Speaker Upgrade in '07 ES350 (non-ML)
09-16-09, 07:49 AM
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Speaker Upgrade in '07 ES350 (non-ML)
Hello!
Wanted to share my experience with upgrading speakers in my newly acquired '07 with NAV and Bluetooth and standard "premium" audio.. Previously I had a '99 ES300 (internal coolant leak at 250K miles
) and had been very happy with its stock sound system. In comparison, the ES350 sound seemed muffled and indistinct. There was also significant flexing/vibrating/pulsing of the door trim even with modest bass. I wanted to retain the stock appearance, and based on my research, changing head units/amplifiers would mean giving up the stock nav and bluetooth. Note that the amplifier is located in front of the passenger rear wheel. So... I decided to try speaker upgrades first, as well as adding damping in the doors (in my case, RaamMat).
First, I armed myself with a DVD copy of the complete maintenance manual from a seller on e-bay (in Latvia!) for about $20. Worth every penny to see the wiring diagrams, clip locations, dis- and re-assembly instructions, etc, etc. !
Regardless of the replacement speaker size, a mounting baffle will be needed. The front doors contain a 6.5" "woofer" unit molded into a one piece oblong "frame" which fits a large cutout in the door frame. There is a connector on the frame which plugs into the wire harness in the door. (The Crutchfield "Toyota" speaker harness fits perfectly for a replacement speaker). The "woofer" unit looks pretty cheap and has a only a small 1" diameter magnet. I elected to use a 6x9" Boston Acoustics speaker, SL95, based on reviews, reputation and price. The depth of the speaker less any offset from the baffle (about 1") is CRITICAL so that the back of the speaker doesn't hit the window when its lowered in the door. I found a pre-fabricated baffle for a 6x9 speaker on e-bay. The same baffles will fit recent year (07+) Camry, Tacoma or the ES. (Note that Crutchfield doesn't carry this baffle and consequently shows the 6x9 speaker as incompatible. However their 6.5" speaker baffle for Toyotas fits fine).
I also investigated options for changing the dash mount tweeters. The grill covers pop off, although a great deal of (careful!) prying is required, using a plastic wedge, taped putty knife, etc. to avoid marring the dash itself. The service manual shows removing the entire front pillar garnish to provide more clearance, but I found this wasn't strictly needed. However, the clearance is tight and I ended up with small smudge marks where the grill rubbed against the garnish. I'll tape it off next time... Inside, a 1" tweeter is mounted on a metal bracket which bolts into stand-offs in the dash. The grill has a matching cut-out where through which the tweeter "fires". The grill also has an un-opened space where the mid-range driver from the ML system would be. The wire harness feed for the door unit passes through the 4 terminal connector on the tweeter assembly. In the non-ML system, it's just wired back ("shorted") from the tweeter input to back to the door harness (i.e. the tweeter and the woofer get the same signal). I suppose that the ML system would use some type of cross-over to limit the frequencies passed onto the door. With this arrangement, the same wire harness can be used for either version.
Anyway, I noticed that there is never that much sound from the tweeters, and after removing one, I know why... The tweeter has a DC resistance of 3.6 ohms (typical for a "4-ohm" speaker). However, there is a 2 uf (Micro-farad) capacitor built into the plastic housing in series with the tweeter. This combination will result in attenuating all frequencies below 22Khz, the upper limit of hearing !! I suspect that this should have been a 20uF cap. So, it's no wonder that the sound is so muddy! The tweeter input is essentially non-existent at and below normal tweeter frequencies and the "woofer" probably can't reproduce mid-range frequencies even as well as a transistor radio! One could also install a component system with cross over and tweeter in the dash using the existing wire harness.
SO, on to the install... The door trim panel (the part you see) is held on 5 screws (make sure you keep track of which goes where!), AND 8 or 9 clips which pop in (and, hopefully out) of holes in the metal door frame. I bought a dedicated pry tool from Crutchfield which was a big help (TIP - tape the metal end of whatever you pry with to avoid scratching the paint on the exposed metal of the door). The top of the door panel clips over a metal lip at the top of the window, so swing out the bottom the un-screwed, up-cliped trim panel, and lift up. The door panel will come off the door. Then you need to disconnect any remaining wires, lock cables, etc. The door has a plastic moisture barrier with a little padding on it. Since I planned to use added damping material as the barrier, I removed and discarded this. Inside the door can be seen the external sheet metal, a tube the length of the door (crash barrier, I suppose) and the internal metal frame (closest to the passenger compartment).
Working through the holes in the inner door frame. I applied a single layer of damping material (per it's instructions) over the entire surface of the external sheet metal. This is slow and tedious (and may require several Band-Aids!). Then put a layer of damping material over the inner frame. To cover large (> 6") holes, I cut "covers" from aluminum roof flashing (from my local big box home store) to provide a foundation for the damping material. Don't put damping material around the bend in the door frame (like I did!) because that portion is exposed even with the door trim on. Make sure you make provisions for bringing through all the wire harnesses, lock cables, etc. I also placed some damping material on the back of the door trim panel itself to minimize its vibration. One complication here - the door trim has a large hard foam block which butts against the door reinforcing tube. If the opening in the inner door frame is covered over, this block doesn't fit anymore. I cut the block back with a hacksaw blade and it fit fine.
When mounting the speakers, I used rope caulk ("mortite") to seal any air gaps between the back and front sides of the speaker. The idea is to minimize any path for sound waves behind the speaker (inside the door) to "escape" and cancel out sound waves from the front of the speaker (this is one reason to create a complete "seal" of damping material on the inner door frame). Using strips of 1/2" x 1/2" closed foam (check out McMaster-Carr on the web... if they don't carry it, it probably doesn't exist! Alternatively, you could probably use weather stripping from from the same big box store.) I added a "gasket" around the front frame of the speaker (not the speaker cone itself!) to press against the door drom to minimize sound "escaping" behind the door trim (the source of its vibrations?).
When all said and done, I notice a distinct improvement in sound... It still gets plenty loud (about the same as the original speakers), but with dramatically improved mid to low bass and dramatically improved definition and clarity and even a hint of imaging. Just as a check, I disconnected the wires from the tweeter unit (you can't just disconnect it since the door speaker is feed throug the tweeter connector) didn't notice any difference at all! I can still detect vibration in the the door trim panels. I don't know that it affects the sound, but it's certainly can't improve it. I have found the best sound using the driver only DSP position, which seems to not use the center dash mid-range unit. You won't be able to rattle the windows in the car next to you or be heard a block away, but it's certainly loud enough to drown out any and all road noise and passenger conversation!
Based on this experience, I plan to replace the rear door stock drivers with the "sister" 6.5" Boston Acoustic SL65 round driver. The SL line was formerly BA's top of the line coaxial speaker series, but are apparently being phased out in favor of an updated line. As a result, they are currently available at about 1/2 the original list price or ~$150/pair. So the front doors have cost me $150 for speakers, about $100 for damping material, $25 for tools, some painful cuts to fingers and knuckles and a full day of time. I did one door one weekend which, as my first ever speaker install attempt, was slow and agonizing. The second door was a breeze in comparison since I knew exactly what to expect.
I'll post again after they are in to report what improvements they may have made.
- Ted
PS - I took a few photos during the process. Let me know if they would be beneficial and I'll see if I can figure out how to post some.
Wanted to share my experience with upgrading speakers in my newly acquired '07 with NAV and Bluetooth and standard "premium" audio.. Previously I had a '99 ES300 (internal coolant leak at 250K miles
) and had been very happy with its stock sound system. In comparison, the ES350 sound seemed muffled and indistinct. There was also significant flexing/vibrating/pulsing of the door trim even with modest bass. I wanted to retain the stock appearance, and based on my research, changing head units/amplifiers would mean giving up the stock nav and bluetooth. Note that the amplifier is located in front of the passenger rear wheel. So... I decided to try speaker upgrades first, as well as adding damping in the doors (in my case, RaamMat).First, I armed myself with a DVD copy of the complete maintenance manual from a seller on e-bay (in Latvia!) for about $20. Worth every penny to see the wiring diagrams, clip locations, dis- and re-assembly instructions, etc, etc. !
Regardless of the replacement speaker size, a mounting baffle will be needed. The front doors contain a 6.5" "woofer" unit molded into a one piece oblong "frame" which fits a large cutout in the door frame. There is a connector on the frame which plugs into the wire harness in the door. (The Crutchfield "Toyota" speaker harness fits perfectly for a replacement speaker). The "woofer" unit looks pretty cheap and has a only a small 1" diameter magnet. I elected to use a 6x9" Boston Acoustics speaker, SL95, based on reviews, reputation and price. The depth of the speaker less any offset from the baffle (about 1") is CRITICAL so that the back of the speaker doesn't hit the window when its lowered in the door. I found a pre-fabricated baffle for a 6x9 speaker on e-bay. The same baffles will fit recent year (07+) Camry, Tacoma or the ES. (Note that Crutchfield doesn't carry this baffle and consequently shows the 6x9 speaker as incompatible. However their 6.5" speaker baffle for Toyotas fits fine).
I also investigated options for changing the dash mount tweeters. The grill covers pop off, although a great deal of (careful!) prying is required, using a plastic wedge, taped putty knife, etc. to avoid marring the dash itself. The service manual shows removing the entire front pillar garnish to provide more clearance, but I found this wasn't strictly needed. However, the clearance is tight and I ended up with small smudge marks where the grill rubbed against the garnish. I'll tape it off next time... Inside, a 1" tweeter is mounted on a metal bracket which bolts into stand-offs in the dash. The grill has a matching cut-out where through which the tweeter "fires". The grill also has an un-opened space where the mid-range driver from the ML system would be. The wire harness feed for the door unit passes through the 4 terminal connector on the tweeter assembly. In the non-ML system, it's just wired back ("shorted") from the tweeter input to back to the door harness (i.e. the tweeter and the woofer get the same signal). I suppose that the ML system would use some type of cross-over to limit the frequencies passed onto the door. With this arrangement, the same wire harness can be used for either version.
Anyway, I noticed that there is never that much sound from the tweeters, and after removing one, I know why... The tweeter has a DC resistance of 3.6 ohms (typical for a "4-ohm" speaker). However, there is a 2 uf (Micro-farad) capacitor built into the plastic housing in series with the tweeter. This combination will result in attenuating all frequencies below 22Khz, the upper limit of hearing !! I suspect that this should have been a 20uF cap. So, it's no wonder that the sound is so muddy! The tweeter input is essentially non-existent at and below normal tweeter frequencies and the "woofer" probably can't reproduce mid-range frequencies even as well as a transistor radio! One could also install a component system with cross over and tweeter in the dash using the existing wire harness.
SO, on to the install... The door trim panel (the part you see) is held on 5 screws (make sure you keep track of which goes where!), AND 8 or 9 clips which pop in (and, hopefully out) of holes in the metal door frame. I bought a dedicated pry tool from Crutchfield which was a big help (TIP - tape the metal end of whatever you pry with to avoid scratching the paint on the exposed metal of the door). The top of the door panel clips over a metal lip at the top of the window, so swing out the bottom the un-screwed, up-cliped trim panel, and lift up. The door panel will come off the door. Then you need to disconnect any remaining wires, lock cables, etc. The door has a plastic moisture barrier with a little padding on it. Since I planned to use added damping material as the barrier, I removed and discarded this. Inside the door can be seen the external sheet metal, a tube the length of the door (crash barrier, I suppose) and the internal metal frame (closest to the passenger compartment).
Working through the holes in the inner door frame. I applied a single layer of damping material (per it's instructions) over the entire surface of the external sheet metal. This is slow and tedious (and may require several Band-Aids!). Then put a layer of damping material over the inner frame. To cover large (> 6") holes, I cut "covers" from aluminum roof flashing (from my local big box home store) to provide a foundation for the damping material. Don't put damping material around the bend in the door frame (like I did!) because that portion is exposed even with the door trim on. Make sure you make provisions for bringing through all the wire harnesses, lock cables, etc. I also placed some damping material on the back of the door trim panel itself to minimize its vibration. One complication here - the door trim has a large hard foam block which butts against the door reinforcing tube. If the opening in the inner door frame is covered over, this block doesn't fit anymore. I cut the block back with a hacksaw blade and it fit fine.
When mounting the speakers, I used rope caulk ("mortite") to seal any air gaps between the back and front sides of the speaker. The idea is to minimize any path for sound waves behind the speaker (inside the door) to "escape" and cancel out sound waves from the front of the speaker (this is one reason to create a complete "seal" of damping material on the inner door frame). Using strips of 1/2" x 1/2" closed foam (check out McMaster-Carr on the web... if they don't carry it, it probably doesn't exist! Alternatively, you could probably use weather stripping from from the same big box store.) I added a "gasket" around the front frame of the speaker (not the speaker cone itself!) to press against the door drom to minimize sound "escaping" behind the door trim (the source of its vibrations?).
When all said and done, I notice a distinct improvement in sound... It still gets plenty loud (about the same as the original speakers), but with dramatically improved mid to low bass and dramatically improved definition and clarity and even a hint of imaging. Just as a check, I disconnected the wires from the tweeter unit (you can't just disconnect it since the door speaker is feed throug the tweeter connector) didn't notice any difference at all! I can still detect vibration in the the door trim panels. I don't know that it affects the sound, but it's certainly can't improve it. I have found the best sound using the driver only DSP position, which seems to not use the center dash mid-range unit. You won't be able to rattle the windows in the car next to you or be heard a block away, but it's certainly loud enough to drown out any and all road noise and passenger conversation!
Based on this experience, I plan to replace the rear door stock drivers with the "sister" 6.5" Boston Acoustic SL65 round driver. The SL line was formerly BA's top of the line coaxial speaker series, but are apparently being phased out in favor of an updated line. As a result, they are currently available at about 1/2 the original list price or ~$150/pair. So the front doors have cost me $150 for speakers, about $100 for damping material, $25 for tools, some painful cuts to fingers and knuckles and a full day of time. I did one door one weekend which, as my first ever speaker install attempt, was slow and agonizing. The second door was a breeze in comparison since I knew exactly what to expect.
I'll post again after they are in to report what improvements they may have made.
- Ted
PS - I took a few photos during the process. Let me know if they would be beneficial and I'll see if I can figure out how to post some.
09-16-09, 03:47 PM
#2
This is a great (and comprehensive) post. This is exactly what i was looking for to start upgrading my stock speakers. Thanks for your hard work of informing all of the members here on what you have accomplished. I look forward to seeing some of the pictures if you have time to post them. Thanks!
09-20-09, 07:49 PM
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Follow up - rear speakers installed!
Finished the rear doors this weekend. Replaced the stock speakers with Boston Acoustics SL65, a round 6.5" coaxial speaker.
Found out the hard way that mounting brackets are also needed for the rear doors. I "improvized" using some 5/8"thick MDF (medium density fiberboard) by tracing the outline of the original speaker and its integral mounting bracket and then and drilling holes in the mating positions (and of course, cutting an opening in the center for the speaker itself!). These certainly aren't going to win any woodworking awards, but seemed to do the trick. I also needed to replace the original bolts/screws with longer ones to account for the thickness of the MDF. I used 1 1/2" #14 sheet metal screws with and added a washer to spread the load of the screw on the surface of the MDF.
I also applied some sound damping to the outer skin of the door and most of the exposed metal surfaces on the interior frame. There's some sort of metal "box" attached near the bottom of the door. I removed it for much better access through the mounting hole to reach the exterior metal skin of the door. (amazingly enough, there are no wires attached to it). I didn't bother to remove the plastic vapor barrier or to put any damping material over it. This made it a lot easier and faster than the front doors.
Used a small bead of rope caulk between the MDF and the door frame and another between the speaker flange and the MDF.
One point I forgot in my original post... The factory speakers are custom manufactured into the unusual, required mounting shapes. This also allows space for speaker harness to connect to the speaker on the side of the molded plastic frame speaker. Using aftermarket speakers, the terminals are always on the back side of the speaker, to these wires need to be brought through to the front (underneath the speaker flange) to the still be accessible to the wire harness plug. This must be done BEFORE final mounting of the speaker! I tried to take care not to over-tighten for fear of cutting these wires under the speaker or adapter.
The factory back door speakers are exactly the same driver element s the front door "woofers", just built into a different shaped mounting frame. I think this explains why the stock system doesn't have much clarity... there's no speaker driver to effectively cover the upper mid-range. (See previous post as to why there's no significant sound from the tweeter).
With all four door speakers replaced, the both the bass and clarity is amazing (at least compared to the original sound). Lyrics are just "there" and there's no need to listen extra closely to understand them. Bass is solid with a fair degree of punch but without excessive boomy-ness. With the right recording, there's even hints of "air" around soloists. Reasonable center imaging for the driver using the driver only DSP setting (which seems to provide the clearest presentation).
The sound is now noticeably better than my factory '99 ES300 sound, which I always thought was pretty good! I'm not sure it's going to be worth the time and effort to tackle some type of upgrade to the sub-woofer. I'm certainly going to listen for some time (with great enjoyment!) before I undertake any new steps!
All-in-all, a giant thumbs up for replacing the stock speakers with high quality replacements!
PS - I'll plan to put up some pictures in the next few days.
Found out the hard way that mounting brackets are also needed for the rear doors. I "improvized" using some 5/8"thick MDF (medium density fiberboard) by tracing the outline of the original speaker and its integral mounting bracket and then and drilling holes in the mating positions (and of course, cutting an opening in the center for the speaker itself!). These certainly aren't going to win any woodworking awards, but seemed to do the trick. I also needed to replace the original bolts/screws with longer ones to account for the thickness of the MDF. I used 1 1/2" #14 sheet metal screws with and added a washer to spread the load of the screw on the surface of the MDF.
I also applied some sound damping to the outer skin of the door and most of the exposed metal surfaces on the interior frame. There's some sort of metal "box" attached near the bottom of the door. I removed it for much better access through the mounting hole to reach the exterior metal skin of the door. (amazingly enough, there are no wires attached to it). I didn't bother to remove the plastic vapor barrier or to put any damping material over it. This made it a lot easier and faster than the front doors.
Used a small bead of rope caulk between the MDF and the door frame and another between the speaker flange and the MDF.
One point I forgot in my original post... The factory speakers are custom manufactured into the unusual, required mounting shapes. This also allows space for speaker harness to connect to the speaker on the side of the molded plastic frame speaker. Using aftermarket speakers, the terminals are always on the back side of the speaker, to these wires need to be brought through to the front (underneath the speaker flange) to the still be accessible to the wire harness plug. This must be done BEFORE final mounting of the speaker! I tried to take care not to over-tighten for fear of cutting these wires under the speaker or adapter.
The factory back door speakers are exactly the same driver element s the front door "woofers", just built into a different shaped mounting frame. I think this explains why the stock system doesn't have much clarity... there's no speaker driver to effectively cover the upper mid-range. (See previous post as to why there's no significant sound from the tweeter).
With all four door speakers replaced, the both the bass and clarity is amazing (at least compared to the original sound). Lyrics are just "there" and there's no need to listen extra closely to understand them. Bass is solid with a fair degree of punch but without excessive boomy-ness. With the right recording, there's even hints of "air" around soloists. Reasonable center imaging for the driver using the driver only DSP setting (which seems to provide the clearest presentation).
The sound is now noticeably better than my factory '99 ES300 sound, which I always thought was pretty good! I'm not sure it's going to be worth the time and effort to tackle some type of upgrade to the sub-woofer. I'm certainly going to listen for some time (with great enjoyment!) before I undertake any new steps!
All-in-all, a giant thumbs up for replacing the stock speakers with high quality replacements!
PS - I'll plan to put up some pictures in the next few days.
09-22-09, 03:00 PM
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Any particular reason not to go with Infinity? I had Kappas in my other car and was thinking of doing the same or Reference in my 09 ES. Why Boston?....just curious.
09-24-09, 04:17 PM
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Why Boston....
No particular reason as to not Infinity. I made my choice based on a number of opinions found on the web and a great price. I would say that the BA speakers seem to have about the same sensitivity as the factory speakers. I've noticed that some of the high end speakers have relatively low sensitivity which might require more amplifier power than the factory amp could deliver.
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