Speaker upgrade advice. (1 Viewer)

[oz80T]

Hey guys, long time lurker first time poster from the down under.
I'm chasing so advice or sources to a guide to speaker upgrades in my 1992 80 series.
I'm looking to upgrade my speakers and put a small subwoofer in as I'm a big music person.im not sure if year model has changed much in factory speakers or depths and I'm struggling to find much info on where to begin , I rather do the work myself and learn then take it to some shop to do so.

Now main question is I'm after size and depths etc or where to begin for the speakers themselves or laed into the right direction with another thread with my car's model. I do have an aftermarket Kenwood headunit just to add.
If you have any recommendations or more snug subwoofers or speakers to suit to make the install a bit easier that would be great. I can figure out all the wiring etc it's mainly just what size would make my life easier to replace factory.
PS I'm from Australia if that helps and have plenty of audio and auto stores near by eg Autobarn, Supercheap Jaycar etc.

Thank you!

 

[greentruck]

Here, the later 80 series carried a small factory subwoofer in the right rear cargo panel. The LX 450 put the sub-woofer in the center consoles, along with a CD changer. That's OEM locations, for what is now considered antiquated hardware. Both shared the same location for the system amp, in the dash behind the tweeter on the right. You can easily replicate the look and increase the performance while saving a lot of $$ by just getting clean grilles if needed and doing everything underneath with new and vastly improved. I just extracted this stuff from the new LX, could post pics but can't find it in a quick scan of my crowded freezing garage, but they are probably out there. Otherwise your biggest constraint is the shallow depth available for the door speakers.

 

[Gerry McGerry]

Aussie 80s only had 4" speakers up front in the dash, unless you've got a VX. Strongly recommend relocating the speakers to the door cards and upgrading to 6.5" if you're looking for a quality upgrade with sub.

At the end of the day, how much to do you want to spend?

 

[SoTexCruiserDoc]

I think most folks with the little indash speakers like my LX, just disconnect when upgrading. Probably not worth the trouble, but depends on the audiophile and how far you want to go (“…how much do you want to spend”). Door speaker options are endless. There are threads on here of guys installing Morels (up to $5500/pair). (I went with Focals). As far as the subwoofer option, I’d say the main decision is whether to use a freestanding/custom box or to install in the rear quarter panel. Many threads on these options. I got a very low profile Kicker box which rests on my rear drawers. Try searching something like this on google:

“subwoofer 80 series ih8MUD”

 

[oz80T]

Aussie 80s only had 4" speakers up front in the dash, unless you've got a VX. Strongly recommend relocating the speakers to the door cards and upgrading to 6.5" if you're looking for a quality upgrade with sub.

At the end of the day, how much to do you want to spend?

yeah theyre up in the dash and one in the drivers side boot.
happy to spend up to 5-600 on speakers then rest on amp and sub

 

[oz80T]

Probably should have added aswell its A GXL

 

[greentruck]

Aussie 80s only had 4" speakers up front in the dash, unless you've got a VX.

The US spec 80 and Lexus 450 have tweeters in the dash location.

 

[rolliges]

Remove rear heater under passenger seat, mini powered sub in it's place + new speakers all around + higher-end headunit=pretty nice sound.

 

[mudgudgeon]

I used Pioneer 6.5" round speakers in front and rear door cards of my Aussie 80.
I think model was TS-65** ? Can't remember and i think discontinued.
I had no trouble with the depth of the speakers.
I disconnected the little speakers in the dash.

I have a compact Kenwood amp I will install in the dash to pair with my Sony head unit. The Sony head unit has built in amps, but external amp should improve sound quality

Sound is OK currently, but I think there's a few things i can do to improve it.
adding an amp will improve it. Speakers aren't getting the cleanest sound i think.
I'll also upgrade speaker wire to the doors.
I want to add some sound deadener to inner and outer door skins too.
I would like to add some tweeters too, but yet to do so, and haven't seen a mount I like the look of
Having a suitable power supply to head unit and amp is important too. Don't rely on tapping in too the OEM power supply to the original stereo

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

I recently replaced the front door speakers i installed 12 years ago with these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FUZV7ZG/

Basically any shallow 6.5" / 165mm speaker will fit in the front doors, and mounting on top of the door card may be recommended for many. In the rear doors, I think mounting on top of the card is basically required. My original grilles were in poor condition so i didn't care to keep them.

I had just one of the original bizarre inverted cone nakamichi speakers working and i wonder if i still have it somewhere. they were terrible - when they were new they were terrible. But yes, they were interesting to look at.

I have an infinity basslink self-powered under-seat-style sub to install where the US-spec original sub was.

I'm just using head unit power, a now-old kenwood dnx7100 dvd/nav unit.

 

[bart0]

Gday all. I'm considering adding front door speakers to my '96 GXL using these speaker pods from Stealth Tech. I have a flexible conduit running through the door which I assume houses the central locking wiring. Does anyone know if there's enough space to push through some speaker wire in the same conduit?

Also, does anyone have any experience with these speaker pods?

 

[Marvelicious]

Gday all. I'm considering adding front door speakers to my '96 GXL using these speaker pods from Stealth Tech. I have a flexible conduit running through the door which I assume houses the central locking wiring. Does anyone know if there's enough space to push through some speaker wire in the same conduit?

Also, does anyone have any experience with these speaker pods?

I have factory door speakers in my USA spec 96 FZJ80. The wires are definitely running through the same conduit as the wiring for the power locks and everything else. I would assume you have room for a couple of speaker wires and I wouldn't be surprised if the wires were already there. Toyota is thrifty like that: no point in using a different harness.

 

[Gerry McGerry]

I wouldn't be surprised if the wires were already there. Toyota is thrifty like that: no point in using a different harness.

I read somewhere recently that the speaker wiring was present in GXL doors. My poverty pack 80 had wiring for electric windows & mirrors to the doors, just not in the doors.

Also, does anyone have any experience with these speaker pods?

No experience with those pods, but if you're not worried about the door card looking stock these will net you a few cup holders and a bit of change.

Rear Door Speaker Pods with Drink Holder (1x PAIR) - Does NOT Include Speakers

Rear Speaker PodsMade to suit Plastic Dash 79 Dual Cabs, and Both Old Steel Dash and Plastic Dash 76 WagonsIncludes: 1x Pair of Rear Speaker Pods (for Rear Doors)SPEAKERS NOT INCLUDEDFeatures:- Option of 6.5” Round or 6x9” Oval Speaker cut outs, with minimal door frame cutting required for...

cruiserconsoles.net

 

[bart0]

Thanks Marvellicious and Gerry for your quick replies. Knowing that the speaker wire fits in the existing conduit let alone might already be there is great news. Does this mean 80's that had the door speaker also ran the dash speakers? I thought it was one or the other (but haven't researched extensively). Hopefully I can run the dash speakers as well with the Blaupunkt Frankfurt I've had installed

@Gerry The pods you listed were for 70 series LC's I think. The 80 pods I linked to have an option for a mag/drink holder but not 100% on there aesthetic of them yet.

 

[Gerry McGerry]

Does this mean 80's that had the door speaker also ran the dash speakers? I thought it was one or the other (but haven't researched extensively). Hopefully I can run the dash speakers as well with the Blaupunkt Frankfurt I've had installed

They sure did, it was a 9 speaker system, not great by today's standards.

I had to do a stereo install in one of the 80s last night funnily enough, I'll get a photo later today of how I made a harness to splice into the existing wiring. There's a good chance the dash & door speaker wires are already wired together in parallel in your GXL, giving you both door & dash speakers off of one output from the headunit. Mixing different speakers in parallel wiring isn't ideal, you may wanna stick with a speaker in each door.

The pods you listed were for 70 series LC's I think. The 80 pods I linked to have an option for a mag/drink holder but not 100% on there aesthetic of them yet.

They're for a 70, but the rear door pods would definitely fit up front and you could cover all four doors for an extra fiddy bucks. Food for thought.