replacing car speakers

[thrifty++]

Has anyone replaced the speakers in your car?

I got a price from professionals and was kind of shocked it was $500 to replace one speaker. No way I am paying that.

How challenging is it to do yourself?

[Alphaville]

not hard if they're the same size & power. it's a straight out swap. do you know how to remove door panels? do you even need to?

curious about these "professionals". could you post their estimate?

eta: cheap place to buy: https://www.walmart.com/browse/auto-tir ... 47_7971853

also amazon has a thing where you save your car model and it offers you parts that fit. i never tested with speakers but it worked with everything else.

ps-yep, it works for speakers too

[Gilberto de Piento]

If you google something like "2012 toyota camry replace speakers" you will probably get videos and webpages showing how to take the car apart, replace the speaker, and put it back together.

If the speakers are in a panel such as in a pillar or door you will probably have to remove screws and/or pry off the panel to access the speaker. Then you will have to unscrew the screws that secure the speaker and remove it. If the speakers are in the rear they may be mounted behind the rear seats and accessible from the trunk without removing any other parts.

If you buy a factory replacement speaker then the factory wiring harness plug will plug right into the new speaker. If you buy an aftermarket speaker the connections are universal so you will have cut the factory harness and solder the wires to the speaker or replace the factory plug with connectors that will connect to the generic contacts on the speaker. There may also be adapters you can buy but I haven't done anything with aftermarket car speakers in 20 years so I don't know. I'd recommend factory replacement, the aftermarket stuff is usually "better" but it may not sound good with the rest of your gear or even could cause problems if you get a speaker that doesn't work well with your stereo, for example if the stereo is built for a 6 ohm speaker but you install a 4 ohm.

Once the speaker is replaced then test it. If it works then put everything back together reverse of the way you took it apart.

RockAuto.com is a good source for aftermarket and factory parts for cheap. If that doesn't work google for "toyota parts" and you will find dealer websites selling the factory parts for typically much cheaper than what they will be if you go to a local dealer parts counter.

[AxelHeyst]

Yeah +1 to what others said. I've replaced speakers with effectively a stock swap-out in a 2000 tacoma and a corolla, a "big thumping sound system" in a 97 tacoma, and some other friend's cars. Just find the appropriate youtube video for pulling your door panel off, get the right size speaker, and it's a one-beer job.

[Sclass]

Good suggestions. I wouldn’t hire somebody to do this. $500 is robbery. On many of my cars bought used I looked at the previous owner’s bills for simple car audio installations. Stupid prices like a Sony head unit and infinity speakers $1000 at the now defunct Circuit City. Ridiculous.

Some suggestions from my recent experiences. I have replaced the head units in all of my cars with these $13 Bluetooth radio/usb/Bluetooth/sd reader things on eBay or Amazon. They suck but my cars are so loud inside from engine and road noise it doesn’t matter. Speakers are eBay units that cost around $35 a pair. I try to stick with name brands like Sony or Pioneer because I feel they last a bit longer. I have a friend in OEM speaker manufacturing in Juarez and cost cutting leads to less durability. He makes the cheapest crap used in economy cars.

Lastly I saw a video by Scotty Kilmer where he did something kind of interesting. Instead of replacing the head unit and speakers he just bought an inexpensive Bluetooth speaker with a rechargeable battery and put it in the center console. I know it sounds cheesy but if you’re really cheap, just use that and your phone.

[Alphaville]

he just bought an inexpensive Bluetooth speaker with a rechargeable battery and put it in the center console.

I can vouch for those but the speaker needs to be loud enough.

[davtheram12]

That's the going rate for a professional to replace speakers?! Wow that IS robbery. School of YouTube and a little elbow grease are your friends. Even if you have to purchase panel removal tools (Harbor Frieghts), decent aftermarket speakers (Wal-Mart or Amazon) you'll still be in the green by a large margin. Good luck!

[Campitor]

I've replaced radios and speakers. It's not an easy job in the sense that you have to dismantle parts of the interior that may require a special hand tool to pop out a panel - some cars are easier than others and require no special tools. Get a Chilton car manual which contains a diagram of all the parts and screws in a panel. This will prevent you from mistakenly breaking a panel thinking it's stuck as opposed to having a screw or tab that you missed which is still grabbing onto the panel. Youtube videos are also a good source for learning how to remove specific car panels.

Removing a door panel isn't hard but some car doors have tacky adhesives that are meant to hold gently but allow a panel to peel away. Depending on the age of the car, the adhesive sometimes hardens which makes the panel harder to take off. Going slow and gentle should be SOP when prying off panels.