Gen 5 Camry XLE Speaker Upgrade

[Convert]

This is intended for the newbie, like I was a couple of months ago when I first bought my 2002 Camry XLE – wanted to give a little something back to the forum community.


First check this out –> great write up. Should be a sticky here in the forum.
http://www.gearmonkey.org/sixthman/archives/001934.html#001934
This is for a GEN4 Camry, but is very similar to a GEN5. This helped me a lot, particularly with making the mounting baffles for the front speakers.



Refer to the GEN 5 Camry Repair Manual, which can be found above in the stickies in the Camry Forum -> Read Me: Gen 4 and 5 repair manuals. I have noted specific .pdf sections below in relation to the steps.


Preparation:
~ First review the Audio-Visual manual sections: 67_AUDIO-VISAUL_System.pdf
~ Review repair manual section 1_Introduction.pdf, pages 8-9 regarding proper clip removal - an interior panel removal tool helps with clip removal and costs about $5 at a car parts store.

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1) Remove the Rear Seat Bottom Cushion.
Refer to: 72_Seat.pdf, pages 37, 38
2) Remove the REAR SIDE SEAT BACK ASSY RH & LH (the picture in the manual illustrates what this is).
Refer to: 72_Seat.pdf, pages 37, 38
3) Remove the ROOF SIDE GARNISH INNER RH & LH (the picture in the manual illustrates what this is).
Refer to: 76_Exterior_and_Interior_Trim.pdf, page 22 - an interior panel removal tool helps.
4) Remove the ROOM PARTITION BOARD ASSY (the picture in the manual illustrates what this is).
Refer to: 61_Seat_Belt.pdf, pages 13 &17
- ALSO refer to: Section 1_Introduction.pdf, pages 8-9 regarding proper clip removal.

- I didn’t find the need to remove any of the seat belt components. I just left them intact.

5) Remove the Rear Center Stop Brake Light Assembly.
Refer to: 65_Lighting.pdf page 16, or the Owner’s Manual on how to change the light bulb.
6) Remove the PACKAGE TRAY TRIM PANEL ASSY (i.e. the Back Deck). Refer to: 61_Seat_Belt.pdf, pages 17

**This was the tricky part with the XLE model since it has the Rear Window Shade. There are 2 clips that are bolted down from the top, which are under the rear window shade. It appears that they bolted down the clips and then stuck in the rear window shade, but I couldn’t figure out how to remove the Window Shade without breaking it or the deck, which are both made of not too durable plastic. So I ended up breaking the clips instead by pulling hard up and out on the Package Tray a.k.a. Rear Deck until it popped out. I later was able to bend the clips back into place and adhered them back on with some adhesive caulk and the original screws. I then added a clip nut which I had laying around from another speaker installation that came with the speakers but I didn’t use, and then screwed it down from underneath inside the trunk. It was pretty simple overall.






Once everything was out, it is easy to unscrew the OEM 6x9 speakers and replace them. I used aftermarket speaker harnesses to connect the new speakers. The OEM 6x9 2-way speakers have some strange wiring, with the main white connection going to woofer, and separate black wiring coming out of that and going into the tweeter. I just connected the harness to the main white connection and left the tweeter connection unhooked, and got full range out of my after market speakers.



The only modification I had to make was to drill new holes in the sheet metal to match up with the mounting hole of the new speakers, a little bit of an effort cuz I didn’t have an angled drill to drill from the top due to the angled rear glass, so I had to drill the holes from in the trunk. Since the speakers I put in didn’t have mounting cut-outs included, I had to draw and cut them myself, then lie in the trunk, hold up the cut-out with one hand and mark the holes with the other. I used a manila folder for the cut-outs, but stiffer stuff would have been better, since when holding it up to mark the holes, it tended to want to bend into the existing speaker hole. Once that was done, I put some door/window 3/8” foam insulation around the speaker hole to make a nice snug fit, dropped the speakers in, screwed them down, then made the connections, and then turned on the tunes and cranked them – all good!

I replaced the OEMs with Pioneers TS-A6961R 6x9 3-ways, last year models that I got for a good price at BestBuy where I also had a gift certificate (key factor). I didn’t want to spend much money on rear speakers, following the advice on this forum. I cart around mi familia in my Camry, so I wanted some full range speakers, but primarily wanted some good bass backfill. So when listening to 6x9’s at the store, I concentrated on the best bass and not upfront mid/highs, and for me the Pioneers TS-A6961R 6x9 3-ways did the trick for not too much $$. Also they had a fairly low RMS of 2-40w, so I might not need to get a new amp to power them. Better speakers usually means higher RMS and thus more watts needed to power them, which usually means a bigger amp, and more $$$, etc…..

Just to comment, there has been a lot of discussion in this forum about sound stage and not needing rear deck speakers, particularly if adding a subwoofer in the trunk. I didn’t add a sub to the trunk and do not plan to, cuz I’m an older guy who listens primarily to rock. No matter, after installing the aftermarket Pioneers in the back, I do agree that spending a lot for rear deck speakers doesn’t make much sense for 2 reasons: 1) the sound totally deflects off of the rear window due to its angle, and moreover, 2) most of the sound is blocked for a front seat listener by the headrest. Maybe back in the old days of boxy cars the sound came out better from the rear deck, but not the current aerodynamic cars. Overall, I’m really happy with what I put in there. If I did it all over again, and I might consider the TANG BAND W69-1042 6"x9" SUBWOOFER, as recommended by cam2Xrunner.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=264-837

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The front door speaker removal of a GEN5 Camry is fairly easy.
Refer to: 67_AUDIO-VISAUL_System.pdf, page 5

There are 6 screws to remove. Refer to 75_Engine_Hood_and_Door.pdf, page 8.
1) Remove the Front Door Lower Frame Bracket Garnish – a.k.a. the sail panel – the black triangle that is on the inside of the door opposite the side view mirrors. Just pops off.
2) Remove the Front Door Armrest Base Cover Lower, which is a rubber bottom that sits at the bottom of the cup where you put your hand to close the door. Pry it up with a small screwdriver or preferably a plastic type wedge like a cheap plastic putty knife or a bondo blade used for spreading bondo – plastic won’t scratch the plastic car components. There is a screw underneath.
3) Remove screw #1.
4) Pull up on and remove the Power Window Regulator Master Switch Assembly – i.e. the whole thing with the switches that was held down by the screw – pull up from the bottom where the screw was because there is a clip at the top holding it down. Disconnect the power window and door lock harnesses.
5) Remove screw #2 – underneath the Power Window Regulator Master Switch Assembly – see picture (this screw isn’t identified in the manual!).

6) Remove the Front Door Inside Handle Bezel Plug - see the illustration in 75_Engine_Hood_and_Door.pdf, page 8, step 3.
7) Remove screw #3 underneath.
8) Remove the Round Hole Plug covering screw #4, located in the front upper corner of the door near the side view mirror.
9) Remove screw #4.
10) Remove screws #5 and #6 located on the bottom of the Door Panel.
11) Pry the bottom of the Door Panel away and move your hand near the clips and pop them out (an interior panel removal tool helps). See the illustration in 75_Engine_Hood_and_Door.pdf, page 8, step 4 for the location of the clips. It is better to pop the clips out near each location than just yank out on the whole door panel at once. Once all of the clips are popped out, lift up on the door and remove it.
12) Remove the 2 cables from the Front Door Lock Assembly - they pop off easily.

13) Now that the door panel is off, remove the old speakers by removing the 4 screws mounting the plastic baffle to the door. Disconnect the speaker harness. Now the new speaker installation can begin.

I decided to install some decent component speakers based on the recommendation of the forum here, and I am glad I did! I chose to install Alpine SPS-171A 6 ½” component speakers, based on their full range sound quality, mounting depth of 2 ½”, price ~ $113 including delivery from onlinecarstereo.com, and 8-50w RMS, which again wouldn’t require me to upgrade the amp to deliver enough power required by the speakers. The mounting depth for the front door speakers is exactly 2 ½” from the top of the sheet metal to the rolled down glass window.

First I chose to create some baffles out of ¾” MDF wood like shown in the SixthMan write-up referenced at the top of this thread. This made the mounting clearance no problem. I laid down the OEM plastic speaker baffle on the MDF and outlined it. I chose to install both the mid-woofer and the tweeter in the same MDF baffle, and reverse the position on the left one (tweeter farther away) from the right one (tweeter closer) to help balance out the sound image by reducing the path length difference between the tweeters and my ears. For more info see: http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/learningcenter/car/speakers_imaging_soundstage.html






Before doing this, I drove around with the tweeters in various positions thanks to the long wires on them. I tried them on the dash where the existing OEM tweeters are, on the sail panels, and down on the door baffles. I didn’t like them up higher – caused too much sound separation, which is what I realized I didn’t like about the OEM speaker setup -> thanks Mr Marv for pointing out potential sound separation. With the tweeters up high, it initially sounds good, but found it lacking for overall sound quality. For me it’s kind of like listening to music on a Bose home sound system with the mini-cubes up high – initially it’s like WOW, but then listen to the same music on some good full range speakers and you realize that the mids were missing from the Bose. A good thing about the Alpine component speakers is that they give you 3 different tweeter mounting options with the included hardware. The one that I used, flush mounted in a hole, allowed me to aim the tweeters up to the dome light and gave me a great sound stage that sounds like it’s in the windshield. Overall, Alpine speakers provide great installation kits in my opinion.

I used a jig saw to cut out the MDF baffles. I cut out the wholes for the woofer and tweeter first, then cut out the entire outline of the baffle – this made things easier to hold down when cutting the woofer and tweeter holes. A scroll saw would have been best, but don’t have one. One thing I found out when putting things back together, is that the Door Panel has places that come in on the baffle outline of the ¾” MDF, whereas it didn’t touch the OEM plastic because it was only ¼” thick on the outer edges. I marked in the photo with red arrows where I had to trim it down to make the door panel fit no problem. Again, before bolting down the speaker setup, first I stuck some heavy duty 3/8” wide window/door foam insulation on the metal door around the speaker opening. This was essential here because the OEM plastic clip nuts that are in the door set up about an 1/8” from the sheet metal and cause loss of sound, reducing the bass if not filled. I guess Raamat or Dynamat would have filled the space also, but I chose not to add sound deadener. I used ¼” Hex Lag Screws by 1 ½” long to secure the mounted speakers and MDF to the door in the original clip nuts.

The hardest part of the setup for me was mounting the crossover inside the car (to avoid moisture) and running the power wires thru into the door to the speakers. For the power source, I cut into the speaker wires under the kick plate (the plastic covering to the left of your left foot when on the driver’s side) and used crimp connectors to connect to the power line running into the crossover. Finding a place to mount that crossover wasn’t easy, not a lot of room down there under the kick plate since the emergency brake on the XLE’s is a foot pedal and affects the clearance down there. I guess you could mount it under the dash some place, but didn’t want to drill into anything that I didn’t know what was underneath. I found a tight spot under the kick plate to mount the crossover securely.

There must be a good wire puller that car installers use to make pulling speaker wire easier. I tried a regular house wiring snake, but that was too stiff. I ended up using a piece of 12 awg electrical wiring to fish thru from inside the door since it was flexible enough that I could guide it thru the rubber tubing going from the door to the car. Then I twisted the 12 awg wire to the speaker wires, taped over the connection with electrical tape, and pulled them thru. Made all of the connections, zip tied the new speaker wires to the existing wiring in the door to keep it out of the way, bolted down the speakers, and turned them on. Then I adjusted the angles on the tweeters and all sounded great. Put the door panels back on and I was rocking.

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I can’t say enough how much improved the sound is! – even with the OEM six-disk changer and the stock amp. I was thinking I would have to upgrade the amp, but found that I can turn it up as loud as I can take it without hurting my ears, cuz I’ve already lost enough hearing and have permanent ringing in my ears from all of those loud rock concerts (front row at the Chili Peppers didn’t do my ears any good….). Everything is crystal clear (well there is a little rattle in the back when the bass is really kicking, but found the location is the roof liner right about the rear glass, which I can take care of). I am really surprised how nice and clear the sound is even when cranked up. Now I can identify all of different horns being played.


One point though, is that there is a difference in the bass sound from the OEM speakers – they actually put out more bass, but not ACCURATE BASS. There was more thump in the stock speakers, but you couldn’t tell what kind of drum from the sound. Now when I listen to Carlos Santana I can identify all of the different individual drums that are being played, and when an artist is starting a bass line by thumping the body of an acoustic guitar with the base of their hand – it’s clear. I couldn’t make those distinctions with the OEM speakers, and they distorted too easily. All I can say is that my weekend installation was well worth the effort.

[Delay_FTB]

Good find, but that link has been around for a while both here and in the Cam forum.

And FYI, you can host images on Photobucket.com

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Originally Posted by Delay_FTB

Good find, but that link has been around for a while both here and in the Cam forum.

And FYI, you can host images on Photobucket.com

Yes, I imagine it has, and did find it here - not trying to say it was an original find, but trying to put all info in one place so someone doesn't have to spend the hours like I did searching and reading, searching and reading.....

Thanks for the suggestion on Photobucket.com. Am going to try ImageShack first as I found that first after my post.

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Forgot to mention that I just disconnected the front dashboard OEM speakers. Actually I took them out, cuz you need to take them out to unhook them anyway, so I just left them out. I also took out the clips nuts so that they didn't fall off down behind the dashboard sometime later. The OEM speakers are 2 1/2" speakers with only 2 5/8" clearance in the mounting bracket to add anything different. Customizing the opening would be difficult since there isn't much clearance between the window and the speaker. It is easy to remove, just pop off the grill cover, then use a #10 ratchet on the front bolt and an open ended wrench on the back bolt.

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Posting these because I know some people would be interested.





Don't know what the white block is in the wiring scheme, anybody know??

[Delay_FTB]

Not trying to be argumentative, just letting you know. And I think its posted in one of the stickies already, though I'm not positive on that... *runs for cover*

But the more places to find it, the better.

[Convert]

Originally Posted by Delay_FTB

Not trying to be argumentative, just letting you know. And I think its posted in one of the stickies already, though I'm not positive on that... *runs for cover*

But the more places to find it, the better.

Yeah, you're right - it is in the Read Me: Bookmark these sites(vast supply of car audio info) - post #21.

And like you said "the more places to find it, the better!"

[thapranksta]

Originally Posted by Convert

Forgot to mention that I just disconnected the front dashboard OEM speakers. Actually I took them out, cuz you need to take them out to unhook them anyway, so I just left them out. I also took out the clips nuts so that they didn't fall off down behind the dashboard sometime later. The OEM speakers are 2 1/2" speakers with only 2 5/8" clearance in the mounting bracket to add anything different. Customizing the opening would be difficult since there isn't much clearance between the window and the speaker. It is easy to remove, just pop off the grill cover, then use a #10 ratchet on the front bolt and an open ended wrench on the back bolt.

Do you need to remove any parts of the dash besides the grille on top of these speakers to take them out? What kind of speakers are they, cheap tweeters?

[Convert]

Originally Posted by thapranksta

Do you need to remove any parts of the dash besides the grille on top of these speakers to take them out? What kind of speakers are they, cheap tweeters?

"It is easy to remove, just pop off the grill cover," - nothing more than that. In my opinion they are cheap paper tweets/mids that distort easily.

[thapranksta]

So basically what you are saying is - we are better off without em?

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Originally Posted by thapranksta

So basically what you are saying is - we are better off without em?

Yup, that's my opinion, if you're replacing them with something else - 2/3-ways or components in the door, the only thing the stock tweeters would add is distortion.

[sundarpn]

Convert,

I wanted to swap out the JBL spakers in the front doors of my camry 2002 XLE with JBL audio.

I want a speaker that I can just plug and go. So is there a good 3-way speaker for this that will give me better sound. I am not an expert in audio install, but I can certainly replace speaker so long as there is not special mounting need.

Can you suggest me a speaker? I want better sound using my stock JBL audio and hoping better speakers will help.

FYI:
I have a pair of pioneer ts a6870r 3 way 6*8 speakers, I not this is not the right size, but if I do make a bracket will these speakers improve the sound out of my stock JBL audio. The specs on these poineers are
3-way 6"x8" speakers (pair)
Aramid fiber reinforced IMPP woofer with durable rubber surround
1-5/8" balanced-dome PPC (Pearl PolyCarbon) midrange and 3/8" PET silver film dome tweeter
frequency response 30-28,000 Hz
recommended power range 2-50 watts RMS
peak power handling 220 watts
sensitivity 90 dB
top-mount depth 2-7/16"