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Full how to replace front speakers and tweeters with pictures

183K views 58 replies 34 participants last post by  mprtftr 
#1 ·
Well because i got such an awesome reaction in my other thread i decided to take everything apart again and make a full guide for you guys.

Here is the break down on how to take the door panel off and install new speakers/tweeters, i suggest using a plastic tool so you don`t scratch anything. Also make sure the inside of the vehicle is nice and warm, that will make your life a whole lot easier.

Size of speakers:

Front:6.5"
Rear:6.5"

Tools needed:
-Phillips screw driver
-Flat headed object preferably plastic
-Hammer
-Box cutter
-Drill
-Beer
-And did i say beer

Here`s a picture of the driver side door (just mirror this for the passenger side door)



1. (in blue on door pic)Start by taking off the tweeter plastic cover (it might be a little tuff but it should pop right out it`s held in place with 3 clips i believe, be careful though as you wouldn`t want to rip your tweeter out of the door while pulling on it)


Pic of cover


Pic of rearof tweeter


This clip will most likely stay in the door, just take it out and put it back on the cover.
 
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#2 · (Edited)

I removed the 2 screws holding the factory tweeter in place, and replaced the tweeter and mounted the new one using some plumber strapping as shown in the pic. I ripped a piece of the factory foam and placed it between the tweeter and the strapping.


This is the stuff used to mount the aftermarket tweeter.


2. There is 6 screws to take out,

- (in red on door pic)one on the left side of the door covered by a plastic cap



- (in green on door pic)one on the right side covered by a rubber type cover

 
#3 · (Edited)
- (in orange on door pic)one in the litle cup that you grap to close the door, also covered by a rubber cover



- (in purple on door pic)one behind the door latch handle (there is a plastic cover that covers the whole area behind the door handle that needs to be removed, then you should be able to see the screw)


Here is the cover


Here is the screw behind the plastic cover

-(in yellow on door pic) The last 2 screws are located behind the big handle on the door, the plastic cover needs to be taken off, if you look closely there is a slot to put a flat object and pry the cover off.


This is where you must insert a tool to remove the cover.
 
#4 ·

Here are the two screws that need to be removed

(in dark red on door pic)Last step is to pull on the door skin from the bottom carefully to unclip all the plastic clips, there is only clips on the bottom and a few on the side.


This is where you need to insert your tool and remove the bottom clips.

Then you are all done the panel should come right off with only 2 cables controlling the door lock and the window power button electrical connection holding it in place.


Pic showing inside the door panel and the 2 connectors that i needed to remove in order to swing the door to one side and get to the speakers.

The factory speakers are riveted to the doors, all i did was cut around the speaker cone and rip everything out, what your left with is a plastic bracket, inside the bracket are some plastic supports that supported the speaker, what i did is knock these off with a hammer (that way i wouldn't have to drill out the rivets end re-rivet the factory brackets.

After that i installed my speaker inside the bracket and ran my wires through the factory hole in the bracket and screwed my speakers in.


Pic of installed speaker.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I then looked for a place where i could mount my crossovers (these are some expensive speakers so they come with crossovers, most speakers don't unless you replace both tweeter and woofer), the best place i found to mount them was top left of the speakers, so this is where i screwed in my crossovers. I then realized later on that the door panel would not go back on with the MTX covers over the crossovers so i removed the crossover cover and put some electrical tap over it just to be safe.


Pic showing the crossover


Pic of crossover with no tap on it.

I then wired the speakers and tweeters to the crossover and VOILA!! all done!!

Hope this helped.

Gunner
 
#7 ·
Hello, yes i do in fact have the stock non-nav radio in my sorento currently, they do sound much better then the stock speakers but could sound even better with an after market radio/amp (i also replaced the rear speakers with infinity's 62.9i speakers) , i am replacing my head unit with a gps unit this week so i will comment if the sound got any better.

Gunner
 
#8 ·
Great advise for replacement of the speakers. I went on ebay, and someone is selling the old Sparkomatic power booster - 4 channel amp. I remember these from the 70's, and basically you wire these after the speaker harness. If I would to replace the four speakers and add a power booster, I could avoid all the wiring needed for a current amp. All I need to obtain is the wiring harness to adapt the factory harness to the power booster wires and be done.
 
#12 ·
I replaced it with an aftermarket gps unit thats made for the sorento so no need for trim kits or cuttimg any wires, its a really nice unit and i bought it from mikesaudioimports.com , takes 3-4 buisness days to get to you and it works really good and fits like a glove.
 
#16 ·
My install

Good job on the post.. I wish I had this post back in september .. I found the stock speakers were killing me…also, I kept the stock radio that is good. I replaced all the door speakers don’t forget to insulate the doors with sound damping insulation with" Rockford Fosgate Power T1652-S 6.5" Power T1 Component Speakers" added A Rockford Fosgate Punch P3 P3SD210 Punch P3 10-Inch 300 Watt Shallow Subwoofer so it would fit behind the third row when up... and now the amp Rockford Fosgate Power T400-4 400 watt multi channel amplifier , don’t for get the capacitor so u don’t get power drains and the best part was having the third row and tried to figure out the best place for it all. I placed it in the small trunk; the plastic wall of the trunk can be removed, and removed the jack and it all fits perfectly. If you keep the stock radio you will need a Stinger SGN11 Fixed Line Output Converter of course you need wires and all, but the fun was putting all in. It works so perfectly,. my amp is running low gain and the I can trun the radio past ten too loud.. NO DISTOTRION.. AND I CAN TURN UP MORE IF I WANTED.. GOOD LUCK TO ALL.
 

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#21 ·
Good job on the post.. I wish I had this post back in september .. I found the stock speakers were killing me…also, I kept the stock radio that is good. I replaced all the door speakers don’t forget to insulate the doors with sound damping insulation with" Rockford Fosgate Power T1652-S 6.5" Power T1 Component Speakers" added A Rockford Fosgate Punch P3 P3SD210 Punch P3 10-Inch 300 Watt Shallow Subwoofer so it would fit behind the third row when up... and now the amp Rockford Fosgate Power T400-4 400 watt multi channel amplifier , don’t for get the capacitor so u don’t get power drains and the best part was having the third row and tried to figure out the best place for it all. I placed it in the small trunk; the plastic wall of the trunk can be removed, and removed the jack and it all fits perfectly. If you keep the stock radio you will need a Stinger SGN11 Fixed Line Output Converter of course you need wires and all, but the fun was putting all in. It works so perfectly,. my amp is running low gain and the I can trun the radio past ten too loud.. NO DISTOTRION.. AND I CAN TURN UP MORE IF I WANTED.. GOOD LUCK TO ALL.
Looking at adding this to my horrible factory system. The Manager of this store stated that he didn't feel I needed to replace any existing speakers, but felt the power output of the factory receiver was too weak. Felt the amp could be adjusted to put more of the bass output into the subwoofer instead of the factory speakers. Here is the link Columbus Car Audio Accessories, Columbus Code Alarm Remote Start Stick, On-Board Heater Relays, Parrot bluetooth columbus, Failsafe Starter Kill, Powell, GhostLight LEDs, Westerville, Anti-Carjacking VRS, Polaris, Worthington, Neo Revenger 6-Tone Sir
Could use any advice. The total price would be $370 for basic installation and system. It's deal #1 on the site.
 
#22 ·
Question. If the Sorento has tweeters in the sail, and woofers in the door, does that mean there are OEM crossovers installed somewhere?

If you've put in better rear and component front speakers, did you need to install an amp?
crutchfield says you have to put in an amp...but I'm not convinced...and I'd rather not have to deal with the extra wiring....

T
 
#25 ·
Stock tweeters and head unit, until I can afford one of those Chinese nav's. (They don't offer fancy things like Uvo here - but we get the diesel so its okay. ;) )
I bought a set of 2 woofer/2 tweeter splits. Woofers are still in. Zero issues with them.
 
#26 ·
Yeah, those navs are pricey...the chinese ones and crutchfield ones.
I found a pair of component speakers that have crossovers built in....I'm going to put those in to replace the front speakers.
I'm going to run them on the stock HU for now, then upgrade that when I can afford it.
I keep getting conflicting info, but I think the OEM head will run them OK without an amp. A new head should run really well...I'm trying to avoid the headaches of wiring in an amp.
Do you know how to get the back door panels off to get to those speakers?
 
#28 ·
I think I'm missing something.
I bought Fosgate component speakers with the crossovers built in to the woofers.
It looks like the tweeters go to the HU by one set of wires, and the woofers go to the HU by another set of wires.
I'm trying to figure out how to run wires from the woofers to the tweeters, but keep the woofers wires going to the HU.

I haven't been able to find any wiring info on kiatech.....

Any thoughts?
TK
 
#29 ·
I'm guessing you have the prime series RF speakers? If so, then they aren't exactly true 'component' speakers, they're just coaxials that aren't mounted coaxially. The woofer receives full range, and just drops off at the top where it physically can't reproduce the sound. The tweeter has a simple capacitor to block all frequencies below a certain range. True components usually have a bandpass filter on the woofer that feeds them between x and y frequencies, and then hands everything from y up to the tweeters. Some simply have an above/below filter set that hands everything above x to the tweeter and everything below it to the woofer. Not a bad thing by any means, and it's how the stock speakers work. Hook them up directly the way the stock wires were, if you have stock sail tweets. If not, then go from the HU to the woofer, then from the woofer to the tweeters. Only real thing to watch is that you want them hooked up parallel, not series.
 
#30 ·
I have the Rockford Fosgate P1652-S.
I took that panel off last night, and can easily run a wire from the new tweeters to the new woofer.
Two interesting things about the woofers:
They are pretty sizable...I was expecting something wimpy...but they have some heft.
They don't mark + and - on the terminals...any idea which is which?
 
#31 · (Edited)
I don't recall right offhand, but there's a few easy ways to check. If yours has the stock tweeters, whatever wire has the cap is the positive. If not, hook a 9v battery straight to the speaker and note the polarity. When the + is hooked to the +, the speaker will pop forward, when the + is hooked to the -, the speaker will pop backwards.

Edit: Check below.
 
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