Ok, here's the deal...
I have a 2002 Impreza Outback Sport. I've owned the car for a year. The car came with the base audio system; in-dash single disc CD player with the compartment above it in the second din slot and four speakers-one in each door...Over the summer, I installed an Aiwa CDC-MP3 receiver (because it was on sale and it plays mp3s). The mp3 receiver works great, but a month or so back my friend was sitting in the car alone and decided to test the capacity of my speakers by turning up the stereo as loud as it would go, killing my crappy factory speakers...they still work, but now all four speakers crackle at certain frequencies. Cut to the chase, I need to replace my speakers. I called Crutchfield and talked to people at Best Buy and neither know much about my car. The only thing they could tell me was that all four were 5 1/4" and that they didn't stock wiring harnesses, so I would have to cut the wiring harnesses off the factory speakers when I replaced them. The guy at Crutchfield also said the doors aren't very deep, and the rear doors are shallower than the front doors...
I was thinking of putting Pioneer 3-ways up front and 2-ways in the back. Does anyone know?
The other problem I'm encountering is, how to I take off the door panel to access the speaker? If you have pics, It would be GREATLY appreciated...
Thanks once again,
-Nate

Not too sure about the OBS but I know the wrx can have 6.5s in the front and 5.25s in the rear and you can fit alot of models with a set of spacers.

Do the rear windows go all the way down or are they like the wrx and only go about 2/3 of the way?

If they are the same then you can put pretty much anything back there and not have to worry about depth too much. alot have people have said good things about diamond audio(most are using an amp) and they are pretty shallow too so I would think at most a small spacer would do the trick.

There have also been some good reviews on infinity reference as well (these work better with the stock radio), a bit cheaper and sound pretty good too.

As far as wiring a wiring harness, I don't know, you may have to cut the plugs off the end and just splice it to the speakers.

You could also try getting a used set of factory speakers from someone who has upgraded to aftermarket.-James

I am an installer at Best Buy. On my subaru, I was able to use a speaker harness for a toyota. If I remember correctly, the model number for the harness is 72-9103. Made by metra. It has a T shape to it. When you use this harness, make sure to double check the polarity though. Sometimes it is the opposite. I have a set of four of the pioneer three-ways in my maxima and they sound great. As far as the aiwa goes though, I'm sorry. I can't stand them, and have many go bad on me. I don't remember the size of the rear speakers though. If you're trying to keep it cheap, the pioneers are a good way to go. They are shallow enough to get past the window, and they are a good bang for the buck. The don't need to be aplified, but I would make sure to keep the H-bass on the deck to a minimum.

Maybe you have the same speaker sizes I have on the 02 RS. Its 6 1/2' in the front and 4' in the back doors. I have that same stock headunit as well.

Thanks a lot, guys, that really helped...

I know this is a dumb question to some, but what kind of speaker wire needs to be run for the door speakers?

I plan on amping all 4 speakers from an amp (not from the head unit) so I will need to run wire. Also is there a place that I can buy this wire at a reasonable price? As a side note the speakers I am getting are all 50 watt RMS.

Sorry for the dumb question.

Baudburn

One thing that you can do that is a lot easier than running wire all the way through the doors is to run them up to the factory stereo harness from the amp. You can get some Fosgate speaker wire, 30ft. 16ga. for $12.99 from Best Buy. Get two packs and it should be long enough.

for your wiring needs www.knukonceptz.com I used 12 AWG but it may be a bit much but I plan on running a good bit of power to my Boston Pros in the near future (with my amp all the way back in the trunk) and I wanted the wiring to be sufficiant. It is a PITA to get through the rubber wire track between the door and the body, but with a bit of work and patience I got it done.

Hey JJunior and Cthulu,
Thanks for the tips! Wire is on its way! So is everything else. I'm getting so close I can taste the good sound. :)

Baudburn.