Speaker upgrade - looking for some advice (1 Viewer)

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So since most of the speakers in my car seem to be dead, I wanted to look into what can be done for upgrading them. One thing that seems odd is that I have 8 speakers (+ a subwoofer); I was planning on throwing some Pioneer 4Ohm speakers in the doors (I found some that should fit), but I'm now wondering if this is not going to work how I expect it to. When I did a similar project on my Mitsubishi Delica, the dash speakers had to be disconnected as they were wired in series, creating a weird 8Ohm setup - so without disconnecting them (and there is no compatible size and impedance to average out the network) there was no way to make it work properly. So we had to cut them off.

Would anyone know about the 8 speaker setup here? So I have 2 in the dash, 2 front doors, 2 rear doors and 2 in the rear upper roof. Do I need to disconnect those, or alternatively, are there compatible sizes for those that I should _also_ look into replacing?

Thanks!
 
Most people don't replace the dash or upper speakers. Their position and size makes the sound output from them virtually worthless. You can if you want to, but the value in sound for the added cost likely is not worth it. If you are just replacing speakers, and nothing else, you should be fine by pulling the dash and upper speakers out, and just replacing the door speakers. I did this for a while until I replaced the head unit.

Mine did not come with a subwoofer but as I understand it is powered separately from the other speakers so you should be able to just replace it too if needed.
 
I would never just replace speakers on such an old vehicle.

On all the 80's I have owned I have done a new head unit hooked up to two amps.

1 small amp under the drivers seat powering a set of component speakers in the front doors with the tweeters using the factory dash locations along with a set of coaxial speakers in the rear door.

Than a larger amp in the back passenger quarter panel powering a sub.

You don't have to go all out and wiring isn't bad if you pull the seats and carpet. It's also a great time to deep clean the seats, carpet, and rest of the vehicle. While your in there you can also add wiring for any future projects.

This should easily be accomplished in one day.
 
Thanks for all the advice. Appreciate it. So yeah: to give a bit more context, I do want to replace everything - including the head unit. Having done "proper" audio in previous cars, I feel no qualms doing it, either - and a split amp setup would make total sense (especially with that amp bracket that Hog solutions sells for the rear - it's a no brainer). Anyway, just now having replaced the rear speakers, I think my problem isn't the speakers - I think the head unit is dead, because the sound hasn't changed (and maybe even got worse somewhat, heh). The reason, btw, I started this thread wasn't because I forgot to use the search function - the reason was SPECIFICALLY to ask about the dash and the rear speakers, because once again, if the impedance was "weird", then I'd be running into a problem wiring up any other speakers in any other (i.e. non-OEM) way - and none of the threads seem to discuss impedance.

But it sounds like Toyota wasn't stupid like Mitsubishi was, so I can actually do a "correct" setup with this. (Mitsubishi used 12Ohm in dash, doors were 6Ohm, parallel wiring so overall it was 4Ohm, but if you replaced doors from 6Ohm to standard 4Ohm, you ended up with a 2Ohm setup which was a great way to burn your head unit, so you were REQUIRED to cut the wires to the dash speakers). I'm understanding this is NOT an issue with the 80.

One more limitation I have is that I am currently in the Middle East, where temperatures exceed 45C for most of the day, so I am limited to working on the car early in the morning (but, work) and right around sunset (lighting). So I'm taking it one step at a time. Then, it sounds like I will be OK to do the following:

- do the rear speakers (done)
- do the front speakers (have the speakers, just have to take panel apart)
- order a head unit (some sort of an Android device)
- pause while waiting for weather to cool down a bit
- order the Hog bracket, a compatible amp, and a small'ish amp for under the driver's seat (any advice btw?)

By thr way, @leonard_nemoy : did you rewire the speakers to go under the front seat, then? just extensions of OEM wiring from behind the head unit, unplugged from the harness and all routed to under the front seat? I'm assuming you didn't re-run ALL of the wiring from each individual speaker, that seems excessive.
 
My opinion:

* 8-speaker, 12-speaker, ..., ∞-speaker systems are a marketing gimmick.
* door-mounted speakers are a path for road noise and it's better to put speakers in sealed pods.
* a quality, separate, aftermarket amplifier is better than any head unit's built-in amp, but a modern, quality head unit's built-in amp is better than what these Toyotas originally came with (especially when you consider degrading, old electronics).
* "smart" head units are a waste of money. You're already upgrading your smartphone regularly, so let the stereo be a stereo.

I say just bypass the stock stuff, wire a quality head unit to quality speakers (however you want to mount them), and properly adjust your EQ. PartsExpress.com carries this inexpensive, calibrated microphone. Using an iPhone or Android audio analysis app and sound test files allows you to dial-in your EQ and compensate for variances in components and vehicle interior.

 
80 door speakers are shallow mount speakers, you will find very limited choices. I was having issues with my driver door speaker not working. The factory 80s stereo wiring is all over the place. I have the factory electrical wiring book and none of the color wires match.
I ended up running a whole new system with a 4 channel amp and spacers for the door speakers and completely bypassing the factory wiring. It wasnt cheap but now i have awesome music at 9 mpg.
 
Anyone ever reach out to a company with our speaker limitations/requirements for something developed? I think the demand is there. Might be something to look into.
 
Ok, so thanks to the advice in this thread and after looking at the markings on the OEM speakers (all 4 Ohm) I’ve replaced the four doors. I can confirm that the Pioneer TS-G1020F work almost fine in the rear - I had to clip the Y shaped plastic grille inside the grille, and the TS-G1620F (front) work fine if you use a small spacer to move it away from the rail. I used a plastic wall anchor, clipped the top part, drilled a hole just right for the screw to go in and hold it (was going to use a washer at first, but then realised that the moment I ever try to remove the speaker, all washers will fall into the door), and then used it as a spacer. I did need longer screws - a 6x30 wood screw would’ve worked very well, but I couldn’t find any, so instead I used the medium size BMW T20 screws (like the one that holds 90% of the dash together). And now I get insane static 😂 but I really think my head unit is burned because SOMETIMES I do get sound, so that’s next anyway.

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I've been meaning to post up a new thread.

10 years ago when I purchased my Cruiser from a friend, the radio and the speakers were absolute junk. I immediately replaced the radio with a used double din JVC hunk-o-junk that had bluetooth. At the time, the Polk db651's were supposed to be the best shallow mount speakers available for the Cruiser. I purchased four 6.5" speakers and cut the rear door holes to accommodate the larger speakers. Initially the Polks sounded awful with almost no bass and dull tweeters. I had to give in and adjust both bass and treble to make them sound somewhat acceptable but was never happy.

Two years ago, I replaced the JVC with a double din Pioneer AVH-2550NEX with Android auto. The sound from the speakers did not improve.

After 10 years two of the four Polks were dead due to water intrusion from bad window seals. I replaced the Polks with Infinity Reference 6532EX. With just the four speakers running off the radio and no other amplification, I am blown away by the sound quality. The Infinity's have highs and lows and sound incredibly musical even with a flat eq. I was able to do a A/B comparison between the remaining working Polks and the Infinities during installation. The difference in sound quality was AM radio vs CD player.

These speakers were only $58 a pair and I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking for a simple stereo upgrade.

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09462FR6L
 
Wow. Thanks for sharing that - had I known a little earlier I’d have bought those as the Pioneers weren’t much different. I do recall - on one of my previous cars, I had an Infinity setup, and the sound quality was excellent. Pioneers never disappoint so I’m sure I’ll be fine, but it’s good to have options.
 
I saw some old threads on upgrading the sub in the factory location, one where they were selling a mounting plate Hut they don't seem to be doing that anymore. Any suggestions for a hidden sub setup?
 
Wait are you sure? I was planning on buying this bracket - are you saying they don’t sell it anymore?

They still make them? I couldn't find it any longer on their website and it looks like you did just fine so I must be mistaken. Thank you
 
They still make them? I couldn't find it any longer on their website and it looks like you did just fine so I must be mistaken. Thank you
No problem. I hope that’s not some old cached page … please report back if you’re ordering soon as I’m not yet.
 

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