Coaxial or component in this situation....

[malibujack]

I have an '09 Chevy Malibu with a blown door speaker. Thought I had it figured out what I wanted to replace the door speakers with but now I'm second guessing myself. I had planned on getting an inexpensive pair of coaxials like the Polk DB651

My car has tweeters in the pillars and that got me thinking maybe I need component speakers. Thinking maybe the factory tweeters will cause some distortion or whatever with the coaxials. I have no intention of adding an amp or changing the head unit so I didn't think components were really an option. Any suggestion?

Secondary question. Is there already a crossover point somewhere in my car since it has tweeters? Can you just swap out the tweeters that come with a component set or is wiring the crossovers still needed?

Thanks

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[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

you don't need to hassle with components. you want a speaker with very high efficiency (>90dB 1W at 1m) and you should replace both left and right at the same time so they sound the same. you can leave the stock tweeters, they won't interfere with the woofers you choose. you want a lightweight cone. you need to recreate the factory seal to the door panel, which just means you will add weatherstripping foam around the front of the speaker to get it to seal to the door panel (or some F.A.S.T. rings).

the tweeter will likely have a small capacitor mounted on it, acting as a 6dB/oct high pass filter. the woofer will likely be ran full range. you should be concerned with mounting depth. I recommend you inspect the factory speaker mounting first - to determine what depth you can accommodate.

How To: Remove OEM Radio, Door Speakers, Rear Speakers & Tweeters - Chevy Malibu Forum: Chevrolet Malibu Forums

if you add a component set, you will need to re-wire the speakers to the crossover and it becomes much more involved.

if you replace the speakers, you will need a mounting adapter.

Scosche SAGMHR-634 Speaker Mounting Brackets Install 6-1/2" or 6-3/4" speakers in select 2005-up vehicles at Crutchfield.com

it appears that you have to stick with speakers that are 2" deep or less. Polk dB series has make many people happy when replacing factory

Polk Audio db651s 6-1/2" 2-way shallow-mount car speakers at Crutchfield.com

note that you want the shallow versions.

 

[malibujack]

Thank you! This helped a lot.