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Fix your dash speakers (properly) for about $5

13K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  Locutus 
#1 · (Edited)
I just helped a buddy fix his dash speakers in an 02 Laredo with the Infinity system... here's the scoop:

You should be aware that your dash speakers aren't just "Tweeters" and buying some cheapo pair of tweeters will NOT fix the problem correctly and will sound truly bad. How bad? No vocals, strings, keys or horns up front bad. Massive distortion as you try to compensate with the volume knob & tone controls. Really... please don't do it. You deserve better.

First you'll want to get on Parts Express and pick up a pair of these guys - and also grab a pair of 220uF non-polarized electrolytic capacitors rated 16v or higher voltage - you can get the caps anywhere that sells electronic parts (even Radio Shack might have them) but please only get 220uF and non-polarized, if you want good results. I keep this sort of stuff around my house because of reasons.

If you don't own a soldering pencil, gun or station, as a well-rounded adult I really suggest owning one & learning to use it. They're really quite inexpensive to start with and there are many video tutorials to make it easy, like so:

OK so now you've waited a few days for your loot to show up, cool!



So bust out the screwdriver and see what these guys look like inside.


OH NO! That's nothing like my busted Infinity speaker!!
Here's what they look like right in the FACE!

(that's the sad, busted Infinity speaker in the background there, ashamed to show its face)

Well let's fix that BS, 'cause we're Humans and that's the sort of stuff we do for fun.

OK first thing we have to do is bust off that shield magnet from the back of the rear magnet. Why? We don't need it, and it sticks out too far which would make it fail to fit your dash. But HOW?!


Hey slow down there, Turbo... we can't just pry it off. The glue they use on that is badass, and if you just yank on it you'll probably bust the GOOD magnet or at least bend the little stamped steel basket, both of those aren't very good for the rest of this repair.
What you have to do is put on some eye protection (little bits will fly) and go outside (little bits that fly = messy) .. and then grip the shield magnet like shown in that picture, and just lean hard on the pliers handle until you literally shatter the magnet off.

It takes a bit of force, and you should be near the ground (or a table) when doing this because you're holding the speaker by the part you're about to destroy, so it's going to fall. You don't want it to fall more than a couple inches, or onto anything wet or pokey that might harm it. Dig?

OK that was actually pretty easy, here's how they look with the shield magnet broken off:


See how I didn't get all of the magnet to break off that one on the right? That's OK, won't cause us any trouble.

So how about that square basket? The Infinity ones aren't square!
This is why we keep a tin snip around the house. Behold hot slicey action!


Caution about sharp edges and all that stuff... don't be dumb. Blood can mess up a perfectly good shirt.

So this is starting to look better, right?


They're darn near cousins!!

You could just cram them in there right now and it'd sort of work, but they'll just blow out right away again so please keep reading.

Now we get to solder!!

First you'll want to remove the remnants of wire from when these thought they were going to be PC speakers.. just heat up the solder and pull the loose end of the wire out with pliers. Careful not to have anything of value under the hot solder, as it may drip and it's molten metal and all, so it can mess stuff up.


Now we're going to poke one end of our capacitor through that hole on the negative side (this is just for uniformity, it technically can be on the + side if you really want) - see the little + and - labels?



These caps are non-polarized (always have to be when being used in this way) so it doesn't matter which end of the cap you solder. Be careful to only keep heat on the lead long enough to get a good solder joint, you don't want all the heat to conduct up into the actual capacitor and ruin it. Yes that can happen.

Now snip off the extra wire. Careful work counts.


OK so now you have two capacitors (caps) soldered on two modified speakers



Maybe you're wondering what the capacitors do? In this application, they protect the speakers from distortion when you crank the stereo up too loud. If you want a deeper explanation I can go as deep as you like, but to keep this write-up brief, just trust me that you want those there, and that there's a reason I picked the ratings i specified above.

Now all that's left to do is connect these speakers to your factory pigtail harness. My buddy's Jeep had already been messed with, so I can't show you the right colors but if your WJ is anything like mine, you'll be soldering the BLACK wire to the + terminal of these speakers, and the GREEN wire to the free lead of the capacitor. If you get the polarity backwards, your stereo will sound weird. Please pay attention to this part.

Tin the leads first:


Then solder:


Then trim:


Then throw away the trash:


I strongly recommend wrapping some electrical tape around the bare capacitor leads so they can't short on anything, before installing in your dash.

OK, We're ready to install! You got the old ones out, the new ones just drop right in where the factory ones were. No surprises there.

Put the dash panel back together, and enjoy!!
 
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#4 ·
heh, I'm funkduck on that other forum where you asked about this - so I guess the same answer? :D

I wanted to update this thread, since the speakers at the top of the thread are no longer available as of 2013, so but the same instructions should apply just fine for these

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=289-127

Except you don't have to throw away the plastic cases because there aren't any :)
 
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