factory dash tweeter question
 

the tweeter in the dash of the 2000 Blazer, I know there's a bass blocker in the line but do you know if the bass blocker was removed, would it be ok to put a full range plate speaker in there? Or would it just get the highs?

The "bass blocker" is not in the wiring, it's attached to the back of the tweeter itself. It's just a small electrolytic capacitor.

Just hook up your new speaker, it will play all the frequencies it's given by the HU.

Most HU's have 4 outputs, front R/L, and rear R/L. What are the dash tweets hooked to? Are they sharing the power to the front door speakers?

As for that "bass blocker", there's some sort of "lump" in the wiring to the tweeter, is there not? I havent pulled mine out yet but I've seen other pictures on here with something in there, wrapped in electrical tape. I may be totally wrong, however.

The dash speakers are connected with the front speakers.

I don't remember seeing anything in the wire on mine, then again all I had them out for was to disconnect them. The first clue to me is that the "lump" was wrapped in electrical tape. I wouldn't imagine that's standard practice for the factory. That sounds to me like an aftermarket bass blocker the PO of the vehicle in the picture put in and taped up.

I could be totally wrong as well. It has my interest peaked enough to go pull the grill off one of mine real quick and see what's in there.

The "lump" or whatever it was, is either next to the tweeter or in the door, next to the door speaker. It's been 8 years since I had it apart, but I am leaning towards the tweeter. Either way, it wasn't hidden and was noticeable enough that I knew to remove it when I installed 2-way plate speakers in my dash.

However, keep in mind that the door and dash speakers are wired in parallel. If you take off the bass blocker and run two 4-ohm speakers in parallel, you've got a 2-ohm load that your amp/HU may not like very much.

Here is what my tweeters looked like before I replaced them in my 2000 4X4 4dr Blazer LT (non-Bose).

http://imageshack.us/a/img28/3410/photo2ue.jpg

The "lump" in the heat shrink is the "bass blocker" or high pass filter. It is soldered inline with the red (+) wire going to the factory tweeter.


http://imageshack.us/a/img542/5285/photo3mdu.jpg


http://imageshack.us/a/img689/8914/photo4ro.jpg

I just replaced mine by disconnecting the speaker at the green factory connector and snipping the wire next to the "bass blocker" leaving me with just the connector with the red (+) and black (-) wires. Then I crimped on two spade connectors to the ends of the stripped wires on the connector. Then I connected the red spade (+) to the positive (+) terminal and the black spade (-) to the negative (-) terminal of the new 4X6 speakers. Then all you have to do is reconnect the green factory connector and drop the new 4X6 speaker into place. I shimmed under the two bolts closet to the windshield with a couple of rubber washers to give me a little more clearance before putting the speaker grille back into place. Replace the final two screws into the grill to hold it in place and you are done!

http://imageshack.us/a/img820/454/img0496pfy.jpg

The 4"X6" that I dropped in, handles the mids and highs great without any added filters in line. If you snipped the wires on the other side of the "bass blocker" and left it in line with the speakers , then you would probably only get highs from the 4"X6" speaker which would defeat the purpose of adding a coaxial 4"X6" in place of the tweeters.

Give it a try, you will love the improvement in sound quality!

By the way, I replaced all six (6) of my speakers.

Tweeters >> Boston Acoustics FX7 4"X6" (given to me for free)
Front Doors >> Polk Audio DB651 6.5" (Amazon.com)
Rear Doors >> Polk Audio DB651S 6.5" (S = shallow mount) (Amazon.com)

Good luck!

Thanks Lefty! Tell me something... how did those Polk's suit your for base? I've read they are not very strong... I was leaning toward an MTX or Fosgate speaker for the umph.

I thought the Polks did a really good job with the bass. The fronts (db651) go down to 35Hz and the rears (db651S shallow mount) go down to 50Hz. I have the db651 tweeters in the front door aimed (they are adjustable) up to improve the listening area a bit.

The db651S (shallow mount) fit perfect in the rear doors without any modifications while the front db651 fit behind the stock grilles a little close and require drilling three mounting holes after using one of the stock mounting holes. Very minor mod. I'm not sure why the back lined up perfect and the front did not. Which ever you decide to order, do yourself a favor and order the speaker wiring harness for the front speakers. You will understand when you disconnect the factory speakers and it makes installing the fronts a breeze. The rears are different, you can get away with snipping the speaker harness at the terminals of the stock speakers and crimping on some spade lugs to make your own harness.

I don't listen to a lot of bass heavy music (mostly older rock and country) but do like a little thump the way the music was intended. I don't like to rattle the windows or annoy the person next to me at a stop light. I like a nice blend of bass, mids and highs and in my opinion is they are not "tinny" or bright.

I think they are a perfect fit for me.

:icon_band:

Thank you Lefty, you nailed what I was asking. Thanks for the info on the harnesses for the front doors, because I was planning on just clipping and adding spades like normal.

These are what you need for the front speakers, where you get them from is up to you, but the connector end is the main thing.

https://blazerforum.com/forum/attach...ine=1358733362

The back of the factory front speakers have a non-typical connector instead of a positive (+) and negative (-) terminal to connect lugs to.
(see pics below)

https://blazerforum.com/forum/attach...ine=1358733362

side view of same connector...

https://blazerforum.com/forum/attach...ine=1358733362

sorry for the low quality picks but the harness you would buy for the front speakers would replace this connector on your new speakers. Otherwise, you would have to reach in behind the door, clip off the factory connector and crimp on spade connectors. On mine, I had very little extra wire to work with if I would have gone that route. With the harness for the front, you connect the spade connectors to your new speakers (they are designed to only do on one way, no worries about which is positive and which is negative) and connect the two connectors together. Takes all of two minutes this way. No cussing, no worries about polarity and nice clean install.

This is what the connectors for the rear speakers look like.

https://blazerforum.com/forum/attach...ine=1358733362

Here are what the factory speaker connectors look like.

This is FROM the rear speaker, you can see the similarities in the connector. The factory rear door connector can be snipped off at the speaker terminal and reused if you want to save a few bucks.

http://imageshack.us/a/img526/8994/img0493lr.jpg

This is the other connector coming FROM the head unit to the rear door speakers...

http://imageshack.us/a/img255/9294/img0494e.jpg

If you opt to reuse the connector on the rear speakers, make sure you pay close attention to which is positive (+) and which is negative (-), color coding is not typical. If you aren't comfortable with that then consider purchasing the rear harness.

Good luck, have fun and enjoy your new sound!