Theory about dash speakers. Stock vs. Kicker-Subaru / DS18 PRO-ST

There are a lot of posts about swapping the dash speakers that universally describe a noticeable improvement. Some have gone as far as doing some cutting and installing 3-1/2" coax speakers there.

In poking around these posts and looking at the photos, it appears that the factory dash tweeter has a 2.2 uF capacitor for a high-pass filter. I haven't seen any coils, so I assume it is a 1st order filter. This would mean that the high-pass filter is attenuating any sound below about 18,000 hz at a rate of 6db per octave.

In plain English, this means that your dog might be hearing what is coming out of the dash speakers, but you aren't hearing much. The cutoff is at the upper range of human hearing. Most tweeter high-pass filters are in the 4,000 to 5,000 hz range. If you listen to mp3 files there probably isn't much of anything coming out of them in the first place.

Replacing these speakers with just about ANYTHING would result in a noticeable improvement. An additional benefit is that it should also help move the sound stage up and away from your ankles. The popular Kicker-Subaru and

$80 DS18 Pro-ST 1.9" Replacement Upgrade Bullet Compression Tweeters with Crossovers- Car OEM Tweeter Upgrade Kit for Many Subaru/Toyota Models - Replacement for H631SFJ101 and H631SFJ100 (Pair)

DS18 Pro-ST swaps are budget friendly mods that should make a real difference.

I haven't been able to confirm any of this first-hand.....yet. I'm still patiently waiting for my truck.

 

1st thing I did after I got my truck. Subarus still sound great.

 

Your theory makes perfect sense . It’s starts with the tweeters….Leads to a door speaker upgrade…. And it’s ending for me with a Key200.4, a Key500.1 and a 10” down firing sub lol. Easy come easy go

 

I dont know, I am very happy with stock speakers in my taco. Nice clean sound with good base.

 

I did the Subaru tweeter up grade speakers. Best decision I ever made for improved sound quality.

 

I agree with you...I spent the dough...can't even hear em. The 6x9 Rockford Fosgate speakers in the rear, pretty much dominate. being pushed with 300 watts.

 

The tweeter upgrade by itself provided me with a noticeable difference. The front doors made another difference. The rear doors are practically useless with the way the head unit splits everything.

For myself, I have noticed that the sound quality also varies by source. Pandora is pretty good but it too, varies song to song. If I was listening to FM radio all the time, I wouldn’t bother putting much money into the system

 

The Kicker/Subaru tweeters were a worthy upgrade for me, they improved the brightness of the sound and moved it off the floor.

That said my daily has an Alpine head unit, Alpine power pack 45 wpc amp with Kicker and Rockford Fosgate speakers, compared to that system the Tacoma sounds like there is a blanket in front of the speakers, it really misses the details.

 

I did the full Kicker speaker upgrade. It definitely cleaned up the sound. The new problem was the underpowered headunit, so I installed an Alpine Powerpack behind it. This woke up the fronts... the rears... that's a different story. Then to finish it off I fibreglassed a box into the right rear pocket for a shallow 10" sub powered by Hertz D-Power sub amp. That definitely improved the bass. There is still the problem of the rear speaker output, and the bass roll off as volume increases.... for now I will leave it... but I will consider options down the road...

 

I just ordered the CS series kickers to do the full plug and play upgrade, why are your back speakers having an issue with power if you have the Powerpack? Curious because I was thinking of adding some sort of amp myself and figured any 4 channel would do the trick.

 

The output from the HU to the rear speakers is so weak, the amp improves it but more to a level that I would have expected from the stock HU... so still pathetic...

 

I replaced mine with the DS18, cheaper than the subaru kicker set, sound great and installed easily. I didn’t realize how bad my stock dash speakers were until I pulled them. Go DS18 and be done with it

 

When you get your truck definitely get the Subaru dash speakers. Install only one and fade L & R and you will hear the difference!

PS you can do the install without removing the A pillar trim

 

How? I have the tweeters but scared to remove the A pillar bc of the airbag. I have a 23 SR5 if that matters.

 

Unplug the Battery.....

 

If you use a plastic flat pry tool to remove the speaker covers you will be able to remove the original speakers. I think the speaker bolts are 10mm

 

Welcome to the forum

Disconnect the negative terminal of the battery before doing any electric work on these trucks, with no power the air bag system is disabled.

BTW: The electric systems on these trucks are very sensitive, people have started out to replace the map lights, made a spark and ended up with an expensive dealer only repair.

 

I used a thin curved pick tool, imagine like something a dentist uses. Didn’t scratch the plastic and was enough pressure to pull the pieces up

 

I used a Rockford 2 way speaker/tweeter combo instead of just the tweeter only. The sound is much better and balanced. The tweeter upgrade does add some nice highs but doing a 2 way gets the benefit of a speaker too. I then added a RF 8 in sub and amp combo that fits behind the rear pass side seat and looks great for that factory oem look. Sound is nice, clear and enough thump for me.

 

W

Was the tweeter speaker combo plug and play? Did you change the front door speaker?