Installing 9-5 door speakers into the C900
Introduction
Introduction
The stock speaker locations for the C900 leaves a lot to be desired.
Even with a decent subwoofer, you end up with a big gap in the mid-range. There is only one solution to fix this problem. You need a bigger speaker up front!
Pretty much every car with a decent car stereo will have 6.5" speakers in the doors and they only produce mid-range sound.
The tweeters are located higher up and usually facing the driver.
To solve this mid-range problem, most people will suggest you build a kickbox and put it in the footwell pointing to toward the driver. I don't consider this a good option for two reasons.
First, you have to move the fuel injection computer to create space on the one side. Second, the footwell is already narrow and I don't want to keep kicking the speakers.
My solution came to me after replacing the speakers in my 9-5. I bought some used door speaker mounts from Goldwing and dedicated one weekend to making them fit into the doors.
I'm happy to say that this is a perfect solution to the mid-range problem. They sound and look great. In fact, unless you are looking you probably won't even notice they are there.
This guide will help you install these into your C900.
Tools needed:
Parts needed:
Installing 9-5 door speakers into the C900
Step 1
Step 1
To make a hole in the door for the speaker, we need to remove the door panel. This is very straight forward!
The door panel should fall off once you have all of the screws out.
Marking the correct location for the speaker is key. You need to place the mount on the door and mark the location to cut.
Luckily, SAAB made this somewhat easy as the door has an identation in it to help us.
You do not want to be too close to the edge because the there is a steel brace that will block access to the mounting screw.
Make sure your screw mount is not near the weld marks.
This is where I marked mine:
Now that you have a starting location, you want to go ahead and cut out that piece of metal using a dremel.
Drill out the holes for the mouting screws and place the hex bolts in the holes.
The hardest one is the one furthest toward the end.
If you have big arms and hands, you may want to consider pulling out the window regulator.
Now place the speaker mount on the screws, mark and cut out the other half of the hole.
You need to create a baffle for the speaker and this hole will open up the door as a baffle.
The speaker mount will not sit flat on all 3 screws. You need to use a spacer to take up some space.
I found some plastic tubing in the plumbing section of home depot and just cut about 1/4" to place over the mounting screw.
In some cases, the aftermarket 6.5" speaker does not fit fully in the 9-5 speaker mount.
SAAB has put in some ribs in the mount to keep the speaker secure. Using a dremel, I had to sand these ribs down so my speaker would fit.
Now we can run the speaker wire!
Installing 9-5 door speakers into the C900
Step 2
Step 2
The best place to run the speaker wire is in the stock wiring loom. This was difficult the first time, but was easier on the second door!
To make this easier I would recommend the smallest possible wire you feel comfortable fitting.
16-18 guauge will work just fine.
The rubber wiring cover is held to the door with a special tie-wrap.
I'm not sure if this is available through the dealer, but you will not be able to run the wire without cutting this tie-wrap.
I did not replace mine and so far I have had no problems.
Pull the rubber cover off of the fender.
I then used a coat hanger and started from the door and pushed it through the loom.
Once on the other side, you must attach the new speaker wire to the coat hanger by attaching the speaker wire through a loop in the coat hanger and using tape to hold it on.
I used needle nose pliers and create a small hook in the hanger. I then push the wire onto the hook and use tape to hold it in place.
Now spray the wire down with some WD-40 or some kind of lubrication. This will help it slide through the rubber easier.
Gently pull the coat hanger back out and VOILA!
Now you need to get the speaker wire into the car.
For the left side you can either drill a new hole and use a grommet or use the vacuum hose hole.
For the right side I used the fuel injection loom.
Now hook up the wire to the speaker and place it in the speaker mount. The speaker just screws into the mount with small sheet metal screws.
Using foam insulation tape, cover the plastic case. This will make a tight seal between the speaker mount and the door.
Installing 9-5 door speakers into the C900
Step 3
Step 3
This is step that will make the install either look like crap or very professional.
You do not want to cut out more door material than necessary.
Getting the hole the right size will take many small trial and error cuts.
In my case I got impatient and went crazy. If you are tired from the previous two steps, I would suggest to take a long break and come back fresh.
To start, I just had someone hold the panel close to the right position and I used a marker to mark the inside of the door panel. I then used a dremel with a sideways cutting drill bit.
This tool is tough to use because it can go wild with little to no warning. The best thing to use would be a foam cutting heating element, but I'm not sure where to but this from.
You will make a big mess no matter what tool you use!
Once you get the hole the right size you should end up with something like this.
As you can see, my hole could have been better! You can do better!
My last recommendation is to make sure your are not sending high frequencies to the door speakers.
You should only be sending mid to low range. Since the speaker is mounted sideways, the high frequencies will distort the imaging and make it sound like the singers are at your feet!
Your amplifier should have a setting for low-pass and then have an adjustable frequency range. You want to set it as high as possible.
If your amp does not have this, then you can buy an inline low-pass crossover from tweeter.com.