Audition car speakers at a stereo shop. When you hear a better performance than your OEM speakers, the same impedance, shape and size speaker that can handle a little more power than the OEM speakers, consider buying those speakers. I'm not talking about a very loud performance, and they are not going to make the stereo "grow" more watts, but I mean go for best undistorted performance- sounds most realistic at low level as well as at higher volume.

 

Head unit is good, I kept mine and ordered the wiring harness from tacotunes. You'll need an amp but for now you can just switch out the speakers plug and play really. I went components in front doors and coaxial in rears. I've got these items plus a sub amp and sub too but you don't need to do everything all at once. Start with changing out speakers. See how it goes. Add a 4 channel amp later if you want more. Then a sub and sub amp if you choose to later, but I'd keep the head unit. Mine sounds great

 

I bought the hertz k170 components from Crutchfield, but ended up swapping the tweeters back since they were too bright with the factory radio’s eq. Luckily the stock tweeters are decent, but the woofers are pretty sad.
The k170 was selected due to very high sensitivity since I wasn’t amplifying the speakers.
I was pretty well served by that alone until I built my trunk corner subwoofer. Not tons of bass but definitely an audible improvement

 

Before I upgraded my Headunit I replaced all the speakers with Hertz. It was an improvement. But still lacking. The tweeters can be bright. So the factory might suffice for you. But if you're like some of us here with car audio. ONce you upgrade one thing you'll end up wanting more, lol. Toyota OEM audio just sucks.

 

Yeah I like nice audio. I spent a few bucks in my last DD but I just don't want to go crazy on this one plus I need all my space so adding a subwoofer just is out of the question.

I ordered the Infinity Reference 6532-EX for all the doors. The guy said the stock tweeters will be fine as an upgrade may be too overpowering as many of you already found out. I will report back after the swap. The stock sound really is worthless so trying to just get something mediocre without changing everything up.

 

I originally went the route of mounting an 8" kicker compC which is designed for free air applications. I too wanted all of my trunk space, but have since taken out the 8 and put in a sealed 10" box. Could be an option

 

Check out www.oemaudioplus.com, they have direct drop in factory replacement speakers. They use the factory wire harness, so a simple plug and play setup. I believe it’s only $500 for all 6 speakers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Check out www.oemaudioplus.com, they have direct drop in factory replacement speakers. They use the factory wire harness, so a simple plug and play setup. I believe it’s only $500 for all 6 speakers.


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Interesting. $500. you obviously can spend $500 with Crutchfield and be plug and play as well. Wonder how these would compare to a $500 CF set up. I also wonder where they source their speakers from. There was a company like this back in the day in SoCal. He did the same thing. Swapped out stock for upgraded systems with a huge mark up. He ended up going out of business because it turns out his “proprietary” speakers were just junky Chinese stuff that sounded ok for a while then just gave out. He was big into the spin that his systems were specifically “tuned” for your car.

 

Search can be a good friend, top results from this sub-forum:

XSE stereo upgrade (non-JBL)

Started the installation of the front speakers (Hertz Cento Pro 6.5" components), speaker T-harness and 4 gauge power wire. All harnesses are self made plug-n-play (radio speaker output, vehicle speaker harness, tweeter harness and door speaker harness). Speaker T-harness connects to the radio...

www.toyotanation.com

Aftermarket Audio Specs

I am looking to upgrade my sound in my Corolla in the future but I am having trouble finding the sizes for the speakers. I have non-jbl SE Hatch, I was also wondering what would be a great pair in audio. I' m thinking to add a subwoofer with speakers all having independent amps (Amp for the wall...

www.toyotanation.com

speaker upgrade - issue need help (solved)

Updated: Issue solved - Tweeter is not plugged in, plugged back in and done. purchased a set of Hertz C165 to replace OEM front door speakers. Came with wire adapter, should be plug and play. Plugged in but no sound, anyone knows why? Did I plug it wrong?

www.toyotanation.com

 

@igzy always "that guy" that needs to show people how to "use the search function", every forum has one. Also in the USA you do have the freedom to move right along and not answer a post. Thanks but NONE of your links answer my questions but thanks. I didn't ask how to change the speakers, I got that one down. Maybe move along next time.

 

I just heard this song on my upgraded speaker system and base was amazing:

 

I would consider adding an amp and free air speaker to the fold down back seats if you just want a bit more base. Maybe add some additional. IF you decide to keep it past warranty period then upgrade all the other speakers.

If you just upgrade the stock speakers that does not improve staging and it might not improve the sound quality either. It might make a huge difference or it might be rather minor.

Dropping big money on new sound system or speakers on a 2023 anything is kind of stupid. If you wanted to do a $10K paint job on said car I would likewise say it wise the opposite of a wise investment.

How bad is it? I understand it is an economy car but really how bad is it? Did you have unrealistic expectations going into this or did you buy it sight unseen? Did you expect Bentley level of staging and sonic excellency or something?

I did car audio for a few years in Savanna Ga. and Jacksonville Florida for a few years and even I initially just wanted to add some additional tweeters a box and an amp to my cars and trucks starting around 2001. If you had survived the 1970's-1990's of absolute garbage factory audio on 99.9% of cars and trucks built you might understand how good things are today. Sadly with all the airbags in cars today it can make sound staging a bit difficult compared to the past.

I would bet that some additional tweets on the A pillar and a sub in the trunk would improve things massively!

Do tell us though what is wrong with the stock audio? Is it too mudy? Is it the staging? The volume level? Lack of punchy or deep base?

 

P.S. Spend your extra money on synthetic oil changed every 5K miles or 6 months. Spend it on better tires when it needs it.

 

So I completed my upgrade. This is what I would say for a lack of better words it made the stick radio “cleaner”. I added a bunch of sound deadening behind the speakers as well The stock speakers are worse than a $3 pair from the dollar store. The speakers I chose didn’t give it more bass just crisper bass. The highs are fine with the stock tweeters and think much better ones would over power the system. The mid and really the voice of the singer in the song is where you hear a better sound.

My overall assessment is this. It was $200 ($30 more if you buy sound deadening off Amazon) about an hour and on a scale of 1-10 for difficulty it was a 2.

If the $200 means top ramen for the month or no diapers for the baby then don’t do it. It isn’t that huge of a difference. If $200 is fine for you and you don’t want to go full bananas on a system then I highly recommend it.
Cheers.

 

Probably get a bit fuller bass once those speakers break in too. And of course a modest 50watt RMS x 4 would vastly improve things too. Project for next year. Enjoy your new tunes

 

Good for you!!! Glad it turned out well for you and you like the outcome!

Thanks for updating your thread with the end results and being very honest! Again Thanks!!!

 

I would note that since you used coaxials, you now have tweeters in the doors and in the dash that will cover a similar band, since the factory door speakers get full range signal.
Not saying it's a bad thing, just something to be aware of.
depending on how handy you are with wiring, you can desolder one wire from each in the front doors that leads around the back of the magnet, under the sticker and through the center to the tweeter, without just cutting it to make it easy to reconnect if you like it better that way. may be something to consider if you think the extra tweeter is too much. just make sure to cover the loose end with some heatshrink or similar. Tape might work, just make sure it won't come loose with time.

 

I don't like tweets in front doors and dash together either. I've done it, sounds alright and goes loud but something about having no tweets in doors and tweets only on dash/a-pillars just gives that spacious soundstage that sounds oh so good

 

Side curtain bags get in the way of A pillar tweeter mounts today.