Boxster Project: Dashboard Speaker Replacement
... and a surprise "upgrade"!
When a car hits 20+ years and two-hundred-thousand (200,000+) miles, maintenance becomes part of the…charm…of ownership. Fortunately, thanks to EBay, salvaged parts for older cars are pretty easy-ish to find!!!
The dashboard speaker on the driver side had been deteriorating for a while. We tolerated the scratchy sound for as long as we could, but when what was coming out of it sounded like a 5-pack-a-day smoker, we knew something had to be done.
The RainyDayGarage folks originally planned to take apart the speaker and repair the crumbled foam surround—similar to what was done with the Ohm subwoofer a while back—but a quick search by the interns turned up an OEM part available for $35.
At that price, why bother fixing the broken part???
Specialized German—our go-to old Boxster parts EBay seller
Dealers will quote several hundred dollars for an OEM part, aftermarket shops will ask for half that, but salvage sellers on Ebay will let one go for $35 WITH USPS Priority shipping, excluding tax…and with a guarantee!
We have bought things from the folks at Specialized German before and have never had any problems. They offer the best prices, ship fast and ship free, and pack purchases exceedingly well.
Even though the box looked like it had taken a beating during its trip to the RainyDayOffice, the contents arrived completely intact.
Replacement Speaker
The replacement driver side speaker was exactly as described—L, front—and was in excellent cosmetic condition. From what we could see of the foam surrounding the driver, that appeared to be in excellent condition also. We were good to go!
DIY
It is always a thing of beauty when a DIY goes easier and faster than expected…and what makes it even better is when the replacement part turns out to be an upgrade of the original one (more on that later).
Looking at the speaker assembly, we saw two screws which was clearly had to be removed for the unit to come out. The somewhat tricky part was the limited headroom for removing the screws.
Two obvious screws… as viewed from the outside.
The slope of the windshield makes it impossible to use a screwdriver. The ratchet was the only option, especially since they were surprisingly long screws!
Two screws held the speaker in place, plus a bracket. To remove the assembly, a plug needed to be unclipped. Installing the replacement was strictly plug & play. Everything went in and out without a hitch. Amazing 🙂
The 2000 Boxster dash speaker replacement summary:
- No awkward body positioning required
- Didn’t drop a single screw into someplace irretrievable
- The entire task took less than 10 minute
- Sound check: perfect
Speaker Teardown
After taking out the original part, we noticed that—unlike the replacement unit—it didn’t even have a tweeter! It wasn’t missing…the enclosure didn’t allow for one to be placed in it.
We didn’t know that a “no tweeter” version of dash speakers even existed!!! The old housing (on the right) is solid plastic where the tweeter would be…it is not a cap.
Through the opening, we could clearly see some of the deteriorated foam around the speaker cone. After removing the unit from the grill (3 screws), the extent of damage was obvious. The entire foam surround had fallen apart around the driver’s cone. No wonder the sound coming out of the unit was crap!!!
We are not yet sure what to do with this old part. Maybe we will try to find the right size foam and repair it like we did for the Ohm subwoofer. Maybe we’ll try to install a newer driver as part of an overall Boxster sound upgrade. In any case, that’s a DIY for another day…
Links to items mentioned:
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