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EASY tweeter upgrade! (3rd gen non-JBL)

Discussion in 'Audio & Video' started by IndyFastlane, Mar 1, 2017.

  1. Jun 15, 2018 at 9:55 AM
    #361
    skierd

    skierd Well-Known Member

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    Having had the Subaru tweeters in for about a week, what I'm noticing 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 actually noticed it most 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.

    Downsides? I notice the distortion in the stock door speakers much sooner and much more readily than I did with the stock dash speakers... especially when I 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!
     
    Steelhead Taco and Ensemble88 like this.
  2. Jul 8, 2018 at 11:48 PM
    #362
    .223Taco

    .223Taco Well-Known Member

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    I'm about to do this upgrade, sorry if this is a dumb question but why only disconnect the negative battery cable? Why not both pos/neg?
     
  3. Jul 9, 2018 at 3:29 AM
    #363
    Auroraboy

    Auroraboy Well-Known Member

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    No power can flow if the negative cable is disconnected.
     
  4. Jul 11, 2018 at 10:31 AM
    #364
    jasodogo

    jasodogo New Member

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    Just picked up my 2018 Tacoma SR5 double cab with the entune (non-JBL) and my subaru speakers are supposed to get here today. I will report back.

    I'm also going with a 10" JL Audio stealthbox and ARC Audio amp to give the door speakers a bit more power. I'm going to see how that works before replacing anything else.
     
    Rodchester likes this.
  5. Jul 11, 2018 at 3:24 PM
    #365
    jasodogo

    jasodogo New Member

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    Ok just finished doing this - have to agree with everyone here that it is WELL WORTH the time and money to upgrade. The highs are so much crisper and the orientation and dept of the sound is 100x better than the stock dash speakers. Very easy - took about 30-45 min to get everything installed.
     
    IndyFastlane[OP] likes this.
  6. Jul 12, 2018 at 6:49 PM
    #366
    SnowRd

    SnowRd New Member

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    After all this talk about replacement speakers I had to jump in and share one simple rule in matching aftermarket speakers. With speakers it’s ALL about just one spec after you pick a speaker that can handle the wattage your amp puts out. That one spec is sensitivity. The sensitivity spec is the volume level your speaker will produce with 1 watt at 1 meter distance. You can have a 10 watt amp run a speaker that has 104db of sensitivity and blow out your windows. So let’s say you have 6 speakers like in the Tacoma Access cab. 3 sets of 2. You want to make sure each set is matched as close as possible in sensitity. If your front door speakers sensitivity are rated at 87db you want to find some dash speakers that are also rated at 87db. Same goes for the rear doors. If you mismatch sensitivity the speakers with the lower spec will have lower volume. Each 10db doubles the volume or SPL (sound pressure level). So if your doors are 80db and your dash is 70db the doors will be twice as loud as the dash. So, it doesn’t really matter what the wattage rating of the speaker is as long as it’s higher than the amp can put out. It’s all about the sensitivity, how much volume a speaker can produce with 1 watt at 1 meter. Speakers with a lower sensitivity spec need a lot more power to get loud. Hope this helps.
     
    yotafiend and Steelhead Taco like this.
  7. Aug 8, 2018 at 1:33 PM
    #367
    Flash1034

    Flash1034 Well-Known Member

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    I just bought a 2018 TRD Pro with Nav. Does this upgrade apply to the tweeters that come with that System?

    Thanks
     
  8. Aug 8, 2018 at 3:25 PM
    #368
    IndyFastlane

    IndyFastlane [OP] Well-Known Member

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    Yes as long as you DONT have the JBL system.
     
  9. Aug 8, 2018 at 5:22 PM
    #369
    Flash1034

    Flash1034 Well-Known Member

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    Didn’t your TRD pro come with the premium JBL system?
     
  10. Sep 7, 2018 at 4:31 AM
    #370
    USMC90-98

    USMC90-98 Active Member

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    I just picked up my 2018 Pro yesterday. I could be wrong but when I ordered online the JBL isnt an option in the Pro. Comes standard with the Entune Premium only, no JBL.
     
  11. Oct 15, 2018 at 9:13 AM
    #371
    Steelhead Taco

    Steelhead Taco Oncorhynchus mykiss

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    Thanks for the lesson!
    I agree w everyone here, great improvement on just the tweets alone. Do you by chance know the sensitivity of these? I’m now looking at upgrading the door speakers and would love to stay inline w your logic.
    Thx

    Also thx OP for this informative post!
     
  12. Dec 10, 2018 at 8:05 AM
    #372
    JagoTaco

    JagoTaco Well-Known Member

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    Did this yesterday on a 19 Access Cab OR. Nice improvement, appears to me there is not just better but MORE highs coming out of these than the stock tweets. Wonder if that has to do with a different sensitivity than stock. To compensate I adjusted Fader a bit towards the back and Treble down a couple of notches from max. Sounds much cleaner.
    This is a great mod, no way would have known to do this without this forum and was ready to plunk down big bucks for a stereo upgrade. Now thinking that is not needed. Thanks to the OP and all who contributed!
     
    IndyFastlane[OP] likes this.
  13. Dec 13, 2018 at 1:28 PM
    #373
    LVLAaron

    LVLAaron Well-Known Member

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    Registered on the forum just to say that this is an awesome upgrade. Bought the subi speakers on Amazon prime, and it only took about 15 minutes to install. MUCH happier now.
     
    nDub and IndyFastlane[OP] like this.
  14. Aug 8, 2019 at 7:16 AM
    #374
    ptsube

    ptsube Member

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    Installed the Subaru tweeters last night and will do the doors tomorrow. The tweeters help so much, and like everyone says, it makes the door speakers sound that much worse. I’m going to put JBL Club speakers in. All total it will cost $160.

    Here is a link to the tweeters for $80. They ship from New England. I ordered Friday and had them by Wednesday.
    https://www.*****************.com/o...e0uWhY76YpQdPTFiHraV59Fuyt6VKQR8aAgFEEALw_wcB
     
  15. Aug 11, 2019 at 7:32 PM
    #375
    xsquid

    xsquid Well-Known Member

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    I ordered the Suburu tweeters off of Amazon a while ago and finally had some time to install - and all I can say is Wow! It makes a huge difference! The hardest part of the install for me was un-clipping the connectors from the stock speakers other than that easy peasy.
     
  16. Aug 19, 2019 at 8:12 PM
    #376
    ptsube

    ptsube Member

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    I got my JBL’s installed. So good! Had to back down the treble and bass because they handle it so much better. No need for an amp. Totally recommend the JBL Club speakers with the Kicker tweeters.

    Tip: if you do the door speakers, when you pull any of the panels that have the little white clips, pull them out of the door and clip them back on the panel. Then push the panel in. You won’t lose any of the clips inside the door.
     
  17. Aug 20, 2019 at 5:46 AM
    #377
    R_Dub5

    R_Dub5 Well-Known Member

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    What model JBL club did you get?
     
  18. Aug 20, 2019 at 6:05 AM
    #378
    R_Dub5

    R_Dub5 Well-Known Member

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    I just dropped in the Subaru Kicker tweeters and am getting ready to pick out the front door speakers. Was looking at the Kicker 44KSC6904 from
    Crutchfield. But now I'm leaning towards the Focal IC 690TOY . They are made for Toyota and have great reviews. expensive though!
     
  19. Aug 20, 2019 at 1:28 PM
    #379
    ptsube

    ptsube Member

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    I did 6520 for the rear and 6930 for the fronts. They sound great. You could definitely go with a two way in the front with how good the Kicker/Subaru tweeters are. I did JBL GTO’s in my old 08 Tacoma that sounded awesome as well.
     
  20. Aug 29, 2019 at 4:23 AM
    #380
    alva12nell

    alva12nell Member

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    umm.. second gen. does this work??
     
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