Has anyone replaced speakers lately and found (or lucked into) a decent model that attaches directly without modification?

I am about to embark on what I hope will be the last plastic/rubber/vinyl replacements for a long while. I've done all the big stuff, engine-out gaskets, seals, hoses, guides, mounts, all the suspension bushes, etc, even new tires. No more leaks and the only squeak left is the center console lid. But I've been putting off the more minor stuff till last. I've ordered replacements for the crumbling door handle gaskets and figured on taking care of the crumbling foam speaker surrounds while I have the door panels removed. Considered ordering kits for the oem speaker surrounds, but if I could find some standard speakers that would fit in the doors without modifying, cutting or drilling anything (other than the pigtails), that would make the job go a lot faster.

 

I put a set of Rockford Fosgate P1650 coaxial speakers in the front doors. Any 6.5" speaker should fit without modification, you'll just need to either snip the end off the door speaker wire or buy and adapter to make it plug and play. I didn't disconnect the factory tweeters and found the sound was too harsh for my tastes and I took them out. Thinking of trying them again and disconnecting the factory tweeters. They were definitely less bassy than the OEM Alpines though, so its entirely possible that I messed up the impedance of the curcuit by keeping the tweeters connected and thus, ruined the sound.

Definitely need to try them again.

 

Hello Phil, My XJR had the speakers replaced when I purchased it. Sounds very good and an improvement over the standard Alpine units though since the car is together, I cannot tell you what they were except they fit into the existing mounting. The original tweeters are still installed.
You mentioned the door handle gaskets; where did you find them? They seem to be very scarce lately.....had changed some on my other cars but could use some on my XJR. Thanks a bunch!

 

Actually ordered off Amazon. A few bucks cheaper than Moss but still very pricey for what they are. This was sold in pairs, right and left. I replaced the driver door handle one a decade ago because the handle itself broke and apparently back then I bought one individually, probably from Welsh (I searched my parts stash for its mate, hoping to only need one set but no luck, had to order two). Email confirmation says they've been shipped so we'll see what I get in a couple of days. Shows only three left in stock too so better hurry.

 

I agree with mayhem that any 6.5" speaker should fit fine, and that you'll need to find an adapter or clip the wires and install your own connectors. The bigger issue is to make sure you get the correct impedance that will work with the factory system. I don't remember off hand what impedance it uses, but someone will probably chime in with that information.

 

Many better 6.5" speakers are very deep. I guess that those will hit to the window glass or door frame.
70 to 75mm install depth easily.

 

The Jaguar speakers are 4ohm and are 64mm deep. I've been looking for speaker diagrams or cutting templates online. The Jaguar speakers are drilled 90 degrees (4 holes) at a diameter of 156mm. JVCs are drilled at 143mm. Pioneers are drilled at 142mm. I found a diagram for a Blaupunkt model that's drilled at 157mm but its a European model. I found it from a UK seller on Amazon with free shipping to the states, but would take a while to get here. I could not find diagrams online for any of the Blaupunkt model numbers that are sold here in the states. Another problem is that most of the model numbers sold online are not even found on the manufacturers websites. I don't know if they are models made just for certain sellers like Walmart or Newegg or if they are all previous years models that aren't current anymore. JBLs are drilled on little tabs around the perimeter at 158mm but they are 3ohm. So I keep searching.

 

What kind of template do you mean ? Element is screwed to the door panel no to the door frame from the factory. I measured speaker element space in the door once. Original standard audio magnet comes pretty close to door frame when panel is installed. That rules out every other speaker than shallow install depth ones. Unless if the door frame is modified. The thing is there is no speaker that will work great when it is mounted on floppy door panel..

I would like to try elements like these with the filters and tweeters but size of the magnet plus 68mm install depth rules ths type of elements out.
Ground Zero 165sq

 

Sometimes when you open a box of new speakers, there will be a paper sheet inside the box with a cutout template on it to make it easier for people who are building their own custom boxes (or cutting up their car doors for non-original speakers). And there's usually also a scale diagram with all of the speaker dimensions in the user/installation manual. Some speaker manufacturers scan those documents and put them on their websites in PDF or other format while other speaker manufacturers don't (I suppose they want you to buy the speakers first and THEN find out they won't fit.).

I had already replaced the front door speakers once when one started buzzing about seven or eight years ago. I had some shallow 6.5" speakers leftover from another car project that had come with a stereo "package deal" (head unit and two speakers on sale cheaper than the head unit alone) and figured I'd go ahead and use them. I had to make an adapter plate to be able to mount them because the speaker mounting holes were on tabs that didn't line up with the mounting holes on the door panel. But now that I'm going to remove the door panels for all four doors to replace the door handle gaskets, I might as well go ahead and replace all four speakers with the same type and a proper fit while I'm at it. No rush tho as I'm currently driving the old XJ while the XF is down for other repairs.

 

I'll be removing the driver's (left side) door card probably next week and will send you the model and a picture of the speaker. There is a crossover mounted in there as well. These were on the car when I purchased it and I must say, the sound is and improvement over the original 20 Yr ole Jensen speakers mounted in 308 VDP model cars. Of course the Jensens are 20 years old!
The car came with a aftermarket radio so the original cabling from the rear amp to the speakers was spliced in from the harness of the new radio. It looked terrible and was difficult to interact with so I soldered the original cables and installed a factory radio in it's place. The interior looks much better this way!

 

Thanks David. Go ahead and post your info when you have a chance as it may help somebody. But I gave up looking online and this morning went to a local car stereo shop, taking an original Jaguar speaker with me for comparison. They went through a few boxes and eventually found some Alpine SPE-6000 4ohm speakers that match up to the OEM dimensions all around and are molded with slight oval screw holes centered at 155.6mm around the perimeter - they screw right in. (Oh and the cardboard box itself is perforated for customizers to use as a cutting template which I'm sure would be pretty handy for someone and the diagram with dimensions is printed on the back of the box.)

Now I'm kinda glad that I didn't order something online as the first speaker that he pulled out to compare, had the holes drilled in the right place, but the rubber surround was larger diameter than on the Jaguar speaker and protruded above the mounting face. It looked like it would have probably fouled on the door panel once installed but if I had seen it online, I might have ordered it because that was one aspect of fitment that I hadn't thought to look for. Did one rear door today, new door handle gasket and new speaker.