Wow, I should start by saying I was on both Toyota's and Lexus' Stereo Evaluation Committee so I've done a bit of automotive audio comparing.
Skillet posted a great thread on replacing your stock worn out speakers with Pioneer poly cones for around $80 for front and rears and I did the fronts this evening. Easily the best improvement to the sound system I can imagine achieving for $80/2hrs.
Just for grins, I 'evaluated' the stock setup before making the changes, again with one fresh Pioneer vs the opposite factory speaker, then again after both fronts were in. The fronts are 6.5" Pioneer TS-G1641Rs
Of course the stock setup was poor - muddy bass, no real high end treble at moderate volume that quickly becomes gritty if you push it a bit, and a feeling the speaker was simply unable to keep up with reproducing a complex musical piece. When you open it you'll see why. Huge and definitely NOT acoustically transparent plastic piece over a reversed cone that actually fires into the door, not into the passenger compartment.
One fresh vs the old speaker. I did this using the balance and fade so it isolated one front vs the other front. This is not a perfect comparo because stereo music is separated and one part of the music may not go to the other speaker. Nevertheless, I could immediately hear the brightness of the new one though I was concerned its bass was notably weaker. Punchier, but still weaker and this bummed me a bit. Back to the brightness, an excellent example was a song that has a cricket in it during a quiet passage. On the old factory speaker side it sounded like an electronically produced chirp sound, but switching to the other side it was clearly an actual recording of a cricket and you could hear all the aspects. Made me anxious to put the other one in.
With both fronts in and still with the fader playing only the front speakers, I was amazed. The whole musical piece came alive. There are too many things to comment on positively so I'll just say that everything was improved. Interestingly the bass was now MUCH stronger than the factory speakers - punchier and with more power. Must have been that the old/new speakers were a bit out of phase with each other and the bass had issues due to that. Anyhow, bravo!
Someone also mentioned to tighten the screws on the back of the trim panel while its off to reduce squeaks and rattles. There are about 25 on each panel and it was a good call - an annoying sound is now gone and about 5 on each door were loose.
Then I checked what the rear speakers were doing. Nothing, basically. They're literally just there to provide a bit of noise for the rear seat passengers. I have the 4" model Pioneers (4" Pioneer TS-G1041Rs) on the workbench and will put them in tomorrow.
So, thanks for taking the time to find speakers that fit. They're well matched to the factory outputs and well worth the time and meager money to add. Makes me wonder if I'm going to enjoy this so well the Scion stereo that arrived a few days ago may gather dust for a while.
Regards,
DougM
PS - Best Buy has these on sale 20% off right now.
Skillet posted a great thread on replacing your stock worn out speakers with Pioneer poly cones for around $80 for front and rears and I did the fronts this evening. Easily the best improvement to the sound system I can imagine achieving for $80/2hrs.
Just for grins, I 'evaluated' the stock setup before making the changes, again with one fresh Pioneer vs the opposite factory speaker, then again after both fronts were in. The fronts are 6.5" Pioneer TS-G1641Rs
Of course the stock setup was poor - muddy bass, no real high end treble at moderate volume that quickly becomes gritty if you push it a bit, and a feeling the speaker was simply unable to keep up with reproducing a complex musical piece. When you open it you'll see why. Huge and definitely NOT acoustically transparent plastic piece over a reversed cone that actually fires into the door, not into the passenger compartment.
One fresh vs the old speaker. I did this using the balance and fade so it isolated one front vs the other front. This is not a perfect comparo because stereo music is separated and one part of the music may not go to the other speaker. Nevertheless, I could immediately hear the brightness of the new one though I was concerned its bass was notably weaker. Punchier, but still weaker and this bummed me a bit. Back to the brightness, an excellent example was a song that has a cricket in it during a quiet passage. On the old factory speaker side it sounded like an electronically produced chirp sound, but switching to the other side it was clearly an actual recording of a cricket and you could hear all the aspects. Made me anxious to put the other one in.
With both fronts in and still with the fader playing only the front speakers, I was amazed. The whole musical piece came alive. There are too many things to comment on positively so I'll just say that everything was improved. Interestingly the bass was now MUCH stronger than the factory speakers - punchier and with more power. Must have been that the old/new speakers were a bit out of phase with each other and the bass had issues due to that. Anyhow, bravo!
Someone also mentioned to tighten the screws on the back of the trim panel while its off to reduce squeaks and rattles. There are about 25 on each panel and it was a good call - an annoying sound is now gone and about 5 on each door were loose.
Then I checked what the rear speakers were doing. Nothing, basically. They're literally just there to provide a bit of noise for the rear seat passengers. I have the 4" model Pioneers (4" Pioneer TS-G1041Rs) on the workbench and will put them in tomorrow.
So, thanks for taking the time to find speakers that fit. They're well matched to the factory outputs and well worth the time and meager money to add. Makes me wonder if I'm going to enjoy this so well the Scion stereo that arrived a few days ago may gather dust for a while.
Regards,
DougM
PS - Best Buy has these on sale 20% off right now.
