1998 Avalon XLS

[jon456]

I have a 98 Avalon XLS with the speakers it comes with I guess 4 large speakers the 2 small ones and a subwoofer, and I want to upgrade to something louder with more bass because at half the volume they start to get a little raspy and they do not get loud enough for my tastes. I listen to mostly rap and appreciate a good amount of bass, but still like to hear the music. I listen to rock sometimes as well though. Can somebody please tell me what I need to buy to upgrade? Thanks!

[gideon1331]

The stock speakers are 4.5", but unfortunately you can only fit 4" speakers in the doors. Your best bet is to get 4 speakers for the doors and power them with a smaller amplifier, as it is extremely easy to blow 4" speakers with a good amp.

For the sub, I would put a 12" sub in its own box in the trunk. The factory sub is 8" and even a good aftermarket 8" sub won't be able to produce nearly as much bass as a 12", especially if the 12" is mounted in the box.

I don't know how much power the factory sub has, but the 4/6 speaker setup is powered by a 170 watt peak amp, and the speakers are rated for 20 watts continuous...at least thats what was stamped on the back of them in my mom's avalon.

[jon456]

For some reason the two small speakers in the front are pretty raspy at even half volume. Is there anything to do about this, or is it possible to just replace these 2 little speakers with ones rated for higher watts, because the 4 large speakers are actually pretty good after i messed around with the audio controls. And how far can the knob be turned without worrying about blowing the speakers? I have the bass set at 5, mid 2, and treble 2. What are your settings? And sorry for all the newbish questions I just don't know anything about car speakers haha.

[gideon1331]

Those 2 small speakers are your tweeters...they are absolutely worthless in the Avalons in my opinion. Ive had a close look at them in my mom's car and they are complete crap. It might be possible to just replace the tweeters with some low-power aftermarket ones, but it might take some time, or some good searching on ebay to find someone selling just the tweeters.

I have installed an aftermarket cd player in my mom's Avalon that is 180 watts peak, so its not really different than the factory amplifier. I can get it to volume 25 out of 35 before the speakers distort badly. Honestly, the speakers can probably handle more than the factory amplifier can put out, but if you blast it, that means that the amplifier is clipping (eg: the speaker is trying to draw more power than the amp can put out) and that isnt good for the speakers or the amp.

[jon456]

Thanks, do you know what size the tweeters are?