Front Door Panels

This is pretty much what I plan on doing as well, the only difference would be me using 3 ways. I love Infinity speakers. I'd almost be willing to bet that the sound deadener did as much for the improved sound (and bass!) as the new speakers did. Glad to hear how much of a difference it made. It's also a good reminder to order sound deadener when I order the speakers. I only want to open the doors up once.

 

Cool. Looking forward to hearing how it all sounds! (See what I did there? ).

I did compare the OE speakers to the Infinitys when I installed them (and after installing the sound deadner)... same test, new speaker in the driver's door and OE in the passenger. The Infinity won by a wide margin.

Oh... one tip. A lot of the DIY door card removal videos show them pulling the card and then disconnecting the handles (which is fine... no need to disconnect the cables as it all pops out in one piece), but they also show them disconnecting the power window and door lock connectors. No bueno. Pop the window switch module out first. Just use a pry tool on the front and the rear to pop it up and out. Disconnect the two plugs then go about removing the door card. Much easier than if they're hanging from the door card.

Post back when you get it all set!

 

Do you just put this sound deadening shit behind the speaker?

 

The whole inside of the door, including behind the speakers. Behind the back seat. Under the carpet. Above the roof liner. ANYWHERE you can put it where it won't be seen. The more you quiet the road noise, the louder and more clear the speakers will be. Imagine turning your radio to 50% volume and driving the highway at 70 mph with the windows down. Now roll the windows up and leave it at 50%. Same principle.

 

Ha! Been there done that, but not with the Taco. Just a majority of the outside skins of all four doors. Sounds like a fridge when I close the doors now. Much improvement in road noise and bonus is much better bass and cleaner sound all-round.

 

So... I was browsing TW and came across a for sale thread and someone posted a pic of the stock dash speakers for sale. Looks like a crossover to me. If that's the case, it looks like the dash are highs only and the doors are full range. Maybe that would explain why the dash speakers are so much louder when they are replaced. I'll know more when I pick up my truck. Stay tuned.

 

I changed mine out to DS18's last night. My door speakers and head unit comes Tuesday. From the pics I've seen the factory door speakers magnet is about the size of the factory tweeter magnet.

 

If you're referring to what appears to be a resistor, the DS18s have the same thing. Cannot read it so can't be sure what it is or for. Maybe ask your contact at DS18?

I still have my OE speakers around here somewhere. I've put them in a safe place where I can easily find them. Once I do I can take a closer look. Now I just need to find them.



Photo credit to a TW member, whose name I can't find right now either.

 

It's smaller. Just sayin'.

 

What I really want to try, is installing some two-way six by nines in the doors, unplugging the dash tweeters and crossing the rear speakers with the front channels has anyone tried that? I’m really just trying to avoid installing some type of amp

 

As you're aware, the front and rear channels have separate outputs from the amp (front =10w, rear = 7w). "Crossing" them - splicing the front and rear outputs together - seems like a bad idea on a couple of levels. No idea if it'd damage the HU/amp or not.

An amp (or amps with input sensitivity controls) or an aftermarket HU, or both, are probably your best bet if you're trying to equalize the front/rear volume and improve the overall sound.

Again, the setup I mentioned earlier provides great sound, far better than OE. However when I adjust the volume so it's directed more to the rear speakers it's not so good. The sweet spot (for me) is to push a little more volume to the rear speakers, but not much. Here are the settings I'm using:

 

I'm going to call again and ask. Also, did your front door speakers have anything attached as well?

Ugh... so confused! I will say, the 3.5 hour ride back from the dealership (accidents and construction) I got a chance to check things out. 1. Toyota's folder handling for USB is garbage. Pure trash. 2. The stock speakers sound pretty decent for stock, much better than they should given how tiny they are. 3. I can see how adding dash tweeters would make a big difference. So getting confirmation... again... from someone reliable at DS18 is pretty important. If they aren't crossed over, they should be.

P.S. The first official mod I did was installing the Rav4 knobs while the salesguy walked me through stuff. It was like he was witnessing witchcraft when I pulled out the center pieces and yanked off the OEM ones.

 

The Infinity Reference REF-9632ix 6x9 front door speakers have a 5v 4.7 ohm resistor. It’s connected to the built-in tweeter. Photo below.

Haven’t ever tried using a USB drive with the Taco’s stereo for music. With all of the advances in tech, streaming and whatnot I wouldn’t say that’s out of date but I doubt there’s much effort put into it these days by any manufacturer. Bummer that it's not so good.

I was also surprised, especially after looking at them, how well the stock speakers actually sounded. Everything having anything to do with building a vehicle is a compromise of some sort. I like it a lot better with six new speakers of course, but I think they did fairly well compared to some other stock stereos I’ve listened to in other brands.

Let us know what DS18 has to say about that resistor. Again, they sound great to me as-is, but hearing is a very subjective thing.

I don’t use Alexa. Is there an Alexa app for our Tacos? I thought it was just through the phone, but I’m not sure. I found this online:

https://support.toyota.com/s/article/How-do-I-set-up-Toyot-9702?language=en_US

Like a lot of folks here I also let all of Toyota’s Connected Services expire. I never found a need for any of them since I use my iPhone for everything. Even though I’m not subscribed, their app still shows its location.

I like being able to reach over and turn the volume up or down with a good old-fashioned knob. Easier and faster than fooling around with the steering wheel control (for me). I’m still old-school I guess. The OE knobs were just a tad tiny for my taste. The RAV4 knobs are jussssst right. Would have liked to see the salesman's reaction to that!

Hope you're enjoying your new ride!!

 

I love this truck, much more than I thought I would. I know I'm in the honeymoon period but I really really enjoyed driving it today. SO many things to do before winter hits...

As an FYI, those are 4.7 microfarad 50v capacitors. Here's a good page for an explanation for calculating crossovers.

https://soundcertified.com/how-to-determine-speaker-crossover-frequency/

Here's a great page where the work has been done for us (for a first order crossover):

https://www.amprepairparts.com/xovercaps.htm



From this chart, if those DS18 tweeters are 4 ohm, we would want a 10uF (microfarad) capacitor to get 4000z and above (high pass).

 

Good info!

 

So I just heard back from a different DS18 rep on whether the tweeters have crossovers...

"These have no crossover and are plug and play. Your amp is already tuned for the frequency range of the crossovers if you are using the

$91 PRO-ST OEM Subaru/Toyota Upgrade Bullet Compression Tweeters with Crossovers 1.9" - Car OEM Tweeter Upgrade Kit for Many Subaru/Toyota Models - Replacement for H631SFJ101 and H631SFJ100 (Pair)

PRO-ST"

When I eventually get to the doors, I'll disconnect both front door speakers and put a spectrum analyzer on the isolated tweets and see what they're doing.

 

You should know the front tweeters are wired in series with the front door (they operate off the same channel) Terrible setup but its what we have

 

I did but still don't really understand how the speakers are being crossed over. At first I thought the crossover is built into the radio. Then I thought each speaker had it's own crossover. Now I'm not sure what's going on. Now that I have the stock dash speakers out I can maybe figure it out.

 

i can only guess the stock radio didnt put out enough watts to really affect the tweeter or front door speaker. I eventually added a cap to the front tweeters and adjusted the frequency range of the front / tweeter (kenwoods have great adjustability). the sub in the back makes up for lack of range.

 

Good plan.