My 97SE came from the factory without rear speakers, but did have front speakers. I got it in 1999, and it had front speakers, but probably just 5.25" cones. (what'* really weird is one door had the tweeter grille, and the other had the "business card holder" -which I still think is the funniest thing ever-). Right after I bought it, I got a second tweeter grille from a dealer, and I took it to an audio installer, who put in a Pioneer head unit, CD changer, Boston Acoustics separates in the front doors, and Boston Acoustics 6x9'* in back, with a 4-channel Alpine amplifier to power all the speakers.

When I recently had everything apart, I noticed that the installers connected the amp'* front speaker outputs to some factory wires that were already inside the trunk, and apparently run to the speakers in the front doors.

My question: Was that normal? Did the factory radio have a small amp or something in the trunk? Or what? I'm just curious as to why there were factory wires going from the door speakers to the trunk. :?:

i can almost guarantee that what the installer did was a very common shortcut! i do it ALL THE TIME! you just run the output from the amp into the wires that were originally intended to power the rear speakers. they lead back up to the factory radio in the dash. then you just connect the front and rear speaker wires behind the radio. which means you don't have to run any wire at all from the trunk to the front speakers! it is fantastic! since the amp is right by the rear speakers anyway, you run new wires from the amp directly to the rear speakers! it saves a LOT of time. and that way it'* a really clean install also. no messy wires running every which way!

Oh wow, that has got to be *exactly* what it is. That would have taken me tearing a lot of car apart to figure out empirically. I feel much better knowing what the deal is without having to tear apart the car. Thanks very much for your reply, even several months later, as I still wondered what was up with that.

I might do that someday if I wire up another car. Thanks!