Thinking about buying these speaker components. Advice, criticism?

[irocz0r]

So, I ordered a brand new car back in 2015 with absolutely no options, total base model. The sound system has always been terrible and I've finally gotten the motivation to do something about it.

I'm decent at wiring, soldering, and mounting, but I'm less confident about what's a good speaker or if something's going to sound bad.

The 2015 standard headunit is a nice model with a large screen, so I'm keeping that.

For the door speakers, I don't want to mess with an amp, so I need 2 ohm speakers to match the 2 ohm factory amp. So I'm considering these 2 ohm 6.5" Infinity Reference speakers. These:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002BZFSYA...GZT76VWC&psc=1

For the door speakers, I want to buy this adapter and hopefully it'll make it fit together:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/metra-mo...k/5228145.p?id

In the dash for the mids, I'm want these 4" 2 way Alpine at 4 ohms. It's 'coaxial', I don't know what that means or if it matters. These:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004TU5R1E...I2RTCXOI997ZX2

And for tweeters, ah hell I don't know. Random choice. I think these are 4 ohms but it doesn't say. The dash components need to both be 4 ohms:

https://www.amazon.com/Rockford-Fosg...s=1%22+tweeter

Then I have an old 8" Bazooka Tube laying around I'm going to try to hook up if I can find a new cable harness online for it.

So that's my plan so far. It all seems suspiciously cheap. Any wisdom would be much appreciated.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

For the basstube:

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-IgSL29...-S-T-BTAH.html

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-FoByy1...-S-T-9999.html

Make sure you connect it to the front speaker wire and not the rear since if you connect it to the rear, you will not get the full range signal.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Wow, couldn't find any 2-ohm speakers, but I did find this. No clue if it'll work since it's a 3-ohm, but they're components instead of coaxial, so it should sound better. The Infinity you posted for the midbass speakers have built in tweeters (coaxial, runs off the same power as the woofer), so I'm not sure if they'll receive signals they can't reproduce (thereby damaging them). I think the factory amp does have a low-pass filter built in tho.

https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item...L-GTO609C.html

That'll take care of the tweeters too. As for the 4" midrange speakers, I'd try to find a dedicated midrange instead of a coaxial one. If you end up getting 2 pairs of coaxial speakers (6.5" and 4", you'll technically have 3 pairs of tweeters in the car).

Maybe this for the 4"?
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_898GS4...c&awug=9032051

Edit: also, I'm no car audio pro.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Also, to save on the bracket, maybe you can cut out the door speaker at the surrounds and install the new speaker over the factory bracket. That's what I did in my first Yaris' door speaker.

[swarb]

Why don't you want an amp? The one powering the door speakers is in the trunk, you just splice and replace the amp. As long as it is lowish power around 100w, you will be ok with the current wiring.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by swarb

Why don't you want an amp? The one powering the door speakers is in the trunk, you just splice and replace the amp. As long as it is lowish power around 100w, you will be ok with the current wiring.

What's the point of replacing the amp if it's similar ratings? I suppose to open up the woofer/midbass options???

[Kaotic Lazagna]

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_130PRS....html?tp=35757

The factory amp is 140 watts, so as long as this thing fits in the space the factory amp is in, this will open up your 6.5" options.

[swarb]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

What's the point of replacing the amp if it's similar ratings? I suppose to open up the woofer/midbass options???

Stock amp is rated at max power while aftermarket amps are rated at rms power. Many people have used the alpine ktp-445a like myself and saw a noticeable improvement. I haven't touched the sound system since. I do plan to sound deaden the doors and suggest you do too. I would also get front door speakers and eventually a sub.

Consider not running the dash speakers or at least pointing them towards the driver and away from the windshield. The dash speakers do add some volume, but they sound harsh from the sound bouncing off the windshield.

If you still decide to not get an amp, high db sensitivity would make the speaker more responsive vs another speaker with a lower db rating.

Those infinity speakers are known to be good for a budget upgrade.

[swarb]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_130PRS....html?tp=35757

The factory amp is 140 watts, so as long as this thing fits in the space the factory amp is in, this will open up your 6.5" options.

Where did you find this info? 140w max or rms? how many channels? I doubt rms as I installed a alpine ktp-445a 90x2 or 45x4 rms, I'm running it at 45x2(@2ohms so probably 90x2) and saw a an improvement in sound.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by swarb

Stock amp is rated at max power while aftermarket amps are rated at rms power. Many people have used the alpine ktp-445a like myself and saw a noticeable improvement. I haven't touched the sound system since. I do plan to sound deaden the doors and suggest you do too. I would also get front door speakers and eventually a sub.

Consider not running the dash speakers or at least pointing them towards the driver and away from the windshield. The dash speakers do add some volume, but they sound harsh from the sound bouncing off the windshield.

If you still decide to not get an amp, high db sensitivity would make the speaker more responsive vs another speaker with a lower db rating.

Since that's a 4-channel amp, how does that work? Do the other 2 channels just get cancelled out and the 2 connected ones receive 90w vs 45w?

I believe they put the speakers on the dash to actually bounce off the windshield for sound staging/imaging????

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by swarb

Where did you find this info? 140w max or rms? how many channels? I doubt rms as I installed a alpine ktp-445a 90x2 or 45x4 rms, I'm running it at 45x2(@2ohms so probably 90x2) and saw a an improvement in sound.

It's most likely max instead of continuous since it's from the Toyota brochure. lol. 140w for the woofers, and 160w from the HU to power the other 6.

I came from a 4-speaker system into the FR-S' 8-speaker system, so it was tons better. I just didn't like how the woofers distorted at higher volumes. I'm not sure if that's due to the 2-ch amp, or the speakers themselves.

Edit: So I got a Bazooka 50w basstube to help fill in the lows. I did have to crank up the gains on it to about 3/4 max, lowered the bass on the HU to a little over half instead of being second to max, and adjusted the fade towards the front with about 2 clicks before full front. I just wanted enough rear to fill in the car. This is enough to get my Thinkware F50 dashcam to go into event recording if my volume is 34+. haha

[Kaotic Lazagna]

http://pressroom.toyota.com/releases...of+driving.htm

It's listed in there as well. But like I said, I'm pretty sure it's max rating instead of rms.

[swarb]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

Since that's a 4-channel amp, how does that work? Do the other 2 channels just get cancelled out and the 2 connected ones receive 90w vs 45w?

I believe they put the speakers on the dash to actually bounce off the windshield for sound staging/imaging????

Bridged. It combines two power channels into one. Same way a 2channel amp is wired to power a single channel sub.

They didn't exactly design this car for sound staging. Look up SQ builds for this car, it is rare for anyone to use them. It's more of a marketing thing for 8 speaker 140watt(max) sound system with navigation, blue tooth, usb, xm radio, etc etc.... It's more for volume than actual sound quality.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by swarb

Bridged. It combines two power channels into one. Same way a 2channel amp is wired to power a single channel sub.

They didn't exactly design this car for sound staging. Look up SQ builds for this car, it is rare for anyone to use them. It's more of a marketing thing for 8 speaker 140watt(max) sound system with navigation, blue tooth, usb, xm radio, etc etc.... It's more for volume than actual sound quality.

Ah, I never messed with bridging an amp.

If that's the case, they should have just did the same layout as the tC since it ran the same system, but to me, it sounded better in all aspects (lows, mids, highs). Then again, having 3 speakers per door probably would make it rattle even more.