Is the Subaru tweeter mod worth the $100???

Turns out I know exactly who Stevie Ray Vaughn is, but I’ve seriously never heard him referred to by his full initials!

 

I’m curious if any of the audiophiles here have an account with XM. To me, the sound quality of satellite radio is poor enough to make the best stereo sound average.

 

It is Christmas Eve. Here are more gifts from me to you.

Why is the Subaru dash “tweeter” an upgrade? It’s arguably not, depending on your goals. It’s another Tacomaworld “must do” that might not be anything other than a “help me occupy my free time and spend money on my truck”

You are removing a tuned driver that likely produces a broad spectrum of frequencies and replacing it with a plastic dome tweeter that only produces very high frequencies. I don’t know the specs on either, because we are all here replacing these spreakers based on group-think.

I put the Subaru’s in, and yes they are very much clearer sounding, due to the immense amount of high end they produce. You can hear the spit dripping off Beyoncé’s teeth for sure. But, is that what you want on a long drive? Ear fatigue is a real thing. “Impressive Sound” and “listenable sound” are two different things.

My advice to people with an open mind here: spend money on a stereo that works together. Don’t spend money on random shit that goes viral on Tacoma World. Don’t get caught up in the pursuit of an impressive sounding stereo, look for products that might appear more subdued, but will be more enjoyable when you really want your stereo to perform (road trips, long drives etc). It’s easy to get sucked into super high highs, and super low lows, but that’s rarely what people gravitate to long term.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone. Hope there’s lots of mods under your tree.

 

For mine I installed the key in the dash, to left and below the head unit. That was more than 6 months ago and I haven't had a problem with it overheating. The install was pretty easy, it was just time consuming to properly solder together the harnesses. Once they were done its basically plug and play.

 

Ive got xm and im very pleased with how it sounds.

 

I had a 2014 Subaru WRX Hatch Limited.

You don't want the speakers from THAT car.

Again my front speakers on my 2019 Taco are marginally adequate. The rears in my AC are Rattlemaster 3000's.

 

Not sure if this relates to this thread. My mom drives 2008 impreza wrx and i was surprised how horrible the speakers sound. My 2007 rangers speakers were much better, that says something.

 

It kinda does because people need to say PRECISELY what speakers they are installing for an improvement. "Subaru tweeters" ? Nope.

 

I completely understand what you're saying about ear fatigue. I will not argue that. My issue was that I couldn't get the sound of the stock speakers set to my liking. Yes, the Subaru Kickers scream, but it gave me the adjustability that I was looking for. By simply turning the high's down on the stereo equalizer, I can alleviate the screaming issue while still getting a better sound than stock, again, in my opinion. Adding the amp gave me even more adjustability. You may be completely satisfied with the stock set up and not feel the need to "upgrade". That' fine with me. I did "upgrade", and for the $750 I spent, I have the adjustability that I wanted which resulted in a much better overall sound quality compared to stock. It's nowhere near "super high highs" or "super low lows". It's perfect. To me... & better than stock

 

I may take a different path. Start a dialog with a couple of the Car Toys stores in the area, wait for a sale, see what they can do for installation. Read reviews, etc and weigh that with the value or my time and hassle factor. Unlike tuning, gears, suspension and armor, I am in no hurry.

 

I just kick it old school. The sound is great!

 

My roommates hearing is blown and every time im in his car it's rough! My old Silverado had 6k worth of Hertz subwoofers, door speakers and audison amps. I miss that damn truck. Sold it for like 3k with all the stereo equipment in it.

Also, thanks @Mrtacoman88 for the srv plug. I've never heard him before.

 

If you are looking at the kicker key amp at $200, why not consider upgrading the headunit for double that. The t9 $380 puts out the same power 4x45w as the kicker key, but you get wireless carplay and a ton more

 

Good post. Ha I should have just quoted you rather than posting my succinct dribble. Merry Christmas!

 

The titles of these posts are a trap! Haha. Is it "worth it"...depends on who you are. Sound is subjective. As someone who has been into car audio for many, many years...not worth it to me. But I'll end up with a $500 component set in the front of my truck. If you want a simple plug and play higher quality speaker, then the Kicker Tweeters will probably work. But then you'll want to replace the door speakers like everyone else has done. I would propose that by the time you spent $100 on the tweeters and another $100 on the door speakers, you could have purchased a nice set of component speakers for $200, maybe a little more, and been much better off. But that would take a little more work to install and isn't plug and play.

 

Man people I feel like need to hear what something good really sounds like. In my opinion I would never buy a entry level speaker as it’s only going to be around the same or worse as stock. A lot of the people with these twitters are lacking a very broad range of frequencies but they just don’t know it
Also it’s probably more of a placebo effect more than anything

 

LOL! Are Kickers the best speakers? Not even close. You can definitely get better speakers for a lot more $. But you can also come sit in my truck with the full Kicker "upgrade", select any song of your choosing, & then tell me about that placebo effect... & why would "A lot of the people" with these tweeters "lack a very broad range of frequencies"? Wouldn't it be all of them?

 

I can tell you it’s a placebo because I’ve had them. Your missing some frequencies because of how stock is set up. Your adding a tweeter where a small mid range speaker used to be