3isafter2

Hi everyone
Just purchased my first ever car a few days ago, a 2023 IS350 in Atomic Silver. Obsessed with it so far, though admittedly there are a few shortcomings and I do feel it's a tad overpriced..

That being said, one of the main things I wasn't too ecstatic about was the base sound system. Vocals and lower treble sounds veiled, like there's a good dip in the upper midrange. Turning up the treble in the EQ helps a little but still not completely there. I've decided I'm going to replace the dashboard speakers as it seems a few people have done so and reported good results. Could also use a subwoofer but that's a lot more invasive than a simple speaker replacement, so I'll save that for later!

However, there are three dashboard speakers - one for each corner, and a center speaker, all fitting up to 4" from what I've read. Since speakers are generally sold in pairs, I was curious as to whether or not replacing the corner speakers with one brand, while leaving the middle stock / replacing it with a different brand, would lead to wonkiness. Since the driver is positioned in between corner speaker + center speaker, does the center speaker have to be the same as the corner speaker to ensure proper sound?

I already have the speakers coming in and should be able to replace them tomorrow and report back. But if I can save a few bucks by using a value speaker in the center, that might be an interesting move both in terms of sound and money.

thanks - hope to hear if anyone has replaced their dashboard speakers!

3isafter2

Update - dashboard speaker replacement completed. Hope these coming posts help someone who is looking to do the same.

I took a good look at some resources on this forum as well as some Amazon reviews before making some purchases. Saw quite a few places mention that the IS350 could support up to 4" diameter speakers, so I ended up purchasing two affordable sets of 4" coaxials:

• JBL Club 422F, 4" Coaxial pair
• Infinity REF-4032CFX 4" coaxial pair

TLDR - the above two speakers do NOT fit in the IS350 without some heavy modification.

As mentioned in this thread by @MacroZed, there is a high risk that a much larger magnet as well as mounting depth will not sit properly. Just look at the size difference of the stock speakers compared to the 422F... the stock speakers are honestly quite disappointing especially in a $55k vehicle, and I'm not surprised after seeing the size of the thing.

3isafter2

Before I get into what happened in my case, if you are not keen on doing irreversible modifications to the car then I highly recommend picking a 3.5" speaker for the simplest installation. Can probably be done in less than $50 and 45 minutes of work. Will probably bring a good improvement in sound as well.

As mentioned in the previous post, I purchased two sets of 4" speakers since a lot of sources mentioned that the IS fits up to 4" speakers. There are three speakers in the dash: one in each corner, and a center channel. All three are 3.5" speakers from the factory.

• 4-inch speakers all have 4 mounting points, so from the very get go you have to cut off two mounting points. After this is done you 99% are unable to return th
  e speakers, so you're locked in to the upgrade at this point. Depending on the speaker, it might just drop in without any issue at this point.
• In my case, JBL and Infinity 4" speakers were actually a hair too tight to fit into the slot. I had to grind away plastic around the holes to give the speakers clearance to fit, otherwise the speakers couldn't mount, they sat too high, or unevenly and angled towards the windshield.. This was the case for both of the speakers.

speaker sat under the ledge and angled towards the windshield. note that the mounting points meant it had to slide under the edge even more which would touch the rubber surround

angled awkwardly because the 4" speakers were too large