I forgot...which brand is the only high quaility 4" speakers for the 240 door mount? I intend to get 2 pairs of them and install one set in the front door and another on the panels next to the seat belts on the rear seat of my 83 245.
should I also try to install a subwoofer on the passenger side rear panel?
What's the current wisdom?
Thanks,
el Raidman

Thanks to you all for your sharing.
I think the Eclipse with the brackets from the guy on eBuy from PR (MorrisAmazon) for $13 will allow me to use the OEM grills. Front and back. Perhaps I will also install a woofer on a plywood replica of the cover over the passenger side rear wheel well.
el Raidman

The ones ipd sell are Eclipse (by Fujitsu-Ten). ipd's are model 82441, but those are a down-rev part number. Current is SE8242 (I bought off e-bay). ipd also sells rectangular brackets to use the oem speaker covers - which you will need if you don't want to fabricate spacer brackets - the Eclipse grills wont quite fit the panel recess.

Tom

Meant to include that there is no mount-depth problem with the Eclipse - clears window just fine even when mounted flush to the panel. This was not the case with the Infinity 452i they replaced.

Tom

i have a sony 45/4 i use the front left to power a speaker in the dash i dont use the door speakers the right front chanel goes to the trunk to a 200 watt powerd tube the rear chanels go to 6/9s in the rear deck althow a 245 dont have this deck but i hope you under stand what im trying to say the front only gets the hi and the rear gets bass and the rear chanels give balence L-R it bumps ipd sells the replacment speaks your looking for around 90.00 a set

By the way, a brand of speakers is like the whiskey, there are more ore less a couple of dozens which are really better than the rest but no one should tell you which brand you should choose, you have to listen to them all and compare under the same sound setup and decide which one you like the most. There aren't two pairs of ears that hear and like the exact same setup. So here's a list to choose from (the order is based roughly on my own personal preferences and there may be a couple I forgot - the rest doesn't count):

- MB Quart
- DLS
- Focal
- Harman Kardon
- Kicker
- Audiobahn
- Precision Power
- Rockford Fosgate
- Alpine
- Pioneer
- JBL
- Magnat
- MTX Audio
- Infinity
- Crunch
- Hifonics
- Lanzar
- Swiss Audio
- Lighning Audio
- Directed Electronics - DEI
- Blaupunkt
- Bazooka
- Kenwood
- Clarion
- Sony
- JVC
- VDO Dayton
- Boss
- Crystal
- Ultimate
--
1991 Volvo 245; 1979 Volvo 244

Sorry it's gonna be a very long answer.
Making your 240 sound at least acceptable (as you can see I'm not saying anything here about high quality sound), especially a 245 is a very challenging task, and believe me I know what I'm talking about. I just happen to be a sound freak. I installed sound systems on all kinds of cars (my actual car, my former car and all my friends cars), I even opened a small car sound garage and I can tell you a 245 is by far the most difficult car to install a decent car sound system on.
Let's begin with the front speakers:
- The usual front factory setup is a 4" ( actually the membrane is 4" but the general setup is rectangular and the fitting points are non standard) midrange paper cone speaker (swedish - factory coded Volvo HT-173 - I suppose DLS but I have no proof of it) which didn't sound good even new, and generally after an average 10 years sound like shit, usually the paper has been burnt by the summer sun and weakened by the moisture inside the door that it breaks in your hands if you remove them. Please notice that, as an extra point of difficulty, the mask of the speaker is rectangular and fits into the deepening profile of the door... this will complicate a little more the replacement, as you will see.
- The easiest setup without having to make any mods to the door is a 4" speaker, which is the only alternative, by the way, if you have manual windows. Choosing the right 4" speaker is a very difficult task not only because 4" have little or no bass at all, but also because the depth of the speaker is of maximum importance since you have no more than two inches depth to the window. Also in Volvos with manual windows it's very important the size of the magnet (bigger is better, as always... :-))) since the magnet comes very close to a toothed wheel from the window mechanism. Now from the speaker point of vue I generally reccomend component speakers, which sound by far better than coaxes but this also poses the problem of fitting the tweeter somewhere, so if you're not into cutting the upholstery or rewiring speakers you should stick to coaxes. Good, now supposing you've installed the speaker you'll face another problem... fitting the mask... which is round and bigger in size than the standard rectangular volvo mask. The Volvo mask will not fit to your speaker, that's for sure. OK, this is generally solved through two ways, depending on the skill of the installer. One is to put a rectangular piece of wood (eventually covered with cloth in color with the upholstery) under the mask so you'll lift it to the general level of the rest of the upholstery. But this is not very good looking usually, so this leads us to the second solution which while being a little more complicated is by far better looking. You'll have to cut or grind in the back of the plastic mask of the speaker two grooves so that they'll fit in the deepening in the door. (If you want I can put some pics of my own setup).

- One last thing I need to emphasize is that no 4" speaker will be able to give you a good bass reproduction , no matter how good it is. For good bass you'll need at least 5.25" not to say 6.5"

- There are a couple of ways of fitting 5.25 or even 6.5" speakers in the front of the car especially on the ones with electric windows but they require extensive mods on the door and door panel or molding of plastic panels for the doors or footspace so I won't discuss them here. I'll probably make a website exclusively on this subject for the brickboard users. It'll be free of charge... :-))

- There are also a cople of hints regarding the insonorisation of the door and the rigidisation of the door panel that I can tell you about if you're interested.

The rear speaker setup is a little more complicated, if someone could see that possible:

- This car was simply not designed for rear speakers, which I personally think it's outrageous for a car that was built till 1993 ( not to mention that I find outrageous the front speaker setup...). In a 240 sedan you can cut holes in the hat rack behind the rear head rests and install at least one pair of decent speakers ...

- Under these circumstances here's the choices you'll have to make. a) you can install 4" speakers (component if possible) in the rear doors (same position as the front doors and with basically the same sloppy bass reproduction) and add a subwoofer, but this requires generally an amplifier for the subwoofer and you'll still need a 4-way amplifier with crossover for the speakers to cut low frequency and leave the front and rear 4" as tweeter + midrange
b) you can find yourself a good 6.5" or 10" two or (better) three way component speakers or 6x9" or 7x10" oval coaxial speakers. (as I mentioned before regarding the size of the magnet, the rule still aplies to the speakers - the bigger, the better). The three way component speakers are usually composed of a 1" tweeter with a 4" midrange (which you can install both in the door panels) and a 6.5" or 10" woofer for which you'll have to build a box (or two) in the trunk, A similar box you'll have to build if you choose ovals. I have a 10" three way component system in construction right now for my own car with one box that seats both 10" speakers in the trunk, calculated with a special program. After it's ready I'll put pics on the website I'll build.
There are other solutions for the rear speaker setup with speakers fixed to the ceiling or in the trunk lateral panels, but I don't like them very much, and they need special modings, reinforcements, and insonorisations. I'll still put them on the site.

Hope it helps.
--
1991 Volvo 245; 1979 Volvo 244

My '84 245DL (manual windows) has Alpine 5.25" in the doors. It CAN be done.

good point as im noticing people in here are parts swapers give me a torch a welder a wrench a ruler and a part anything can be done lol good point

Please send me a photo of the setup. I might use it on the website. Are they fitted in the original position? I thought of changing the handle with a rear type handle (without the upper part) in order to have more clearance and I also know there's enough space between the door panel and the dashboard so that the mask of a 5.25" will fit in there but I still can't imagine how does the magnet clear that damned toothed wheel inside the door... My 4" speakers (which have a rather flat but large magnet) clear the wheel by about 1/3 of an inch.

THX
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1991 Volvo 245; 1979 Volvo 244

i have a old bass tube 200w powerd it has only one chanel in meaning pos/ground no right or left no other in or out. i was looking at newer bass tubs non powerd these had pos/ground and another pos/ground in or out could you explaine this. is the other to hook out so i would be able to run both 6/9s and tube in trunk read my other post so you can see how mine is hooked up now and understand what im asking i would like to run R/L in front and R/L in rear with a bass tube is this what the in/out is on newer bass tubs to hook say right chanel to bass tube than out of bass tube to right speaker than left to left 6/9 as i could not open pacage and read it thanks

Ok, Detailer, let me see if I got this straight. Right now you are using one of your front channels to power up the subwoofer, which if I understand correctly is an active subwoofer, meaning it has its own built in amplifier. The other front channel goes to a speaker in the dashboard, and the rear channels go to the 6x9" speakers place in the back of the car. Am I correct this far?
I really don't understand this setup. I know there are a few head units such as the VDO that allow you to sacrifice a channel to feed the amp but it's usually a rear channel, not to mention I'm not very pleased with the idea, but if I get it correctly you are using a Sony 4x45W head unit. As far as I know the 4x45W and 4x50W units from Sony are relatively new, so if I'm not mistaken it should have (of course depending on the model) at least one if not two line outs (mine has three pairs of RCA connectors placed in the back - one for the CD unit input and two line outs). Now, if your subwoofer is amplified, you should feed it from one of the line outs instead of the actual feed which comes from the front speaker.
If you decide to change the subwoofer and if you want to buy one without a built in amplifier, you will have to buy separately an external amplifier that will control the subwoofer. You cannot feed the subwoofer directly from one of the speaker channels, because it doesn't have enough power to drive the subwoofer. Not to mention that 4x45 or 4x50W is reffering to maximum power, not RMS power, so that's the power you can get for short amounts of time from the head unit amplifier. Your head unit is actually more like 4x20 or 4x25W.
So as I stated in my previous post you can do your setup basically in three different ways:
- with 1 amplifier with one channel (bridged 2 channel amp), fed from one of the line outs (if you have at least one)to power up the subwoofer, leaving the rest of the speakers on the head unit amplifier. (it's cheap and relatively effective)
- with 2 amplifiers, 1 with one channel (as before) fed from one of the line outs to power up the subwoofer, and the second amplifier (with 4 channels) that will take over the speakers, fed also from a line out (you need two line outs) (in my own oppinion it's the best choice if you use small dimension speakers because it allows you to cut low freqs and use them only as tweeter and midrange speakers, leaving the bass to the subwoofer)
- with one amplifier with 5 channels, 1 channel for the subwoofer and the other four for the speakers (this type of amp is usually expensive and not very reliable in my own oppinion)
- there are also other types of setups such as front speakers on one amp, rear speakers on another amp, or each speaker powered by its own amp, but these are usually very expensive, and you have to manage a lot of space to cram the amps, a lot of power to feed them (usually it means at least a power capacitor if not another battery) so things tend to get at least very expensive if not very complex. So unless you want to transform the vehicle into a show car,you should stick to the basics.
I hope this answers your question.
--
1991 Volvo 245; 1979 Volvo 244

Fireblade,kinda thanks but at 45/4 watts is 22rms so im only getting 11 watts of distortion free sound per chanel this i understand. The old powerd tube dont have low level in. So i cant use the rca out. I mean i can but i cant aford a amp yet.The tube i was looking at non powerd dont have rca/low level eather as i know that low level is 1-2 watts with no distortion to feed clean audio to a amp . Than its up to the amp to kill the sound.the non powerd tube that im looking at or thinking to get has only push tab terminals but two sets. Is one in and one out. Would there be a L/R in a tube i dont think there is two woffers in this tube. (question,So i was wondering whats the resine for two push termenals (R/L and another R/L) on this tube?)could it be to feed the speaker on that channel side kinda to feed the tube and out to the factery speaker. If someone who had a stock stereo in there car and bought this tube and hooked it in trunk they would take a channel and power the tube than they would be left with a non working speaker naturaly,so the other push terminal should be to power the speaker that has been unhooked to power the tube your post is good and im going to print it and save it i hope you can see what im trying to ask and THANKS!! good info as all i want is a lil thump instead of the bump i have. eventualy ill get amp but a amp that will not distord at half power realized is a lot of cash i would like a 400 watt mono that will not distort untill after 75% of its power big cash i could get lighting audio and blow any woffer at half power from distortion or listen to it at only 1/4 of its power wich both discribed is not what i want so for now i want to run two speks up front and two in rear and a tube i wonder if thats why there is a R/L and another R/L on this tube my old tube is way old and turning to dust if tube was good i would swap out woffer THANKS ps the old amp tube dont have low level only line in so when head distorts so does the the tube amp wich is crappy lol

OK. I got it this time. Are you sure there's one input and one output. It's kinda strage. I've never seen non powered amps with in and out jacks. What brand is it maybe I can find out something about it. Negative on that taking the wires from left and right channel of the head unit and putting them into the subwoofer, unless you have a very special head unit you cannot bridge speaker channels like you do with amps without frying the head unit. Right my powered subwoofer I used to have on my former car had a low pass filter which allowed me to adjust phase, sensitivity and frequency and a separate switch for in phase/inverse. You should check probably for an amp for that subwoofer and bridge it to get more power.
--
1991 Volvo 245; 1979 Volvo 244

cool thanks i will find out who makes it as its cheep at walmart probly auiovox i thought these sony heads good up tp 8ohms per chanel my 6/9s 4ohm cheep tube 4ohm that would hurt head? i cant aford the amp althow maybe a cheep 100/2 or some thing or something cheasy lol THANKS for the replys as im not trying to argue with you THANKS!If i get a low level imput amp would i be able to use the 4 chanels and rca outs at same time? thanks

As far as I know Audiovox doesn't build speakers or subs anymore, they stick to accesories for audio, remotes and so on. But who knows I might be wrong. I'm not trying to argue either I was hoping to give some good advice as one who's in the business LOL :-) I never tried to bridge the channels of a head unit. As far as I know it fries. But... You try it and we'll see. And yes you can use simultaneously the RCA outs and the speaker outs.
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1991 Volvo 245; 1979 Volvo 244

cool putting two speakers that are 4ohm each is not bribging iF i where to put the right/left channels together that would be bridging im not sure who makes this tube it might be old stock thanks for help anyway after i get it il post as to what and why there is two terminals

I just purchased these:

http://www.goodguys.com/adtemplate.asp?invky=163954&sourceid=00387843746936731418&refer=epinions

installed them yesterday in the front doors of my '83 245 - they sound really clear, and are able to handle all the power I can give them!

- Michael

Depending on what you consider high quality, I just put a set of Blaupunkt 4" in my '84 and they fit fine.
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-------Robert, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel , '80 245 diesel