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

Ok........ Well I have them also, & I can tell you that it sounds COMPLETELY different than stock. Not sure what you did wrong. Maybe you were right when you said "A lot of the people". Apparently it's not all of them.

 

I bet it does sound different. Worse but different

 

Also, it depends on your definition of "worse"... If you mean that it's a cleaner, crisper and much fuller sound in general, then you are correct. It's way worse. Sorry for the confusion.

 

Im done man. It’s Christmas Eve and it’s clear you have not heard many sound systems or know much about them. If you like it good for you man. But I’m just gonna say don’t tell people it’s the best if you haven’t tried anything other than that.

 

Humans are silly.

 

I totally agree. I think the speakers and wiring were about $120. Well worth it IMO.

I disagree. I don’t know what the numbers are, but with good speakers there’s plenty of power. Of course in the audio world more power is almost always better. I don’t see a need for an aux amp, but YMMV.

I exaggerate but there’s no doubt the Kickers are more robust, heavier, and have a silk cone instead of cardboard. The OEM sound isn’t the worst I’ve ever experienced in a modern car—that would be the Subaru WRX stock stereo—but they’re muddy and just not great. I lived with it for 6 months then decided to make the move and change out the speakers. Glad I did.

I didn’t change out the tweeters btw.

Here are the OEM door 6x9s. They weigh about 2 oz. each. You can draw your own conclusions.

 

Wrong again. I have had & heard many. & guessing things about people you don’t know is dumb. Stop. I also never said it was the best. Where did you read that? Stop making stuff up. That’s crazy. Merry Christmas.

 

Haven't read through the whole 7 pages of comments, but for me the Suburu tweeters made a very big difference in the sound quality in my truck and well worth the $100.

 

Technically sound quality depends on the platform you listen to. XM not being close to Apple Music. Spotify streams like trash unless you pay for premium.

 

I replaced the tweeters a couple of weeks ago. I thought it made a big improvement. Seemed to make the other 4 speakers sound better (not sure if this is possible).

 

Neodymium magnet speakers. Visual appearance is not a measure of performance anymore with speakers. Not saying the OEMs are the greatest ever, but fellas shitting on them simply because they look small don’t know what they are talking about (no offence). If they were a traditional speaker, they would not be able to perform as well as they do.

If anyone wants to experiment with these OEMs, try to get a paper clip to stick to that so-call “tiny magnet”. The silver can you see is the cover for the voice coil. The magnet is inside the coil, unlike most aftermarket options.

Toyota did a pretty smart thing in their efforts to keep the truck light. These speakers probably cost more to produce than half the crap people replace them with. They don’t sound amazing, but provide amazing sound for what they are.

 

^^^^This!

 

Coming in late here. To me, the Subaru tweeters sound better. The stock tweeters had a nasty ring/resonance(s) that made the sound scratchy and irritating to me ( I have 60 year old ears, moderate hearing loss). High frequency definition and treble smoothness, and L-R placement are much better with the mod.

 

Thanks! It would be so interesting if we could get the Toyota OEM dash speaker specs to compare.

 

It certainly sounds better with them, but the OEM tweeters still sounded acceptable. The Subaru’s have more presence at lower volumes, and sound better than the taco OEM at higher volumes. No doubt there. I think you get what you pay for with this upgrade, but perhaps for someone who isn’t as picky with good sound, maybe spend that $100 on a bed mat...

 

You already have aftermarket tweeters, of course they won't be night & day. But if you are just replacing the OEM tweeters, (not the door speakers), that's when you will find your biggest bang for your buck.

Myself I did the tweeters and added an underseat 8" powered Subwoofer. It's sounds fantastic. Didn't touch the OEM door speakers.

 

They sounds great to me, got them at a great deal. My neighbor bought them but never installed and sold his truck. Offered them to me for $20.

 

The speaker upgrade gave the biggest improvement to XM. It was almost unlistenable to before the upgrade, now it sounds actually decent. Of course it needs completely different equalization than other sources.

Streaming or FM sound the best. I use Apple Music, and the quality is quite good to my poor old ears.

 

The stock WRX speakers and head unit are quite a bit worse than the Tacos. The Kickers are an upgraded speaker for the Subarus which was an option.

I had an aftermarket JL system in my WRX with an amp, DI processor (which allowed me to keep the OEM HU) and subwoofer, and of course speakers. It was awesome. It did cost $1200-1500 dollars, which is more than I wanted to spend on the Tacoma.

If you go to a car audio shop you won’t be able to get away for under $1000.

If you are fine with the stock cardboard speakers, great, enjoy and spend the money on mats or a bed liner or something.

I think the most bang for the buck upgrade is a 3-way 6x9 speaker in the front doors. Alternatively, put in component speakers and use a tweeter in the dash. You can change out the rear speakers but I don’t think you get much out of that since you’re not sitting in the back seat (I have never sat in mine on a drive LOL.)

Low end audio is pretty good these days, compared to what we had back in the 70’s and 80’s. And of course high end is even better. Lots of ways to spend money on sound, if that floats your boat.