How to - Subaru/Toyota(3rd Gen) Tweeter Upgrade (Holy S***)

On an unrelated note, I have 2 OEM Toyota brand tweeters for sale. These are plug and play.

 

Yea i must have bent them bad as they do not want to slide in. The pounding to push them in, didnt help...

 

Dang. Do you think they can be straightened out? Another guy on here left his dangling for a few days then was finally able to get them in. I'd take a break from it. You'll be able to get them in one way or another I'm sure. Good luck.

 

Just did mine tonight! Totally worth it. I'm not an expert audiophile and can't put it into words, but everything sounds better. Sounds much more like the 10 speaker stereo in my Acura now. Even the door speakers sound better to me now. Just feel more enveloped in sound. Way louder too at equivalent volume level which is nice.

I struggled getting the first A pillar cover back on. Took me about 20 minutes of trying before I figured out how to easily slide it back in place. Needless to say the second one was way easier.

Thanks for posting this. I'm really tempted to do my door speakers now

 

Welp, all done! Took about 20mins start to finish including disconnecting/reconnecting the battery a few times to test it all out. Tight fit on each side, but could have been worse. Used my old core tool from my Les Schwab days to remove the screw covers. That tool has a tiny flat head on one side that works great to remove our interior trim pieces. Will see how it sounds tomorrow on my way to work.

Edit: I was surprised the stock tweeters were heavier than the kickers. I expected them to weigh nothing or at least less. Guess heavy doesn’t mean quality though haha

 

I called Crutchfield today and they recommended these Kicker KSC speakers as a step up to the kickers that have been discussed in this thread:

For the front:
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_206KSC6930/Kicker-44KSC69304.html?tp=91&l=C

For the rear:
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_206KS...DjrUxSZBXmx-7vamposdXxPePdYYv1IwaAhQOEALw_wcB

Crutchfield says the rear does not fit, but I called and they said it should be doable.

They said the KSC are a good step up , and would take an amp should I add one later.

Any feedback? Would these pair well with the subaru tweeters?

 

Does anyone know how to remove the passenger side pillar? The driver side seems so straight forward.

 

Did this upgrade and also added about 25 sq ft. of sound deadener in doors. Definitely spend the time because really quiets the ride and gets rid of the tin can effect. Factory literally only puts a 4 x 6 inch piece on upper part of door ... useless. Also add a 1 inch foam on outer edge of each speaker and baffles around each speaker ... big difference.

 

The grab handle is what retains the passenger side cover, remove the 2 bolts and you are good to go.

 

Two bolts vs on one the driver's side. The bolt covers come off pretty easily with just a slight pry and are tethered by a small strip of plastic material. Be careful replacing the bolt covers when you're done. When lined up properly they will snap in with little force but it is easy to bend one of the tabs, especially the one near the tether.

 

Just did mine. Meh. Now I feel like I opened a can of worms. It is not any louder. And I defiantly lost lows and bass. The stock twitters had a nice big coil and I guess that is what powered the slight bass from them. I do believe the sound is clearer though. Maybe if I swap the other four speakers for the Kicker CS I’ll get my lows back?

 

No question. I felt very similar after doing it. I honestly think you could do just the kicker door speakers and be completely satisfied. The tweeters are so easy to do though.

If I were to rate the change for me, the tweeters were about a 2. The door speakers were a 7. Completely transformed.

 

sub'd

 

This mod goes to 11.

 

If you want real bass you need to add a sub. If you want to add volume, you have to add power and amp the speakers.

The Kicker tweeters are a good starting point, and if you don't listen to bass heavy music they're probably as far as most people would need to go. What I noticed most is they've added clarity to the sound that wasn't there before. The stock dash+door speakers really didn't have any crisp clean highs and had a very muddy vocal and mid range. With the Subaru tweeters the highs ring clearer and vocals are much much cleaner. I noticed it most actually listening to podcasts: with the stock speakers I'd have to turn my volume way up, in to the 40's, to attempt to hear what people were saying while with the tweeters I'm able to keep the volume in the mid to low 30's. It's not any louder than before, I can just hear the words better so I don't have to turn it up as high. And when I do listen to my music loud the Subaru tweeters can handle the highs much much better than the stock dash speakers could ever have hoped to do.

Is there less bass? Yes and no... I notice the distortion in the stock door speakers much sooner and much more readily than I did with the stock dash speakers when you move the bass level off the mid point. They're actually kinda nice and balanced when set to the mid point and paired with the Subaru tweeters, but at the mid point the stock door speakers don't put out much in the way of heavy low bass. Well honestly they never really put out much bass, but the bass control is more like distortion control as you crank it up!

I've got an 8" Pioneer subwoofer in a sealed box ready to go in behind my passenger seats with a

$219 Kenwood KAC-M3001 600W Class D Monoblock Compact Digital Car/ATV/Marine Certified Amplifier

Kenwood KAC-M3001 mono amp that'll get installed in the rear seat cubbies underneath to take care of the low notes and leave the doors to handle the mid-range. I shopped around and was able to buy all the components necessary for about $240.

 

Completed the tweeter replacement today. Start to finish about 20min. The pillar covers are the trickiest part. the airbags really need to be treated with caution and respect. The bolt covers, (1)L and (2)R, slide back into place without any effort whatsoever. Just take your time. As a side note, I used no pry tools at all to remove either the bolt covers or tweeter covers. Just my thumbnails.

Results? No doubt better, but not just blown away. As mentioned before, when your main source is digital compressed Bluetooth music, you need to temper your expectations. Door speakers are next! Maybe some decent midrange and bass.

 

Now add the Kicker door speakers front and rear.. Then sound deadening in the doors (yeah, I know).. The difference is AMAZING.

 

On order.

 

Just ordered my CS’s from Crutchfield. BOGO 1/2 half off and free shipping is cool.

 

how did you figure out a Subaru tweeter would work in the taco?? that's awesome!!