Premium Audio Upgrade for less than $250

Would anyone in here be interested in buying the set of speakers (front and rear) from the OP, with the mounts and adapters off of me?

I bought everything from the OP minus the Kicker hideaway or anything like that with intentions of doing all of this. I ended up doing the tweeters, then getting conflicted on what I wanted out of the rest of the system, and eventually just decided to leave it stock for now.

Everything is still in the box, and has never even been opened, just sitting in my closet going to waste.

 

What do you guys think about this?

Buying this component system, mount the 6x9's in the obvious location.

Kicker 47KSS6904 6x9" 150 Watt Car Audio Component Speakers Pair KSS690

https://www.amazon.com/Kicker-47KSS6904-Component-Speakers-KSS6904/dp/B084HL82KK/


Buying these to put in the door tweeter location. Then externally mounting the tweeters that come with the component system.

$60 Kicker 51KSC2704 KS-Series 2.75" Midrange Speakers, 4-Ohm, Pair

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CRLFQWQV


I referenced crutchfield for fit and they said it should work.

Should be noted that I'll likely be using the factory head unit so tuning won't be optimal.

And where would you guys recommend mounting the tweeters?

 

you really don't need the tweeters with those midranges.

if you're interested in the setup you posted, kicker does make a 6x9 and 2.75" component set using those same components that would greatly simplify your wiring and setup, and provide as good of sound quality as the parts you've linked so far.

 

Thanks.
Yeah I saw the KSS269 and the fact that the mid rangers cover a similar frequency range as the tweeters. I didn't think it was an option because crutchfield said it wouldn't fit for whatever reason.

 

crutchfield is really over-zealous with their 'will it fit' calculator. my last vehicle, it came with 6.5" door speakers. crutchfield stated this. but then said that zero 6.5" speakers would ever fit in the doors and insisted that only 5-1/4" speakers would fit the vehicle.

 

Hey folks so I installed the ds18 tweeters and they worked great but adding in the front KS kickers they’re scratchy and it feels like the door speakers are barely playing any sound

 

Saw the kickers were on sale at crutchfield so pulled the trigger on them as well as the Subaru tweeters. Excited

 

It's been 4 years and my front door kicker speakers are starting to rattle. Before I go and buy the same exact ones again, is there a model that's recommended as an upgrade? I like loud music, and am looking for a front door model that's up to the task!

 

Exact same thing is happening to me after almost 7 years. Interested in hearing if there are any better replacement options.

 

aduio guys.... I am very limited in my amp knowledge so be gentle....
Is the kicker key 200.4 capable of bridging? not true bridging but...
Running both front door and rear doors off the same 2 channels and leaving the other 2 channels (normally for the rears unused?
I already have it installed and the gains turned up to a little hiss and the fader set just behind center. rear doors are still pathetic.
If the head unit driving them at reduced output is the real problem, could I get them to perform better this way as the fronts are pretty good with the upgrade?

 

check you are wired up correctly. seems like a duh I already checked. but I had a similar issue and everything worked great once I corrected my one bonehead.

 

A "Premium" head unit is a 50W unit. It will pump 20W to each front speaker, and 5W to each rear speaker. The baseline input to the rear is 1/4 the power to the fronts. Therein lay the problem. The amp cannot compensate for that. It can help, but cannot compensate.

I recently installed the Kicker Key 200.4 amp in my Taco, and yes, the rear is still WAY behind the fronts, but it's much better than factory. At least now I know they exist. Beforehand, it was like, "Huh? There are speakers back there?" I am done with upgrading. I've gotten the sound I need. Maybe not what I want, but definitely what I need.

If you really want to get sound to the rears, it's time to start thinking about a new head unit and possibly a subwoofer. As they always say....

 

you can wire the front input to the front and rear input. that would make the front/rear signals equal. but the amp doesn't support bridging the output channels.

 

is the 2020 wiring diagram on this thread in the 249 pages? I remember seeing the 2016-19 diagram but the 2020 is different

 

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing!

 

ok, dumb question: If I replace the front door speakers with a 2-way, or 3-way (like the popular kickers) do I need to do anything special, or are they pretty much plug and play? The OEMs are more of a component 6x9 (paired with the dash tweeter), are they not? Is there anything going on there with crossovers than need to be bypassed since I'd be upgrading to a full-range (3-way) speaker?

Also, everything I read says the subaru tweeters are the best upgrade, but I feel like my system is lacking more in midrange and bass than treble, hence why I may do the 6x9s in the door first.

BTW, I have a 2023 TRD Sport with non-JBL system.

Is all of this even worth it? I read the stock head unit EQ's all the bass out of the signal at higher volumes anyway, so aren't aftermarket speakers still going to sound crappy when you turn it up?

 

I did the the plug and play DS18 in dash tweeters first, then the front and rear doors with the popular Kickers. The biggest improvement to me was the tweeters, they made the highs crisp and gave more of that frontal "stage" you look for to replicate going to a concert. The 6x9 front door speakers helped, and the rear door 6.75's were kind of pointless with the stock head unit that barely puts any power to the back. However, I did the doors with the plan of either adding a small, in dash amp to the stock head unit, or possibly install a more powerful aftermarket head unit down the road. I'd say adding some dynamat type material inside the front doors would help the bass response of those speakers. I have a roll of it to put in and will probably do it when the weather cools off a little.

 

I installed 3-way Kicker KS speakers in the front door after I did the Subaru tweeters in the dash. The only special thing I did, outisde of using adapters to not alter factory wiring, was to add sound deadening. Lower frequency response was much improved. I didn't replace the rears (3-way KS, too), until I installed the 200.4 Kicker Key amp...

I have a 2018 w/ the Premium non-JBL head unit. Unless things changed in more recent models, it may not be advantageous to upgrade the door speakers at all. The standard baseline unit can't drive better speakers. The premium unit can. The JBL unit has a different upgrade path... You better check, first.

 

How do I know which head unit I have? I know there are like 3 different entune head units, but I can't seem to find a list of what was available what year, and how to determine which one you have. All I know is that I don't have the JBL system.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...r-less-than-250.510424/page-239#post-28377767