Premium Audio Upgrade for less than $250

It really depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. Best mod is swapping the head unit, but that is not 250 cheap. Swapping in the Kicker tweets is probably the best bang for your buck under 250.

 

I actually had things reversed... forgot the front was 6x9 (why wouldn't it be? ) ... and I was looking at those exact speakers just shortly before I posted.

With the poor placement of the rear door speakers, now I'm toying with the idea of 6.5"-6.75" shallow mount subs in the rear doors instead of 2-ways. I just want to hear bass drums a little better, really.

 

What (front) door speakers would you pair those kicker tweeters with, if someone was to do this in stages? I have the base Entune 3.0, so I would plan on getting an amp.

The kicker KS 6x9 components I was looking at come with tweeters ... I suppose I should look to see if there's a set without them. The thought of ending up with a spare set one day gives me option paralysis

 

The “Subaru” tweeters ARE a Kicker KS tweeter, they just have the right plug on them. But ordering from Crutchfield gets you the adapter anyways, you just have to do a little soldering/crimping yourself.

If you want to hear drums a little better, get yourself a powered 8”/10” underseat sub and call it a day.

 

Exactly what I'm running right now.

Subaru tweeters and a self powered Kicker Hideaway 10.
Does it bang? - No, but its substantially better than the factory 2023 system for not much money.

A great hold-me-over until I pull the trigger on a full system.

 

Yeah, I get that it's the Subie tweeter is kicker KS tweeter, but when I go to toss some 6x9 components in the front doors, sometime in the future, I'm going to be paying for another tweeter. I suppose I could buy the component set, now, and let the door woofer sit until I'm ready ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also, thinking about the rear door woofers because I value the interior cubbies and under-seat storage more than bass.

Apparently I'm trying to eat my cake and have a chunky cammer sit on it, too

 

If you’re dead set on the tweeters, buying the component set makes $$ sense. You can try the rear doors, CDT makes some 6.5” woofers, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up. There’s no enclosure that would work without SERIOUS modification to the interior door. The door, if you want the window to still work, is just too leaky as a space for bass. YMMV.

 

Thanks for the help with my thought(less?) exercise, here. I really do appreciate it.

So, would a leaky 6.5" sub still provide "better" bass than a nice 2 way coaxial in the back doors?

 

Possible. The 6.5” woofer “should” be designed for more excursion and lower frequencies. Power plays a role too. The more “juice” the louder it will sound. Then there’s the “point of diminishing returns”, which I don’t know where that would be, say 300w per door. Then there’s “holding it all together”, because frankly, how are you going to secure the woofer to the door with the supplies mounting screws and the plastic nuts in the door itself? I could probably come up with more, but I’ll leave that there.

 

Nope.

Trying to make a sub built for a sealed enclosure work in a door will always disappoint.

 

If you never intend on putting in components, or don't mind spending the 100 bux to replace them down the road, get the Kicker tweets and call it a day.

 

What do you guys think of this package from Crutchfield? Is this compatible with Premium w/o JBL HU?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaFPjLwtXkg
Thanks

 

Add a new H/U later, you have a nice system.

 

As stated elsewhere, if you have the Premium H/U w/o JBL, the problem with the rear door speakers is NOT the factory rear door speakers, but the fact that the factory head unit doesn't deliver SAT power to the rears to drive them. You can see this for yourself right now. Sit in your truck, and fade the output to the rear. Crank the radio. Then fade to the front. The unit delivers something like 20 W to each front speaker, but only 5 W to the rear. Changing out the rear speaker is most likely a waste of money. You won't be able to notice the difference. I recommend you save your money and just do the dash tweets and the front doors. Don't forget to sound deaden the doors when you have the panels off.

 

The link to the Amazon product in the original post is no longer available. This looks to be the same tool set: https://www.amazon.com/Aketek-Radio...c3e-456d-8947-40ff378858b1&pd_rd_i=B00HW58R92

 

Might sound stupid but would upgrading to the jbl head unit be worth it if I found a deal on one somebody replaced with aftermarket? And if so what is the different upgrade path? I replaced the tweeters but I only have the plus head unit

 

I want to say that the JBL head unit has different wiring, and the upgrade path is different. Read back through this thread. The JBL unit has an external amp that you'll need, plus the harness that goes with it. The "Premium" unit has the amp (that makes it sound better) built into the head unit. The standard head units don't have the guts to improve the sound quality, but I think the wiring harnesses are the same (for the Premium and the Standard units.)

 

I have tried to read thru this entire thread to find an answer, but cannot. I have a 3rd Gen TRD OR w/ Premium non-JBL head unit. I did the tweeter upgrade within the first month. I have no need for a single woofer or box, but would like to replace my door speakers and the Kickers at the beginning of this post are fine for my use.

The question I have - is it even worth changing the rear door speakers if I don't intend to add an amp to increase their output? Realistically no one rides in the back seat except my dog and he's not complaining, so should I just save the $$ and do the front doors + deadening? The tweeters made an amazing difference, just looking for a little more punch/oompf from the front doors.

Thanks in advance -

Eric

 

Unless you feel the need to have matching speakers, there's no advantage in replacing the rears - until you add an amp.

 

Can you add an amp only on the rear speakers? This way I can keep my stock head unit and have rear speakers that you can hear?

NM I found the answer with a little searching. SMH