Chevy Spark Front and Rear Speaker Installation Guide

[djdarkside 0]

Got the front speakers installed today, I went ahead and flipped the wires, it sounds so much better now with the Kicker KS40 speakers, hopefully the rear ones will come in tomorrow.

Quick question on flipping the wires, did you tug the wires out or what? I don't want to use force if it will ruin the wire. I noticed my speakers were all out of phase and looked and noticed my wires were backwards on my Metra harness. I am doing the kicker upgrade.

[Ray Dockrey 97]

I used a pair of needle nose pliers. You have to squeeze the blade terminal in the connector together and it will slide out. If you look at the blade you can see the slot cut into it. Once the blade slides out then you have to spread it back apart so it will lock in when you slide it into the correct position.

[Skids 108]

i fit 6.5" in the rear with no adapter or anything needed just had to find the right holes to match up (only 2 screws in but very stable) and put 5.25" in the front with the help of dremel and a saw bit. Still looks stock. so much better.

[djdarkside 0]

I used a pair of needle nose pliers. You have to squeeze the blade terminal in the connector together and it will slide out. If you look at the blade you can see the slot cut into it. Once the blade slides out then you have to spread it back apart so it will lock in when you slide it into the correct position.

I did this and it worked.

Also has anyone with the kicker 4x6's in the back experienced vibrations coming from the plastic that the speakers are attached to. I'm getting vibrations and rattling and its driving me nuts trying to figure out the source.

[Angrybird12 61]

Found out something from Travis Gage on the Spark Facebook group about using the foam baffles on the rear speakers to make them enclosed like the front cups on the stock speakers. It helps the sound a lot. You can get them on EBay for both the 4" round front and 4"X 6" rear speakers for about $10 per pair. Try it. I did and I was amazed at the difference it made.

Edited May 11, 2015 by Angrybird12

[Perham 0]

Thanks my friend. Just installed my KS40s and they sound great. KS46s are coming in two days. I bought the connectors from this link, in case anyone from Europe needs it:

http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B00CN9L0T6

Today I installed new speakers in the front and rear of my Chevy Spark 1LT. In no way am I a car audio expert so do this at your own risk.

Speakers used: Kicker KS40 (4 inch round) for the front and KICKER KS46 (4x6 inch) for the rear.

I choose to use a speaker wiring harness instead of splicing. I used a Metra 72-9301 speaker harness, it says its for Toyota and Mitsubishi it just doesnt lock with the clip with but its snug and shouldn't go anywhere.

You'll need two to three tools a small flat head screwdriver to pop the speaker grill in the front and a small phillips screwdriver. You may want a pair of dykes to snap off one of the plastic pieces for the rear speaker.

With the small screwdriver you should be able to gently pop up the front speaker grills.

After successfully popping off the speaker grill unscrew the two screws on each speaker, pull out each speaker slowly and disconnect the speaker harness. The Kicker KS40 will not fit in the little cup the factory speakers come in so don't bother separating the factory speaker from the little cup.

Connect the new speakers either with a new speaker harness (below) or splice new connectors.

Drop the speaker in the mount after you've connected, screw them securely into the dash and replace speaker grill.

For the rears I'd recommend folding the rear seats all the down. Each rear speaker has 4 screws unfortunately I was only able to get 2 each because of the mount for the KS46 but its secure and doesn't bounce around. I dont think you'll need much instruction for the rear speakers just look at the picture below to see where the screw placement is. If you look in the lower right corner of the speaker mount you can see where i cut off a little bit of the clip to trim it down.

Now how do these speakers sound? They are a definite upgrade from the factory speakers, they have a lot more range and you might want to tweak your tone settings to take advantage. Eventually Id like to power these speakers from an amp but for now it will do the trick.

Hopefully this guide will help you in some way.

[badjrod 0]

Pics are dead.

Edited March 28, 2016 by badjrod

[bluer101 241]

Pics are dead.

My pictures are still in this thread, but here is a link to my install.

http://chevysparkforum.com/topic/729-kicker-upgrade/?hl=kicker

[evertroy 5]

My driver side rear KS46 keeps falling out. I got the other one in fine. I'll just keep trying and if all else fails, I'm grabbing some duct tape.

Sounds way better than those stock speakers! I'm gonna see if my local shop can fabricate something like that in floor kicker hideaway for me.

[1LoudLS 11]

why does it fall out?

is a screw/s also falling out? if so you may need to use a slightly thicker screw, not much thicker at all, just enough to bite into the hole that must be slightly stripped out, unless the screw boss is split or cracked, then you may need to do some repair work with a tube of expoy

if is it just slipping past the screw and the speaker is falling but the screws are staying in place? if this is the case, you will just want to use some small washers that are a little bigger than the screws head so that it holds it in there better and they are not able to slip past the screw.

also, I am assuming that you are using all four screws/mounting points correct? if not, that is definitely the root cause of the problem. I have seen a lot of people just leave one one out in some cars because it didn't line up 100% and they didn't want to deal with it.

[1LoudLS 11]

also, any shop that has the tools to build their own boxes or amp racks would have no trouble making up a false floor like Bluer101 did, his design was super simple and efficient and fit great, some other subs might have been a lot trickier to do, but the size and shape of Kicker's hideaway works very well for this type of fabricated mounting. and shouldn't take them too long to knock out for you.

most people think the hardest part would be cutting the shape for the new floor since the only straight line is the side up against the seats, but when I made the cut for SpaceCowboy's false floor, I just used the original piece of carpet as the template. traced the shape on marine grade plywood, and just cut it out with a jig saw.

the only reason I didn't use MDF like the rest of the build is because he does a lot of work with water crafts and is always sitting bags of tools back there and JUST IN CASE one was slightly wet (unlikely, but I tend to overthink and over design stuff) I didn't want it to deform the top layer (MDF does not handle moisture well at all!)

if you are going to use a kicker hide away, I would show them a couple of his pictures so they can see exactly what you are talking about and not try to make it to complicated (cost more) if you are using something other than a hideaway, then they will need to figure it out based on what you actually bough. honestly, even though there are a lot of cheaper options out there, none of the ones that I have heard have sounded at good as the kicker, even the ones that are twice the size!

[bluer101 241]

I used the factor carpet as the template too for the curved side.

[1LoudLS 11]

cant beat it as you know it has to fit perfect!