The factory speakers in the rear hatch of my 97 850 R Wagon are toast and need replacement. The ones up front in the doors and on top in the dash aren't much better. I figure I might as well do the job right, and treat myself by replacing them all, with some high quality aftermarket ones. Nothing crazy, no amplifiers or equalizers or anything that requires cutting, extra wiring, or soldering, just upgraded replacements

As soon as I started unclipping panels to investigate, I got the feeling this was gonna be less straightforward than I hoped, because excluding the front door speakers (5 1/4s right? some sources say I can install 6 1/2s???) I could clearly tell that these are some less than common sizes.

Finding info to reference on this subject has been most difficult. My queries at Crutchfield for information on speaker sizes was fruitless. They know Sedans, not Wagons apparently.

So, if anyone could enlighten me on what the exact sizes of speakers my car DOES have, and any problems I can expect once I start unscrewing them, I'd really really appreciate it

Thanks,
Chris (Car Audio competant, but Volvo newbie)

I was in your shoes a few months ago with my 850 wagon, quite honestly I gave up after going to several places to try and fit my wagon with aftermarkets. The story I heard was the same everywhere... unless I went custom, it would be really hard to find speakers to fit my wagon. First, the tweeters in the wagon area have special clips that nobody else makes and Second the door speakers in the front and back have these deflector things glued to the speakers that are impossible to fit onto aftermarket ones. I was scared away by the custom approach because I didn't want to spend thousands on just the speakers. Furthermore, they all told me that sometimes the wiring for the head units in volvos can be tricky. That basically means to me that they are giving me the disclaimer for when the whole systems stops working weeks or maybe months after they do the install. These were all reputable shops here in SoCal as well.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is either get ready to pay top $$ for those new speakers or maybe go to ebay and pick up some speakers from another wagon in good shape. My speakers were damaged and some were not working at all. I replaced all the speakers with the OEM ones and I have to say, I'm quite impressed with the quality of sound they put out. Not to mention a breeze to install...They will not shake the doors and mirrors of cars around me, but they sound better than the average stereo. IMO

Good Luck!

Well that's rather discouraging... but I'm stubborn and crave crisp clear loud music that doesn't sound like someone shaking a paper bag, so I must perservere with this thread

Is there nobody out there who's successfully (and cleanly) replaced the speakers in their 850 wagon with non OEM volvo ones?!?! That seems shocking, considering that Volvo wagons have got to be near the top of Parent-to-child hand me down vehicles.

This is my preliminary plan of attack:
Step One: 4 new 5 1/4 speakers in the doors. I haven't tried, but it appears new ones may mount right into the old holes, if not, I'm pretty sure adaptor plates are available.
Step Two: I have seen adaptor plates for the dash speakers that will accomodate a very small speaker or tweeter. I think they might just be stock clips, minus the factory speakers. I'll investigate these further before I proceed however
Step Three: I removed the rear hatch speakers (they were crackling anyway) to see whats up. Looks to me like it's just a small speaker glued to a square piece of plastic, which is then caulked into the odd shaped clip. I'm handy, so I'm fairly certain I can excise the old square from the clip, and then fabricate a new square with an appropriately sized circle cut in it, install a speaker, then glue that into the original clip

If anyone's got some more insight, you have my attention

Chris

Hi,

I'm in the uk and have been looking at replacing the standard speakers in the 850 saloon with 3 cone 6 x 9s, seems it is possible and that there is an adaptor kit for the doors which can be purchased, here in the uk seems about £20. There are some on uk ebay, maybe the same in the states. While the wiring is there for the back shelf (it is on mine) I don't think it would be worth the hassle to put speakers there as there is some cutting out involved though it is possible and once again, there is information on the net.

Regards, - Roy