Premium Audio Upgrade for less than $250

So I am back with an update. I have now added new speakers in the door with the Subaru Kicker tweeters. I bought a pair of Kicker 47KSC6904 thru Crutchfield and also the sound skins rings that go around the speaker and then a sound deadening material goes on door panel behind the speaker. It was plug and play with the wiring harnesses and brackets from Crutchfield. I screwed up about every way that I could installing my drivers side door, but luckily had some extra clips for the sail panel and then figured out here that there is a weather stripping that goes near the rear of the window that came out when I popped off the panel. It was a breeze on the passenger door and I felt like a pro installer by then, just like most of my random projects that I learn how to do once and then rarely do again.

Results: Even with the low power HU 2021 TRDOR, I think the results are fantastic. Better than I expected. Was it the sound deadening and the ring around the speaker? Probably not. Am I not that picky? No, not really, but my HS and middle school sons noticed a big difference, even more improved than the kicker tweeters that they also noticed. I don't know if it is discussed in this thread, but I will say that the door speakers sound pretty avg, but clean, when I have the bass set to medium on the HU. When I turn the bass up to 2 from the highest setting, with the mid at the middle, and high setting up a bit, these speakers seem to come to life, at least in my opinion in the 35-low 50 volume range. There is enough bass to shake the rear view mirror and that is plenty for my old ears. I also have set the sound equalization setting off, which doesn't seem to do much. If I push the volume up past 50 towards max, it will jam out but there starts to be some distortion in the bass. It doesn't bother me because I don't listen that loud very often.

I have compared my new front set up isolated from the pathetic rear speakers and it is like most people comment. There isn't enough power in the rear for me to be interested in upgrading those speakers. All in with sound deadening I am around $270 for this upgrade and it is totally worth it. I don't see myself wanting to put on an amp or going thru the process of upgrading the HU. But if I stay on this forum long enough...

Lastly, those Toyota sound engineers should be ashamed of themselves for those stock speakers. It is like they had a contest to figure out how to build the cheapest speaker that could plausibly play music. I mean they are cheap as hell, both door and tweeter speakers. On the flip side, it is shocking that they sound as good as they do with the materials used.

 

I have the Entune premium head unit (non-JBL). Will the DS and CS model sounds the same with no amp? I think to get the most out of the CS you would need an amp.

 

Installed the Subaru tweeters. Not sure if I’ll continue with the door speaker replacements, but it’s a start. They definitely improved the overall sound.

 

I installed the Subaru tweeters and it made a huge difference. Which door speakers have you considered?

 

I don’t want to mess with installing an amp. After reading the thread I’m not sure there’s a clear winner. Perhaps the Kickers?

 

I finally got around to installing the Subaru/Kicker tweeters and Kicker CS 6x9s in the front doors. I didn't do anything with the rear doors yet, and may not.

The improvement is very noticeable, and sounds great... Even with the stock head unit. I had these sitting around for a while, and I really wish I had made time to install them earlier!

 

I just did the tweeters, front and rear door speakers with the Kickers. The front 6x9s were not a quick drop in like everyone has said. The grill that is on the door panel has a little lip around it that I had to trim because it was pushing on the speaker and not letting me get the panel on fully. The rears and the tweeters were easy though. The sound quality/clarity is significantly better, though I'm finding myself needing a little more volume than before to really hear everything well.

 

Probably not the Kickers. Look for the most efficient speaker you can find with the best response from the least amount of power.

People here are disappointed that a speaker swap sounds worse when they keep the stock headunit, there's a reason why.

Those thin paper stock speakers were that light for a reason, the small amount of power from the stock head could move them.

 

I just did the Suburu tweeters and Kickers in both front and back doors. The sound is great, but the 6x9's in the front doors over-power the tweeters and the rear speakers. I have to set the front/rear ratio at 20% front, 80% rear just to hear anything from the back. Does this sound normal or familiar? I have the Entune 7" head unit.

 

Unfortunately, based on the content of this thread, that is normal. I have a 2021 DCSB 6MT with advanced technology package that comes with the premium (non-JBL) system and it is the same. Throughout this thread this issue has been addressed and it appears that Toyota has purposely underpowered the rear speakers.

 

Hi,

I just installed the 3 kickers, kicker 46csc 6x9 front, 47 KSC midrange in dash, and 47 ksc 2 way 6 3/4 in rear. Whole thing was $303 from Cructhfield. Worth it. I have a 2021 SR5, non JBL. The speakers came with all the adapters and mounts. I found it simple. The rear door mounts needed the inner tabs removed to fit the speaker. I used a dremel. Everything else was bolts and screw. Really easy.

The rear speakers are crazy underpowered. I am eventually going to add a 2 channel amp to drive the rear and a sub.

Edit, leave out the rear speakers and less than 250

 

Looking at adding an amp as well as doors and tweeters. When running an amp to doors and tweeters does anyone make any kind of adapter or will it require me to splice all 12 wires (+ and - for each door and tweeters) plus the ground? Doubt there’s an adapter. If I have something wrong chime in and let me know. My understanding is that + and - for each speaker have to be done separately.

 

I believe that there is an “add an amp” wiring harness that I have read about on TW.

 

If the Noico deadening material is out of stock for you (as it was for me), this is a good substitute. Identical as far as I can tell and Pleased with the results.

KILMAT 50 mil 25 sqft Car Sound Deadening Mat, Butyl Automotive Sound Deadener, Audio Noise Insulation and dampening

$37 KILMAT 50 mil 25 sqft Car Sound Deadening Mat, Butyl Automotive Sound Deadener, Audio Noise Insulation and dampening

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CBK48XN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_BGCB07QTWMJ4KZKA7MBB?_encoding=UTF8

 

@Mastiffsrule how easy was the midrange install in the dash? What was required to make that work? Any trucks?

 

I ordered from Crutchfield. They included the harness for free. I added the plastic trim tool to my orderto pry the grilles off the dash. It was simple.

Most people pull the A-pillar trim off first then the grilles. I just was careful and popped the grilles. Then have a 10 mm wrench handy due to the confined space. The harness makes it easy to plug in. Only thing was I had to splice 2 wires since the male and female ends were not same type, but the speaker had the needed connectors.

So, really easy.

 

Sounds simple enough. I ordered from Crutchfield, on backorder until end of September, so I must be patient

 

Hoping someone can help me out. In the middle of installing kicker 46css694 component Subaru kicker upgrade.
Am I missing something, mu tweeters don’t have and plug jack on them.
Trying to figure out how to install these. Thx

 

Hi,

Not familiar with the 2011. Are these going in the dash? I know these are not the one for the 15+ swap. Just an FYI

 

No, going on the door. Not sure what's up. Thought I bought the same suburu tweeter upgrade. I'll just have to figure out how to hardwire it.