Phoenix Gold Phorum

I own a 2002 Saab 9-5 with the AS3, 9 speaker, system. I am going to put in an aftermarket head unit, but I have read a few times that the original speakers in the car run at weird ohms, and that it would be best to install aftermarket speakers as well. Can anyone elaborate on this? If I install a new head unit, what will it do to the sound quality of the speakers? And will it be a big enough difference in the quality to be noticeable?

Also I know that there is an amplifier in the car that is powering the speakers. I was told by a tech at the dealership that the wire harness should be sufficient enough to not have to bypass the amp. But I'm not 100% sure if he actually knows about systems or if this was just his guess. So will I need to bypass the amplifier? And if so, how do I go about doing that?

It's definitely possible to upgrade the speakers on the stock amplifier, and while it gives some pretty decent results, you can do better with an aftermarket amplifier for that as well. Considering you are already going through the trouble of adding a subwoofer amplifier, you might as well in my opinion.

i have even put an aftermarket amp on factory speakers when building in stages. this allowed me to wire everything and upgrade the stock speakers when i could. i know this is opposite of what most would do but i seem to do things backassward all the time.

turns out that all nine speakers are wired to the amp.
and i assumed that there would be nine wires connecting from the amp,
to the back of the stereo. but that is not true. only 4 wires which is standard
for almost all wire harnesses. so got everything hooked up and the
aftermarket head unit makes the stock speakers sound so much better.
I knew that was going to happen anyways but there is just an extremely
big difference in the sound quality. I think it's a hell of a lot better.

my system sounds amazing (:

As long as you like the result, this is the most important thing!

9 speakers? What ohm are they running?

If you used the speaker wires from the headunit, you will get quite a bit of noise in the signal. It is far better to use the pre-amp level outputs like so:
http://saabworld.net/showthread.php/84- ... =1#post306

Here are their impedances. I think these are actually DC resistance measurements because I remember seeing nominal impedance marked on the back of the speakers.
http://www.mitt-eget.com/saab/faq_audio.shtml#speakers

well it would actually seem that things have started to go a little downhill.
I'm not sure if the speakers are blown from me playing them too loud or not.
But my front left speaker and one of the speakers in the back seem to have
a strange noise coming through when music is playing. It's really only on the
higher notes. I mean they still play but I'm under the impression that they
are not performing like they should. Might change them out. Should I be able to just install any aftermarket speakers and wire them up to the stock
amp? And can anyone tell me how to change out the speakers that are in the front dash?

Just realized you already answered my first question....so i guess i just need to know how to remove the speakers in the front dash

Yeah the noise is due to feeding amplified speaker level outputs into the amplifier. You're supposed to send it pre-amp level, which you get through the RCAs. Switching that over will make it sound crystal clear.

The dash speakers are easy to remove. Pop off the grilles by prying gently under the closest edge. I use a mechanics pick but a butter knife works too.