I have a 94B which came with the stock headrest speakers. For one reason or another, I found them to be kind of weak sounding and not that loud. Either my torso size or the way I sit in the seat causes my head too far away from the speakers or the stock speakers just weren't that efficient.

My intention on upgrading the headrest speakers was to be able to listen to news and other talk-heavy sources using just the headrest speakers. I guess I could use my door speakers speakers, but I was hoping to get a more private, personal sound from just the headrest.

I considered buying the Clearwater headrest speakers, but at $120, I thought I could get 2 pairs of 3 1/2" speakers for cheaper than that. I also considered installing a pair of 4" speakers instead of 3 1/2" speakers, primarily, because there was a larger variety of 4" available. I gave up on the 4" concept because it seemed like to much work (cutting and trimming the foam and speaker trim rings) to squeeze such a big speaker in the headrest.

After some comparison at a local audio/video store (Best Buys in Torrance, CA) between 3 sets of 3 1/2" speakers: a Pioneer (model TS-879), Jensen (model J135FR), and Blaupunkt RL3524 speakers, I went with the latter, which cost $38 for one pair. The Blaupunkt had just slight better bass response than the other speakers, although the Pioneer sounded a bit "brighter". The Jensen was a dual cone design, whereas the other 2 were 2 way designs.

Overall, the installation was pretty easy. You unzip the cover for the headrest and peel it back. There's a foam-over-plastic cover that you remove, revealing the existing headrest speakers (#1). There are three large phillips screws that hold the speaker holder to the headrest (#2) one on top, and one on the bottom. In addition, there are four small phillips screws on each corner of the speaker that hold the speaker to the holder.

Once you remove all the screws, pull back and remove the speaker holder from the headrest cavity. Using something like a tiny screwdriver, pry the speaker slowly from the holder (#3). Unplug the two wires from the speaker posts (#4). Now go back behind the speaker holder and pull the speaker wires out of the speaker holder. It takes some effort because there's a little rubber grommet that keeps the speaker wires nice and snug to the holder (#5).

In comparison to the Blaupunkts I was putting in, the old factory speakers looked quite small (#6, #7). I wedged the new speakers into the foam cavity that was left (#8). I used the stock speaker wires and their spade lugs to connect to the speakers. I ended up having to widen the bigger of the two spade lugs with a needle nose poliers because it was to small to fit onto the bigger of the speaker posts

After I installed the driver's side, I turned it on my CD to check it out, and I was slightly disappointed with the sound. Overall volume was only slightly louder than stock, but the music seemed a little muffled, and the volume actually decreased as I moved my head between the two speakers. It seemed like I had the classic phase problem, so I switched the two positive and negative wires that was going to one of the speakers. That did the trick! Sound was much louder and clearer.

There were two slight disappointments in the installation. First, although the new speakers were louder than before, they weren't as clean at high volumes as what I had heard in the store display. When I *really* crank it up, I can start hearing noticeable distortion. I attribute this to the fact that in my system, the headrest speakers are being driven off the built-in amplifier of my Sony head unit, while the speakers on display at the store were probably driven off some hefty stand-alone amplifiers. I guess I could install an amplifier to drive the headrest speakers, but for me, that would be overkill, and a bit out of my budget.

The second diappointment was that when I was ready to zip up the headrest cover, I placed the foam-over-plastic cover back over the speakers and it didn't quite fit nice an flush. It sort of bulged a bit because the speakers protruded a bit, but I managed to squeze the speakers into a position where the cover finally can be placed over it, allowing me to zip close the headrest cover. The cover bulges just slightly, but it's hardly noticeable.

Overall, a recommended, easy upgrade.