Well, after getting into the driver's side front door and the A-pillar cover, I've decided to send the component speakers back to Crutchfield, and order a set of coax speakers to match the ones I installed in the rear doors. The problem is that I can't figure out a good way to install the tweeters in the stock locations, and I don't want to cut new holes for them. I'm disappointed, but so it goes. My guess is the system will sound fine with coax speakers.

FWIW, three out of four of the stock speakers appear to be in fine shape. No sign of water damage or corrosion. I haven't checked the front passenger side yet, but expect that it's fine too. Not sure what I'll do with those and the stock head unit. I suppose I could store them in case I sell the car at some point, and the new owner wants to return it to stock.

Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Let us know how the new speakers 🔊 work out.

 

I arrived at the same conclusion. Placing the new tweeter and worrying about the crossover (or buying a speaker with integral crossover) wasn’t worth the hassle, especially since I want to be able to possibly go back to stock. It sounds fine with the coaxials. Try to find a speaker where you can aim the tweeter.

Definitely keep the old stuff, especially the radio since it’s tied to you vehicles VIN. I’ve had to use mine for troubleshooting when adding stuff to my system.

 

Very good info as I will be changing my speakers soon
Just been looking on Crutchfield and trying to decide what I want I rarely listen to the radio lol but mine speakers are shot ,,,

 

Installed the new front coaxial speakers and sent the component speakers back to Crutchfield. They certainly sound better than the stock speakers (all four of which are in perfect condition), but not hugely better with the stock radio. I haven't yet installed the new head unit and powered sub. The head unit should help the speakers sound closer to their potential. And I may add a separate amp at some point, if need be.

I am pretty tired of taking off door and trim panels. I had to do the driver's side front door twice, as the latch cable (or whatever it's called) came loose and I couldn't open the door from the inside. The second time went much more quickly, though. Anyway, I'll be glad to have this project done. Hopefully in the next week or so.

 

Both the new head unit and sub are going to make a huge difference, depending on what you decide to go with. It seems like Chrysler (Stellantis?) makes the best stock head units and GM and Ford are mediocre, possibly because they want to upsell the higher cost systems. I thought the same thing that it was just a small difference because I didn't have the stock radio in for long before I swapped out the speakers but when I was troubleshooting the other day and had to reinstall the old radio and immediately put the aftermarket Pioneer back in, it was really noticeable. Even so, I ordered a small amp (Kenwood KAC-M1814 - $109.00 from Crutchfield) to add to the system. I didn't want something huge or power hungry - just something to help out the four speakers without breaking the budget. Unfortunately it's too cold to play with the car for long so it might be awhile before I put the new amp in and comment on how it sounds.

When replacing the speakers, the easy way to do it is to not disconnect all the connectors - just take the panel off and either let it hang from a strap from the top of the window frame or place a bucket under the door panel and let it rest on that.

 

Thanks - that’s a great idea about the door panels!
Hopefully I won’t need to take them off again, but if I do - 👍

 

Plenty of room inside the tear drop covers (that are exposed when you open the door) for a passive crossover box. Cut or tap door speaker wires at kicks and wire those to the crossover and then tweeters up to a-pillars. Easy.

Kenwood and pioneer both made component sets for $120-$140 (over 5 years ago) that come with a bracket that directly fits into the HHR a-pillar tweeter mounts.

if you're happy with 2-ways in the doors with no tweeter closer to ear level...be happy. I would never mount tweeters down there. I actually cut up some junkyard a pillars and mounted tweeters exactly at ear level so they aren't blocked by the dash cluster gauge hump. They sound so much better with true off-axis positioning. I didn't even need to time align them like I did with the factory location due to that stupid hump.

anyways....bonus with components...you can wire up an amp later and they will really shine...

another option...in-line capacitors for static hpf and lpf...no need for a crossover box anywhere. Just butt connect the capacitor anywhere between the speaker and power source.

also...lots of room under the shifter. It's just empty space. Or even just place them where the carpet meets near the foot vent. Nice flat spot can fit both passive boxes easily and plenty of room to work with

 

Thanks. All good info, but I've already installed the coax speakers.

I did not know that there are tweeters with brackets that fit the stock tweeter locations. When I called Crutchfield, they said I'd have to fabricate brackets, at least for the Infinity speakers; they didn't mention swapping for a Kenwood or Pioneer set. Their website also appears to imply that Kenwood, Pioneer, and Infinity all fit the stock tweeter locations. So I'm confused.

Anyway, as mentioned previously, I'll install the new head unit and see if I'm happy with the coax speakers.

 

The key with these cars is that you can go from mild to wild depending on your preference. I like to strike a balance between ease of install, price and benefit. Most people posting lately just want simple replacement - no cutting, no major rewiring, no major expense, nothing complicated - more so than a huge upgrade in sound. The only reason I have a $600 headunit in my car is because it came out of a much more expensive car with a much better sound system. The total replacement cost of all four speakers, still quality Kenwood stuff, was $80, obviously better than the blown stock speakers, and just fine for talk radio, news and even music unless you’re an audiophile. I did add a powered subwoofer but again, it had to fit my intended use for the vehicle - anything that would compromise the hauling ability, like a big sub box - wasn’t going to work for me. Plus, everything I put in can be easily removed and returned to stock in about an hour in the event I find the perfect HHR in the future. Is it the greatest system? No, but it meets my parameters AND it passed the kid test so far - especially the addition of the sub.

I usually like Maestro but for these cars, the Metra/Axxess GMOS-LAN-03 harness was the best, especially with the ASWC-1 steering wheel control, which is pre-programmed, but also allows remapping of the buttons if you want, similar to Maestro. The key is, whatever quality harness you decide to use, like others have advised, is to not start hacking into the stock harness.