rear speaker upgrade

[ACS Rob]

for those with the stock 6-speaker non-jbl system who's thinking of upgrading your rear speakers, don't do it. i'm too far into it to stop now and already purchased the replacements (5.25 Hertz coax) along with the already installed 5-channel amp.

basically, you have about 2.5 inches of dept at best to work with and one mounting hole. the stock speaker is a joke. size is weird. it's about 6" in diameter with a quarter size magnet and really, really shallow. i have to do some custom work to get my replacements to fit. i'm going to mod the existing grill and just lay speaker grill fabric over it. hope this works out.

[Biggoldfish]

Sorry to hear that, man. Hope it works out for you.

[SwaggerWagon11]

Hello rob. Can you post instructions on the rear speaker panel removal? Is it just removing the speaker grill or does all the panels in the rear have to come out? I'm thinking of putting infinity components in the factory locations and mod the grills like you. Keep us update on your project. TIA!

Mike

[ACS Rob]

thanks! i think it's going to be ok... i ended up cutting a hole on the stock grill and built a ring for the speaker to mount on. i'm going to get a shop i know shoot some fiberglass on the ring/exterior of the grill to create a small bulge, sand it down and bondo if needed. i'll cover it with fabric to finish the look. it's not going to look stock, but it'll be decent *crosses-fingers*. good thing about the rear speaker placement is it's usually covered by the middle row seats.

i though about finding a shallower speaker but mounting will still be an issue. using the stock ring is not even an option because of the design of the stock speaker. there's no room to work behind because it's pretty much against the metal. i dynamated the area which only made things worst.

but if anyone is up to the task, it's certainly doable but it's not a drop-in speaker to say the least.

[ACS Rob]

Originally Posted by SwaggerWagon11

Hello rob. Can you post instructions on the rear speaker panel removal? Is it just removing the speaker grill or does all the panels in the rear have to come out? I'm thinking of putting infinity components in the factory locations and mod the grills like you. Keep us update on your project. TIA!

Mike

the speaker grill is removable but only from the back. you have to remove the floor panel that runs along the sliding door, then work on the panel with the grill. it's just a bunch of nylon type tabs that holds everything down. the panel with the grill doesn't have to be removed completely. you just need to pop the edge near the door opening to access it.

i also replaced my front door 6x9 and factory tweeter with a set of 6.5" hertz components. that part was easy compared to the rear.

[grandpapa]

can you post some pic on the project? I am sure most of us would like to see, thanks

[ACS Rob]

finished last night and pretty happy with the result. sorry, i didn't take pics of the process. i'll take pics of the finish product after i clean the mess i made. sound quality of the speaker upgrade is definitely worth all the hassle.

[gs3tek]

Aside from the non-drop in issue, I didn't hear a difference with the rear speakers. I faded the speakers to the fronts and then with the fronts+rears and can barely hear them at all.

Partly b/c it's covered by the 2nd row seatings and they're usually fillers, I didn't bother replacing them.

[ACS Rob]

gs3tek, are you running an amp and subs?

my main reason for upgrading the rears was to provide the 3rd row with better sound than what the stock was providing. it's also hard to hear the mids from the 3rd row. after the upgrade, the sound when sitting in the back is much more complete with my 10" sub in the rear. it was actually too loud for my taste so i turned the fader to the from up +5 (+15 being max) to balance the sound for the entire cabin.

[grandpapa]

Originally Posted by ACS Rob

for those with the stock 6-speaker non-jbl system who's thinking of upgrading your rear speakers, don't do it.

...1st post you said don't do it

Originally Posted by ACS Rob

finished last night and pretty happy with the result. sorry, i didn't take pics of the process. i'll take pics of the finish product after i clean the mess i made. sound quality of the speaker upgrade is definitely worth all the hassle.

...last post "worth all the hassle..."

??

Do you think it is because the sub/amp you add that made the different in sounds rather than the speaker upgrade alone?

From my experience (on recent Toyota, not old cars), speaker upgrade alone didn't really give you much.

[ACS Rob]

Originally Posted by grandpapa

...1st post you said don't do it



...last post "worth all the hassle..."

??

Do you think it is because the sub/amp you add that made the different in sounds rather than the speaker upgrade alone?

From my experience (on recent Toyota, not old cars), speaker upgrade alone didn't really give you much.

1st post i was frustrated because i thought upgrading the rear speaker was going to be an easier task after pulling all the panels. the last post i was happy because the entire system sounds great and my audio project was complete.

amp and sub makes all the difference in the world! speaker upgrades alone even with an amp is not enough for my case anyways because i upgraded to components. components aren't ideal for full range sound. running a sub allows you to adjust your speakers to run high pass only and leave the low levels for the sub.

[SwaggerWagon11]

Pictures please, when you can.

[ACS Rob]

i'll try to snap pics today after work...

[ACS Rob]

here's a couple pics of the rear i ended up with..

[SwaggerWagon11]

Thanks for the pics. It looks like you have a big subwoofer in there instead of a 5.25 speaker.