Front Speakers

[Greyscale]

So, I'm working on fixing all the little things that are wrong with my Pathfinder this week so the damn thing will become more reliable. I've cleaned the contacts for the lighting, aired up all my tires, and replaced the old broken head-unit with a new one.

 

Now, when I bought it a year ago the front speakers didn't work. The rears had been replaced with a set of infinity speakers (which don't quite fit in the hole) and the fronts were untouched. While replacing the head unit I noticed that there was a rather thick grouping of wires coming into the area. Most of them are now too short to reach anything without extensions. I tried a few to see if I could get some sound up front, but got nothing. It looks like the stock front amp has been bypassed and the wires cut back.

 

So, what color are the stock wires for the front connections. The wiring diagram I have really doesn't help, probably because I don't know how to read it. There are also a pair of wires wrapped in a grey and red/green sheath. What the heck to these wires go to?

 

Could someone also let me know how to get the door panel off without breaking it. It seems like it should just pop off, but it won't.

[StatutoryApe]

hm, without pulling off my door panels to check out the wiring(which i probably won't get around to doing), from what i can remember from installing my front speakers you have to

 

unscrew the lock, unscrew the one screw holding the arm rest on, slide the arm rest towards the back of the vehicle, remove 2 other screws, and pop off the little shroud around the door handle (it pops off when you try and remove the whole panel--don't worry, you won't break it) and remove the whole door panel by pulling the bottom end away from the door then pushing up on the panel (cuz it kinda wraps around the body where the window goes in) and i think that's it.

 

mind you this is coming from a guy with an '88

[MY1PATH]

if you remove your factory amp,(and take it apart) there will be marks on the circut board for all 4 speakers right where one of the harneses plugs in. use this as your guide and picup all your speaker wires form this harness. tape off the unuesd power wires for the amp and discard the amp and original wires that went form you amp to your factory stereo. your aftermarket "head" (i guess your talking about the deck) should have enough power to power all for speakers w/o the factory amp.

with the amp removed you will have more room for your wiring and less wires to confuse you.

this is exactly how I installed my kenwood.

[Greyscale]

So, I did some prying today and I found out why the PO disconnected the front speakers. The surround is totally rotted out, most of it is missing and the speaker itself is brittle and cracking. Looks like I need to find some cheap replacements.

 

I could now use some advice on how to remove the panel completely without destroying the clips/panel. I have the lower half off on the passengers side but the upper side won't budge and I'm afraid it'll break something if I pull harder.

[adamzan]

Yeah when you have the bottom off, push up from the bottom, it should pop off, just be careful.

 

oh and make sure you took off the door lock thing you push on to lock the door, near the window. It unscrews.

Edited March 26, 2008 by redfinder

[Greyscale]

That did it.

 

I think I'll do some cleaning while I'm in there. There is a layer of sludge at the bottom of the door.

[kiwipete]

So, I did some prying today and I found out why the PO disconnected the front speakers. The surround is totally rotted out, most of it is missing and the speaker itself is brittle and cracking. Looks like I need to find some cheap replacements.

 

When I replaced my front speakers, I got some 6 inch cheapos from a local store. I think the origonals were 5.5 inches, but with a heat gun I was able to easily re-mould the plastic surround that secures the speaker to the door. Just make sure everything clears the window when it is wound down.

If these speakers ever crap out I will replace them with Marine speakers as I frequently have water issues with my door. Something to do with deep water crossings maybee.

One last bit of advice, re-tape (duct tape) any plastic from the door lining back into place. This helps prevent dust and cold air entering.

[Mr. Pickles]

As has been said before in other threads, rather than hacking the wiring further, I'd skip the stock wiring and simply run new wire from your new head unit to the speakers. The little more effort in routing the wire (pulling trim and sliding under the edge of the carpet, etc.) is made up for by not having to hack and re-route the factory junk, and you can have far better and cleaner wiring and signal without all the cutting and slicing by using a heavier gauge speaker wire. Just bypass the stock amp altogether, you'll save yourself a headache.

 

While you're at it, skip the cheap junk replacement speakers unless you plan on dunking them in mud water. You can get some decent door speakers (Pioneer, Sony, etc.) from Walmart and other stores for like $30-40, if that, and they'll sound far better than $20 auto part store generic speakers. Just my $0.02.

[adamzan]

As has been said before in other threads, rather than hacking the wiring further, I'd skip the stock wiring and simply run new wire from your new head unit to the speakers. The little more effort in routing the wire (pulling trim and sliding under the edge of the carpet, etc.) is made up for by not having to hack and re-route the factory junk, and you can have far better and cleaner wiring and signal without all the cutting and slicing by using a heavier gauge speaker wire. Just bypass the stock amp altogether, you'll save yourself a headache.

 

While you're at it, skip the cheap junk replacement speakers unless you plan on dunking them in mud water. You can get some decent door speakers (Pioneer, Sony, etc.) from Walmart and other stores for like $30-40, if that, and they'll sound far better than $20 auto part store generic speakers. Just my $0.02.

Also rewiring is good if you ever wanted to sell it, you can just throw the stock crap back in.

 

My HU is running through the stock amps into my infinity's and they sound pretty darn good. Although, I get a lot of hissing, but i think its the panasonic deck the PO had installed.

 

Yeah, make sure you keep that liner on the door.

[Greyscale]

Well I managed to fit some 5x7s in the doors. I took a grinder to the stock plastic mounts and cut enough away to make the speakers fit.

 

The hardest part of the whole thing was running new wires. I managed to get the wire on the drivers side through the original route, but I had to be a little creative on the passenger side. It works, but its not too pretty.

[ILoveMyPatty]

Is it running between the door panel and the door itself, and underneath the dash? So you can see it if the door is open? That's how mine is haha, I couldn't make it go the original route... but now that my dash is completely disassembled, I might be able to

[Greyscale]

Yeah.... something like that. There was too much stuff in the way to route it cleanly.