I just successfully installed a new Pioneer CD player/receiver in my car, and removed the old radio/cassette and amplifier. The Crutchfield wiring harnesses and instructions were excellent! Now that I have a more powerful unit in the car, the front dash speakers distort with any amount of strong bass. How do you replace them? They look like they can't be more than 3" in diameter and seem to be integrated with the plastic housing under the metal grille.

Any tips or experience with replacing these dash speaker with aftermarket?
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Darius in Albany NY '86 744 GLE (174K); '91 745 Turbo (164K)

For anyone with those little dash speakers, I think that the 4x6's look fine in those holes with the aftermarket grilles on there. I have also seen interesting speakers at various car audio stores and even crutchfield that have about the same size frame as the stock speakers but have both the little woofer and a tweeter. They look like they would fit nicely in those weird holes.

Hi Darius!
Glad to hear that you are coming along on a nice sound system

If the 740 is like my 940, you just pry up the grille. but the speakers are an integral part of the grille. They can probably be cut out in some way. Crutchfield says there is no direct fit.

What you might try is to put inline bass blockers on these speakers to cut the low frequencies. I have done that with smaller speakers and had good results. The tech advisors at Crutchfield can help determine the best cutout frequency.

I don't want to sound like I'm bragging about Crutchfield. Most of the time they are pretty good but I'm in the middle of a new system for my 780 and they do not have a clue. first they sent no wiring harness; then they sent it by the wrong method; finally, when it arrived, it did not fit. I don't think they even know what a 780 looks like. I'm going to the car audio shop on Monday and have them wire in the harness, then I will finish the install.

Hope your's turns out all well!

Blessings!
Patrick

Hi Patrick -

I was able to figure out how to get the dash speakers out, but they are all one piece and they can't be bigger than 3" at most. Crutchfield doesn't sell anything less than 3 1/2" and as you say they do not list these speakers as direct fit. Meanwhile, I find that as long as I do not hit the "loud" button the distortion isn't there. I guess "loud" just jacks up bass and treble so that the illusion of greater volume is there. The highs are clearer and crisper without the loud button on, so I think I will just live with it as it is for now.

I wonder if there are wires in place for door speakers - do you know? There are no door speakers, not even cut out, but the grilles are there and I am wondering if there are wires for the speakers already there in case some one wanted to add them. Do you know?

Blessings on you too!
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Darius in Albany NY '86 744 GLE (174K); '91 745 Turbo (164K)

Hi Daruis!
It sounds the same as my 940...my 780 doesn't have dash speakers. I think Infinity sold a 3" speaker as part of a component system. I was going to try them but decided like you to just live with them. I think you might want to consider the bass blockers. They are cheap. I have some around here somewhere but I'm not sure where right now.

As for the door speakers, are you talking about the front or rear doors? My 940 had front door speakers but not rear door. It was like you said - the grille was there but the door panel fabric was solid behind it. I just cut through the fabric with a utility knife and there were the wires! They were even hooked to the radio as rear speakers. I just plugged in the new speakers and mounted them. If you don't have speakers in either front or rear doors, I would wonder if they are there. Hopefully, yours are the same as mine. Make a small careful cut first and feel through with your finger to see if there are wires.

Let me know what you find. You are welcome to what little I know from experience.

Blessings!
Patrick

Hi Patrick -

I have rear door speakers and dash speakers, but no front door speakers. Interestingly, it looks like in the Volvo system, the rear speakers were driven by the external amp while the dash speakers were not. In the case where there were front door speakers, they also were driven by the amp, so this might explain why I get a little distortion from the dash speakers now that they are driven by the amp in the Pioneer CD receiver. I am going to check the front door speaker locations& see if there are wires there.

Thanks!

Darius
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Darius in Albany NY '86 744 GLE (174K); '91 745 Turbo (164K)

Had a 1990 lemon that, after much complaining and swearing, Volvo replaced with a 1991...but that's another story....the 1990 had rear and front door speakers, and dash grilles, but no dash speakers. The 1991 has rear door and dash speakers, and front door grilles, but no front door speakers. Go figure.
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D.P. Mulvey in Central VA. 1991 744 NA, 146K Miles