jcrawford999
New member
After 11 years, the stock speakers in my 98 were sounding a little tired. I decided to do a little upgrade to my sound system. Thanks to all the previous posts here, I knew what to expect once I opened up the door panels.
I had initially installed 6.5 coax JBL GTO627 on the front doors. With the included Intermount III speaker rings, installation was a breeze. I simply mounted the speaker rings onto the door and then bolted the speakers right on. The highs were clear and the bass was surprisingly punchy for a 6.5. However, I realized with the low speaker positioning that every time I moved my knee a little over, the high frequencies were blocked on the left speaker.
I had also ordered 5.25 inch JBL GTO527 at the same time for the back doors. A few days later as I started fabricating the adapter bracket for the rear doors, I realized that the door opening was big enough for the 6.5. I decided to yank out the front speaker to see if they would fit in the back. To my surprise, 3 of the four screw holes on the rear doors lined up perfectly with the openings of the Intermount III bracket! The 4th screw simply fit right outside the rim of the bracket. The only issue I had was with the window clearance with the speaker magnet. It was easily solved with a little self-adhesive weather stripping taped on the back of the bracket. Both of the 6.5 JBL GTO627s ended up on the rear doors without modification.
I ended up returning the GTO527 and getting a set of Infinity 6020CS (6.5 components) for the front doors instead. I decided to get components to compensate for the low position of the Runner's front woofers. Installation of components was a little more involved. Luckily, since JBL and Infinity are made by the same company, the 6020CS also came with the same Intermount III speaker rings. The woofer bolted right on like the GTO627. I used the OEM tweeter bracket to hold the new tweeters. I ended up cutting a little trim on the door trim panel and taping the crossover directly inside the trim panel.
The Infinity 6020CS sound great! The tweeters are clear and crisp. The woofers definitely do a better job with the vocals than the JBL coaxials. Curiously, the bass is not quite as strong as the JBLs in the back but the two complement each other quite well.
In summary, for those of you who are thinking upgrading your 3rd gen speakers. 6.5 inch speakers with the Intermount III brackets mount with no modifications in the stock locations both on the front door and the BACK!!!
My card reader doesn't like my new SDHC card. I'll post some pictures once I get a new card reader.
I had initially installed 6.5 coax JBL GTO627 on the front doors. With the included Intermount III speaker rings, installation was a breeze. I simply mounted the speaker rings onto the door and then bolted the speakers right on. The highs were clear and the bass was surprisingly punchy for a 6.5. However, I realized with the low speaker positioning that every time I moved my knee a little over, the high frequencies were blocked on the left speaker.
I had also ordered 5.25 inch JBL GTO527 at the same time for the back doors. A few days later as I started fabricating the adapter bracket for the rear doors, I realized that the door opening was big enough for the 6.5. I decided to yank out the front speaker to see if they would fit in the back. To my surprise, 3 of the four screw holes on the rear doors lined up perfectly with the openings of the Intermount III bracket! The 4th screw simply fit right outside the rim of the bracket. The only issue I had was with the window clearance with the speaker magnet. It was easily solved with a little self-adhesive weather stripping taped on the back of the bracket. Both of the 6.5 JBL GTO627s ended up on the rear doors without modification.
I ended up returning the GTO527 and getting a set of Infinity 6020CS (6.5 components) for the front doors instead. I decided to get components to compensate for the low position of the Runner's front woofers. Installation of components was a little more involved. Luckily, since JBL and Infinity are made by the same company, the 6020CS also came with the same Intermount III speaker rings. The woofer bolted right on like the GTO627. I used the OEM tweeter bracket to hold the new tweeters. I ended up cutting a little trim on the door trim panel and taping the crossover directly inside the trim panel.
The Infinity 6020CS sound great! The tweeters are clear and crisp. The woofers definitely do a better job with the vocals than the JBL coaxials. Curiously, the bass is not quite as strong as the JBLs in the back but the two complement each other quite well.
In summary, for those of you who are thinking upgrading your 3rd gen speakers. 6.5 inch speakers with the Intermount III brackets mount with no modifications in the stock locations both on the front door and the BACK!!!
My card reader doesn't like my new SDHC card. I'll post some pictures once I get a new card reader.
