Cheap DIY headrest speaker replacement (pics inside)

[Matt V]

If you're like me, you had your radios fade set to full front because your headrest speakers were demolished and sounded like a bean inside of a tin can. I was thinking of replacing the speakers with some aftermarkets but then I realized I had a bunch of old home theater speakers laying around. I took the factory headrest speakers out and measured, it's 2" wide and 3.5" tall once taken out of the pod it sits in. I then pulled out a set of old Sony "home theater in a box" speakers I had and popped off the grille, what I saw was a shock.



If you're wondering if they're the same size, then you would be correct! I was pleasantly surprised to see this, and decided to have at it and take these bad boys apart.



Here's the speaker taken out of the enclosure, I used a surround speaker in the examples, though they all had the same speaker.



Turns out I was absolutely correct, exact same size down to a tee. Now, here's where the cool part begins.



Look at that magnet difference! The Sony speakers easily weigh twice as much as the factory speakers, you can easily see the difference between the two.



Here's the factory speaker taken out of the pod enclosure from the headrest. Notice how torn up mine was, 1990 speakers FTW!



The Sony speaker installed in the enclosure. I kept the padding in there to help deaden vibration. The speaker is a tight fit because of the huge magnet so I recommend installing the pod back into the car then putting the speaker in after that because you can use the seat for support.





That's them installed in the headrests! This was an incredible cheap (free in my case) and easy install. It's amazing how much you take the headrest speakers for granted until you get some good speakers in there. If you have any old HTIB (home theater in a box) speakers laying around, take a look under the grille, you might be surprised what you find in there.

I hope this guide gives you guys some ideas on how to replace those crappy blown headrest speakers, enjoy!

-Matt

[motorollow]

Very nice! Magnet size does make a big difference.

[Treibenschnell]

...like a bean inside of a tin can.

That's a mighty big can.