All you need to know about replacing the front door speakers (A DIY guide)
 

I picked up a used 09 TL about a month ago and I couldn’t be more pleased with it. The only problem I have noticed so far is the front door speakers are completely shot. I considered getting them replaced under warranty and that may have been perfectly fine. But since I am no stranger to car audio installation I saw this as an opportunity to upgrade the speakers with some that will last more than 3 years.
So I took plenty of pictures along the way and thought I’d share my experience with anyone wanting to replace their front door speakers as well. This site is an amazing resource. After a little searching I found a great guide to removing the door panels. It can be found here:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=811516

So I will not cover the steps to remove the interior door panels since jnc2000 has put together a great guide for that. Note: The following guide only shows the passenger door, but the driver side door is identical. First, don’t forget to disconnect the negative battery cable.

Attachment 51320

So here’s what you’ll find once the door panel is removed.

Attachment 51321

To remove the speaker, remove the screw at the top of the speaker and lift the speaker up and out of the hole. Be careful not to break the two plastic tabs at the bottom of the speaker housing. (like I did) Then unclip the speaker wiring harness and remove the speaker. Door with speaker removed:

Attachment 51322

Now this next step is optional. My replacement speakers, Infinity Reference 6032cf, would not fit in the existing opening in the door panel without cutting some of the sheet metal. The opening is sorta mushroom-shaped for some reason. So I McGuyver’d the factory speaker housing and reused it with my replacement speakers. Here’s what I did. I used a Dremel tool to cut off the outer ring of the factory speaker housing. Don’t through away the old speaker just yet, you’ll see why later.

Attachment 51323

Now drill holes in the factory speaker housing to match the mounting holes on the replacement speakers.
Attachment 51324

Then attach the replacement speakers to the outer ring of the factory speaker housing using screws just a tad shorter than the thickness of the speaker housing. I think they were 1 ¼”, but don’t hold me to it. Now install the strip of foam that comes with the new speakers between the speaker and the factory speaker housing.

Attachment 51325


Again, here is another optional step. I did not purchase any speaker wiring harness adapters thinking I could just cut off the factory speaker connector and connect the speaker wires directly to the new speaker. But, the factory speaker wire was just long enough to begin with so I didn’t want to make is any shorter. So again I used my MacGyver skills to make a custom wiring adapter to allow the factory speaker connector to be reused. I removed the wiring connector from the factory speaker and used a short length of speak wire to make and adapter. Here is the link to the wiring color code. This proved to be very helpful since the factory speaker have no labeling whatsoever. If you accidentally switch the wires up the speaker will be out of phase with the others and will sound like crap.

Attachment 51326

Connect the wiring adapter to the replacement speaker.

Attachment 51327

Now install the new speaker into the door. Insert the two tabs first then install the single screw that is at the top of the speaker housing. I had to replace the original screw with one about a ½” longer to accommodate the new speakers.

Attachment 51328

Here’s another optional step. Well it wasn’t optional for me since I broke one of the plastic tabs on the bottom of the factory speaker housing. I installed two sheet metal screws at the bottom of the speaker housing to make sure the new speaker doesn’t move anywhere.

Attachment 51329

Now stand back and admire those sexy speakers!

Attachment 51330

Now would be a good time to turn on the radio and check the speakers before putting the interior door panels back on. Remember to connect the battery cable you removed earlier.

FYI, the speakers I used were Infinity 6032cf which are rated at 2 ohm just like the factory speakers. The RMS wattage rating on these is 60W which is way beyond the capabilities of the factory amp, so they should hold up well. Just for fun here is a video of the blown factory speakers.


http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/a...h_MVI_2097.jpg

Guys, let me know you find this DIY guide to be helpful or have any questions about. I will be glad to add or change anything if needed.

Thanks !!!! Btw do u know the size of all the speakers???

It's all here:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...=stock+speaker

That's an excellent guide, I'm changing all of my interior speakers with the exception of the sub (can't find a good replacement). You mentioned a link to the speaker wire color codes but I don't see it. I'm not sure which is positive or negative and I want to make sure and do this sway properly. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Also, anyone know how to remove the A pillar to replace the tweeters??

Speaker Wiring Color Code
 

I must have forgot to post the link. Here it is:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...t=speaker+wire

I can't help you out with that one. But it seems like you will have to work around the side curtain airbags. Just be aware of that and disconnect the battery and pull the airbag fuse before taking anything apart.

Thinking about replacing mine also! Great post!

Go for it! It can be a little discouraging after replacing one side but the second one goes much much quicker.

I forgot to mention in my original post about the huge difference in weight between factory and aftermarket speakers. The Infinity's I put in must've weight 2-3 times more than the factory speakers due to larger magnets. The factory speakers are incredibly light.

ShadeTreeMech.....I was wondering why you thought your factory speakers was blown? Did it make odd noises or not work? Your video shows you pushing on the cone and the voice coil rubbing. Just curious.

Did you find the sound to be better? Was the volume as loud as before? How about the bass? Any better?

Thanks

The speakers sounded like crap. It was so bad that I had to turn the fader all the way ti the rear.

Yeah...from your video, I wasn't sure. Many speakers will sound like that when you just push on only 1 part of the cone. When you do that, you are making the voice coil rub.

Well I can't make a good comparison with the stock speakers but the new ones are great. Excellent mids and highs and bass is ok. Im completely happy with them.

It made that noise all the time.

Great writeup. Some suggestions from experience:

Get on ebay/amazon and order the honda/acura wiring speaker adapters (gives you a male plug with leads that hooks up to the stock honda/acura plug) - they're like $3.00 a pair shipped - saves you hacking up the speaker and tons of time.

Get on ebay/amazon and order some honda/acura speaker adapter rings - there are several options, for 4 inch / 5 inch / 6 inch / 6.5 inch door speaker adapters, that screw right into the factory honda/acura trident pattern and give you 4 screw holes in the proper places for your speaker. (usually like $2.00 or $2.00 a piece).

You'll get a much better fitment and reduce rattle.

Some moisture does get into that speaker cavity area, so some foam speaker baffles ($1.00 a piece) are ideal for insulating the speaker and protecting the cone, as well as noise and vibration isolation.

I'm going to attempt this in about 8 hrs. I also picked up the Infinity Reference speakers. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Between this post and JNC2000's, should make it possible for me to do this.

"Good luck.."

Nice little write up.

I guess I should have signed up to acurazine before I put in our JL's in the 09 we just got. At least it was only the driver-side...I didn't do the passanger because the stock sounds like it has more bass than the JL VR's, even though they're rated at 60w RMS, they don't sound as loud. But they seem like I can "push" them A LOT farther than the stocks.:shrug:

I can't recall what the stock amp is rated at but I doubt it puts out anywhere close to 60 watts rms. So it can't utilize the full potential of the JLs. Also the sensitivty of the JLs may be different than stock (i.e. less efficient).

Just wondering why you replaced the mid-bass with a two way speaker. The TL is setup as a component system with separate tweeters and mid's. There is a crossover between them which prevents any high's from going to the door speakers. This renders the tweeter in the speaker you installed pretty much useless. If the crossover is built into the old speaker, then I would be wrong, but it still doesn't make sense to run 2 sets of tweeters in the front. You would have been better off replacing the door speakers with a set of these:

http://www.woofersetc.com/p-7175-cx6...s-drivers.aspx

After looking in the shop manual there is no separate crossover box in the audio diagrams (Fig. 49: Audio System Circuit Diagram - With Navigation (3 Of 6), page 590). For example, wire "blue" connects the amplifier with both the "-" of the driver's door speaker and the "-" of the driver's side tweeter (same with the light green "+"). I do recall my old Accord... the same type of diagram was showing a separate box that acted as a crossover. So maybe there is no crossover!

BTW, to check if you have blown a speaker, you can perform the speaker test.

With the audio off, press and hold pre-select radio buttons 1 and 3 and then at the same time hit the audio power switch. That will start beeping from each speaker and you can advance to the next speaker by pressing the + of the seek button. If one speaker doesn't do the beeping after you hit the + of the seek button, then that speaker has gone bad. To exit, turn off the audio.

PS. The Infinity Reference 6032cf have been discontinued, obviously there is a new model out there... still infinity reference but with a different product number.

This is a great guide thanks so much. i am about to do an upgrade to my system and have already gotten the speakers you used. Infinity also sells a 3.5 in that model and i would like to get that to upgrade my center channel. Do you know if it is just the grill that comes off in the front to remove the center or if you have to take the dash off? I am also concerned about the mounting depth for the magnet. Anyway let me know if you know anything and again great little tutorial. Thanks so much, hoping my install goes smooth :wish:

thank u sir!

i have had the right door speaker replaced under warranty; it buzzed especially on AM. i have read some threads that the tl door speakers blowing out is commonplace. thinking about getting a better quality speaker to solve the problem

Hey there I don't know if you ever found what you were looking for but here is a thread for installing a Valentine system in this car which shows exactly how to take off the A-Frames for the tweeters.

https://acurazine.com/forums/4g-tl-audio-bluetooth-electronics-navigation-294/i-010-how-4th-gen-tl-valentine-1-w-savvy-concealed-display-install-863767/#post13973981

:)

Sorry I am new to Forums and didn't want to confuse anyone. I was just reposting this trying to make sure it hit who it needs to. I don't know if you ever found what you were looking for but here is a thread for installing a Valentine system in this car which shows exactly how to take off the A-Frames for the tweeters.

https://acurazine.com/forums/showt...php?p=13973981

That thread is excellent in describing how to remove the A-pillar covers. Now, does anyone know the size of the wiring harness connectors used for the tweeters? They are smaller than the connectors used for the door and center speakers.

I just pulled out my front right door speaker because with just the smallest base notes, it was rattleing. On further inspection I found that the glue around the outer edge of the speaked failed. I pushed it back down to reseal it and it sounded fine but I am sure that will not last long. A new set of aftermarket speakers is on order.

I really like the sound of the original ELS system in my 2009 TL, but with all the problems others have reported with these speakers, I think it is prudent to just change them out.

Attachment 48086

What are you replacing the stock speakers with and are you upgrading the amp as well?

So I followed this tutorial and had good success. I used the same set of speakers and replaced the back deck ones as well. However this past week, all 4 of the new speakers stopped playing music. My first indication was a ground fault, but when I took the door panels off everything looked good. Checked the fuses and didn't see any problems there.

Any other ideas?

Not sure if you fixed your issue, but i had te same thing happen to my front speakers after installation, it ended up being a short between speaker sonnector and door frame. I have JBL gx602 and its just something to watch out for, the shape of the door cutout makes connectors touch the door frame. I used a thick layer of liquid electrical tape to isolate it.

sorry to bring up a dead post but i wanted to ask a question about the test for the speaker system as well as what specific speaker i should get.

so, i did the speaker test and all the speakers beeped normally which is fine except for the 'sub' option i think it was. Now im sure the sub wont beep but why would that option be there? anyways is the sub supposed to beep? I am replacing or want to replace my front speakers because they are crackling especially when i listen to the news on AM stations. It just sounds real crppy.

Also, I read on here about the wiring adapters and adapter rings which i want to get because i just want things to be stock and work like normal except be better, if that makes sense. So what would be a good speaker to purchase today to replace the OEM ones i have on now? Nothing fancy, just a good replacement with pretty solid sound.

I have a 2009 TL tech package.

Thanks!

Junction box
 

On the 2010 there is a junction box somewhere behind the dash but I can't find it. I replaced everything bit the factory radio. It sounds great! But I'm stuck trying to find a easy way to install the cross overs for my jl audio separates. Looks like I'm just going to run new wires but kinda hoping to find a easy place to tap into the main wire going to the junction box.