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Equinox Rear Door Speaker Upgrade and replacement Including PICS.

47K views 24 replies 9 participants last post by  Dknight 
#1 ·
I just installed a pair of Rockford Fosgate R1675X2 and they are much better than the stock rear speakers. Much more sound output, clarity and definition. The are 4 ohm speakers vs the stock 6 ohm. I got them from Sonic and there are quite a few others that will fit the Equinox.

* * * Besides the speakers, you will need:

Metra 72-5600 Wiring Adapters (About $6 to $14 online vendors)
SCOSCHE SAGMEQ656 Speaker Spacer-Adapters (About $12 to $16 online vendors)
Important: 3/4" Foam Weather stripping (cut in half applied in a double layer)



What is interesting is that with just the addition of these two Rockford-Fosgate R1675X2 speakers the overall sound has improved a magnitude. I find the bass dramatically improved by balancing the Front/Rear about 2 "clicks" of adjustment towards the front. I also have the Bass set about +7, Mid about -2 and Highs about +3 to +4 clicks for equalization. With these settings Bass is remarkable and the Highs are much more clear and defined.

The Rockford-Fosgate R1675X2 speakers are a very reasonable 2-Way Coax 6 3/4" speaker with a much larger driver surface area than the stock rear speakers. Also, they have a shallow mounting depth of only 2 3/16" so are no problem fitting or interfering with power window linkage inside the door cavity which can be a concern with some other speakers.
NOTE: I opted to just try replacing the REAR speakers first since they seemed pretty weak. The stock FRONT Pioneer speakers are already very efficient and pump out a surprising amount of Bass and ,with the improved REAR speakers, The whole sound stage is dramatically improved. The R/F R1675X2 speakers have both greater frequency response and sensitivity, as well as being a 4 ohm speaker verses the stock rear 6 ohm speaker.

You do have to also buy the associated spacer adapters to get the correct speaker depth, but that is common for most all replacement speakers.

The R1675X2 speakers (a pair) are only $39.95 at Sonic and $60 or more many other places.

Below is a picture of the stock speaker and also one after I installed the Rockford Fosgates in my 2015 Equinox.

The R1675X2 are two way coax speakers and have much improved high frequency response and more sensitivity.


Rear Door Panel Removal:

Okay, as promised, I will post a few pics on how to remove the rear door panel on a 2015 Equinox LTZ. It should be similar to the 2010 - 2014 Terrain and Equinox as well. I am posting it here to augment the excellent thread BowtieMan has already started. Excellent video by the way BTMan! Cheers


Again, you need to use a plastic removal tool or other flat non marring tool, to start to pry the lower rear corner of the door open enough to get your fingers behind the edge of the inner door panel. Then I place your knee against the bottom edge of the outer door and PULL firmly or give it a smart yank. Once the first of the 10(?) plastic inner retainers pops loose, the rest come pretty easy. Some may pop out of their seats inside the panel or even remain in the holes inside the door, which you will have to reinstall in the door panel slots before replacing the inner door panel. NOTE: Do not try and use the plastic removal tool to pry the door panel off. I doubt is would survive. Use the tool to only open the edge of the panel enough to get your fingers behind it.

Once the panel is loose, or before you pry it loose, you also need to remove an 8mm hex head screw under a small plastic panel behind the door opener lever and TWO 10mm hex head screws under the door pull well/power window switch assembly. That little plastic panel has a small lip on it's lower rear corner. You can use a bent paper clip, small screw drive or even your finger if it fits, to catch the lip and pop the panel off. Remove the 10mm hex head screw behind it.

Then you need to remove the entire "pull well" - Power window switch assembly. This is accomplished by using a small plastic pry tool or flat blade screw driver inserted into the rear most edge of the door pull well. Use care when doing this and pushl in firmly to start to release the steel spring clip that holds the assembly in place. Take care and watch that you do not start to pull out the vinyl fabric cover of the inner door panel. If you use a screwdriver, you still need to start prying it partially open with something flat and less aggressive. Once you get the outer edge lifted up, you can work up the edge towards the rear of the door pull. The spring steel catch needs to be depressed to unlatch it from it's position. A small flat blade screw driver might be able to be used by inserting it at a sharp downward angle. However, care must be taken not to crack or damage the rear edge of the door pull well. It is a bit tricky to release the spring steel clip that holds it in. Once the door pull well is out, the electrical connector to the power window switch is removed by finding the usual "squeeze" clip on the connector, depress it, and pull the connector out of the switch. Then find and remove the two 10mm hex head screws that are now visible.

After, the 8mm and TWO 10mm screws are removed, the panel is removed by pulling it upward to release it from the spring metal clips just below the window. Take care now NOT to bend the manual door lock plunger linkage. Once the panel is unclipped and apart from the door, you should remove the door level cable from the lever to prevent pulling/bending the cable to the lever. IT is pretty easy to unlatch the small blue cable end retainer. The small blue plastic clip that surrounds the end of the door opener cable holds it in place. If you look closely, you will see it has a little "latch" on the end of it. Pull up on the latch gently with a finger nail or small screw driver just enough to unhook it. Then, you can pull the whole cable out (rearward) a bit. Now, simply move the whole cable outwards (sideways) and free from where is was. If you look closely, there is a slot (marked in red in the picture) in the cable end holder that allows you to slip the cable into or out of the cable end attachment point.



I needed to do this to install a pair of Rockford Fosgate 6 3/4" speakers. These are 4 ohm speakers and work quite nicely to improve the overall balance of sound on the factory Pioneer head unit. They do not have the "tubby" bass of the original rear Pioneer(?) speakers and have a nice extended and clear high end. They really fill in the whole sound stage and I can now balance out more towards the front Pioneer speakers, which I am leaving in, since they have fairly decent sound and bass output for their size. Also, as some may know, setting the balance a bit more towards the front speakers also drives the rear sub woofer with a bit more signal so that also improves output in the low end.

I know some say or think the Pioneer system in the Equinox-Terrain isn't that great, but with the replacement of the rear door speakers using a 4 ohm 2-way coax speaker of 90db sensitivity or so, I find the system performs quite well. Far from a custom system, but still nice full sound and a surprising good thump of bass when you balance the Frt/Rear about 10% more towards the front speakers and have replaced the rears with some 4 ohm speakers that give quite a bit more high end and low end clarity and definition.




Rear Door Panel Removal:





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Location of the THREE hex head screws:




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LEFT - Original OEM Speaker - - - RIGHT: Much LARGER Surfaced Rockford-Fosgate R1675X2




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Original OEM Weak Rear Speaker




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Improved 2-Way Rockford-Fosgate R1675X2 Rear Speakers:

 
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#3 ·
Re: Equinox Speaker Upgrade and replacement Including PICS.

garth285 said:
Thanks for posting! I'll be replacing my speakers soon. I may have missed it but did you use a harness adapter for the speakers? If so have a part number?
Yes. .. you will need a pair of the Metra 72-5600 wiring adapters. They fit a bit tightly in the rear mating sockets, but I lightly scraped some of the plastic off around the Metra adapters and tapered some alignment "fins" on the inside of the factory connector in the door. They will go in without this "trimming", but with a lot of effort and I was concerned about bending a pin or damaging the connectors.
 
#4 ·
One thing I'd like to add... I was originally concerned about depth of my speakers because they were close to 2.75" deep top mount, I decided to roll the back window down to make sure I had clearance while I installed my speakers. The window doesn't even make it to the top of the speaker opening and it's pretty much clear behind the speaker all the way to the outer door skin. Easily 4" or more of depth available...

Not sure why, but I also noticed what Jay said about having to trim the Metra harness. I didn't trim mine, I slightly bent the prongs when installing and had to bend them back before I finally got the plug fully seated. It will fit without trimming, but it's a much tighter fit than the front door speakers for some reason...
 
#6 ·
Rinox said:
YES, Thanks for posting! I appreciate it :thumb:
Thanks. You know, what is key even without replacing any speakers, are good settings for the Tone controls. I have auditioned many types of music both on FM, XM, and many, many CDs in our Equinox. In the Equinox, I find that the settings below are remarkable in producing a pretty decent full spectrum sound. I have read of so many that say the sound is "thin" in the Equinox/Terrain and that the Pioneer system does not sound very good. Much depends on the type of music and recording quality. Some music may have a good amount of Bass, others not. Some might have crisp and abundant Highs, while others are pretty flat sounding. Adjusting Tone for a type or kind of music is not a good way to set Tone settings.

Also, I usually find a Volume setting of 15 to 26 or so for a pretty decent output level if you are not trying to carry on a conversation in the vehicle. Lower volume for background music of course

So finding the proper sound settings for the vehicle can be difficult. Either a sound in the Bass frequencies is there. . . . or it isn't. Trying to "boost" the Bass in music that does not have much, just messes up music that does and you will find yourself constantly fiddling with the Tone Controls. So the list below is what I found produces a good sound spectrum. I also used a test CD and two audio meters to balance the system out.

I encourage anyone to at least try the Tone settings below for a few days with different types of music and volume levels:


Bass ___ +7

Mids ___ -2

Highs__ +3 to +4

AND: _ _ _ _ Fade (Frt/Rear) +1 to +2 To the FRONT speakers.

The + and - units above are the number of increments or "clicks" above the center default value that shows up when the Tone button is pressed
.

The Mids are cut to -2 because a 6 1/2" or so speaker inherently will usually have good mid range response and output. They are essentially a mid range speaker. So to balance out the sound spectrum in a small area like a vehicle, cutting the Mids just a bit does much to allow the Highs and Bass to come through.
 
#7 ·
So far I am loving the rear door speaker upgrade. I am glad I went with 4 ohm speakers as they are still within specifications for the factory head unit. I am not sure a 3 ohm speaker is a good idea especially if they are driven at medium to high sound levels. I didn't want to blow up my factory head unit and have a warranty issue.

The Rockford-Fosagate have a greatly improved mids and highs.
 
#8 ·
Hi guys, just got a '13 Equinox a few weeks ago and I love it. The radio isn't THAT bad but could be better. I've read through this thread a few times and I haven't ran across anybody wanting to do the front doors. WHat gives? Is there clearance issues? Or do the brackets not quite work ?

Also JayTee, the Scoche brackets used...Do they attach to the baffle plate and just make up the size difference or do they replace it altogether?
 
#9 ·
MotoPsycho said:
Hi guys, just got a '13 Equinox a few weeks ago and I love it. The radio isn't THAT bad but could be better. I've read through this thread a few times and I haven't ran across anybody wanting to do the front doors. WHat gives? Is there clearance issues? Or do the brackets not quite work ?

Also JayTee, the Scoche brackets used...Do they attach to the baffle plate and just make up the size difference or do they replace it altogether?
I'm not completely up to date on the 13's, but on the 15's, the base radio uses 4 ohm front and rears, and are easily replaced. It's those of us with the Pioneer systems that it becomes tricky.... Front on the Pioneer systems are 3 ohms and the rears are 6 ohms. The adapter brackets are the same for both systems front and rear, but you gotta watch the ohm and spl ratings.

I replaced my Pioneer's front door speakers with a pair of Infinity 3 ohm co-ax and it's working well enough for me. Here's a link to that thread:

http://www.equinoxforum.net/index.php?topic=10545.0
 
#10 ·
For no more power than the factory radio will make, 1 ohm isn't going to make a difference. The front is probably a 3 ohm because it's in series with the tweeter that's 3 ohm to make it 6 ohm at the head unit. If the rear door speakers are 6 ohm this makes sense.

I thought I remembered reading about a bracket or something behind the baffle opening. How do the speaker adapters compare in height (back of speaker flange to door distance) compared to the factory piece? That's what worries me because if I need shallow mount speakers, I need to know before I get too far into it. Mounting depth is critical if there is a bunch of junk behind the magnet to get in the way. I could fab a spacer ring to push the flange out farther from the inner door skin if need be for clearance to match the stock one, no big deal.
 
#11 ·
MotoPsycho said:
For no more power than the factory radio will make, 1 ohm isn't going to make a difference. The front is probably a 3 ohm because it's in series with the tweeter that's 3 ohm to make it 6 ohm at the head unit. If the rear door speakers are 6 ohm this makes sense.

I thought I remembered reading about a bracket or something behind the baffle opening. How do the speaker adapters compare in height (back of speaker flange to door distance) compared to the factory piece? That's what worries me because if I need shallow mount speakers, I need to know before I get too far into it. Mounting depth is critical if there is a bunch of junk behind the magnet to get in the way. I could fab a spacer ring to push the flange out farther from the inner door skin if need be for clearance to match the stock one, no big deal.
Read the first posting in this thread. It tells what speaker spacer is needed available for about $6 to $8 or so for the pair. I also bought some foam weather striping at a home supply store and put two layers of it around the speaker edge to match what the factory speaker has. See pictures earlier in this thread.

Last, if you look at the SonicElectronix or Crutchfield web sites, compatible speakers regarding size and depth can be found for these vehicles. In the case of the rear doors. . . there is nothing to get in the way behind them so many speaker in the 6 1/2" and 6 3/4" size will fit.
 
#12 ·
The tweeter is actually 4 ohm and they're wired parallel. I originally thought as you did that about a 3 ohm tweet being wired in series to match the 6 ohm load of the rear speakers, but that's not how GM did it.

I, too was concerned about speaker depth, but there's plenty of room in all 4 doors.

Here are a couple of more posts from when I swapped all my speakers:

http://www.equinoxforum.net/index.php?topic=11002.0

http://www.equinoxforum.net/index.php?topic=9829.0

http://www.equinoxforum.net/index.php?topic=10545.0
 
#13 ·
MotoPsycho said:
I could fab a spacer ring to push the flange out farther from the inner door skin if need be for clearance to match the stock one, no big deal.
You need to make sure any spacer you might fabricate does not allow the speaker to touch the inside plastic door panel. That is the reason for the foam sealing edge I added to the Rockford Fosgate speakers I installed and the reason the factory speakers have it. This also should be done to provide optimum sound coupling to the interior. Without the foam I added as with the factory speakers, there will be a gap between the speaker edge and the inner door panel. This would allow leakage of sound waves from the front of the speaker to the cavity behind the speaker and affect sound quality to a degree.

Most people who install upgrade speakers just install the spacer ring, throw in the speakers, and make the mistake of not adding the foam edging around the outer speaker edge. I installed both the proper recommended spacer ring as well as a foam edge to match the factory speaker height above the mounting point exactly.


See the pictures below.
The Scosche spapcer rings I specified in the first post works perfect.


*
Original OEM Weak Rear Speaker




*
Improved 2-Way Rockford-Fosgate R1675X2 Rear Speakers:

 
#16 ·
You are very welcome.

And welcome to the Forum as well. . . :cheers:
 
#17 ·
Thread revive!! So, I got a 2017 Nox, and came across this thread. I might be interested in switching out the stock speakers, but I have a few questions first.

1) I pulled out the touch screen non-nav headunit and noticed it says Alpine Electronics on the back. Is this not the same Pioneer system that people are referring to, or is it Pioneer speakers?
2) Has anyone replaced the front speakers and/or the tweeters?
 
#18 ·
jhubbz86 said:
Thread revive!! So, I got a 2017 Nox, and came across this thread. I might be interested in switching out the stock speakers, but I have a few questions first.

1) I pulled out the touch screen non-nav headunit and noticed it says Alpine Electronics on the back. Is this not the same Pioneer system that people are referring to, or is it Pioneer speakers?
2) Has anyone replaced the front speakers and/or the tweeters?
Tweeter replacement:
http://www.equinoxforum.net/index.php?topic=11002.0

Front door replacement:
http://www.equinoxforum.net/index.php?topic=10545.0
 
#20 ·
Ok, somewhat of an update here. I followed all the instructions in the original write-up. There are a couple differences in the 2015 vs my 2017 model. I did buy the R165X3 instead of OP's R1675X2. Same speaker, but the one I bought has more of a "mid" tweeter in addition to the regular tweeter.

* The higher up bolt behind the door handle lever was not 8mm. I used a 9/32 since I did not have a 7mm handy, but I bet 7mm would've worked. The two lower bolts are still 10mm.
* I broke the metal clip holding in the plastic piece that the window switch is in. It went back in no problem, and all and stayed tight. Not a difference, but seriously don't sweat if you broke it off.
* I had to break off the tabs on the inside of the Scosche speaker adapter to let the speaker sit properly. Tabs break off easily. I could use my thumb for the smaller ones, and pliers handled the larger ones no issue.
* The screws that came with my speakers were super long. I used some Bolt cutters to cut them down to half the length.
* Absolutely no issues plugging in the Metra Speaker Harness.
* Half the pegs holding the door cover onto the door stayed attached to the door. Using proper trim removal tools got them off easily, and was able to slip them back into their place.
* The biggest difference. The stock rear speakers I pulled out are 4ohm, not 6ohm like OP.

Once I got one installed, I was hard-pressed to tell the difference between the stock and new RF speakers. I was bummed out, but put the other rear one in, and drove around for a bit. I'm honestly not super impressed. I feel like the stock rear speakers are very close to the same as the replacements. I will leave them in for a week or so before I decide to go ahead and wire my sub in. I'm glad I tried it, but heads up to anyone with a 2017+, I wouldn't have done this had I known there would be minimal difference between stock and replacements. Maybe GM realized the stock rears they were putting in sucked, and put better ones in after 2015 models.

I can upload of pics of the adapter and how I broke the tabs off if anyone wants, just let me know.
 
#21 ·
ahhh .. . I can see if the stock 2017 are now 4 ohm how they may not be as much difference as the 6 ohm GM previously used. I notice a marked difference, plus crisper highs the added tweeter made. The original stock 6 ohm 2015 speakers sounded anemic.

The sub should make a bit more difference.
 
#22 ·
JayT2014 said:
The sub should make a bit more difference.
Lol yeah, I just was really hoping new rears would do the trick. I was trying to "grow up" a bit and ditch the sub, but I don't think I can do it just yet. Maybe once I have kids.....

I really do appreciate your write-up, it just didn't work out as great for me. I wanted to give everyone a heads-up in case they were wanting to do the same thing.

EDIT: Here's a pic of the side of stock speaker I pulled out. Both sides are the same.
 
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