Premium Audio Upgrade for less than $250

I have Hertz Hi-Energy speakers (6.5" components up front and coaxials in the rear)...but those kind of bust the budget of this thread. I just check in here to help answer basic questions from time to time since it's one of the few ways I can contribute to TW.

 

OK bro, just chill out a sec. I am quite aware of what this thread is about. I'm not so unhappy that I would go and spend a ton of cash and am actually looking for an even cheaper upgrade that is mostly plug-and-play. I don't mind doing a little additional wiring if that will make me happier and get me out even cheaper. I never said it was a stupid upgrade, just that I can't listen to it first and have some other ideas -- that are as cheap or cheaper -- and other people in this thread have strayed from the original suggested upgrade as well. So rather than attacking people on the internet, go punch a baby or something.

 

I don’t know any upgrades posted on the internet that allow you to hear it first.

There is a whole cataegory devoted to audio and video. Why do you have to post in this one thread when you are not sticking to the focus of the thread which is cheap and plug and play? As you claim to be willing to do additional wiring and other choices it is no longer the plug and play intention of this thread. Like I suggested create your own thread to focus on your own goals which don’t align with the rest of the thread.

The OP took a popular plug and play tweeter upgrade and expanded it to be a full speaker upgrade. It always was based on the Subaru tweeter upgrade. If you don’t want to use the Subaru tweeters and don’t want to use the other speakers suggested at what point is your upgrade still a low buck plug and play upgrade in the same theme as the original posts? That is why many love this thread. Order and install with no real car audio experience. No soldering, no fabrication just plug and play. What you are suggesting strays from this in its totality.

You don’t embrace any part of the original upgrade. You take it straight to custom audio of your own design which is why I said:

This thread is the one for non audio experts who don’t want to drop north of $1000 on a full system. There is nothing wrong with going it alone and making a better system. But that is a different thread and not the intent of this thread. So go ahead and order component speakers, amps and all sorts of stuff that the audio newbs have no idea what they mean and make a better system. Just realize that is a different design / install than this thread.

 

These forums are here so people can ask questions and share information. Sorry, I didn't know you owned this thread and made the rules. I looked, and nowhere did it say you can't post in this thread unless you agree to the Subaru tweeters. Nowhere did it say that unless it's totally plug and play, don't post in here. And nowhere in my posts did I suggest I would go spend money on amps. Did you even read my posts? Do you know that they offer inexpensive Kicker component speakers that would keep the upgrade well under the $250 mark, which seems to be the real focus of this thread? It seems several folks in here have strayed a bit from the original upgrade, and that's all I was suggesting, hoping that maybe somebody tried something similar -- but still cheap.

It's jackass behavior like this that makes people that might be able to help not really want to help. If I do try something slightly different (and I'm leaning toward the DS series front and rear, but waiting on the tweeter upgrade until I hear it), I'll be sure not to come back and share.

 

HEY!
Come back an share! (Make a thread if you must, share a link.... Lol).

I upgraded the tweeters with Kicker Subaru kit. There is a big noticable sound difference. If I were to guess, possibly (also) due to different filter - it has been speculated earlier in the thread.
I am slightly reluctant to replace the rest of the speakers, and adding whole bunch of additional tweeters. Not sure how much more highs they would add, but I would be interested in other Solutions.

Chill out a bit. You do kinda have a point, just kinda surprised how hateful it came across. Bunch of others strayed from OP's design, shared their experience, which is GOOD!







Carry on


Edit. Speech to text

 

Agree with others - do tweeters FIRST. Then do the door speakers of your choosing - can't speak for the DS series, but obviously I'm very happy with the CS set in my truck

 

As much as I understand that the answer might be subjective.... After replacing all of the speakers (and adding additional tweeters along with them), didn't that add "too much" highs to the system? I know someone around here cold it a "Tweeter City", just not sure if he was talking about actual sound or just having physically bunch of tweeters in a truck...

 

The user that called it tweeter city also had a SR5 (Entune Plus) which after many have posted now, has a weaker head unit in the truck compared to the TRD OR and Sport Trims. The result would be not enough bass and possibly too much high end. The OR and Sport Trim Entune Premium units seem to provide ample power to these Kicker speakers.

 

Try this:

Kicker Coaxials rear door $55.99 Ordered from Crutchfield it will come with everything you need as long as you specify what door. Honestly, any coaxial would work back there....
Midrange Woofer front door $41.70 each ($83.40 total)
You will need adapters for the midrange woofers ordered separately through either @Mr Marv for $35. These particular midrange drivers have a 3" mounting depth..... You will also need Toyota speaker adapter wires


YMMV.......

 

For anyone thinking about the Kicker 6x9 3-ways, they are on sale now at Crutchfield for $79.99.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_206CSC6934/Kicker-43CSC6934.html

 

Just a few comments as I've been in this one for a long time and can give some info. You will be really surprised by how good these new, little tweeters are and how bad (really bad) the existing ones are. Just replacing for a $100 or so makes a world of difference and you will only understand after you hear it. The sound quality out of the Subaru tweeters is just amazing compared to the junk ones that Toyota put in there. If you can find someone that has this installed in their truck, great... otherwise, you're going to have to go on faith that these are that good. I can confidentially say that they are.

I believe these are Kicker tweeters from a Subaru upgraded type system. The great part is that they already have the plug and mounting bracket, so install is super easy. No real brains needed... just take out old and put in new. So, these are not just a stock for stock replacement as you said... it's a replacement of the Toyota's base system component w/ an upgraded component from a Subaru system. Why the plugs are the same is a surprise to me, but maybe it's a speaker industry thing. All my years in the auto industry had me thinking that every major brand had different wiring harnesses so seeing these match was rather odd to me.

The reason for the Kicker door speakers originally was that there was a deal on Crutchfield that made them insanely inexpensive. I went w/ JBLs as I wanted a bit more efficiency, but you can go with just about any brand you want. If you know what you are doing, you could easily start playing w/ a component set-up and go down that path and probably be relatively inexpensive, but most of us don't have the time or knowledge of stereos and that is why this little swap out was great. I loved my system after the swap... you'll be pleasantly surprised how good a little bit can go such a long way.

 

OK bro.. all we did here is list up a pretty decent sound system for not a lot of money. You have a pro so hey obvious $ is not a major concern. However you posted this earlier:

You get a component set of speakers and you save how much $$... prolly pay more at the end of the day so not sure if serious?? What's your point?

The Subie speaker is an upgrade over stock and is a Kicker brand that will play well with the other speaks in this upgrade.

Is there a better setup? ... likely. Go do your home work and write it up to share.

At the end of the day, it's a pickup truck - even one you prolly spent too much $$ on for what it is. This truck has a very high noise floor and it audio world that's a big huge negative thing, road noise is loud, spending a lot of money on a stereo system without addressing the noise floor (sound deadening = $$$$) is a fools errand. Have at it.
Spend a couple grand on a stereo... go for it, we are spending a couple hundy!
I think appropriate for what it is ... a pick up truck.

 

My concern here would be the woofers only go down to 65 hz, while the kicker 6x9 go down to 30hz. I don't need truck shaking bass, but I do like to hear the bass notes in my music, without having to go the sub/amp route. If you go this route please review and let us know how it sounds.

 

I did, see above.

Sounds great, but is amplified. Sounded fine not amplified without sub as well. The PPI gets down to 20hz though. I'm sure there are other midbass woofers that would fit the bill here....

 

Thank you for answering my question. Most of the info just says they are Subaru OEM, and Subaru and Toyota share some things so was concerned about paying dealer prices for OEM speakers.

Actually I am really cheap. I was in the market for an OR, but they had a Pro and gave it to me for $3K under MSRP. So, in the range of an OR with options. Not going to pass that up when most places are selling them for over MSRP (which would not be worth it, IMO). While I have done several full systems, I have never spent over $1000 including HU, amps, all speakers and a sub. I buy low to mid range stuff that is on sale or in scratch and dent at Crutchfield and do all the work myself to save $$.

But that was in previous trucks without the nice HU features. In this case, I don't want to swap out the HU, and if you go the adding amps route you are going to get into a lot of $$ since you'll need sound processors.

I appreciate what all you folks have done to find ways to upgrade the sound without a lot of complexity and cost by just swapping out speakers. That aligns with what I would like to do.

These from the same Kicker CS series discussed here: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_206CSS694/Kicker-43CSS694.html?tp=105&avf=Y
Or These: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_13699046/JL-Audio-C1-690.html?tp=105&avf=Y

My point is that the first one puts the total under $200 for front and rear, second just slightly over. With both you are eliminating the crappy OEM tweeters without having to by 3 sets of speakers. My concerns are that both seem to have reviews indicating they sound better amplified, and I don't want to go down that path. I would also prefer not to have to do the wiring. I have done it, it was not too bad on the 2nd gen and 4Runner, but with the tweeters in the dash it makes it a bit messier. Since a lot of folks in this thread have tried different things, I figured I would ask if anyone has done what I was thinking and what they thought of it.

Thanks again. Knowing they are Kicker speakers makes me feel better about the price.

I'm not sure where you guys came up with the idea that I was looking to spend tons of money. All I asked was if someone had just done components in the front instead of the Subie tweeters -- because I was doing my homework and it looked cheaper, and I wasn't convinced the Subie tweeters would be better quality than what I could get with a component set. Agree on the sound deadening, have never bothered with it because I am not that much of an audiophile, it's a truck, and I'm cheap.

 

I didn't put in sound processer. I did put in an amp and sub. I may put in a JL fix 86 later, but right now I'm pretty happy without it. I kept the Entune Premium.

 

I have the Subaru kicker tweeters and the kicker CS series speakers just as the OP outlined here.

Yes, there are physically several tweeters in this setup, but I would not characterize the SOUND as “tweeter city” at all. As you said....sound quality is very subjective.....but to me, the setup is very well balanced and sounds great.

Now, if all of the speakers were up at ear level, there may very well be an overload of high frequency......but the tweeters on the kicker CS coaxial speakers are all down at the bottom of the doors by your feet. Tweeters are somewhat directional, so to me (my ear anyway) the sound at ear level is clean, clear, and balanced. Very pleased with what the OP suggested here and no regrets at all.

 

Thanks a lot for that detailed explanation! Much appreciated!

That makes sense. Thanks!

That's a bit more involved than anticipated. Lol. Thanks for suggestion.

 

Indeed - everyone has different tastes and you can certainly go many different routes on a budget or on the expensive side... no right or wrong setup, but my kicker setup makes my commutes in heavy traffic bearable Glad its working out for you too!

 

So based on the overwhelming positive feedback, I ordered the Kicker Subaru tweeters to start with. Based on how that sounds (to me), I may do one of the following:

1) Leave it alone and be done
2) If I still think it needs more highs and less muddy mids and lows, either the CS, DS or KS series front and the cheapest rears (roughly the same price, KS is on sale) depending on how it sounds. If I do the KS in the front, I'll leave the rear stock.
3) If I think the highs are strong enough and just want to fix mids and lows, I may install just the woofer from a component set in the front and leave the rear stock since it is mostly just fill and only my dog rides back there. Sometimes he likes to sing along.

Still simple, plug and play, and cheap!