Upgrading VE Stock Speakers - How To

[boneart]

I was interested in upgrading to the stock door and front speakers only and doing a couple of simple tweaks to the system and subs to improve the sound quality
I did NOT want to spend a fortune or go as far as adding amps, sub enclosures, changing head units and rewiring etc like the purist audiophiles.
I don't need to win competitions or blow out the windows and I am more concerned with what I can hear in the car than with what the neighbours hear outside.
This is a simple stock speaker replacement, nothing too fancy. I can always add amps etc later if wanted.

This write up is a summary of what I found pulling the system apart myself and from researching hundreds of posts over 3 forums.
I could not find all the info I needed in one place so hopefully this little writeup will fix that for others.

Putting it in writing it sounds complicated but it is not, you just need a little time and to be methodical.

I did the door speakers and front splits on my 2007 SSV with the premium system but most of it will apply to the basic stereo system as well and the series II
I did not replace the subs but removed the parcel shelf and lined the rear deck as well as sorting out all the rattles that suddenly appear when a bass heavy Linkin Park track plays.

===============================================

= The System:

First you need to know what you have so you can get the right bits.

In the SSV its the 230w 11 x speaker Blaupunkt premium (with screen and climate control)

The stock speakers are mostly low quality paper cones that don't make the best of the Blaupunkt head unit.

Speaker Locations:
1 Centre in the top of the dash in the middle.
2 Tweeters in both corners of the dash.
2 Splits/mid woofer in the front doors.
2 2 way in the back doors.
2 Subs in the parcel shelf (with amp next to battery).

But thats only 9 speakers, thats because Holden count each of the two ways in the rear doors as two speakers!!!?

The basic sytem in the Omegas and SV6's etc don't have the subs and amp and have a slightly different centre speaker setup

= Speaker Sizes and Wiring/Polarity:

- Centre Dash Speaker... (3.5" 30w 4ohm)
On the premium system it is a single coil two wire speaker taken from the head unit
Polarity = +Orange -L/Blue
I believe on the basic system it is a two coil 4 wire speaker taken from the feeds to each front door speaker circuit, not directly from the head unit.
Polarity = RF+L/Green RF-D/Green LF+Brown LF-Grey
The centre speaker has a habit of distorting at higher volumes so most people just disconnect it.
To get at it lift the front speaker cover which pops off starting at from the front (windshield) edge and working to the. Collect any white clips that fall of before they drop into the dash and get lost.
Some people replace it with an 8ohm or 16ohm unit to tone it down a bit or even wire in resistors. I have just disconnected it at present.
There is a huge amount of discussion on how badly this centre speaker affects sound quality and dozens of solutions but its really down to personal taste.

- Front Door Speakers... (160mm 2ohm 30w Component Mid woofer flush depth = 70mm)
Polarity = RF+L/Green RF-D/Green LF+Brown LF-Grey
Replace these with splits, they can be either 6" or 6.5"

- In dash tweeters... (2ohm 30w Approx 35mm wide)
Replace these with the tweeters that come with the front splits.
Dont just connect the stock wires, they must be wired to the new crossovers that come with the splits. The stock wiring does not include a crossover, just filter built into each tweeter.
Polarity = RF+L/Green RF-D/Green LF+Brown LF-Grey

- Rear Door Speakers... (160mm 2ohm 30w 2 way depth = 70mm)
Polarity = RR+D/Blue RR-L/Blue LR+Brown LR-Yellow/Red Trace
Replace these with 2 way. Stock size is 6" or 6.5"

- Subs... (2ohm 50w 8")
Polarity = Left+D/Blue-white Left-L/Green-Black Right+D/Green Right-L/Blue-Black
These are "Free-Air" subs so if you just swap them out make sure the new ones are free-air compatible.
Free-air or "infinite baffle" subs use the boot space as the enclosure and rely on the parcel shelf providing an airtight seal between the back of the speaker and the front of the speaker inside the cabin.


(original base image found on the net, not sure of the source)

I stayed with 2ohm speakers for the replacements as I am just doing a straight swap and the stocks are 2ohm.
I replaced the front splits with Infinity Kappa 65.7CS 6 1/2" and the rear 2 ways with Infinity Kappa 62.9i 6 1/2" Its hard to find good 2ohm speakers in NZ
The audiophiles will tell you to go for JBL, Polk or Kicker and 4ohm with amps etc but I am not an audiophile, I just like clean crisp sound.

==========================================

===== INSTALATION ====

= Rear door 2 ways =

- Remove the rear door trim
There are phillips head screws along the bottom and front/hinge side plus two hidden under the middle and end of the arm rest.
There is a torx head screw under a small square plastic pop off cover under the door handle.
Run your hands around the door trim and pull it away from the door to pop the clips all around.
The bottom green clip closest to the hinge will often stay in the door. Pull it out and put it back in the door trim before refitting.
- Disconnect the window switch plug. The lock clip is under the plug so put your fingers under it to release the clip.
- Disconect the door latch cables by pulling the wire around to the grove and sliding the end caps up out of the clips.
- Remove the speaker and/or pod.
The stock speaker is easily removed from its plastic pod in the door and the pod itself is easily removed if you need to modify or replace it.
Depending on the new speakers you may need to trim a little off the pod and drill holes for screws etc or if the new speaker basket is very large, replace it with an MDF ring. I just had to trim 5mm around the edges to make the hole bigger.
- Cut the T shaped plug off and attach the wires to the speaker crossover module that came with the speakers taking note of the polarity.
Polarity = Right Rear Door +D/Blue -L/Blue
Polarity = Left Rear Door +Brown -Yellow/Red Trace
Many 2 ways have the crossovers pre wired as a dongle so just attach to the +&- terminals
If the crossover is not pre wired connect the existing speaker wires to the IN terminals and follow the instructions included with the speakers when connecting the tweeter (TW) and the mid woofer (WF)
Some speakers have an adjustable gain and/or focus on the tweeter or on the crossover so read the instructions to see if you need to do anything with those.
I angled the tweeters up and set the gain to 0db.
Wrap the crossover in plastic and foam etc. and fit inside the door trim with cable ties, velcro or double sided tape to stop it rattling around.
Put the trim back on and its finished.


= Front door Splits =
We need to put the tweeter in the dash, the crossover in the door or kick panel and the the mid/woofer in the door.
It is easiest to do it in that order (Tweeter - Crossover - Door speaker)

- Remove the side kick panel
Lift the door sill trim which clips in
Remove the 1/4 panel on the end of the dash with the airbag warning sticker on it, It just pops off after you open the glove box on the passenger side and lift
the end of the V trim bar on the drivers side.
Remove the lower air vent cover next to the 1/4 panel. Pull it out towards you as it also just clips off.
Remove the two torx head retaining screws at the top and bottom of the front edge of the kick panel
Slide the panel towards the back of the car to release it.

The wire harness that goes to the door should now be visible along the top edge.



- Remove the front dash tweeter cover.
If you lever up the section closest to the centre section (where the light sensor is) with a wide blade like a putty knife you can start to see the white clips. Get under the plastic section under where the clips are and gently but with a little bit of force start working it up towards the dash.
They should unclip all along the section until you get to the side near the door where the air vent is.
Go both ways so you can lift it up and back towards you when its all unclipped.
It is in three parts, the centre section with the sensor and the two end panels but they are clipped together so lift it out as one piece and take them apart once out. If you have small hands you can just lift it high enough to get your hand and a short phillips screwdriver into the corner.

Now you can see the tweeters and the path for the new tweeter wires back down to the kick panel

- Install new tweeters.
Unscrew the tweeters disconnect the plug on the back and remove them.
The original tweeters have a mounting tab built in on the side so now you now need to get creative to figure out how to fix the new tweeters in place.
Most tweeters will come with a range of fittings including a little surface mount cup so you can fix one of these in place to hold the new tweeter.
When you lift the dash cover over the tweeter you will see the edge has left a scratch mark where it fits against the pillar plastic.
This mark is your guide line for the maximum height of the tweeter. It must not be higher than this line for the cover to fit back on properly.
Some options are:
- Make a little custom metal bracket in a similar shape to the original mount.
- Surface mount the tweeters in the grills over the old tweeter positions as you would if mounting in a door. They then point straight up which is not the best unless they have a swivel/tilt mount system as the infinity Kappas I used do.
- Screw it directly to the old mounting point using the original screw.
- Glue/screw it on top of the old tweeter and put that back in.
This is what I did as it also points the tweeter in exactly the right direction.
In the last two options it means the new tweeter stands higher than the original tweeter which is recessed into the dash, but there is JUST enough clearance above the old tweeter so unless the new speaker is very large it should fit fine.












Connect some speaker wire to the new tweeters and run this down past the side of the front of the vent to the kick panel area, this will connect to the "TW"
terminal on the crossover later.



Refit the front dash tweeter cover and you are done with the tweeters.

- Where to put the crossover
In the doors, under the dash in the foot wells, behind the kick panels, under the seats or in the boot. All work but don't forget the further away from the speakers the more wiring you have to do.
Also you don't want them getting kicked or wet. If you put them inside the door frame you risk water damage.
I found that there is a large void in the door lining just behind the map pocket which allowed me to mount them on the inside/dry surface of the door frame
- It is on the cab side of the door moisture barrier so can't get wet
- If you put in dynamat the crossover is still easily accessed without having to go behind the dynamat at all
- There is plenty of space for any sized crossover and good air circulation
- It is easy to fit with cable ties or screws
- It is away from other moving parts inside the door so won't rattle.





- Front Door speaker wiring.
We are cutting the door speaker wires to pick up the line to attach to the IN terminals on the crossover.
There are several options:
- If fitting the crossover inside the door lining
Connect the old speaker wires in the door directly to the IN terminal on the crossover. Run a wire from the WF terminals on the crossover to the new door speaker
Run the tweeter wire from the kick panel through the rubber grommet into the door and connect to the TW terminals on the crossover.
I put the crossovers in the doors so took this option.

- If fitting the crossover in the kick panel or under the dash etc
Pick up the feed from the head unit either by cutting into the wiring harness in the kick panel or run an extra wire into the door and connect to the old door speaker connection.

- Getting wires from the kick panel into the doors.
Disconnect both ends of the rubber tube between the body and the door.
At the door squeeze it to release the rubber tabs, at the body peel it away from its plastic mounting bracket.
Once peeled off the body bracket you can then get a small screw driver under the bracket to push in the top, bottom and side tabs so you can pull out the bracket as well
It is much easier to refit the rubber tube to the body bracket if it is not attached to the car.



Feed a stiff guide wire through into the body at the top edge of the kick panel until it comes out the hole in the door jamb. On the fuse box side it is a pain but it can be done.
Tape the speaker cables to the end of the guide wire and pull it all back through.






Now feed the wire through just the rubber tube and pull the cable through that.



Take off the guide wire and just push all the spare cable through the hole into the door. It will just sit in the bottom of the door and when we take the speaker out later we can reach in and get it without having to remove any of the water barrier or dynamat.
Refit the rubber grommets, close up the sill and kick panel and you are done

- Remove the front door trim
There are phillips head screws along the bottom and front/hinge side plus one hidden under the middle of the arm rest.
There is a torx head screw under a small square plastic pop off cover under the door handle.
Run your hands around the door trim and pull it away from the door to pop the clips all around.
- Disconnect the door latch cables by pulling the wire around to the groove and sliding the end caps up out of the clips. Mark one cable with tape so you know which is the top one.
- Remove the speaker complete with the pod it is attached to and disconnect the speaker wire plug
The stock speaker is easily removed from its plastic pod in the door and the pod itself is easily removed to make fitting the new speakers easier.
Depending on the new speakers you may need to trim a little off the pod and drill holes for screws etc or if the new speaker basket is very large, replace it with an MDF ring. I just had to trim 5mm around the edges to make the hole bigger.
- Fit the crossover to the door. I screwed it on with foam under it to pad it a bit.
- Rather than cut the T shaped plug off the existing speaker connection I just put spade connectors on the end of the new wires and plugged then into the old T plug then run these wires to the IN terminals on the crossover taking note of the polarity.
Polarity = Right Front +L/Green -D/Green
Polarity = Left Front +Brown -Grey
Reach through the speaker hole and pull out the tweeter wires you put into the door earlier attaching them to the TW terminals on the crossover taking note of the polarity
- Run a new wire from the crossover WF terminals back to the new speaker.
- Fit the speaker and pod then test
- Tape up any loose wires, close up the door.




------------------------------------------------------------

Subs:

If you want to swap the stock subs out or fix rattles etc. you need to remove the parcel shelf top lining

There are two clips under the rear bench seat. They are near front/footwell edge and are roughly in the centers of the two outer seats.
Work your hands under the seat until you feel them and just Pull the seat straight up quite hard, they will just pop out.
Lift the front edge of the seat up to release the two small tabs that go in behind the bottom of the seat backs

You will now see two bolts at the bottom of each section so undo these for the two end sections only, you don't need to take out the centre folding section.
Lift the seat backs straight up to unhook at the top edge and remove.

Fold the centre section down, it makes a good seat while working and provides a couple of cup holders in which to place screws and clips.
You will now see a plastic cover with two clips in the middle, get you finger or a wide putty knife under the panel and pop the clips out.
Lift the panel off from the bottom edge which hooks around the metal body panel and remove.

Along the front edges of the parcel shelf you will see four black clips through the fabric so pop these out.
Unbolt the centre child restraint fixing post in the middle of the parcel shelf. The little cover folds back to give access to the bolt.
Behind each speaker cover is a large screw in clip so use a flat bladed screwdriver to get these started and the lift them out.
At this point you can take out the parcel shelf by pulling the centre section towards you to unclip what they call a "datum Post" then up and out
The clip (datum post) is roughly halfway between the centre line and the edge of the right hand speaker cover (left as you look at it while working)
As you take out the parcel shelf slide the seatbelt down the groove to the wider opening. If you have disconnected the bottom of the seatbelt it will now fit through this hole
If you have not disconnected the seatbelt the groove in the panel continues down to the bottom so just cut the fabric over this groove



While you don't "have" to remove the quarter panel (rear window post) cover where the air bag is before pulling out the parcel shelf I found it worth doing.
Apart from giving you a little more room to move the bottom edge is a source of some rattling so its worth taking out to pad the bottom edge.
To remove it remove the torx screw which is under the little panel with "airbag" on it. It has clips on one side and hinge/tabs on the other so put a small screw driver under the side next to the "A" in the word airbag.
Working from the top edge feel it out from under the rubber door trim and work down the rear window side to pop the clip about 2/3rds the way down.
Slide the panel up to release a small tab at the top edge by the door and lift out.




Once you have the parcel shelf out you can then replace speakers or just dynamat and fix the many potential rattles from wires and fittings by taping foam to everything that moves.

One thing I did find interesting.
These are free-air or infinite baffle subs which rely on using the boot space as their inclosure and most importantly having total separation between the airspaces behind and in front of the speakers.
This means the parcel tray should be totally airtight to separate the boot space from the cabin to make the free-air subs work the best.
When you look at the parcel shelf with the cover removed you will see it has more holes than Swiss cheese so no attempt has been made to actually do it properly, premium sound system, hardly!!.

At this stage I just lined the shelf and sorted out all the rattles and tried to close a few holes.
This did make a big difference to the sound.

Having read hundreds of posts on several forums, while some say its worth just replacing the stock subs in the parcel shelf with better ones, most that do appear to be disappointed in the end result.
Free-air are not the best if not done properly so start with the gain control tweak on the subs amp, make sure the boot is sealed as tight from the cab as possible and sort out any rattles in the parcel shelf with dynamat etc.
I am not sure you will get any really dramatic gains just swapping the subs. It looks like for really dramatic improvements in the bass you may need to look at an enclosed sub (and all the space loss issues that at come with that) and possibly sub amp upgrade which I am not yet ready to tackle yet.


All done.


Hope This helps

Don Campbell don@boneart.co.nz

[TinSnips]

great write up. Very thorough!

[dingdong555]

This is an AMAZING post, so awesome man, thanks heaps!

Did you notice a huge improvement even without a new amp?

Also, where abouts is the PDF?

[boneart]

Sorry forgot to add the link for the .pdf file so its there now.

http://boneart.co.nz/car/trim.zip

The improvement was huge and well worth the effort.
The clarity of the music is unbelievable so I now notice whole layers in the music I didn't hear before and thats without an amp.

[dingdong555]

Sorry forgot to add the link for the .pdf file so its there now.

http://boneart.co.nz/car/trim.zip

The improvement was huge and well worth the effort.
The clarity of the music is unbeleivable so I now I notice whole layers in the music I didn't hear before and thats without an amp.

Thanks for that, almost looks as easy as my VZ, I guess it will be as I don't need to add a LOC or change the headunit....yet. I have a VE SS so it's without the larger screen, should be the same though?

[boneart]

My understanding of the wiring diagrams I found showed the same wire colours etc for both the premium and standard systems.
Panels etc are all obviously the same.
The only real differences were:
#1 In the standard system the centre speaker appears to be attached to both front door speaker circuits instead of the head unit (but thats not a problem if all you are doing is disconnecting it)
#2 There are no subs or sub amp in the standard system. Note: The amp (next to the battery) in the premium system is only for the subs.
If in doubt take the doors panels off and check before you go and buy any replacement speakers.

[UFO]

now thats how you do a wite up!

well done mate, awesome post.... very helpful!

[Calais57]

Mate,
I have been wanting to do EXACTLY what you have described for about 2 years. The few times I have asked for advice people (both shops and privately) get into the old "change the amp and use more powerful speakers" routine.

Your post is fantastic!! Great job!!

Thanks heaps.

[Troyziee]

BEST THREAD ON FORUM! period.

should be number one sticky!! mods?

[Troyziee]

Couple of questions.... whats the difference with 2ohm and 4ohm speakers? im doing axactly what you did, changing speakers and that is it, no subs no amps, so is it better to get 2ohms speakers? and why?

secondly, do you have any pics of the front and rear door speaker cradle things? if you took a shit load of photos ill give you my email and you can email them through, no matter how irrelevant you may think they are

[scouser king]

Well done mate,what a write up.I what iam doing this weekend!

[boneart]

Couple of questions.... whats the difference with 2ohm and 4ohm speakers? im doing axactly what you did, changing speakers and that is it, no subs no amps, so is it better to get 2ohms speakers? and why?

secondly, do you have any pics of the front and rear door speaker cradle things? if you took a shit load of photos ill give you my email and you can email them through, no matter how irrelevant you may think they are

The audiophiles can answer the ohm question in huge detail with lots of calculations, talk of series and parallel connection and reasons to go one way or the other.
On a basic level though the amp (head unit) is designed to run at its best and stable with speakers of a certain load (ohms) so its all about balancing the amp and the speakers.
As I could not find a lot of data on the head unit and could not be certain how the head unit would handle 4ohm long term I decided to stay with 2ohm, the same as the existing speakers.
From what I understand 4ohm speakers will work but would require that you turn the volume control up a bit more to get the same volume of music out of the speakers. Also if you have other speakers that are 2ohm on the system then they will appear louder than the 4ohm ones. For example if you did the door speakers at 4ohm and left the centre speaker in which is 2ohm then the center speaker would be louder in relation to the door speakers and over power them.

As I used 61/2" speakers I had to trim the inner edge of the hole in the pod back by 5mm all round and put new screw holes in.
That inner edge has a drip guard on the top edge so that came off as well and I just hung a bit of plastic over the top of edge of the speaker when I put it back in the door

This is the pod with the original speaker


This is the pod with the slightly larger 6 1/2 speaker


I have a few more pics, some mine and others I have collected during my research
Its not a hard job and I don't know that they will help any but you are welcome to drop me a note and I will email them to you.
don@boneart.co.nz

[SV666]

Wow fantastic write up, I'm sure I will have to re-read all this to get it down. I realize you have the premium sound system as I have the sv6 I don't have the extra speakers subs and amp I think you did mention that the amps were for the subs in the parcel shelf only is this correct? Also I read somewhere on this forum regarding upgrading speakers without using amps can either cause harm to either the HU or the new speakers because of the HU giving out constant ohms without the amp balancing it all... but then again this could be the problem solver with the 4 ohm 8 ohm thing Just want to get clarification on the non premium system that this can be achieved as like yourself is to have a system that cannot be heard from a 1km away but having decent sound inside.

Also may I ask which speakers did you go with?

[Troy711]

Thread stuck. Awesome write up!

[boneart]

Wow fantastic write up, I'm sure I will have to re-read all this to get it down. I realize you have the premium sound system as I have the sv6 I don't have the extra speakers subs and amp I think you did mention that the amps were for the subs in the parcel shelf only is this correct? Also I read somewhere on this forum regarding upgrading speakers without using amps can either cause harm to either the HU or the new speakers because of the HU giving out constant ohms without the amp balancing it all... but then again this could be the problem solver with the 4 ohm 8 ohm thing Just want to get clarification on the non premium system that this can be achieved as like yourself is to have a system that cannot be heard from a 1km away but having decent sound inside.

Also may I ask which speakers did you go with?

Yes I had heard mutterings about problems with the head unit and/or speakers if the speakers were not correct for the system so that is why I stayed with 2ohm same as the stocks. Having said that however a lot of people seem to have put in 4ohm speakers without any immediate issues as good 2ohm are a bit harder to find but being a little cautious I did not go that way.
While I don't have the standard system, from what I have read there is no difference in speaker type or ratings other than the centre speaker which is a dual coil. If in doubt pull them out and have a look on the back to check the rating.
Choices in NZ are a bit limited so I used Infinity Kappa 65.7cs splits in the front and Infinity Kappa 62.9I 2 way in the back.
A lot of the G8 owners swear by the Polk Audio db651 which are 4ohm

Yes the amp in the back is for the subs only, if you don't have the premium system you won't have the subs or the amp.

[boneart]

Updated 19th Feb

Just added another section to the "How To" showing the removal of the rear parcel shelf to get at the subs for either replacing or dynamating and fixing rattles etc.

[Calais57]

In Australia I am having trouble finding Infinity Kappa 65.7CS. (Front splits). On the Infinity website, it looks to me like they may have been replaced with the 60.9CS. (The specs in the new brochure look the same to my untrained eye).

Does anyone know if this the 60.9CS is a good 2ohm front splits system?

Thanks

[boneart]

Like most speakers some people love them and some hate them so reviews are all over the place.
From what I understand they are very like the ones I installed. I like Kappa's as they are clear and crisp with good mid bass. Some people complain however that even with the tweets on the low setting that they are still too bright.
It should be noted also that the Kappa's do settle in after a few hours of loud Linkin Park and become a little more mellow.

[Calais57]

Thanks again boneart! I will let you know how I go.

[Troy711]

Does anyone know if 6x9s fit in the parcel shelf and if they are suited for there?

[Calais57]

boneart,
you have inspred me to research speakers and also replacement subs.

For interest most replacement 8" subs on the market appear like they require a larger hole below the sub. ie the new subs have a bigger "skirt" area below them. They are fatter below the surface speaker section.

Also the standard amp is made by Bosch in Malaysia according to the label. It is 2 x40w RMS.

Do you know if the standard subs (each is 2 Ohm, 50W) are wired in parallel or series?

[boneart]

boneart,
you have inspred me to research speakers and also replacement subs.

For interest most replacement 8" subs on the market appear like they require a larger hole below the sub. ie the new subs have a bigger "skirt" area below them. They are fatter below the surface speaker section.

Also the standard amp is made by Bosch in Malaysia according to the label. It is 2 x40w RMS.

Do you know if the standard subs (each is 2 Ohm, 50W) are wired in parallel or series?

I need to do a bit more research on the subs yet but I have heard that most free air compatible subs have a wider basket than the stocks which means bending a little of the metal around the base of the hole back a bit to get a fit.

As for the stock sub wiring, I believe each sub is on its own channel so they not wired in parallel or series to change the impedance load on the amp as you would with two speakers off one channel.
Not an expert on that and as I say more research needed.

This is the only wiring diagram I have found for the stock amp/subs so far so perhaps this will help

[Calais57]

Boneart thanks for the diagram. I am sure it must give some good info. - quite seriously! Any techie type peope here that can interpret what it means for me? Sorry, I am a total novice at electronics.

[catbert6]

Any chance that someone has a wiring diagram (or good description) for a Calais Sportwagon (VE Series 2)? HOw would it differ from the sedan?

(edit: having now actually had a look in the back of my car (embarrassed look) I can see there are clearly no subs and therefore (if the amp is only there to drive the subs) no amp. Otherwise, I appears to pretty much as per the top post).

[Troyziee]

Anybody have any suggestions for the beat places to go to buy dynamate? I want to dynamat the doors when I do the speakers, though know it's expansive! Any stores recommended (Victoria) or just the Internet..?

Also the main pack is for 34 square ft I think it was, ppl know if that's enough to do all four doors?