Crutchfield speaker compatibility confusion

[pipspeak]

Now I'm hunting for new speakers I assumed crutchfield would be the place to go but when I plug in my vehicle details (2004 t4r SE non-JBL) the recommendations are all over the place. For example, I'm told more than half the 6.5" speakers won't fit the rear doors, but a few will. I'm also told some but not all 5.25" speakers will fit the rear doors. And the Front door speaker compatibility advice is similarly all over the place.

Is this just some Crutchfield site snafu or is there some important compatibility factor I'm missing? I had assumed any 6.5" speaker would fit my rear doors (with adapter/spacer), but not according to Crutchfield.

 

[li_runner]

Your missing a big factor ..... depth.

Some speakers are much deeper than others, affecting their fittment. I bet you still want your windows to roll down right?

 

[pipspeak]

There goes another of my assumptions... that our doors were deep enough for any 6.5" speaker! Do you know the max. depth for speakers, front and rear?

 

[drmorbius]

There goes another of my assumptions... that our doors were deep enough for any 6.5" speaker! Do you know the max. depth for speakers, front and rear?

I gathered from reading your posts that you haven't had the door panels off yet. These are shots of the drivers front door with the standard factory system. Notice the 6X9 speaker at the bottom. The black part behind the speaker is the spacer we have all been talking about. Also you can see the window in the access hole in the door, it looks pretty close to the inside of the door. Toyota it seems went to a lot of trouble to make speaker changes difficult, I know I went through plenty before I made my decisions. The pictures are here

 

[pipspeak]

Yes, I was just looking at that thread. Thanks.

However, I just went back and checked the crutchfield site and depth is not the factor that is causing it to advise me most of the 6.5" speakers don't fit. The speakers it says will fit are up to 2" mounting depth. Many of the speakers it says don't fit are under 2" mounting depth, so no idea why they supposedly won't fit.

Additionally, the suggestions folks have given on this board as potential speaker replacements are also over 2" deep (Infinity, for example).

Any more suggestions?! Or do I just assume the crutchfield site is giving dud advice? Last thing I want to do is skip decent speakers for no good reason, or end up with speakers that don't fit.

 

[drmorbius]

Yes, I was just looking at that thread. Thanks.

However, I just went back and checked the crutchfield site and depth is not the factor that is causing it to advise me most of the 6.5" speakers don't fit. The speakers it says will fit are up to 2" mounting depth. Many of the speakers it says don't fit are under 2" mounting depth, so no idea why they supposedly won't fit.

Additionally, the suggestions folks have given on this board as potential speaker replacements are also over 2" deep (Infinity, for example).

Any more suggestions?! Or do I just assume the crutchfield site is giving dud advice? Last thing I want to do is skip decent speakers for no good reason, or end up with speakers that don't fit.

I think the problem is that Crutchfield doesn't offer spacers that are the factory thickness. Even the speakers that come with spacers don't have factory thickness, which is why others have suggested cutting up the original speakers to make them into an adapter, or buying aftermarket spacers/adapters that are made specifically for our runners on Ebay. I know it is frustrating. You might want to remove a door panel and take measurements yourself as most of us don't know the actual speaker depth and if we don't have a door panel off we can't measure either. It's enough of a hassle that I wouldn't want to pull one off just to take measurements for someone else.:biggrin2:

 

[pipspeak]

Thanks... I'll take off the panel this afternoon and take a look. Will the ebay spacer (here) work with any 6.5" speaker (assuming correct depth)?

Also, if anyone can tell me the model of aftermarket speaker they have installed in the rear doors I could simply check the depth of that model and use that as a guide. Thanks again.

 

[li_runner]

I'll pose a different question, do you want to just buy an adapter to make a speaker work, or do you have the ability to make the solution you need? A deeper speaker could work if you make a thicker spacer to pull out the magnet (a bigger offset).

Crutchfield is great for plug & play, and they work towards that goal. If something might be iffy they might not recommend it for you. Obviously I'm not them but this is my opinion after seeing what they recommend.

Here are some answers yes most any 6.5'' will work in the front & rear. Most 6.5'' have modest depth and will fit, only a few of the off-beat brands have monster magnets drapeing off the rear. I don't know the alloted depth in a 4Runner but there is room for a few inches.

There is a big world out there beyond Crutchfield, they only carry a few brands. I would suggest going to your local audio shop and listening a bit. The market is slow for them and they could cough up some good deals right now because of it.

 

[pipspeak]

I'll pose a different question, do you want to just buy an adapter to make a speaker work, or do you have the ability to make the solution you need? A deeper speaker could work if you make a thicker spacer to pull out the magnet (a bigger offset).

My goal is minimal effort! I just want to spend a modest amount ($50-100) to put in some slightly better speakers to replace the crummy rears (fronts will come later). I had planned to buy a mounting adapter and harness to make the job as quick and straightforward as possible then hunt for the best deals on some halfway decent speakers (at sonix or onlinecarstereo, for example).

Sadly there's only one decent independent car audio place i know of in the city and their prices are silly if you don't pay them to install. BB and CC also have very limited options and their prices have barely budged, hence my desire to try to find a better deal online. I still might go and listen to what they do have to see if anything jumps out.

Considering the bass-less muddy slop that comes out of the rears right now I feel like any two-way replacement will be better.

 

[drmorbius]

I'll pose a different question, do you want to just buy an adapter to make a speaker work, or do you have the ability to make the solution you need? A deeper speaker could work if you make a thicker spacer to pull out the magnet (a bigger offset).

Crutchfield is great for plug & play, and they work towards that goal. If something might be iffy they might not recommend it for you. Obviously I'm not them but this is my opinion after seeing what they recommend.

Here are some answers yes most any 6.5'' will work in the front & rear. Most 6.5'' have modest depth and will fit, only a few of the off-beat brands have monster magnets drapeing off the rear. I don't know the alloted depth in a 4Runner but there is room for a few inches.

There is a big world out there beyond Crutchfield, they only carry a few brands. I would suggest going to your local audio shop and listening a bit. The market is slow for them and they could cough up some good deals right now because of it.

:iagree: Sound is a subjective thing. You have people out there who actually want their eardrums to meet in the center of their head on every bass note, and you have others who desire a more balanced experience. Listen to different sets of speakers being driven by a H/U with the same output power as yours until you like what you hear.

 

[li_runner]

If this is for your ears, the rears imo are not the place to begin. You hear very little from that position in the truck.

Another problem is that few speakers will respond well to the <10watts per channel from the stock head unit. Aftermarket mostly are a more high powered design base. You might not get what you expect without more changes.

I find there is no real middle ground, I really feel you have to jump in the pool not wade in from the shallow end. Just swapping speakers without a new head unit lead to underpowered better speakers = possibly no real increase in sound quality. You could keep the stocker, add an amp & speakers but then you are missing the nice features of a quality head unit (built in nav is nice) & all of the above don't even account for bass.

I went this route, I changed the head-unit first. It added more power to the speakers and I found I could deal with them for a while longer while I finish up getting the rest of the stuff.

 

[pipspeak]

I guess I forgot to mention I do have a new HU... a JVC navi with 20W per channel RMS which is the main reason I'm looking at upgrading the speakers.

The rears sound worse than ever with the new HU -- muddy to the point that I have the sound faded mostly to the front. The front speakers sound OK (I'm sure they could improve) but it would be nice to be able to have a bit more of a rounded soudstage by pushing more to the rears even though I know their positioning ain't great. I'm not a bass freak by any means!