My DIY #1: Door Speaker Upgrade

Nice to see some interesting content on AL after a long time.

About shops not wanting to remove the front speakers...I believe it is because it is more fidgety and there are more things to break in the front doors. There are more wires and connectors inside (power mirrors, a central switching unit, etc...), and sometimes the front door paneling is more complex for aesthetic reasons. Also, because the front doors are larger it takes some space and effort to move around the paneling and even open the door wide enough to start working on it.

As for front vs. rear speakers. Yes...the fronts usually (especially in normal A to B type of cars) have different specs than the erar ones. I am not a sound engineer so no idea how to describe it but the front speakers are generally set as the main speakers that set the "sound arena" (?) so it handles things like vocals and certain frequncies better than the rear speakers. The rear speakers are usually set as ambiance speakers to provide the immersive-ness of the sound. Needless to say it all depends on the sound system...but generally this does tend to be the case. In the past (like in the 80s) it used to be the other way around where the actual stereo system had speakers mounted on the rear deck and the front was just a single speaker for mono sound. But now, the default setup is 2 speakers in the front in almost every car.

Edited July 4 by iRage

5 hours ago, iRage said:

.I believe it is because it is more fidgety and there are more things to break in the front doors. There are more wires and connectors inside

Yes maybe that's the reason, plus it will include some drilling too. One guy said it'd cost extra to replace front speakers and I guess it's because of these reasons. But everybody likes a neat, quality and a lasting job right?

I remember the guy who installed the head unit and reverse camera in my car, who was so professional that he did a nice job with all wiring and he took steps to enclose wires behind pillars and panels, and also to send wires through rubber grommets between doors and body for further safety. He said some people may cut in that grommet and insert the wires which could lead to water leak and rusting later. But another guy who did my father's car wasn't so concerned where he did exactly what my guy did not.

In my case though there was just one wire harness connected to center console to be removed.

This has no relevance here...but on the subject of removing interior panels, one should be quite careful when removing A, B and C pillar panels, knee panel under the steering and even seats on modern cars. They have airbags embedded behind them so mucking around with the paneling can activate them or even mess up the connections.

So...always check what your car has before removing these things and definitely don't let randos do it...

17 minutes ago, iRage said:

This has no relevance here...but on the subject of removing interior panels, one should be quite careful when removing A, B and C pillar panels, knee panel under the steering and even seats on modern cars. They have airbags embedded behind them so mucking around with the paneling can activate them or even mess up the connections.

So...always check what your car has before removing these things and definitely don't let randos do it...

Yes you are correct 100%