Speaker upgrade - looking for some advice

[t00manyuserz]

That's a real bummer if we can't get that anymore

I've reached out through their contact methods, but it looks like not much has happened since 2013/2014 or so, so I'm suddenly far less optimistic.

Wonder if anyone is parting out their rigs... or if we can get the diagrams to this or something.

 

[t00manyuserz]

Awesome - got a response back - they’re still around though doing other things BUT the owner says he is considering doing another run and getting some people together. I recommend you email him. Who knows when the next one will be.

 

[philip g]

Awesome - got a response back - they’re still around though doing other things BUT the owner says he is considering doing another run and getting some people together. I recommend you email him. Who knows when the next one will be.

Can you post their email? I can't get it on the website. Anything I click on says unable to connect to database

 

[Jasonazx]

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

Thanks for posting! I've been trying to decide whether I go big and get the morel nano's or something a bit more affordable, yet still providing decent sound. Just ordered these!

 

[lumbee1]

Thanks for posting! I've been trying to decide whether I go big and get the morel nano's or something a bit more affordable, yet still providing decent sound. Just ordered these!

Let me know what you think of them. BTW, I also ordered the JBL GTO 6.5" coaxial and setup an A/B comparison with them. The JBL's were more musical and clear but I liked the fuller range (clean highs and stronger bass) of the Infinities. I can't wait for my next road trip. The family hasn't heard them yet.

 

[FloridaCruiser22]

Let me know what you think of them. BTW, I also ordered the JBL GTO 6.5" coaxial and setup an A/B comparison with them. The JBL's were more musical and clear but I liked the fuller range (clean highs and stronger bass) of the Infinities. I can't wait for my next road trip. The family hasn't heard them yet.

Have any pic of them installed? I'm thinking about buying a set of these too

 

[lumbee1]

Have any pic of them installed? I'm thinking about buying a set of these too

I have 1/2" spacers behind the door card in the front and back to give them enough space to clear the window channel in the front and the glass mechanism in the rear.

 

[lumbee1]

Polk speakers when I first installed them. I hated the grill design as well.

 

[western flyer]

I painted my Polks in the R doors the same color as the door cards. They blend with interior quite a bit better now.

 

[BostonCruiser96]

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

In the pictures they look pretty shallow. Besides opening up the rear door panels, did you need any other speaker adapters? You've probably got the most compelling forum post regarding speakers I have seen in my past 3 days of looking. Needless to say I just ordered two pairs.

I just recently picked up a 96 for my fiances daily driver. I've already got a boss HU installed and she goes "these speakers are ass!". Honey Do List continues haha

 

[Woofythewolf]

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.

Dayton Audio iMM-6 Calibrated Measurement Microphone for Tablets iPhone iPad and Android

Dayton Audio iMM-6 Calibrated Measurement Microphone for Tablets iPhone iPad and Android The Dayton Audio iMM-6 is a professional-quality measurement and recording microphone that is designed to work with the entire suite of Apple "iDevices" – iPad, iPhone, and iPod (with 3.5 mm jack). The...

www.parts-express.com

IMO a carplay or android auto radio is the best way to go, you get a bigger screen than your phone and it just automatically connects when you get in the car with the wireless kind.
The bigger reason is that it makes all the apps really big and easy to use in a moving car, which your new phone every few years doesn't do.


Also, I put in the speakers first while I waited for my head unit to arrive, which was a cheap $300-ish BOSS carplay unit.
The sound quality difference from stock with factory amp to direct from the head unit was incredible. Night and day, even with a cheap head unit. (although not no-name amazon android head unit cheap, it's still at least a name brand)

That said, now that I've been listening to "much better" for a year with just the pioneer 1620Fs, now those Infinity Reference 6532EX mentioned by lumbee1 sound really tempting.

 

[MUDZLLA]

I installed a Kenwood BT-325U Media Player for a head unit - no cassette or CD. Designed to be compatible with any phone or external inputs. Farmers use these in their tractors because they're insensitive to dust or vibration. Can also change display to match the clock. Also went with the Infinity Reference spkrs.

 

[lumbee1]

In the pictures they look pretty shallow. Besides opening up the rear door panels, did you need any other speaker adapters? You've probably got the most compelling forum post regarding speakers I have seen in my past 3 days of looking. Needless to say I just ordered two pairs.

I just recently picked up a 96 for my fiances daily driver. I've already got a boss HU installed and she goes "these speakers are ass!". Honey Do List continues haha

I used 1/2" speaker adapters behind the door cards for both the front and back speakers. I do not like this approach but it works and looks fairly clean.. Eventually I will remove the door cards again, reinforce the speaker mounting locations, add sound deadening, and measure for the smallest possible spacer to allow for clearance.

In addition, I've noticed my LED's in the puddle lights vibrate and rattle from the bass so I've got to secure them.

I am running these speakers with a flat eq and they sound fantastic.

 

[sunrk]

Replacing the dash speakers is very worthwhile. I have no door speakers in my 80 and instead I have aftermarket 4 inch kenwood speakers in the dash, and aftermarket 6 x 9 Kenwood speakers in commercially available boxes mounted on the back shelves I custom made nearly 10 yrs ago. I'll try to get a pic or two of those.

This pic shows the right side one viewed from leaning over the back seat.



My 80 is a pov-pack so never had wiring into the doors and I've kept it that way. It's not a fancy show vehicle so soundstage isn't super-important.

I do have an Alpine block amp mounted under the back of the shelf in the picture but it's not wired in. I have power wiring run around to it but as yet no audio wiring from the head unit back to it and back out to the speakers. The right side inside sill space has hardly any wiring in it so it will utilise that side as the left side is chock full of wiring.

The head unit I use is an Alpine CDA-117E. I prefer the older (Japanese made) units like the 9886i over the Chinese made CDA's. Now Alpine in Australia only sells one single-din media 'receiver' - the UTE-73EBT.

 

[BostonCruiser96]

Alright gents. I think I've got an bad alternator on my hands. I've got a new brush ordered, and then a new Denso alternator behind that if it doesn't fix the issues. New boss head unit installed easy peasy. I go solder new speakers in and they can't go over 50% volume without static and crackling. They sound just as bad as the original blown speakers. With the back up camera displayed on the HU there is also interference when the speakers are on. Connection issue? Poor grounding? So far I've only got the front two door speakers installed but it's happening on both. With the truck running and headlights on, battery reads 12.7 volts. So my somewhat educated guess is I need a new alternator. I just replaced all the belts so at least I'm familiar with how it'll come out.

Suggestions?

 

[bart0]

I replaced the Polks with Infinity Reference 6532EX.

Hi. I'm looking at these speakers for my 80. Did the front ones fit ok on you door card with a small spacer? I haven't pulled the door apart yet so curious to distill "you need shallow mount speakers" general advice into some concrete measurements or first hand experience fitting the EX speakers.

For reference, I'm also considering the IX with 3rd party speaker pods, but if EX fits, then I'd prefer that option.

Cheers

 

[cgmud]

I’m not sure if my install was optimal, but I took the included speaker adapter of those Infinity’s and screwed them into the door. Then put the door card on and screwed the speakers through the door card into those adapters. That includes no after market spacers.

I installed the same in the rear, but bought 1” spacers for those. I didn’t trim either door card.

 

[FloridaCruiser22]

I’m not sure if my install was optimal, but I took the included speaker adapter of those Infinity’s and screwed them into the door. Then put the door card on and screwed the speakers through the door card into those adapters. That includes no after market spacers.

I installed the same in the rear, but bought 1” spacers for those. I didn’t trim either door card.

I basically did the same with my front ones. Didn't have to cut the door cards at all but made screw holes into them to mount speaker to adapter. I trimmed down the adapter so it fit snug into the recessed portion of the door too instead of on top.

 

[cgmud]

I basically did the same with my front ones. Didn't have to cut the door cards at all but made screw holes into them to mount speaker to adapter. I trimmed down the adapter so it fit snug into the recessed portion of the door too instead of on top.

View attachment 3562801

Yup exactly. I trimmed as well. Should have trimmed more but it got inset enough to work well.

 

[bart0]

This is great news. Cheers for the photos, much appreciated! I don't have holse in my door card so will be adding those.
In the above pic with the brown door card, is the "layering" (from inside to out) of the install: door card > adapter > speaker > mesh cover? And the screws are holding the speaker and adapter into the door card? Any flimsiness there?

Edit: I think this answered my question:

I’m not sure if my install was optimal, but I took the included speaker adapter of those Infinity’s and screwed them into the door. Then put the door card on and screwed the speakers through the door card into those adapters. That includes no after market spacers.

Sounds like the adapters can be fixed to the steel in the door behind the door card. That should be sturdy .