I know there are many threads on replacing front speakers. I have a 2009 MC NOT S, and with the standard 6 speaker stereo, NOT the upgraded HI Fi.

I did the channel swap. Wow! That made a huge difference. Then I replaced the front 6 inch speakers with the Polk DB651. Here is what I learned in doing it.

1) The door panels come of fairly easy. I was worried I would break something, clips or etc, but nothing broke it was quite easy. Remove the pin on the bottom of the trim ring for the door handle, then remove the door handle trim ring (pulls off), then remove the light on the bottom of the door panel (pry out and take off wire), then simply start to pull the panel off. You DO NOT need to remove any speaker covers. This part of the process took 5 minutes as I never did before, but was easy.

2) then easily dismount and disconnect the 6 inch factory speaker. Uses Torx 15 - about 2 minutes.

3) The polk speaker are slightly larger and you must do some minor mods. The speaker grill on the door needs a bit of work. The speaker grill has a tab that protudes in, simply cut off with a knife. Then, there is a ring just inside a flat surface ring of the grill, this would stick into the speaker and ruin it. It was very easy to trim this off with a knife from the dollar store. Take your knife and cut the protruding ring down flat to the surface, then you have a flat surface to mount the speaker to and it won't mess up the speaker. Takes about 3 minutes and the plastic cuts very easily.

4) I used the supplied adapter rings. You have to play with it to find the correct spacing. Ultimately I had to enlarge two existing holes and remove 2 or 3 un-needed tabs, then it fit like a glove. 5 minutes

5) I cut off the plugs on factory wiring and soldered a short length of speaker wire to the factory wire, and then solder the speaker wire to the speaker. About 5 minutes.

6) Secure speaker in door. 2 minutes

7) pop on door panel and reinstall light. 2 minutes

Do same on other door.
I gotta say these speakers are great, the mids and trebles are now very nice, I pivoted the tweeters to point to the front seat at about head level.

Below are pics of the modification of the speaker grill on the door panel. The screwdriver points to the ring that was cut off.

ring being cut off


after ring cut off screwdriver pointing


compare factory speaker to db651


I know some guys are gonna say this is crap, The speaker cost $56. So if you have limited budget like me and want better sound, do the channel swap and buy db651 and install. To my ears it is way better and sounds like a premium sound system now, much better than stock. Focals may be better but I don't have $500+ to spend on this.

As usual, no warranties and you take all responsibility for your actions. I take no responsibility for any information in this post, incorrect, missing, or otherwise. Just trying to help others from my experience.

Good Luck!!

 

remove trim ring


trim ring removed


speaker comparison

 

Thanks for the info. I can't stand the stock speakers in my Clubbie, they are driving me nuts but I honestly didn't want to dump money into the car. This sounds like a nice compromise.

The channel swap sounds like a good mod but I don't really like that your bluetooth speakers would now be the rear ones. Did you have to deal with that? Is it as weird as it sounds? Where did you buy the Loom btw?

 

I have not used the bluetooth, but i dont think the rear speakers would bother me.

I did not buy any loom. There is a thread by k6rtm that has all the info on the swap. You just need a drill bit, or tork or some other shaft of a specific diameter. No other tools required. Very easy.

Good Luck

 

Thanks for the info. I'm in a similar situation. My reading of the posts created a concern is that the Polk DB series don't seem to hold up over time. I'd be curious about that down the road. I'm looking at the Infiniti 6030CS for a similar swap. I'm likewise concerned about the channel swap and the Bluetooth. Did you perform/consider any RAAMat-type stuff behind the speakers? That seemed to be a good addition from my reading of the numerous postings.

 

Just checking back in after 4+ years the polks have held up fine, not a single issue. Still loving the sound