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Classic Saab 900: Choosing and Replacing your speakers
This article kindly written and supplied by Matt Faulks
In this guide I'll be discussing mounting replacement speakers in the stock factory positions as well as the various types of speakers available and various facts I'll throw in along the way.
Information
A speaker is basically a cone of paper, plastic, titanium, Kevlar, carbon fibre or some other substance, the cone reproduces sound by moving backwards and forwards at various speeds, the cones moves via the interaction of a voice coil and magnet (see links sections for a much better and longer explanation). There are several types of speakers that are commonly used in cars these are:
Tweeters - A small usually 1" or 1.5" speaker with a cone made from silk, titanium or plastic, which is designed to only reproduce high frequencies, due to its small cone size it can reproduce high frequencies much more accurately than a large sized speaker, a general rule of thumb is the smaller the cone the more treble, the large the more bass.
Mid Range - This is a normal looking single cone speaker usually 4", 5 ¼" or 6" in size which, as the name suggests, reproduces mid range sound. You usually purchase mid range speakers and tweeters together as a package, these are called Component speakers and feature some kind of crossover, for cheap sets of components this is usually one or two capacitors, this is known as Cap on wire, the capacitors have the effect of filtering frequencies which you don't want a speaker trying to reproduce, i.e. 20hz bass through a tweeter. More expensive components feature 'off board crossovers' these are a small box with two inputs and four outputs, the input would be the normal two wire out put from your amplifier (e.g. the one in your head unit) and one output would go to the mid, the other to the tweeter. Off board crossovers offer a much more accurate way of filtering the sound, they also normally have a see through top cover so look quite cool (very important J)
Dual Cone - Look like a mid with a little paper cone in the middle, cheap and sound it. Really no reasonable speakers are available as dual cones. They are often fitted as standard by lots of car manufacturers.
Co Axial - Co Axial speakers are a standard Mid with the tweeter mounted on a pole rising from the centre of the mid's cone, or on more expensive co axel speakers on a bridge over the mid cone. These speakers are available in two, three and four way configurations, the terms two, three and four way generally refers to how many speakers there are 'on' the speaker in total i.e. a normal Co-Ax with a mid and tweet is a two way. Most of the better Co-Ax speakers are two ways as all you really need are mid and tweet. If you sneak a look at a boy racers parcel shelf you'll no doubt see a pair of Carlos Fandango 4 way 6X9's which won't sound any where near as good as a pair of 4" Co-Ax's installed correctly. It's the general consensus that Components are better than Co-Ax's, actually I'll let you into a secret, technically a Co-Ax speaker should sound better as the sound originates from the same axis, however in cars this is generally lost and being able to mount the tweeter and mid separately can sound a lot better.
Choosing
The stock sizes in a Saab 900 are 4" under the front grills with room for a one inch tweeter above the demist vent and 4" or 6X4" under the rear parcel shelf supports. If your rear supports are made for 4" speaker you can't fit 6X4's and vice versa, 6X4's are generally capable of being better than 4" speakers but can over power the front sound stage (i.e. you hear sound coming from the back rather than all around you) generally this isn't a problem as all head units have a fader control.
Front Speakers:
Decide if you want components or Co-Axial speakers. Co-Ax's will be easier to fit due to having less wiring. Don't be put off if your stock grills don't have tweeters already fitted, its actually easier to fit new tweets into these than it is to cars already tweeter equipped. Generally if you want to spend less that £100 look at Co-Axels if you want better sound or have more cash to spend look at components, around £120 - £150 for some decent ones. Some good makes to consider are
Alpine - Components are very very good. Generally considered the best
Rockford Fosgate - American brand over priced in the UK, but top quality and very good and if you can get a US dealer to send them over to you their a bargain.
Kenwood - Their dual mags are superb for the money and available as co-axels or components. I've tried both and can recommend them.
Sony - X Plod range is cheap and fairly cheerful, good for the cash, but £30 more will usually get you something a lot better, again like Kenwood available as both components and co-axels.
Infinity - Very good some consider superior to Alpine, and their top end stuff is just the more reasonable kit isn't.
Focal - Get you cheque book out, makers of the 1 Grand Tweeters, kicks Alpine into touch, but can you justify spending the value of your car on a set of speakers (2X 5 ¼" mids and 2X Tweeters = £3500)
Rear Speakers:
Your only choice here is co-axels due to the space, well that's not quite true but unless you want to start chopping things up they are. If you have 6X4 speakers there then Kenwood, Rockford Fosgate, Sony or JBL are the best people to speak to, if you have 4" speakers then the information from the front speakers guide applies.
Generally you want to be looking at a decent build quality with all the makes mentioned above have, just like head units it all comes down to what sounds the best to you, so have a listen, any Halfords have a big board with speakers set in them that you can have a good listen to (if your around Loughborough go and have a word with Giles tell him Matt sent you and he'll be happy to recommend the best for you and give you a Demo of any speakers you fancy)
Fitting
All your going to need is the toolkit in the boot of your Saab, if you've lost any of the screwdriver attachments now's the time to start looking and if your fitting tweeters a drill.
Front:
Remove the front grills by undoing the torx screws and lifting the grill out, being careful not to loose the plastic flexible tube. With the grill out follows these simple steps.
1. Disconnect the existing speaker leads.
2. Remove the metal speaker retaining clips, there should be 4. Lift out the speaker.
3. If your fitting components skip to number 5, Place your new speaker where the old one was, it may push out the grill very slightly as it could be a touch taller, best bet is to take a grill with you when buying the speakers and check they fit okay.
4. Re attach the clips, they just push on, reconnect the speaker, the existing wiring will be fine despite the fact you'll probably get some better looking wire with the new speakers and refit the grill, again being careful not to loose or damage the tube. Give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.
5. You'll need the style of speaker grill which came with Saabs that DIDN'T have tweeters ready fitted. If you don't have this type a scrap Saab may be the best bet, you can still fit tweeters to a already tweeter equipped Saab it just looks a lot neater if you do it this way. As to fit them to a already tweeter equipped car you will need to cover the existing hole in some way as the new tweeters will be smaller, the best way to do this is to cut a piece of smooth ABS plastic (Available in sheets from your Local ICE dealer) and mount the tweeters in this, they will be recessed under the existing tweeter holes.
6. Measure the size of the Tweeter and pick a drill a fraction smaller, we're going to drill the blanking plate so the tweeter will just push fit flush into the grill. Drill the hole, remember, measure twice cut once, or drill in this case J. Push the tweeter into the hole and check for a solid fit. If its too tight and won't go in you'll need to open the hole up a bit, if its too loose then wrap a bit of tape around the tweeter to increase its size a bit.
7. Place your new mid where the old one was, Re-attach the clips, they just push on. Now if you have cap on wire type crossovers plug the wires in as per the instruction manual and refit the grill being careful of the plastic tube. If however you have off board crossovers things are slightly more difficult, you'll need to attach them under the dash in some way, if you don't fancy using short self tapping screws then some strong double sided tape will do just as well. Wire the tweeters and mids up to the crossover as per the manual and connect the crossover up to the amplifier/head unit. Refit the grill, again being careful not to loose or damage the plastic tube. Give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.
Rear:
Remove the carpeted shelf support tops by removing the push clips/screws and pulling it out, it may require a bit of effort as their in quite tightly, they can be a bit of a struggle so take your time and you'll be fine, you have to lift and pull at the same time. When its out remove the screws/clips that hold the speaker in and fit the new speaker. Refit the screws/clips and the top panel. Job done, the rears are really easy to do. One thing to note if you don't have rear speakers fitted then the speaker wires are taped to the rear wheel arches under the carpet trim and they may not be connected to the speaker plug behind the stereo, they should be but if their not use some crimp on connectors to connect them directly to the ISO plug.
If you have any problems mail me at m.faulks@btinternet.com and I'll be happy to help.
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Classic Saab 900
