Connecting dashboard tweeters

[Radar]

After three month of owning my '94 SVX with only 33000 miles, I found out that my dashboard houses only dummies instead of tweeters. Therefore the sound is rather flat.

Today I could finally remove my stereo cage to check, how I would have to connect aftermarket tweeters, but I could not find anything that would have brought me forward, no empty plug or cables.

Does anyone know more?

[Earthworm]

Welcome to the site. Your best bet for help on speaker replacement is to check out http://svx-iw.com/ and look for the speaker replacement instructions in the troubleshooting section.

[lee]

Connecting the tweeters isn't hard, but you will need some sort of crossover arrangement. The OEM unit uses a small capacitor located at the tweeter itself. This is because the wires out to the speakers are full bandwidth - the door speakers carrying the whole signal, the tweeters using the cap as a high-pass filter.

Anyway, look for the speaker wires in the kick panels and there should be a place where they branch off to go to the tweeter location. Of course mine had OEM tweeters so, I can't vouch for wiring if your setup never had them. Do you have the wiring diagram so you know what color wires to look for?

[wynndi]

They're in there! You are gonna need to cut the connectors when you find them and splice the new ones in. The difference in sound is DEFINITLY worth it!

[svxcess]

From the FSM, Section 6-3, pg.25

Driver's side [L] tweeter: Green wire and Brown wire with yellow stripe
Passenger side [R] tweeter: White with black stripe and red with yellow stripe

Factory tweeters have matching wires. Part number is 86301PA030 Speaker Ay $42.49 each from Subaruparts.com. Diagram is HERE

.

[Earthworm]

Originally Posted by wynndi

They're in there! You are gonna need to cut the connectors when you find them and splice the new ones in. The difference in sound is DEFINITLY worth it!

Not all SVX's have tweeters. His is a 94 so it may be an L model without CD player and only 4 speaker stereo.

[Radar]

Thanks for help, esp. the parts number. Subaru Germany is sold out. A friend in the US will order them and ship to Europe.

SVX version names are different in Europe. Mine is a German '94 model which never had tweeters in the dashboad, just dummies. But it has the stock Panasonic stereo with a CD-player in the boot holding 12 CDs.

Originally Posted by Earthworm

Not all SVX's have tweeters. His is a 94 so it may be an L model without CD player and only 4 speaker stereo.

Yep. This is confusing because all SVX dashboards have the tweeter "grilles" built in........regardless of whether or not your car actually has tweeters.


Dave

[SVXdc]

Originally Posted by Radar

Today I could finally remove my stereo cage to check, how I would have to connect aftermarket tweeters, but I could not find anything ... no empty plug or cables.

The stock radio only has 4 speaker outputs. The tweeters are wired in parallel to the front speakers. In the US, models that did not include the factory tweeters still do have the wires and plugs. I'm pretty sure the wires split off somewhere behind the dash (not behind the kickpanels on the sides, and definitely not in the doors).

Is it possible that your SVX does have the tweeter wires/plugs, but they have fallen out of sight?

In my SVX stereo install guide look in section 2.5.1, above item "j" for the Subaru wiring diagram. The "front" speakers are the tweeters.

Originally Posted by Radar

A friend in the US will order [the factory tweeters] and ship to Europe.

I don't recommend getting the crappy Subaru tweeters. You can spend less money and still get better quality buying after-market tweeters.

[SVXdc]

Originally Posted by Radar

After three month of owning my '94 SVX with only 33000 miles, I found out that my dashboard houses only dummies instead of tweeters. Therefore the sound is rather flat.

The reason may also be because the other four speakers are 11 years old. I think you would be amazed how much better it sounds if you just replaced the door and rear speakers.

[Radar]

Thank's for your help. I got the tweeters from a friend in the US and installed them yesterday. It makes a difference !

According to Subaru, the German version never had them and it doesn't have the wiring pre-installed. So the biggest challenge was to find the right wires behind the kickpanels without taking the doors apart or taking the radio cage out.

After pulling the plugs and connecting wire by wire until the door speakers worked, I found the rights ones. Didn't take too long as you indicated the right colors. Connecting new wires, getting the wire up to the tweeter location and fit plugs on the wire's end is the easy part. The tweeters itself plug into the original covers, after removing the inner part behind the mesh.

[mohrds]

Originally Posted by SVXdc

I don't recommend getting the crappy Subaru tweeters. You can spend less money and still get better quality buying after-market tweeters.

I agree the factory tweeters suck, but finding a good aftermarket tweeter is tough. Most tweeters have such a high setting on the crossover that all that comes out of them is cymbal crashes. If you put in a lower crossover, they sound like crap.

I installed some tweeters out of a Ford Premium Bose system. They are larger than the subaru, but fit perfectly and have an even lower crossover than the Subaru speakers and much lower than the aftermarket speakers.

Its simply amazing to actually hear vocals out of the dash instead of from your feet

Doug