speaker side of the OEM speakers after the adapter plugs and just spliced in the new wires to the OEM plugs, no wire upgrades needed. Let me say that with just the speakers alone it was a very full sound, I do also have a 10 inch pioneer subwoofer in the trunk space but nothing crazy, think it was 600W.

[GTMike]

The bite is that my woofers are buzzing and crackling. With the weather living in Michigan, realistically I would not be able to tackle this until a weekend in April. The extra noise is driving me crazy!

Thanks for the responses!

[GTMike]

Found the nice thread on replacing the front 4" speakers showing how to remove the door panel. Ordered the speakers. I just might be able to do this! Will give it a go next Saturday.

The rears are a different beast altogether. I took a closer look and I will definitely need to remove the rear seats. The side trim on a vert is one big piece and solid as a rock. Looks like I will need to pry off the trim screws on the backseat that hold the rain catcher in place, so that I can get at the bolts to the backseat. Space is tight! I am hoping that the side panel bolts are under where the seat is. There is only one screw (on top) and I cannot see any other visible bolts. Looks like the side panel slides down onto the car, bolting at the bottom. The speakers also sit a lot lower in the panel for the ragtop. I will take pics or video along the way documenting either my disaster or triumph. May give it a go on Sunday if the Detroit Lions are out of the playoffs, otherwise it will have to wait for another weekend.

By doing it myself, I will be able to afford the sub. Sweet.