Oceans13

My center dash speaker was toast, I decided to replace it. The oem Mark Levinson replacement was $200 so I researched an alternative. Settled on a Tang Band W3-881SJF 3" Full Range Speaker. 8 ohm / 30 watt. Install process:


Carefully pried up the grate with a screwdriver to remove speaker. (10mm)

New and old speakers for comparison.

Removed the old connector and soldered it onto the new speaker.

Plugged it back in and put some adhesive on the flat parts of the old bracket to hold the speaker in place.

Before and after.

Some general info for anyone interested:


Speaker Part Numbers

Mark Levinson Audio Specs


3GS Speaker specs.

VernLex

Cool how does it sound

VernLex

Cool how does it sound

Oceans13

I listened to it before and after. You don't really notice when its not there, but once I plugged it in, there was a noticeable improvement.

abuamra

Great job, you made it look so easy. Now I have confidence to change mine when the time comes.
Just a question, how did you figure the + & - wires?

AmanES300

speakers are simple resistive loads (mostly). Polarity doesn’t matter. Either works.

speaker in post has polarity indicators though, so this one could be different.

snakeo2

Could you provide the link where you bought the speaker....mine is also in need of replacement.

Seize

It’s available from Parts Express

https://www.parts-express.com/Tang-B...peaker-264-911

Oceans13

@abuamra I put black wire to black wire, which is normally negative.

@snake82 The model is Tang Band W3-881SJF you can find on ebay.

mkeeney

Polarity is very important with speaker systems. If you hook it up backward it will be out of phase with the other speakers.

AmanES300

ah, you’re right. My mistake was condensing a speaker down to a simple resistive load, rather than considering what that load is doing. I usually deal with power supplies so when all you have is a hammer…you know the rest.

11Es350Lex

Have you done anything for the corner speakers? Looking for good solution so I can actually hear them

katariat

did you create some adaptor to bolt the new speaker. I am in the process of actually replacing the side speakers as i feel they are more critical and potentially just unplugging the center one to see how it sounds. I was thinking of just ziptie the speaker but wasnt too thrilled about it. When i saw your post, i was curious to know what you did. Appreciate the help

Oceans13

For the passengers side, I bought a new OEM replacement. For the driver side, I simply glued back the round speaker cover plastic. Both sound equally good.





Drivers side i just glued back

Center I "temporarily" sat on top of some shop rags and left like that


What are you replacing it with? I dont remember how I secured mine, I think hot glue. Or just dropped it in, its pretty heavy so its been sitting fine.

katariat

most of the speakers are full range with some cross overs. I was hoping to swap the side speakers with another full range from PE...the versatile TC9FD18-08. I have that same driver in couple of other setups and it never fails to impress.