I recently bought a 1997 850R sedan. I used to have a '94 Turbo sedan, and I have missed it since I sold it. One of my favorite features of the car was the stereo, which I always felt was excellent, and the '97's stereo has seemed lackluster.

Back in the day, I replaced the front speakers in my '94 when the magnets fell off, and it was as easy as ordering factory replacements and installing them. My new car had front speakers with torn cones and I set about looking for replacements, but none were to be found. After digging around, I found a pair of T-125 2" Tweeters from Simply Speakers. It was probably from a post I found here via Google. They looked like they would fit well, they are 8-ohm impedance, and they were only $12.95 each, so I ordered up a pair and gave it a shot.

In the end, they were a great fit. I removed the old speakers by squeezing the plastic tabs together and prying the speakers up off of the holder. They were glued in, in addition to being held in by the tabs. Then, I desoldered the wires from the old speakers and set them aside. Next, I used a Dremel with a cutoff wheel to open up the ends of the mounting ears so they would fit around the plastic mounting tabs and hold the speakers more or less in place. A little Shoe Goo to hold the speakers down, and I was able to solder the existing wires onto the tabs. The wires were a little too short, and I am terrible at soldering, but in the end I was able to make it work. I probably should have soldered a short length of wire onto the tab first, but it all worked out, and hopefully I won't need to take it back out and re-solder the wires.

In the end, it made a huge difference to the sound of the stereo, and I was really happy that I didn't have to modify, cut, or otherwise mess with the mounting brackets.

Here are some photos.

Tom
Original speaker on the top, replacement below.
Original Speaker removed from the holder on the left, replacement on the right.
Original Replacement on the right, speaker with modified mounting ears on the left.
The finished product, replacement speaker in an unmodified factory speaker holder.

 

You know, I seem to remember the magnets falling off the front speakers. I think that Volvo was using some type of environmental safe glue that basically didn't work. LOL

 

They definitely did that, but maybe they improved it between '94 and '97, as these ones had intact magnets, but the cones had given up after 21 years. I actually lost one of the magnets in the dash on the '94, and if that car is still on the road, I bet it's still there!

I figured I'd have to replace the rear speakers, too, but they actually sounded pretty darned good tonight. It's nice to hear the highs coming from the front again, and I finally feel that the speaker is living up to my memories of how good the stereo should be in these cars.

 

Did the same setup. Dash speakers gone. Replaced with the same as you. Question, did you remove the capacitor from the original and attach to the new? I replicated the setup, alas, no sound. Is there a step I missed? 🤔

 

I did move the capacitor to the new speaker, though the caps may dry out, causing the issue you are experiencing? You could have a different wiring issue, too. I would try it without the capacitor, and if that solves your issue, order up new caps of the same rating and replace the old ones. If they don’t work without the caps, then maybe you have a wiring problem?

 

Appreciate the advice. Give it a go tomorrow