notabot

I'm a glutton for punishment and I was inspired by this post: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...build-log.html so I decided to go ahead and replace the dash corner speakers. In some respects, this was much, much easier than the front door speaker replacement, in other, more fundamental ways, it was much more difficult. I replaced the stock speakers (they're not even true 3" speakers - all the plastic housing masks that they're actually only about 2" paper cone speakers) with a pair of Infinity Reference X REF-3002cfx which are 3.5" two ways that have 3ohm impedance.
OEM vs Infinity Reference X REF-3002cfx
Proceed at your own risk.
The easy part: Getting to and taking out the speakers is very easy. Tools needed: a trim pry tool and a small adjustable wrench.
Use the trim tool to pop out the interior front corner (the corner closest to the center of the dash and furthest from the windshield) and then move along that front edge (furthest from the windshield). The clips are easy to disengage with just a little bit of pressure, and then the edge along the windshield are just tabs that hook in - just pull away from the windshield when you have that front edge out. It'll take all of 10 seconds for this entire procedure. You'll also discover that the dash material is really just an enormous piece of very dense foam.
The speaker is held in place by 2 bolts, just loosen them and unclip the speaker from the wiring harness by pressing on the small tab.

The hard part: There are two things that make this frustrating: 1. the non-standard wiring harness and 2. the non-standard mounting holes. There are some workarounds and I spent some time trying to figure it out without having to cut the wiring harness, but the easy way is obviously to 1. splice the wiring harness, and 2. create a custom mount.
If you don't want to splice, this is what you're trying to wire into (female end):




And this is what the harness at the speaker end looks like:

The OEM dash speaker male-end of the harness
I really really didn't want to cut into the wiring or destroy the original speakers so I did what any other DIYer would do: I ordered a spare dash speaker from eBay. To my surprise and delight it came with the wiring harness attached to the speaker so I could play around with it.
I kicked around the idea of creating a custom harness using plastic molds (I actually made the mold, but didn't bother going through with it) or a 3D printer, but I actually found an off the shelf component that worked just fine, after a few minor modifications.
You know what has pins that have the same size and spacing? A wiring harness for a GM speaker (I ordered a Metra 72-4568 harness). This is what it looks like:





Obviously, the plastic housing around the pins doesn't fit, but that's why you see the wire cutters in the last picture. I trimmed that stuff off and voila!


You don't need to be that careful, but just keep in mind that the metal pins are more brittle than they are malleable. Yeah, I ended up having to order a second set of the wiring harnesses.

I also shortened the pins a little so the fit was more flush:

That tail end is from the speaker I bought off of ebay to make sure everything fits. When I put the speaker into the car, I also electrical taped everything together.
The other tough part is that the mounting holes are slightly wider apart than the aftermarket speakers. Probably by about 1/4". It's that frustrating.
Here's the thing though (caution: shortcut ahead) - it doesn't really matter. Why? Well, one bolt fits just fine and can secure the speaker. You can also screw in the other bolt in and the washer portion of the bolt will hold down the speaker just fine. OK, this is purely just my assessment and I may revisit this in the future, but the fit was very tight.



And...that's it. Put the grills back on (slot in the windshield side first then pop in the front) and all done.
The sound is definitely fuller and cleaner with the upgraded speakers. Doesn't make up for that subwoofer, but the dash speaker upgrade is noticeable (especially since I already upgraded the front door speakers).

Arty101

Thanks, this may inspire me one day to do the mod, but I hate ordering electrical parts for another car (off the shelf plug for a GM?). Very good illustration and specific instructions for a DIY.

notabot

Actually I ordered the speakers from crutchfield so they included the harness for free, I just asked them since they didn't have a compatible harness. And yes they were off the shelf - I ordered the replacement harness (I broke one of the ones they sent me) from Amazon. I think they were $5.95.

Arty101

Oh, Crutchfield and Amazon and not eBay is much better. Still how did you know which replacement harness to order off amazon?

notabot

It's funny, I actually just browsed through a bunch of different Amazon pages to find a wiring harness that looked...pretty close and that's how I found the GM harness to ask crutchfield to include with the speaker order. It was a bit of a shot in the dark, but I figured worst case, I had some speaker wires I could use if I ended up having to splice wires / build a harness myself.

So I lucked out - the pins are about the right size and perfectly spaced to fit into the wiring harness. They're just a touch too long (maybe 2-3mm) which I snipped, but they pretty much plug right in after that plastic is trimmed off.

notabot

FTR I'm going to replace the center dash speaker too. The OEM one is garbage and I just want cleaner sound. It's an odd one though - it has 5ohm impedance instead of 4 like the corners. Ordered the parts (and have a leftover harness) so shouldn't take more than 10 min.

sanyata

Great write up and something I'm definitely putting on my list to do as I've become unimpressed with the stock sound system. It's probably my biggest disappointment with the car.

notabot

Thanks! The premium sound system is definitely a weak link for me too. Otherwise I love the car. I also did the front door speakers (https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...-question.html) which definitely helps with the bass, although I will prob sound proof the doors a bit to improve it more. I think most people get substantial improvements from adding a new subwoofer as the stock open air one is...not great.

For me, the head unit and amp are prob fine as I don't really try to rattle the windows, but I do prefer clearer, fuller sound, which the stock speakers just aren't capable of doing. Once you see the OEM speakers you'll understand....
my pics prob give them more credit than they deserve.

Next up, I'll replace the speakers for the back doors and re-evaluate again, but just replacing the the front door speakers and dash speakers have made a noticeable improvement. I've been using CDs as my reference music (fuller bandwidth than MP3s or radio) and it certainly sounds better to me.

Good luck!

Arty101

Notabot, so you already replaced your center speaker? Part already came in and was it from Crutchfield?

notabot

Nah not yet. I didn't use crutchfield for this one for a couple of reasons: 1. I only need one speaker and 2. I still have a couple of the wiring harnesses leftover from the corner dash speaker project. Of course most dash speakers are sold in pairs so yeah I'll have one leftover when I'm done. But since I used a different vendor, it was a little cheaper, but the shipping was slower.

the reason I usually use crutchfield is that they include the wiring harnes for free and and mounting hardware (if they have the stuff that fits) and they have free two day shipping. Of course the cost is built into the price but when you combine it with their customer service, it's reasonable to me.

Long story short, I prob won't get around to the center speaker until next weekend.

notabot

Replaced the center speaker. It probably took about 10 minutes since I'm used to the drill already. The center grill is held on by four retaining clips, so it's a little more difficult to remove than the corner grills, but if you just use the trim pry tool at each corner of the grill it's easy. The wiring harness and bolt spacing were the same, so no surprises there either. The stock center speaker is...not good. The sound is definitely fuller with the upgraded center speaker - it's funny - the nav voice sounds different now too.
So now that I've changed all dash and front door speakers I can say the sound is definitely improved, but the biggest problem with the car is the low speaker placement in the doors and the relatively weak stock sub. If you can, buy replacement door speakers with tweeters that you can aim, and definitely replace the dash speakers. I'm debating whether or not I should replace the rear door speakers. I probably will eventually, but it's not a priority.

sanyata

Maybe I missed it, what size is the center dash speaker?

sanyata

Also, how much depth is there under the corner speakers? I'm looking at speakers that are 1/4" deeper than the ones you used. Is there enough clearance?

notabot

3.5" just like the dash corners. I used a slightly different speaker: Kicker 40CS354 which was a little cheaper, but had a 4ohm impedance instead of a 3 ohm like the corners. Also now I have one kicker speaker left over.
As to your other question - on the passenger side dash corner there's an air duct below the speaker mount. I think an extra 1/4" should fit, but you probably won't be able to use the quick clips on the speaker as they might get crunched by the duct. I didn't bother with the quick clips anyway, since I'm always wary that they'll slip off. Pic of the oem center dash speaker vs. my install below. Note that the oem speaker is even smaller than it looks. It's probably about 2" in diameter, the rest of the stuff is just plastic housing. Same drill with the fit: almost but not quite, so I just tightened both bolt/washer combos very tight and tried to wiggle things around and it felt locked down. Which speaker are you going with? Good luck - it's easier than you think.

sanyata

Thanks for the info. I'm also concerned about the height of the tweeter dome and grill clearance. I don't have access to the car right now so couldn't just go out and have a look to find out for myself. I'll wait until I have the car back and pop off the grills for a looksee. I've done some major sound system installs so this mod appears to be straight forward and simple. I'm circling around several speakers so maybe I'll post up once I've narrowed it down and get your opinion. Thanks again.