Nazramoth

My '06 HHR's factory audio is starting to annoy me... I've had the factory head unit replaced twice because the auto-volume kept stopped working.

Now both my rear door speakers are dead, and I think I am losing at least one of my front door speakers.

So, depending on whether I get a little extra funds this Christmas, I am thinking about replacing all four door speakers, and the head unit.

I plan on getting two pairs o 3-way 6 1/2 speakers for the doors; so they'll have their own mid and tweeters on them; with a matching head unit... probably all Kenwood as I've had that in a previous vehicle and liked it. Plan to buy it all through Crutchfield and do the install myself.

Question is though, what to do about the A-Pillar tweeters?

It seems to me that these would involve quite of a bit of custom tinkering to replace and I am wondering if replacing them would really be worth it, or should I just leave then disconnected?

Here is what I am looking at doing...

Two of these - Kenwood KFC-1695PS Performance Series 6-1/2" 3-way speakers at Crutchfield.com
With this Head Unit - Kenwood DPX300U CD receiver at Crutchfield.com

Or I could just do one pair of those 1695's on the rear, and do a pair of these on the front...
Kenwood KFC-P709PS Performance Series 6-3/4" component speaker system — also fits 6-1/2" openings at Crutchfield.com

But, how would I wire the tweeters? I can't connect them directly to the head unit, so I would have to run a custom cable from the door speakers, to the tweeters?

Or how are the existing factory tweeters wired?

Would I be able to use the existing wire?

Oldblue

the KFC-P709PS come with 1 inch tweeters and wiring your could mount these in place of the A-pillar tweeters from the factory

Nazramoth

Yes, I understand that...

That is why I am considering them.

What I do not understand though is, HOW would I wire them?

How would I run a wire from the inside of my door, up to the A-Pillar?

I would probably have to take my entire front dash apart? To me that seems like it would just be too much effort for just those little tweeters.

Does anyone know how the existing factory tweeters are wired?

Can't the new ones just be wired the same using the existing factory wire?

Grizzly old man

I did not replace the tweeters in my A pillars when I replaced the speakers in the doors.

For a while I had some pretty decent three way Bose Infinity speakers in the front doors but the tweeters annoyed me so I went with a set of the cheapest replacement speakers I could get at Walmart.

Even tho they did not cost much {around 40 dollars as I recall} they have decent bass. They are all 8 ohm speakers and I know the front speakers are supposed to be 4 ohm but they do play nicely anyway.

I'm thinking if your stock tweeters are still working I'd just leave them alone.

Grizzly old man

Yes the factory tweeters are obviously wired or they would not work at all.
Or is that the problem they do not work now?

When my stock door speakers quit working all that was still working were the tweeters in the A pillars.

Nazramoth

Yes the tweeters seem to be working fine.

So I was wondering whether it would really be worth all the effort to replace them.

How exactly are they wired? Are they wired to the original door speakers? What would happen if I decide to add an Amp in the future to give the new door speakers a little extra power; would it effect the tweeters?

Twistedtat

The front tweets are ran in with the door speakers. IMO I think components sound3 better than the 3 way speakers. Most components come with a tweet a driver and a xover. You wire both the tweet and door speaker to the xover, then the xover to the factory wire. But you will have to mount the xover somewhere, and it isnt that hard to run the wires. Just use the search bar and there are plenty of how to on removing a pillar trim. Hope th8s helps.

Grizzly old man

There are simply two wires going to each tweeter in the stock wiring harness. They do have a special GM connector on the end of the wire that plugs into the tweeter.

Most folks that want a bit more oomph in their sound system add a sub woofer. There is a place in the rear where you can put one. The depth of the hole isn't very deep so depending on just what you get to put in there you might have to do a bit of custom fabrication to make it fit.

For a while I had a 'Bazooka' amplified 8” tube sub woofer rolling around in the back of my HHR.

It did add a lot to the overall sound but was always in the way. With it not bolted down it tended to drift a lot on corners putting an 50 pound sand bag over it helped with that some but it seemed like it was still in the way when I would haul stuff. Fortunately it was easy enough to just unplug it and remove it, when I knew for sure I was going to be hauling something.

For a while I played with the idea of removing the plate amp from the sub tube and mounting it and the 8” driver in the existing hole in the back panel of the HHR but the length of the magnet sticking out the back would have required me to built the hole out at least 2” so it would have been in the way anyway.

I got tired of having to remove the thing and having it roll around in the back so I sold it.

sdavis1465

There's a screw and a push clip on the A pillar cover and that's it. Screw is up top then about midway down is the clip. After you get those seperated then just lift up and it comes out. No dash removal.