Need help with speakers for a 1992 FJ80

[M32H32is]

Correct, I had dashboard speakers x2 with rear door speakers & a cargo area "sub" (6.5?).

There are plugs in my front doors for speakers...

Hopefully they're hot!

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

I recently replaced the headunit and speakers in my 1992. It didn't have door speakers to begin with and it only had 4" speakers in the rear. I also looked at the Pioneer head unit, but it didn't have a knob to manually adjust volume. I would find that very annoying

This is pasted from my build thread
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/build-thread-for-the-german-shepherd.805447/

"Head unit and Speakers

After dealing with the poor sound quality and lack of features on the headunit for years, I got a Kenwood DDX470 headunit and four Kicker KS65 series speakers.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-UntIXwXcUS5/p_206KS65/Kicker-KS65.html
I had previously installed a Kicker shallow mount sub http://www.crutchfield.com/S-yEQ9cEsEp9f/p_206CVT651/Kicker-10CVT651.html
in the third row so I figured I would stay with Kicker, and I liked the look of the speaker grills.


The front doors did not have speakers in them to begin with, and the rear doors had 4" speakers.
I wanted to keep all the speakers looking the same and use the grills, so we made plates to mount the speakers away from the dash.
View attachment 895354
Then we measured where the hole would be and cut the door panel.
View attachment 895355
To keep the speakers from hitting the window when it is lowered, we had to use plastic spacers on each side. View attachment 895356
Then we plugged them in to the existing speaker wires and screwed them in.
View attachment 895357

For the rear speakers, we used the same Kicker KS65 speakers. We had to enlarge the hole because the rear doors originally had 4" speakers.
Old vs New
View attachment 895359
We also had to use 1" spacers in the rear door to space them away from hitting the window when it is lowered. View attachment 895364
There was a pretty noticeable improvement in sound, but the biggest improvement came from the new head unit."

 

[roostabunny]

Correct, I had dashboard speakers x2 with rear door speakers & a cargo area "sub" (6.5?).

There are plugs in my front doors for speakers...

Hopefully they're hot!

Hopefully hot, and in my case, also hopefully not damaged by the last guy who impatiently worked on it.

 

[roostabunny]

I recently replaced the headunit and speakers in my 1992. It didn't have door speakers to begin with and it only had 4" speakers in the rear. I also looked at the Pioneer head unit, but it didn't have a knob to manually adjust volume. I would find that very annoying

This is pasted from my build thread
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/build-thread-for-the-german-shepherd.805447/

"Head unit and Speakers

After dealing with the poor sound quality and lack of features on the headunit for years, I got a Kenwood DDX470 headunit and four Kicker KS65 series speakers.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-UntIXwXcUS5/p_206KS65/Kicker-KS65.html
I had previously installed a Kicker shallow mount sub http://www.crutchfield.com/S-yEQ9cEsEp9f/p_206CVT651/Kicker-10CVT651.html
in the third row so I figured I would stay with Kicker, and I liked the look of the speaker grills.


The front doors did not have speakers in them to begin with, and the rear doors had 4" speakers.
I wanted to keep all the speakers looking the same and use the grills, so we made plates to mount the speakers away from the dash.
View attachment 895354
Then we measured where the hole would be and cut the door panel.
View attachment 895355
To keep the speakers from hitting the window when it is lowered, we had to use plastic spacers on each side. View attachment 895356
Then we plugged them in to the existing speaker wires and screwed them in.
View attachment 895357

For the rear speakers, we used the same Kicker KS65 speakers. We had to enlarge the hole because the rear doors originally had 4" speakers.
Old vs New
View attachment 895359
We also had to use 1" spacers in the rear door to space them away from hitting the window when it is lowered. View attachment 895364
There was a pretty noticeable improvement in sound, but the biggest improvement came from the new head unit."

With your powerful welding medicine! Appreciate the link, too, with your USB ports and such I'm subscribing to that thread for reference.

So you abandoned the factory mounting holes mainly due to clearance/speaker thickness?

EDIT: Almost forgot to ask - were you able to use the factory wires/harness to power those speakers, or did you run new?

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

With your powerful welding medicine! Appreciate the link, too, with your USB ports and such I'm subscribing to that thread for reference.

So you abandoned the factory mounting holes mainly due to clearance/speaker thickness?

EDIT: Almost forgot to ask - were you able to use the factory wires/harness to power those speakers, or did you run new?

The rear speaker mounting holes were for 4" speakers and the Kickers were 6.5s. They had to be cut out and enlarged so the factory mounting holes were gone. The front speakers were completely relocated so the speakers wouldn't hit the dash. The 1" spacers spaced them out from the window tracks and solved clearance issues. The wires are all factory, but on the front, we had to lengthen them to reach over to the new speaker mounting location.

 

[roostabunny]

The rear speaker mounting holes were for 4" speakers and the Kickers were 6.5s. They had to be cut out and enlarged so the factory mounting holes were gone. The front speakers were completely relocated so the speakers wouldn't hit the dash. The 1" spacers spaced them out from the window tracks and solved clearance issues. The wires are all factory, but on the front, we had to lengthen them to reach over to the new speaker mounting location.

OK perfect, thanks! So, if I wanted to go with the stock location on the fronts, I can use the existing factory wires (barring damage) with a round 6.5" speaker. BUT I have to be aware of the minimal space between the window track and the dashboard to fit the depth of the speaker + door panel + grill. Seems like slim 6.5" speakers are common enough, but 4"-ers in any thickness not so much. Guess I'll need to do some measuring to see if "slim fit" is slim enough for that stock front door location.


I'm getting a bit ahead of myself anyway, since there's a spaghetti bowl mixed with green electrical tape behind the beat up, shoddily mounted, pioneer that came with the rig, and it seems like the only speaker producing any sound is the jerry-rigged sub that was stuffed in the rear pass-side storage cubby hooked to some fat blue wire. Hopefully I can untangle all that and find the factory harnesses still intact or at least easily repairable. Heck, the five existing speakers may actually work.

 

[Tbone1209]

So everyone claims 6.5s mount in the front doors without cutting. They most certainly do not. You'll have to cut the doors to "correctly" mount 6.5s. It's not even close without cutting.

That is unless your mounting them to the door cards which is jinky as hell. Not the way to get any bass response. My 2 cents of course, but all the info about 6.5s dropping in without mods is incorrect if you want to mount them properly...