Replacing your speakers can have a tremendous impact on your vehicle's sound quality, and installing a pair or two of Kenwood speakers in your car is also among the easiest upgrades you can perform. In the vast majority of cases, the installation will require no modifications to your vehicle.

There should be a Kenwood replacement speaker to fit in your vehicle's existing speaker openings and you can usually make use of the factory-fitted grilles and brackets. The magnet fits the available space and the tweeters won't interfere with your existing grilles.

If you have any questions about installing the speakers you purchased from Just Kenwood Car Audio, just call our technical support line.

Dashboard speakers

Most dashboard speakers are easily replaced by removing the grilles, which are held down by screws or friction fittings. The only unusual tool that might come in useful is a 90-degree (offset) screwdriver to get at the screws near the windscreen.

If the grille is held in place by friction fittings, carefully pry up the grille. To avoid scratching or cracking the surrounding dash as you do this, it's a good idea to put something broad and flat (like a putty knife) underneath whatever you're using to pry up the grille.

If the application of slight pressure is not enough to remove the grille, proceed cautiously. In some cases the grille is secured from below by screws, or by plastic studs which can easily be broken if excessive force is used. In such cases, the entire dashboard panel may need to be removed.

Door mounted speakers

In many cars, door mounted speakers are the easiest to replace. All you have to do is pop off a factory grille and unscrew the factory speaker. There are three basic steps to replacing a door speaker in a vehicle like this:

• Remove the factory grille, which is usually held in place by a couple of screws or friction fittings. Then remove the speaker screws and gently remove the speaker from its mounting. Be careful not to pull too far or too fast because the speaker is still attached by its wires. Now disconnect the vehicle's wiring harness.

• Attach the existing speaker wiring to your new speaker's terminals, making sure that the polarity is correct. The speaker's positive terminal is usually marked with a "+" or a colored dot. If you don't find some type of indicator, don't worry. Just be sure that you're consistent with your wiring method on all the speakers you are replacing.
  
  If you decide, for example, that the wide terminal and the white wire will be positive, be sure you wire both left and right speakers the same way.

• You're almost finished. Check one last time to be sure that all of your wiring is secure, then screw the new speaker into place in the factory mounting and re-attach the factory grille.

Removing the door panel

In some vehicles you'll have to remove the door panels to get the existing speakers out. Start with the window winder. Some are secured with a screw at the pivot, which is sometimes hidden by a piece of snap-on trim.

Most, however, are held in place by a spring clip. This can be removed by using a small flat-head screwdriver. Depress the surrounding door panel, look behind the window winder, and rotate the handle until you see the spring clip. Then gently push it off with the screwdriver.

After removing the window winder, remove the armrest (usually secured with a few Phillips-head screws) and any trim around the door handle. The only thing holding the door panel on now should be a half dozen friction fittings and possibly a few more screws.

With all the screws removed, start at a bottom corner and pull the panel straight out. Use our trim panel tool or a large flat head screwdriver. Once the corner is loose, work across the bottom of the door panel and up both sides, again being careful not to use too much force.

With the bottom and sides loose, the panel should now be hanging by some trim that sticks down into the window well. Lift straight up and it should come free. With the door panel removed, you can now replace the speakers by following the same steps described in the previous section.

Rear speakers

Installing replacement rear speakers is much like installing front door speakers. You'll follow the same basic steps:

• Remove the existing speaker grilles

• Unscrew the existing speakers

• Disconnect the old speakers and plug in your new ones, keeping your wiring plan consistent as above.

Reverse the procedure to fit your new speakers.