I have a Saturn wagon with the standard issue 4-speaker cassette stereo. I have a pair of much nicer speakers that I want to install. I have two camps telling me if I should install them in the front or in the back. A person whose stereo system knowledge I respect told me years ago that the front speakers are most important, and the rear speakers just “fill out” the sound. I’ve bought that line for years. I installed these speakers in the front in my previous car and had some crappy things in the back and I was always happy. A guy I work with now who is quite knowlegable about installing systems tells me that the rear speakers are more important, especially in this car as the rear speakers are in the back hatch and point forward. I’m just not sure how sophisticated his tastes are (not that mine are that high-faluting…). And since the front speakers are in the door close to the floor, this guys tells me that it’s just not going to do it.
Anyway, the question is, do I install the “good” speakers in the front or in the back?
I have had direct experience with this recently. I replaced two of my speakers in my SUV. I replaced the front ones and am very happy with the result. When I adjust the fader, I can tell that the back speakers are only providing “fill out” sound" and are not all that important.
I have a related question - we just installed new rear speakers in my car. But now when my car is running (silly us, we only tested it with the engine off), there is a highpitched squeal/whine when the stereo is on. It fluctuates with the rpms of my engine it seems.
Any ideas?
The electrical system of your car is causing interference that is coming out of your speakers. This, except for maybe “rattling”, is the most difficult problem to fix in car stereo, because there are so many things that could be affecting your speakers. My recommendation would be to go through your stereo system, from the new speakers back to the battery, and see if you can see any obvious signs of interference, like wires crossing power centers (like the alternator or battery), proximity to fans, fuse boxes, or relays, even the lines that run power to your rear defroster or turn signals/brake lights. Try to remove these problems, or shield your speaker wires more heavily. This is difficult, frustrating and time consuming. Good luck.
Thanks **Necros ** … we took the old rear speakers out and put in new ones … but I think McDeath also put in an amp of some kind … not really sure what all is going on back there. Good times … 
For the wine, I had it 2x on 2 different cars, the 1st was fixed by a fillter I got from radioshack on the power supplies (continous power and just on when the car was on). The bigger inductor filter didn’t cure it, however the small capacitor did, I don’t know if the capacitor alone would have worked alone however as I insalled the inductor 1st then added the capacitor and all was good.
. The 2nd was not fixed when I moved over the filter but was when I ran an external ground to the radio.
At risk of sounding flip, where do the speakers fit? Most cars take wildly different size and shape speakers at front vs back - typically small round ones up front and big round or big rectangular in back.
Without cutting into panels or buying adapter brackets, it’s usually pretty hard to put “wrong” speakers into a given location.
The speakers are all the same, 5 1/4" round. Once the door panels are removed, they should just screw right in. I’m just looking to get the most bang for my speaker buck. One day, who knows when, I’ll get around to buying another pair and it won’t matter. But until then, I want to get the best sound with what I have.