Hello,

I will be adding new speakers to the rear deck. Currently I only have the original 4" speakers in the front door panels (which will be replaced a bit later). Any suggestions on what the maximum speaker size (5 1/4", 6 1/2" or 6" x 9") that others have installed on the rear deck?

Since the rear deck of a '89 240 is somewhat depressed do I need to add spacers to bring the face of the speaker up in height? Of do I just install the speakers flush to the rear deck?

Also, any suggestion on how to run the speaker wire back to the trunk area? I'm guessing under the carpet and along the door sills. If I have to remove the front seats and lift the carpet I will if needed.

All comments/suggestions are appreciated.

I would say that you could go with any size you think would look best/can afford. as for running the wires i have completely rewired my 240 radio because of the factory amp that comes with it. I can run you through the exact course that i wired my radio speakers in and also CB radio antenna wire. Either side will work, i personally think that it would be easier to access the passenger foot well but slightly harder to run wires down the back of the dash. This is a small list of stuff i used to do this project.
Lighter - easiest way to strip a wire, hold the flame on the wire for 7-10 seconds, and release, then use your pointer finger nail and push it against the wire into your thumb and pull off the insulation.
Wire snake - I personally used an old coat hanger and bent it to form a straight line. snake it in the path you want the wires run and then tape the end to the wire and pull it through.
electrical tape - to tape all connections open to the car.

to get through the passenger side foot well i found it easiest to remove the little plastic (flat head screw driver will take it out) retainer on the bottom of the console, and the T30 screw at the top and pull the plastic kick plate next to the console out. that will expose some of the lower dash in order to run wires. Then i took out the sill plates at the bottom of the door. They are plastic and held on by little clips, i could easily pull mine up, some might be harder than others, and i got the front and back doors just so i could get it all ran. Then it will leave the rubber strip that holds the middle pillar's plastic cover for the seat belt, be careful, it's all one piece... though mine is now two... just remove the strip up far enough to pull the cover back to snake the wires through. After that is all ready, the path that i took with the wires was under the front carpet, using the snake through first and then pulling the wires after. tucked under the carpet all along that side of the car, and then tucked between the rear seat and the wheel well. This was the most difficult part i found... I got the wires hidden along the seat and wheel well and then there was a small opening in the trunk where there was a piece of foam , i really had to use the snake to get this one through. that will take it all the way through to the other side and then you can zip tie it to the area before the speaker and then wire the speaker.

If you decide to run one wire per side, the drivers side is just as easy, you just have more stuff in the way up front. not under the dash, in fact running a wire under the dash on the drivers side is easier than the passenger. Watching out for the steering wheel, i hit my head a few times, repeat the same process as you did on the passenger side. it's the same on both, the flathead, and T30 for the console side kick plate, and pull up the sills. The hole in the rear is also there as well.

Sorry for a long post.... i have a tendency to do that. I do hope it helps you to figuring out what you're going to do. When i did my wireing job, i had wires going both ways because i had the inputs to the Amp in the trunk, then back to the doors. All in all it took me about 45 minutes to wire and re assemble the whole thing and have it working. Good luck!

Hi Bojangles,

Thanks for the info. The detail is much appreciated. Will be starting on complete stereo installation tomorrow.

I had retrieved a ~1994 vintage $1400 plus stereo system from a prior totaled car. State Farm would only give me a few measly $$ for the system. So I ripped out all of the equipment prior to signing over the car to State Farm. I had been keeping the parts in a box just gathering dust. So I will be installing the following in the 240 DL:

- SONY XR-U550 Radio/Cassette with CD Controller (20 w x 4) in the upper radio space
- on the rear deck: Boston Acoustics ProSeries 6.2 speakers (6.5" woofer with separate 1" tweeter with crossover network rated for 85 watts continuous / 170 peak watts peak)
- on the front doors (??): Boston Acoustics 767 coaxial speakers (6.5" woofer with 0.75” in-line tweeter with integral crossover rated for 25 watts continuous / 50 peak watts peak)
- iPod connection to the back side of the SONY receiver with the connecting cable routed out from the console thru the lower (unused) radio spot

Previous owner had cut all of the radio wires (including antenna). Also, no rear speakers had ever been installed. Thus I will be running speaker wires and new antenna cable under the carpet from dash to trunk. I will be taking out seats and lifting carpet to do this. So far it looks like the existing antenna cable runs down the middle of the car along driveshaft hump. I will follow existing path.

I reciently came across 2 850 rear speakers. They came off a 1993-1994 850. There nothing fancy, just the base model speakers. I mounted the case and speakers on my 240 rear deck and i will say they look awsome. i have plans to replace those 850 speakers with pioneer 3 way 6x9's that will fit right into the existing 850 rear speaker case. i will post pictures later in my garage section.

i am currently looking to do the same. i found out 5.25 " will only fit if you have the seatbelt covers (box) on each side of deck, and without removing the headrests. I want to know is why is there extra hole in the middle back deck, it looks like it would fit a 4 x 6 . I am currently looking for good speakers , i am not sure about the rear doors i didnt see any holes. the car i have is an 89 volvo240 dl sedan. the front ones were replaced woth pioneers and the headunit is kenwood upper dash installed. I also noticed the hole in the dash for vent / speaker , that also looks like a 4 x 6 i dont know if itd be good to put a speaker there. What do you guys think?