I posted this message on the aftermarket section of the Brick Board and I wanted to see if anyone else had any thoughts...

I'm interested in doing a speaker upgrade to the stock system in my 97 850R Wagon, but I'm not sure of sizes, speaker specs, etc... for good quality replacements.

I've pulled off the grilles in all of the locations and here is what I think I have:

Dash: looks like some really small (1- 1 1/2" speakers mounted in a plastic factory bracket

Front door: Approx. 4 1/2" midrange-looking speaker

FYI The front speakers (dash & door) are almost inaudible and even worse, when I turn it up and adjust the fader to see if they work, the sound quality is poor.

Rear door: Looks like 4 1/2" or so coaxial (tweeter seperate in middle)

Rear cargo area (d-pillar): another set of really small 1 - 1 1/2" tweeters in a plastic bracket.

Wow! 8 locations and technically 10 speakers? Impressive quantity, but lame sound from the stock speakers.

I like the sound of speakers from Boston Acoustics (personal preference), as well as MB Quart. I haven't heard Polk Audio in a car yet, but I have seen posts about good results.

Here are my questions:

1) What size (diameter and depth) speakers do I actually have, and better yet, what size can I put in without cutting metal?

2) Is there some certain amount of resistance that I should be aiming for so I don't blow up the head unit? I'm not interested in doing any head unit replacement just yet.

3) Anyone have good luck with their installs, what did you do to insure an "easy" installation and good results, and also, what type of speakers did you use?

Thanks in advance...

-Kyle