Hi,

I wanted to replace the speakers in the front of my S Type, and couldn't find any existing guides. This one gets you as far as getting the door panel off.

I've got the 2002.5 4.2l V8 and the standard speakers are really awful. I swapped them out for some cheap [£24] door speakers from Halfords Halfords | FLI Integrator Coaxial 5x7" Car Speakers I'm not going to change the head unit so there's no point in going overboard.

This tutorial assumes that you are cheap (like me ) and don't want to buy any adaptors.

Follow the door panel guide and remove the existing speaker. You'll need a Torx screwdriver and then the connection to the wiring harness is a simple clip. When taking the speaker out, make a note of which side of the connector is positive (white wire) and which negative (yellow). I wrote it on in marker pen.

Here are the two speakers side by side. Note the pitiful drivers on the standard item.


You'll need to cut the wires going into the speaker, as close as possible to the speaker material.


Next, remove the plastic adaptor. It slides upwards, towards the centre of the speaker and there is a little clip underneath to press in. Don't worry too much about the clip - it doesn't matter if it breaks.



Place the adaptor onto the new speaker (noting the correct polarity) and use a drop of superglue to secure it to the speaker. Thread the wires through the terminals on the new speakers and then apply solder from the back, letting it flow.



That's it - now you have a new speaker which should just drop into the existing harness and connectors.



Finally, for those of you with access to a 3D Printer, I also uploaded a model of the door pins to replace any that you might break. Door Pin by RScullion - Thingiverse

 

Strong first post!

I know you have been a member for a while, but welcome to the forum!

 

Great write up. I am thinking of an upgrade to some really decent speakers, what sort of difference did your upgrade make? Do you feel it was worth doing?

 

Definitely worth doing. Bass was turned right up before, now only a couple of notches. Sound quality is much better. I'm going to do the backs too.

As regards putting some really decent speakers in, I don't know how much difference that would make unless you change the head unit too. I'm guessing 5"x7" are never going to sound amazing. I'd be interested to see what you think if you do it though.