Installed new dash speakers

I have a '17 Limited DC without JBL. The factory speakers left a lot to desire. My goal was to keep the factory HU and upgrade the speakers. The DC does not have tweeters in the sail panels, so my entire front soundstage consists of the 6x9s mid/wooders in the doors, the dash corner speakers, and the dash center speaker.

As a first step, I decided to buy dash speakers on the tech12volt group buy. They consisted of a pair of Kenwood X2C full-range speakers. The Kenwoods were a step up from the factory speakers, but I found the sound thin and not capable of carrying the mid and high frequency range required for my front sound stage. The build quality was also kind of weak. One of the mounting tabs was broken on arrival, and I broke a second one installing them. The tabs are thin plastic.

I spent weeks researching alternatives and settled on the Audiofrog GS25. They are full range speakers capable of a frequency range of 200-20K Hz. They are also fairly efficient at 87dB into 4ohms. They are made to fit the dash openings of Toyota, Mercedes, and some GM vehicles. There are 3 sets of steel mounting brackets installed - 2 of which are not needed and removed. They are marked Toyota, MB/Toyota, and GM. For my Tundra - the MB/Toyota tabs worked best.


Installation was simple. They fit perfectly with NO modifications required. Fit is tight - there is only about 1/16" clearance in depth - but they fit! Note the nifty isolation bushings included in the package (one above and one below the bracket)




Here is a comparison of the Audiofrog, Kenwood and the factory original:



Interestingly, the Audiofrog are advertised as a 2.5" speaker, but they are larger than both the Kenwood 2.75" and the factory 3"



How do they sound? Glorious! They are so smooth that they are almost transparent. I mean.... the sound field is broad and clear and difficult to pinpoint from where it comes from. Highs are crisp and clear, but not fatiguing. No additional tweeters are required. They are not cheap, but a big improvement over the Kenwoods. The factory 6x9 actually doesn't sound bad delegated to bass duty, but next step: Audiofrog GS690 6x9 in the door. I'll post a separate thread when those are installed.

 

I've got a set of audiofrog 6.5" components still in the box waiting for an install day.
Glad to see that there's a dash option from a high end builder

 

nice ! does the grille fit over them ?

 

yes, the grill fits perfectly - no different than with the factory speaker.

I wanted to do a writeup with an option for those of us that don't like sail panel tweeters. I find them too far-removed from the mid (sound not blended well) too in-your-face, and always off-axis. The windshield-reflected dash corner full range speakers are evenly dispersed and the sound field perfectly front and center.

Can't wait for my 6x9s. The low-frequency extension is 42hz with a free-air resonance of 58hz. They should do really well will mid/bass and shouldn't require a separate sub, which is difficult to fit in a DC

 

are they dedicated speakers or part of a component set ? did you just re-use oem toyota speaker harness ?

 

Dedicated speakers. They are wide-band full range so no crossover network required. Audiofrog recommends a 200hz 12dB HPF, but I'm running them off HU power, so won't be taxing them and didn't install one. Just look at the frequency chart! Very impressive:



I reused the speaker harness I got from James with the Kenwood speakers. He sells them separately as well. So....plug-n-play

 

Thanks for the writeup! Waiting on harnesses to install the Kenwoods but good to know there's an alternative. I will say the Audiofrogs are almost 4x more so I'm not surprised the sound better.

 

I have the exact set of Kenwoods they sound better than they look.

 

This weekend I am getting my old JL Audio 300/4 amp installed and Alpine Type R components for front and Kicker coaxials in the rear. I already upgraded the head unit with an

$280 Alpine ILX-W650 Digital Multimedia Receiver with CarPlay and Android Auto Compatibility

Alpine ILX-W650. The subs/box/mono amp will have to wait a while, but I will be pretty content with the setup after this weekend.

 

That sounds like a great setup! Let us know how it turns out. I've been debating whether to change out my rear speakers for coaxials - they are for fill only. I rarely have rear passengers.

 

This is why I went with the Kicker coaxials for rear fill and nothing elaborate. It's for rear fill. I am curious how the system will sound because I had the same setup in my Tacoma before getting the Tundra, except the Tacoma I had a Pioneer DVD player in it with no high output RCAs like the 4V preouts that the Alpine has.
I used a Rockford Fosgate PS3 12" sub in a ported box that sat on top of the seat. With the Tundra, I plan on getting 2 shallow mount subs under the seats like the Kicker RT series in a box from Fox Audio. I will use the same Kicker 750.1 mono amp to push the 2 10s. I am interested how they will sound compared to a single 12 that is non shallow. I am hoping that they will be close.

 

I bet those sound awesome.

 

I am enjoying them immensely. While my system won't ever be a thumper, the sound quality is extremely pleasing.