I was just wondering if I should have gotten a professional installation instead. I replaced the front speakers in my 98 Durango. I just bought some cheap Dual's to replace them. I'm planning on giving this back to my parents when I got a car, but I've been driving this for a while, so I'm deciding to replace the speakers. When I bought the speakers , the guy at best buy said it might be a little harder if it's an infinity system. When we took out the old speakers, we had to get rid of some little tiny brackett thing that plugged into the old speakers. We cut that off so we could use the 2 wires to connect to the speaker. Then the screws that we screwed onto the bigger round bracket that held the speaker were a little long so we couldn't put it back on. So we just put random screws into there so it would work. We got everything in, and sounds fine, but I wanted to know if I should have waited a bit and pay more than what I paid for the speakers just to have gotten them installed professionally at best buy. I got one good speaker from the front which I want to put in the back because they're both bad in the back too, and I'm supposed to get a good speaker from a friend which I can put on the otherside in the back. So what should I have done and what should I do? Sorry for such a long story, I just wanted to make sure I got good details in so you guys would not have to ask many questions.

 

If you aren't sure how to install something properly then of course you should get it professionally done. To have a local shop do it wouldnt have cost much more and you'd know it was done right. Did you just wrap the wire through the hole and around the terminal or actually use the connectors? Did you make sure you got the phase right on the speakers ( + and -)? And the brackets should have mounted up without having to alter them or use different screws. That's the point of the brackets. What you did might "work", but it may have not been done right. If you're doubting your install... you should have brought it somewhere. But hey, live and learn. We all started out doing hacked up installs at one time or another.

 

Well, I had someone else do it since he's done it before. It works fine. We did go through the hole and stuff. We got the right phase on. Only problem was that the screws were too long, and when we put it back on to screw, they were in contact with the metal. I bought the speakers for like 30 bucks new, my friend said it would cost like 40 bucks at best buy and I would have had to wait. Only reason I post this is because I'm not too sure on what to do with the back speakers. They're both bad. I kept the good speaker from the front. So I was thinking about putting that in the back, and putting the speaker my friend is going to give me in the back also. But because I think they will be different speakers, I'm not too sure on the sound quality. Like if it will be a big difference in between them. Maybe I can dish out like another 30 bucks, could be pointless if the other way works fine. Only reason I'm replacing them is just to so that they're working fine. Don't really care about so much thump or anything. And also, if I mix those speakers and everything, I'm thinking the car value may drop a little bit if my parent decide to trade it in for anything. I doubt that they'll do that, but anything is always possible. Thanks.

 

Your car wont drop in value by replacing speakers....If you gona do anything, spend the cash on front speakers not rear....you get most of your sound fron the front.

 

It sounds to me that you did fine. If you're worried about having to cut the speaker's plug, don't worry about it. A shop would have done the same thing because it's necessary. As you saw, aftermarket speakers don't use plugs, it does use female blade connectors though. Then some shops solder and some don't. I just hope you used the tools that even Best Buy uses (the connectors pressed onto the wires that is) and not just wrap the wires on the speaker's male blade ends.
The screws, you do what you have to do, I always bought black self tapping screws like my old shop used to use when I do any audio install. You did what you had to do to make it work and as long as the speakers aren't falling off or rattling around, IMO, you did fine.

Would a pro installer done better? Depends on the "pro installers" in your area. I've seen some so called "pro installers" use crimp connectors and crimp too lightly only to have the wires slip out and cause a "mess".
The call is yours bud.