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I decided to do just the dash speakers since they were easy to get to and I read from another Forum member about the great improvement in sound. He also wrote to me about the use of the wiring harness for the dash speakers. He was right about changing all three dash speakers and the amazing improvement in sound. His identifier is "energyarts".
The cost of the speakers and harness materials was about $170. I did the install. I'm pleased with the improved sound and won't be doing anymore speaker changes.
Also, I didn't want the risk of creating a rattle by having the door speakers changed. All four door panels must be removed to access the the speakers. Of course this would be dependent on the experience of the installer. One option is you may want to get a quote on installation on just the dash speakers. If not pleased, do the doors next.
Perfect. Agreed with you. I have just placed an order for Infinity Reference 8042 Speakers and Metra 72-8019. I have also scheduled the installation at Best Buy for $79.99. Speakers cost $54.99/pair.
I'll go ahead and replace all the dash speakers. Thank you very much for the valuable input.
Crutchfield told me the same thing. But, on my 2021 RX I guarantee that the harnesses mentioned will work perfectly on all three of the dash speakers. I strongly believe that the same wiring harness is also used on the 2016-2022 RX style. I wouldn't have done the job if it required cutting into the cars wiring harness. If you ever sell the car and wish to replace the speakers back to OEM, you can do so easily since the original connectors are still in place.
The Infinity ref 4032 speakers I chose for the dash have a large magnet. The most difficult of the three was the passenger corner location due to some a/c piping. I had to use a sharp knife to trim part of the under dash toward the windshield for the speaker to sit flat. Not a big deal and you certainly don't see it. All the speakers come with 4 tabs of which two need to be removed cleanly. The slots on the remaining two tabs need to be widened to accommodate the 10mm bolts. This is where a file or a Dremel is handy. A different speaker with a smaller magnet may be easier to install, but I'm very pleased with my choice. I'm hearing instruments in familiar songs I've never heard before.
Looks like the stock speakers have some kind of a build in cross-over no? Also these 4" Infinitys are 3 ohm, there should be a ohm marking on the magnet of the stock ones.
Are there sensitivity markings on the stock speakers?
Looks like the stock speakers have some kind of a build in cross-over no? Also these 4" Infinitys are 3 ohm, there should be a ohm marking on the magnet of the stock ones.
Are there sensitivity markings on the stock speakers?
The two stock corner speakers have a fine dust screen covering the speaker cone. The center stock speaker, not shown in my two photos, has no fine dust cover. I just checked the stock speakers. There were no visible markings on the corner speakers, but the center stock speaker has a 4 ohm mark. A tech at Crutchfield told me the new speakers were more sensitive to electrical input. Hence, this was one reason for the better sound.
I just replaced 7 of the 9 speakers (plus 2 tweeters) in a 2022 RX350 with the non-ML Nav system. The dash speakers were relatively easy, but there was no
plug & play option - I had to splice in the new speakers.
The 2 front doors had a 6x9 openings but the speakers were 6.5 or 6.75 inches. I went with 6x9's.
The 2 rear doors are component with a 6.5 inch woofer and small tweeter. I went with a built-in crossover speaker. Note the aftermarket woofers have the crossovers
in the baskets and so the speaker connections go to the woofers first, then the tweeters. The OEM speaker connections were opposite (the factory speaker wires went to t
the tweeter first).
In addition, I sound proofed each door with Second Skin Damplifier on the inside of each door and also the side facing into the car (beneath the door panel). Inside the door I used 3/8
Overkill Pro and Overkill (1/8 inch) on the side of the door that is under the door panel. I also used Roadkill Fast Rings.
I have used Polk before in other cars - they are nice. Never used the Rockfords before. I didn't want to spend a ton of
money (been there done that) but these are decent. The big different of course is the decrease in road noise/sheet metal rattle.
I ended up putting Damplifier on the cargo floor and covered it with Second Skin Luxury Liner Pro. The Luxury Linder Pro
is heavy stuff but everything went back into the cargo area with no problem. I haven't taken it for a ride since doing the cargo area,
but I expect the car to be even quieter - which will improve the speaker sound. Overall the new speakers are a vast improvement
over factory.
Hi guys,just upgraded speakers in my car and I absolutly love the results. For context i have the 9 speaker system with no subwoofer (no navi) the front door speaker are only fed lower frequencies.
I started with replacing the 2 dash speakers with Kicker KS 4" coaxials, and it really brought out more sound and crispness that was lacking in the old paper tweeters. I've now went ahead and repalced the center channel as well and that really cleared things up, i was going to return the speakers if it didnt make enough difference but it did, i think thats because for my system the center channel is where all the mids are at.
I'm actually really happy with the way things are now so i'm a little hesitent with the next step... which is adding Kicker 6x9s in the front door. But i will, since i dont have a subwoofer and i want a little more lower frequency response. I'll be disconnecting the tweeter fron the 6x9s to avoid having issues with tweeter staging harmonics (just cut a couple of wires behind the speaker)
The one thing i had to figure out was which wire is which for the center channel, (Black is +, Brown is -)
Another issue with being happy with the center channel is now i'm left with a leftover speaker since these are sold in pairs. If anyones needs this please let me know,
I have the basic 2021 RX 350 model but I am not enjoying the sound from the radio , it sounds low Fi at best . The iTunes sound a bit better but XM Sat really low Fi . The so called Sub it sounds like it's not even connected. Need new Amps & a harness not touching the head unit but the system should sound really good with a decent DSP board . Wonder how much would this venture would costs?..
I have the basic 2021 RX 350 model but I am not enjoying the sound from the radio , it sounds low Fi at best . The iTunes sound a bit better but XM Sat really low Fi . The so called Sub it sounds like it's not even connected. Need new Amps & a harness not touching the head unit but the system should sound really good with a decent DSP board . Wonder how much would this venture would costs?..
What system do you have? Do you have Navi? If no then you don't even have a sub. What volume do you listen to your music at? Is it loud enough?( I mean highs and mids)
Your right. I found the original sound to be a little lackluster. My new 2021 RX with navigation has a sub-woofer in the cargo area and has 12 rather than the 9 speaker non-navigation option. I followed the advice of several other members and replaced all three-dash speakers with after-market speakers from Crutchfield. The installation is easy and not that expensive. Basically, your replacing 3.5" OEM dash speakers with 4" speakers. There's room. The speakers from Crutchfield and wiring harnesses from Amazon was about $175. The new speakers have less resistance, so they place less load on the head unit with much better sound. I'm happy with this upgrade so I won't be changing out anything else.
Your right. I found the original sound to be a little lackluster. My new 2021 RX with navigation has a sub-woofer in the cargo area and has 12 rather than the 9 speaker non-navigation option. I followed the advice of several other members and replaced all three-dash speakers with after-market speakers from Crutchfield. The installation is easy and not that expensive. Basically, your replacing 3.5" OEM dash speakers with 4" speakers. There's room. The speakers from Crutchfield and wiring harnesses from Amazon was about $175. The new speakers have less resistance, so they place less load on the head unit with much better sound. I'm happy with this upgrade so I won't be changing out anything else.
I agree with all of the above and want to point some things out.
Navi and non Navi both use the same 8 channel Digital amp that from what I can tell but the non Navi vehicle s do not utilize the sub channel. Each speaker on the dash gets its own channel, but they only get high frequencies. Each speaker in the front doors gets its own channel, but only get low frequencies. You'll be able to tell by setting the balance all to one side and listen to the front door speaker and the rear door lower speaker on that side. All of the speaker on each rear door share a channel ( so only 2 channels for the rear). If the current system is loud enough for you then maybe you just need to replace speakers. If you need a subwoofers than consider giving up the rear channels for sub amp signal input. If your replacing factory sub then just use sub output as signal source for new amp.
AS for cost it really depends on your local shop, see what they quote you for what the options I've suggested.
Keep in mind the front dash speaker grills only have a 3.3 inch opening, so don't get something with too big of a tweeter or it will cover the mids sound. Also, the smaller the tweeter the better it is for off axis listening. Also get silk instead of metallic tweeter, that last advice might be subjective, but listening fatigue is real ( had MB Quart QSD, Focal K2p in the past, none sounded as good as my friends Oz audio superman logo components. I eventually got Alpine type X pro with the ring radiated tweeter and never looked back). For dash speaker I highly recommend Kicker KS 4". I think bestbuy have them on display.
Edit: I also have a single kicker 4" for sale in marketplace if it turns out that's the speaker you like.
To everyone who has done dash speaker replacement or is thinking about dash speaker replacement
Please pay attention to the underside of the speaker grill, especially for the corner, and especially for the right side since that corner tends to stick up a bit.
There is a rim under the grill that can come into contact with you speaker that need to be trimmed. If you had to give it any force to push the grill down like that dude on YouTube with his JL C1s did I'm certain you speaker is touching the grill. So trim those rims off, I've attached pics
If you don't have a tool to do so I've attached a pic of a $10 tool from Harbor Freight I used. It is a real POS but will get the job done, but it's not strong enough for any job tougher than this.
02-01-23, 05:32 AM
