Premium Audio Upgrade for less than $250

I did notice the rearview mirror shake as expected, especially with the Hideaway sub. However, I did not notice the side mirrors. I'll check tomorrow, although not sure we can do anything about it.

 

Would this be a significant upgrade over the already upgraded JBL option?

 

Good question. I don't know. However I would imagine that the JBL OEM head unit puts out more power. Or at least adds an amp that will push more power to the Kicker speakers and make them sound even better/ louder.

Cheaper for sure for those on the fence about choosing the JBL OEM setup or doing their own upgrade.

 

Front speakers says their not compatible on Crutchfields website with 3rd gen?

 

Crutchfield does not sell the Subaru Kickers. Which ones are you referring to?

 

I think it's hilarious that door speakers are able to do this...I am not bothered by it in the least.

 

Ok, so I did end up installing the door speakers today. All I can say is that for the money this is easily the best upgrade I've ever done to a vehicle. I think people who are real "bassaholics" will still want a sub though. I am not a "bassaholic" so the bass is fine for me. A sub would be a nice addition but for me the cost/effort just would not be worth it.

Toyota should be embarrassed they put these oem speakers in a bottom of the line Yaris, much less a nearly $40K Truck. It's amazing they sounded as good as they did....seriously. They are a joke in your hand. Someone said $ store speakers would probably be better...that's an insult to the $ store speakers!

Also, as others have mentioned, the sound upgrade for satellite radio is not all that impressive. In fact, if I could only listen to satellite, I don't know that it would have been worth the effort and money. But for other sources, it really is an incredible difference. Highly recommended. hanks again to @bshammer0 for starting the thread. I supposed I'll be doing my sound deadening install next week. I'll report then how much of a difference I think it makes.

My first song with the full setup? Highway To Hell

 

I had mine cranked up to 50 on the volume with bass on max listening to Green Day American Idiot on usb today. I had a smile like a 20 year old kid. I am 59. Jammin.
I would like to add that I have Omega top of the line floor speakers and a monster Klipsch Sub on my garage 600 watt surround system. I know and appreciate bass. I just get all the bass I need in the truck without the sub on my setup. I feel no need for dampening material.

 

I did the speaker upgrade yesterday, it wasn't too hard. Definitely worth it. I only did a few quick test tracks but the sound stage is fuller and the mid-bass response is nice and tight compared to the stock speakers which are very sloppy. Better highs as well from the tweeters. That said, I'm still going forward with a subwoofer install. The low low end needs to be filled out a bit more. I picked up a Rockville 10" power sub. It was cheap enough on Amazon ($114). If I don't like the way it sounds, I'll probably try the Kicker hideaway or the Alpine powered sub.

As far as the sound deadening, I did the rear doors first. Ended up using 9 of the 12 sheets of the 50 mil Noico, so I need to order more. I recommend wearing gloves for the lining the insider of the exterior pane. There are lots of the sharp edges inside the door and my hands are all scraped up. With a little effort, the inside of the rear doors can be lined with a sheet and half of deadener. Then 3 sheets on the panel outside, which is how I went through so much of the stuff. I scrapped the plastic liner and the foam pads. Water isn't getting past the matting I installed. I'll do the same for the front doors whenever I get around to it. I picked up the Noico metal roller to do my install. It makes quick work of the rolling, just need to be careful as the edge can rip the matting. It can also damage the paint on the panel, which isn't a big deal behind the trim piece as you'll never see it.

 

Great to see you got it installed and are pleased with the results. Keep us posted on your progress w the sub! I'm very happy with my sound but I could see a cheap Kicker ~$100 sub Saturday garage project as winter approaches.

One thing I have noticed is that by putting the sound deadening material behind the front door speakers, it did make the bass more crisp and tight, but also muted it slightly. Likely bc the air in out doors doesn't vibrate as much for the same kind of resonance. It still sounds fantastic to me but after the deadening I can't really make my mirrors shake anymore - not entirely a bad thing though.

Rock on!

 

Now i'm starting to wonder ... would the sound be better with/without the sound deadening material? Maybe someone will chime in that installed all the speakers first then went back and put in the sound deadening material later to give a more accurate before/after speaker sound comparison

 

I'm reserving judgment until my speakernel install. Only bad thing about a sub is I would have to pay to install it. I can handle the door speakers but not the sub.

 

I did a little more testing when I went to pick up breakfast this morning. The bass response is very good on songs that have thumping base. I'll be interested to see how much the deadening material changes the deep base response when I get my front doors done. It'll also be interesting to see how much the road noise is knocked down on the highway.

 

A powered sub wouldn't be that hard to install but it is more involved that the speakers which are a swap out.

 

My $.02 - bass response from those 6x9s specifically is fantastic and more than acceptable (some will be wowed!). I actually was messing with my iPhone settings and didn't realize I had hit a different EQ setting. Changed to Bass Booster and balanced it back out a bit but turning up treble and mid a bit and BOOM. Haha. Still some amount of muting with the sound deadening I believe but it definitely makes it clearer and quiets the cabin so I think the material is worth doing. Great thing about this is that most folks are gonna install the speakers, do nothing else and feel completely happy about the upgrade. Seriously between OV and Kicker upgrades, a year later I am really enjoying the f@"& out of each drive!

 

Is this only for 3rd gen, or will these speakers work on 2nd gen as well?

 

Somewhat related. I was inspired by this thread to swap out the stock speakers in our 2016 Honda Odyssey with these (based on advice from Crutchfield):

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108P6502IS/Infinity-Primus-PR6502is.html?tp=94

They also advised I swap the OEM subwoofer out. I declined because I thought I needed an amp. They said an amp would help but the new sub would still be an improvement. I still declined.

Well, the swap was easy, and they sound WAY better...but as the volume increases, all 4 door speakers being 6 3/4 two ways, the lack of bass from the stock sub becomes VERY apparent...these speakers do not put out the bass the those Kicker 6x9s do.

SO, if you have a 4th gen Honda Odyssey, it too can benefit from a very easy speaker swap...but get the sub. I spent $110 but will probably spend another $100 on a sub (https://www.crutchfield.com/p_206CWR82/Kicker-CompR-43CWR82.html) and just leave stock dash tweeters alone because there are no P&P options there. for a total of $210. And like the Toyota swap, all these can handle an amp later on down the road if I decide to go that way.

Oh, and the stock Honda speakers were ALMOST as bad quality wise as the Toyota...the magnets were slightly larger and they were
not paper speakers but some kind of polypropylene. The stereo in our 2016 Honda Odyssey EX-L sounded worse than the oem stereo in our
2003 EX-L....so I think it's safe to assume we now know where some of cost cutting is coming from on these $35-40K vehicles.

Update 9/25/17...well I talked to Crutchfield today and they said that no replacement for the oem subwoofer is going to offer an appreciable difference in bass without an amp which is the opposite of what they told me last week. Anyway, I'm not up to installing an amp at the moment, so that part of the project will have to wait till my garage is built later this year.

 

I think it is clear that all manufacturers are saving money in almost sneaky ways - on the things we cannot see. Not only is it speakers but the lack of sound deadening, cheaper fasteners and clips, cheaper plastics in areas we generally don’t look at, and eye candy seat materials that don’t last. They claim it is to keep our costs down but when Ford clears over $14K per F-150 sold I would think an extra $100 on the interior of a mass produced vehicle would make a huge difference. I’m sure this is true of all manufacturers. It seems like after the bailout manufacturers jacked up prices to crazy levels. Even Toyota got 4.6 billion during the bailout but everyone seems to be sticking it to us on prices.

 

I relate that cost cutting to the rear bumpers. I don't think anyone of us coming from a 2nd gen thought we would lose the steel rear bumpers. More than a few dollars lost when a light rear end collision from a little Civic takes out the tailgate after the collapse of a plastic bumper cap. With the price of all the parts and pieces required to build the plastic bumper assembly you can easily buy a steel bumper with $500 left over. Cheap manufacturing costs equals ridiculous high repair costs. Oh what a feeling. Sorry. Not "audio" related.

 

I forgot about the rear bumpers. Yeah, I miss my second gen in many ways but think the third gen is overall more refined. If I could just get the howling rear diff fixed I’d be thrilled. A rear bumper is next on my list.