So after the subwoofer "upgrade", https://www.rav4world.com/threads/jbl-subwoofer-performance-upgrade-mod.332816/ , I got the bug to do some more enhancements to the stereo in the Rav.
The biggest impact seems to be from changing out the OEM JBL 2" tweeters to a set of coax 3.5s. The consensus seems to be that the OEM speakers are 3 ohm (more on that later) and JBLs line of after market speakers were also 3 ohm and match well. I started looking into the possible options and came across the Infinity reference line. I remember them being "higher end" back in the day but know that they under the Harmon umbrella now. Some more looking showed that's also the case for JBL.
On Amazon the Infinitys were going for $45, the JBL GX $55, and the JBL Club for $80. Reading as much as I could they all had the same specs. Plus One cone, textile tweeter, 3 ohm, 25 watt. And they look curiously similar, same basket, similar magnet...
Infinity Reference
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JBL GX
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JBL Club
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So I went with the Infinitys.
They looked nice out of the box and sounded good on the workbench. The documentation said 4 ohm so I metered them and for 2.7 ohms DC or ~3 ohms nominal impedance.
After taking the door panel apart and yanking the stocker I was wondering how to mount them. I didn't love the methods I had seen so far. I contemplated hacking up the original mounts and modding them to fit the 3.5, they look SO close. But then decided to practice my modeling and use my 3D printer to come up with a little cleaner solution that I could also share with the community.
First go I had missed a couple features on the door and I'm not %100 the door panel would fit on the best. Plus I think I could get some additional angle out of it to better fit the door panel lanes.
![Image]()
Admittedly my model was complete trash and if you tried to change anything it broke the rest of the tree so today I started from scratch. Now I can change the angles of the mounting face and it's location X,Y, and Z relative to the mounting flanges and it all just auto updates. Also cleaned up the look a bit.
![Image]()
Currently printing a drivers side to check fit and go from there. Very excite!
Long story short the 3.5" speakers make a huge positive difference. The JBL 2" cones have almost NO high end when you have one of these hooked up and fade left to right. I did measure the tweeter and the woofer and they are both 1.8 DC ohm so they are actually 2 ohm factory speakers not 3 ohm as I was seeing. That said the blend of at least one of these with the stock 2 ohm woofers seems fine. I'll also be doing some deadening of the door skins and panel and will report back once it's all put together.
The biggest impact seems to be from changing out the OEM JBL 2" tweeters to a set of coax 3.5s. The consensus seems to be that the OEM speakers are 3 ohm (more on that later) and JBLs line of after market speakers were also 3 ohm and match well. I started looking into the possible options and came across the Infinity reference line. I remember them being "higher end" back in the day but know that they under the Harmon umbrella now. Some more looking showed that's also the case for JBL.
On Amazon the Infinitys were going for $45, the JBL GX $55, and the JBL Club for $80. Reading as much as I could they all had the same specs. Plus One cone, textile tweeter, 3 ohm, 25 watt. And they look curiously similar, same basket, similar magnet...
Infinity Reference
JBL GX
JBL Club
So I went with the Infinitys.
They looked nice out of the box and sounded good on the workbench. The documentation said 4 ohm so I metered them and for 2.7 ohms DC or ~3 ohms nominal impedance.
After taking the door panel apart and yanking the stocker I was wondering how to mount them. I didn't love the methods I had seen so far. I contemplated hacking up the original mounts and modding them to fit the 3.5, they look SO close. But then decided to practice my modeling and use my 3D printer to come up with a little cleaner solution that I could also share with the community.
First go I had missed a couple features on the door and I'm not %100 the door panel would fit on the best. Plus I think I could get some additional angle out of it to better fit the door panel lanes.
Admittedly my model was complete trash and if you tried to change anything it broke the rest of the tree so today I started from scratch. Now I can change the angles of the mounting face and it's location X,Y, and Z relative to the mounting flanges and it all just auto updates. Also cleaned up the look a bit.
Currently printing a drivers side to check fit and go from there. Very excite!
Long story short the 3.5" speakers make a huge positive difference. The JBL 2" cones have almost NO high end when you have one of these hooked up and fade left to right. I did measure the tweeter and the woofer and they are both 1.8 DC ohm so they are actually 2 ohm factory speakers not 3 ohm as I was seeing. That said the blend of at least one of these with the stock 2 ohm woofers seems fine. I'll also be doing some deadening of the door skins and panel and will report back once it's all put together.
