Factory Speaker Resistance?

[Louisiana Overland]

Ive searched through most of the audio threads researching prior to a speaker and amp upgrade I am in the process of doing but didnt see anything about the factory speaker resistance. In particular the rear door and hatch speakers.

The diagram I found shows the 4 speakers running off two rear channels wired in series. If thats the case I can understand why people who have swapped their rear door and hatch speakers characterize it as a ho hum improvement.

Two 4ohm aftermarket speakers in series would be an 8ohm load and the wattage available from the source would be cut tremendously.

Im hoping to hear from someone here who has modified the wiring to make it a parallel connection for the rears rather than series. They ought to get more power with that arrangement. If anyone has done this, where did you tap into the wiring to prevent running new wire through the door jambs?

 

[rigtec]

Ive searched through most of the audio threads researching prior to a speaker and amp upgrade I am in the process of doing but didnt see anything about the factory speaker resistance. In particular the rear door and hatch speakers.

The diagram I found shows the 4 speakers running off two rear channels wired in series. If thats the case I can understand why people who have swapped their rear door and hatch speakers characterize it as a ho hum improvement.

Two 4ohm aftermarket speakers in series would be an 8ohm load and the wattage available from the source would be cut tremendously.

Im hoping to hear from someone here who has modified the wiring to make it a parallel connection for the rears rather than series. They ought to get more power with that arrangement. If anyone has done this, where did you tap into the wiring to prevent running new wire through the door jambs?

Hi Louisiana Overland,

All of the stock speakers are 4ohms. The rear speakers ARE (as you've said), run in series. I changed the rear speaker wiring to only run the L & R rear door speakers; I'm using a sub to cover the cargo area so I don't need the hatch speakers...

and now the rear speakers are only 4ohms so they output more amplitude! You can wire all four rear speakers in parallel for a 2ohm impedance but that requires you to run a positive and negative cable to both sides (L & R) from the rear doors to the hatch.

I believe the hatch gets it's speaker signal first and then it goes to the rear doors! Heres a wiring diagram to verify the scheme:

I'm not sure what your yr your 4R is but if it's between 2010 and 2013 this diagram is the one. If it's newer, the rear wiring is the same but there are relays in the passenger side kick panel (Party-mode) which alter the speaker wiring to change which speakers will operate; the system was poorly designed so was abandon!

But if you look at the speakers and wires, it's really the same thing; just ignore those relays and wire the tailgate speakers directly to the rear doors speakers and you'll do fine. Be sure to wire POS to POS and NEG to NEG (watch your color codes) and it's gonna be alright! 'Best to you',

rig

 

[flyrv9]

If you're doing a speaker and amp upgrade as you stated, then the impedance of the speakers should match the output channel impedance of the new amp. Also the impedance of the speaker should be marked on each speaker; granted you will have to get to the back of each speaker to see it.

 

[djhuff7]

It can be done without digging into the hatch. If you run new wires to the rear doors, you can splice the pos / neg terminals in the door together and get a solid run from the HU to the rear hatch. Tie these together and you have 2ohm to the amp.

I would NOT do this unless you are adding an amp that can handle it. You are taking a channel which Toyota designed to run at 8ohms and dropping it to 2. It may be able to handle it, but that little amp is going to get HOT. The front speakers are wired in parallel already, so the front channel is already seeing 2 ohms. It might be OK, but if you are doing all this work, add an amp and do it right.

Also, if you do use the factory wiring, remember that the color on one end does not necessarily correspond with the color on the other end at the wiring harnesses. Strange, but verified with a multimeter. Use the colors indicated on the wiring diagram.

 

[Louisiana Overland]

It can be done without digging into the hatch. If you run new wires to the rear doors, you can splice the pos / neg terminals in the door together and get a solid run from the HU to the rear hatch. Tie these together and you have 2ohm to the amp.

I would NOT do this unless you are adding an amp that can handle it. You are taking a channel which Toyota designed to run at 8ohms and dropping it to 2. It may be able to handle it, but that little amp is going to get HOT. The front speakers are wired in parallel already, so the front channel is already seeing 2 ohms. It might be OK, but if you are doing all this work, add an amp and do it right.

Also, if you do use the factory wiring, remember that the color on one end does not necessarily correspond with the color on the other end at the wiring harnesses. Strange, but verified with a multimeter. Use the colors indicated on the wiring diagram.

Im installing an audison bit ten processor and JL Audio 5 channel amp. The amp is rated at 75 watts 4 ohm rms or 100 watts rms for 2 ohm. So i should end up with 50 watts delivered to each rear speaker if i wire it parallel. The speakers are rated for 60 watts rms. (Focal ic 165 toy)

 

[sandcrawler]

depends on factory stereo

note that the wiring differs between the base model stereo and the JBL Premium audio (and so do the speakers, obviously). OP didn't indicate what factory stereo he is modifying/augmenting.

 

[Louisiana Overland]

note that the wiring differs between the base model stereo and the JBL Premium audio (and so do the speakers, obviously). OP didn't indicate what factory stereo he is modifying/augmenting.

Entune with nav. Non JBL. 2017 TRD offroad premium.

 

[mscot]

If you're going to keep them on the head units amp just find a 2ohm or 3ohm coaxial which will give you 4 or 6ohm at the head unit respectively. Should give you a slight bump.

That said, you really want to invest in the front sound stage. If you set the sound stage correctly, replacing the rear speakers doesn't get you much aside from clarity in your rear fill.
You don't want a ton of wattage hitting them - save that for the front.