Looking for speaker suggestions/ opinions

Looking for suggestions and opinions on some new speakers for the Tacoma. I already upgraded the head unit to a Pioneer 3500 series, which helped but doesn't make up for the fact the stock speakers suck. I have no plans to install an amp. Just looking for a crisp, clean sound. Main music is classic rock....so no need for bass for thumping.

Here is what Crutchfield recommended (not sure I agree)

Front JBL GT7-96 http://www.crutchfield.com/p_109JBLG796/JBL-GT7-96.html

Rear JBL GT7-5 (Have no idea why they did not use a 6.5 inch speaker) http://www.crutchfield.com/p_109JBLG75/JBL-GT7-5.html

I was thinking why not do 6.5 all the way around and use these instead.
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_53970_JBL-GTO629.html


Your thoughts? I am open to other brands. Keep in mind I have not bought speakers since late 90s...so bear with me here.

 

Hmmm...I thought i would get at least a hell no that's garbage.

 

Do you have a budget? I put JL Audio in all 4 doors and love them.

 

I'm going all Polk in mine.

These in the front:

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_15059_Polk-Audio-MM6501.html

These in the back:

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_14716_Polk-Audio-MM651.html

This behind the back seat:

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_14718_Polk-Audio-MM1040UM.html

Driven by this:

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_39895_Polk-Audio-PA-D5000.5-PAD5000.5.html

 

Sure. I would like to stay under $250 per set. Which JL speakers do you have?

Again I have no interest in adding an amp or a sub.

 

Your HU won't push those JBL's. Not enough power.

You need to look at the 40-60watt RMS range for that Pioneer HU.

I'd get a cheap 4channel amp, then you can run some better components like these which sound amazing.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_091165S/Focal-R-165S2.html?tp=106

Also these are fantastic speakers as well.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_22330_Image-Dynamics-CTX-6.5cs.html

Also JL audio is over priced for what you get. Yes its good, but ID/Focal and a lot of other companies sell much better speakers for less. You pay extra for the JL logo these days.

 

If the HU won't push them, then why would Crutchfield recommend them???

Newb here, please explain why the JBL won't work. They have a rms of 2-70 While the HU has rms output of 14. 14 falls in the JBL's range. Confused.

 

I put RE speakers and tweeters all around with a Kenwood HU. I was immediately impressed by the change it made.

 

If you go 6.5 all the way around then you should put components (seperate woofer and tweeter) in the front.

 

I have given some thought going to components speakers, however not sure that is in the realm of my skill level. I did install HU but that was just matching up the same color wire.

 

I think what Aw9d means is that the speakers won't get pushed to there full potential.. you can always just get a nice set of components up front and a 2 channel amp for just the front ..unless you plan on riding in the back seats you don't really need to upgrade the rear..If you have a nice front stage you won't even notice the rear.

 

I went the JBL route as well. Like yourself, I wasn't looking for a competition class system. Just a little better quality. I upgraded my head unit to a Pioneer AVH-X5500BHS. I did this mainly for the bluetooth, Android, and DVD features. As for speakers, JBL GTO928 up front and JBL GTO628 in the rear. Total cost for all 4 speakers was about $120. I couldn't be more pleased. The setup has more volume than I need. Sure there is better stuff out there, but why spend the money if you don't want nor need it.

 

Gotcha. I am not looking to let the whole world know what I am listening too.

Anyone have a "how to" on installing component speakers in a Tacoma.

 

I just put components in my 2014 Tacoma DC. I installed Polk DB6501 speakers in the front and Polk DB651 in the rear. If you buy components that have a crossover built into the tweeters then it is basically a plug and play connection (not quite but almost, splice new tweeters into factory harness and connect Metra adapter harness to factory harness for woofers). If you buy components with a separate crossover like the ones I purchased then it takes a little more simple wiring effort. You can see what I did in this post.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/audio-video/336047-help-simple-stereo-improvement.html

Just be sure and not make the mistake I did at first by reversing the polarity on tweeters that do not have the crossover built in. You will have to splice into your factory harness to connect a separate crossover but it is really simple. Just keep all the polarities correct. I mounted my crossovers in the doors and did all my splicing into the factory harness in the doors.

 

JBL Speakers....Sensitivity is at 94db. Simply the most efficient speakers in the industry. The JBL speakers (I have the GTO series) are a perfect match for the Entune head unit. You can't go wrong if you don't want to spend big bucks. I love my JBL's and got them cheap at onlinecarstereo

 

Where exactly did you splice into factory harness. I am interested in components if I can find where to splice correctly.

 

It will depend on whether or not you buy components with the crossover built into the tweeter or a separate crossover. If the crossover is built into the tweeter then just splice your tweeter into the harness right where the factory tweeter is. Clip the red and black wires close to the factory tweeter and splice in your aftermarket tweeters. I made my own tweeter brackets from a template someone posted here on the site. You can probably do a search and find it. If you buy speakers that have a separate crossover as I did it will require more splicing plus some consideration as to where you want to mount your crossovers. I mounted mine just aft of where the door panel pull handle screws to the door bracket. You will have to be sure and check to make sure where you put your screws will not interfere with the window regulator if you use screws. Some folks I believe use Velcro but the surface was to uneven for me to use Velcro. I used sheet metal screws that did not protrude much into the inside of the door.

I spliced into the harness using butt connectors about two inches below where it goes into the tweeter connector making sure it was the leads coming from the HU and ran them to the input terminals on my crossover. My tweeters came with a fairly long lead already so I just ran it to the tweeter terminals on the crossover. The leads that go to the woofer are the other two wires at the tweeter connector. I clipped them about two inches below the connector, pulled them out of the bundle that goes up to the tweeter, made my splice again using butt connectors and ran it to the woofer terminals on my crossover. Zip tied everything up in nice neat bundles and double checked to make sure all my polarities were correct and was done.

 

Let me see if I got this. The wires running to the stock tweeter will now go to crossover. Then from crossover you run new wire to new tweeter and new speaker. So the old door speaker connection is left unused. Is this correct?

 

The speaker wires coming from the HU into the front doors go directly to the stock tweeter connector. The stock tweeter connector has four wires, two pair. Depending on the door they will be either two pink and two purple or two blue and two light green. Two of those wires or one pair are the main speaker wires coming from the HU. Either one pink and purple pair or one blue and light green pair. The other pair at the tweeter connector go to the door woofer. If you trace the speaker wires through the harness where they first come into the door you will find they are one of the pairs that go to the tweeter harness connector. Figure out which pair it is, clip it at the tweeter connector and reroute it to the input terminals of your crossover, and new wire already connected to you aftermarket tweeter route it to the tweeter terminals. Finally the other pair at the stock tweeter connector are your woofer pair and they will need to be rerouted and connected to the woofer terminals. If any of your pairs are not long enough to reach where you place your crossover you will have to splice in enough wire for them to reach. I did using butt connectors.

I also used Metra harness adapters #

$15 72-8104 Speaker Wire Adapters for Select Toyota Vehicles - 4 Total Adapters

72-8104 for connecting the aftermarket woofers to the stock harness since I used as much of the stock harness as possible. I also used them on the rear doors because those speakers are simply plug and play.