bed speaker setup help

Before I start, I apologize for my electronic ignorance. I'm 17 so this modding stuff is new to me and I know very little about electronics due to my lack of experience. I'm hoping to start learning though, just need a little help.

Ok, so I found a thread on toyotanation in which a guy installed extra speakers in the storage compartments above the wheel wells in the bed. It sounds like a cool, cheap, useful, and easy mod for me to start out on. He installed cheap 3" speakers with a max of 60 watts. He ran them from the stock head unit by splicing the rear speaker wire I think? link:http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=196194&highlight=bed+speakers

I could probably do that on my own, but he has very little info on how he wired them.

1. I've heard you have to wire the speakers in series to raise the ohms to 8 to avoid wiring them parallel, lowering the ohms to 2 which the factory head unit can't handle. Is this correct?

2. Would running them off of the rear speakers wire work out ok? I don't want to buy an amp.

3. I would like to run speakers that are bigger, so is there a limit on the amount of watts that would work?

4. How would I wire a switch in the bed to turn the speakers on/off and also if possible the in-cab speakers on/off?


Any answers to any of my questions would be great.

 

Hey your fine adding some more speakers in the rear storage compartments as long as you just want speakers in your bed, not expecting them to be terribly loud is what I mean. It's an awesome idea if you tailgate. I wouldn't put anything more than a 6.5" coaxial speaker though. There is a hole behind the rear panel in your truck that you can push the wires out and run them to the back of the bed. Just tie into/tap off your rear door speakers and you'll be fine.

 

You are correct in that you should not wire them in parallel to the existing speakers due to lowering the resistance to an unstable value. However, know that by wiring in series you will be reducing the total wattage output of the HU by half (what is probably only 15-20w will effectively be 7-10w). You are much better off buying a cheap amplifier and a switch to turn the bed speakers on and off.

Doing something small and cheap is both safer and will likely give you significantly better results. If you want more information, just ask.

 

hey sooner, what type of amp and what kind of price would a new/used one run?

 

now that I think about it, thats a great idea lsocoee. But is there a way I can keep the rear door speakers wired and put something to switch the current from the rear dooe speakers to the bed speakers? That would work out pretty well.

 

Anyone know the stock speaker specs so I can look for some similar ones for the best compatibility with the stock HU?