Premium Audio Upgrade for less than $250

I still haven't done this mod yet, I'm considering doing just the tweeters, then throwing in a sub.

 

So I own a basic SR. The truck didn't come with back speakers in the doors. Does anyone know if Toyota put wiring back there but just installed blanks in the back doors basically like they did for cruise control in the steering column?

 

Man, that's a great question. The better question would be, if there are wires in the doors, are they actually connected to the head unit? It only takes 2 minutes to take the door skin off. Take a look?

 

Yeah but that means I would actually have to get up and do something today! This was my plan I just wanted to see if anyone knew before I went out and took the door panel off. If there is wiring in there I will check, but if there is wiring there I don't see why it wouldn't be tied into the system.

 

HA!

 

So while surfing the Tacoma world forum i found a speaker upgrade thread. With too much time on my hands I thought yeah that's an idea to add to the upgrade but probably won't ever get to list. I thought to myself, I wonder if my back doors have wiring for speakers? Now for those curious about SR utility pack basicness and the lack of rear speakers here you go....

Now when I saw this I got a little excited. Ha maybe I can throw some speakers back there plug and play like I did to add cruise control! If you look closely that is speaker grille behind the plastic blank cover on the rear door panel.



So I continued on. I took off the first piece of trim and looked into the door. I can see where a speaker would go but don't see any wiring. Getting a little discouraged but still optimistic I popped the rest of the panel off.



With the you lost music playing wah wah in the background i found no sign of wiring anywhere in the door. Even behind the black foam square covering the large square hole in the door nothing...damn.



Well there you have it to any of you curious about your basic SR with no back speakers. Like me you will have to deal with front door speakers and the tweeters alone. Unless you get full on crazy and run wiring and the like to the back doors. But if most SR utility pack drivers are like me that most likely won't happen. Hell the front speaker upgrade probably won't happen (although secretly really wanting and wishing you had). $250 for better sounding beats? The speakers work now why change them...

 

Actually, you win. Rear speakers really don't make much of a difference. But upgrading the front tweet/door will make a ton of difference. And for way less than $250

 

Yeah but still gonna cost at least $150+. Got better stuff to spend it on right now but don't get me wrong I would like better speakers and I believe it would be a night and day difference in audio quality.

 

Bummer on your findings, but I really appreciate you posting up your story for other SR owners who are also curious about the same. When you can, i would definitely recommend at least doing the front 6x9 speakers. When you catch those on sale they are like 60-70 for the pair with all mounts and whatnot from Crutchfield... In any case, happy trails and good luck!

 

I've heard crutchfield is the way to go for audio. Yeah figured I post something for the other SR guys on here as I've received a lot of help and advise from this site.

 

FYI: I ordered and installed the Noico sound deadner listed in page 1 of this thread. I had enough to do 4 doors. I filled as far as the hand could reach in the door skin and about 3 inches outside the diameter of the speaker opening. Had some left over so I used it around the door.

 

Great write up Brandon. Txs for that.

I haven't read all 86 pages, but just wondering why you chose a Front door speaker with Tweeters in them, when you already picked a great tweeter? Did you consider just a mid-bass woofer for the door instead, just like the how to video you included?

 

No particular reason other than seeing a few reports of folks happy with them. I like the crispness and “surround” feel and the sharpness combined with the rich clear lows hits the spot but I’m sure you could go the route you’re suggesting with great results - you do end up tapering the treble down relative to the mid/bass by having the 2 sets of tweeters but the soundstaging is quite nice with those 6x9s in the OP. Many different ways to improve the sound tho - Good luck and report back when u get it setup!

 

Is there any reason not to install the KS kicker model vs the CS or DS I do plan to run an Amp.
From my understanding they are a step up in performance. At least that's what some people on the internet are saying. (Asking for a friend)

 

I wondered the same thing. I had a set of extra PPI woofers so I used those instead.

 

Ya, good thinking!

I was just browsing through crutchfield and quickly found these

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_206CSS694/Kicker-43CSS694.html (Kickers that don't fit the 2017 Taco????)

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_13699046/JL-Audio-C1-690.html

 

I think most people would agree that you really only need to change out the front speakers for a great improvement. I don't sit in the back, so I don't see a need to replace the back speakers, and normally when you have people in the back, your normally chatting instead of listening to loud music.

I think the Op bshammer0 nailed it on the head when he said the Tweeters are the biggest improvement for the $$buck$$. Anything after that is just gravy!

 

Sometimes the reason for not fitting is the speaker mounting depth is too much for the door even with the Crutchfield supplied adapters. That's when you get creative with the mounts. Some people just gut the oem speakers and use them as mounts.

The PPI drivers "don't fit" either. I used mounts made by Mr Marv so they would.

Remember that this was meant to be a quick guide for people that want easy. It doesn't matter what speakers you get, but remember that some speakers will require an amp to get good sound. The PPIs need an amp. Do they sound good without? Yes. Do they sound as good as my last truck (which had an amp)? No.

There are hundreds of different combinations you can use. If you don't want three ways or coaxial speakers I. The front doors, look at 6.5 woofer drivers. NVX has a really nice set on the sonicelectronix site. But you will need to buy speaker adapters and customer adapters so they fit.

 

This!!

Rear speakers are not "needed" and are sometimes frowned upon by some audiophiles because it can pull sound away from the front stage if it's not setup properly.

I currently have upgraded rear speakers because I have kids that occupy those rear seats on a daily basis, but in the past, I have run a few setups that had no speakers in the rear (except the subwoofer). I never noticed the lack of speakers in the back! It's all about the tuning

 

I just ordered these from Crutchfield.
Adviser showed the are on sale.
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108K1011T/Infinity-Kappa-10-11t.html?tp=107