[JohnnyG]

OK, so I've looked at all the different brands and people reviews and want to know which 6.5" speakers will give the best bass response. I know that's expecting a lot from 6.5" door speakers, but there's gotta be a pair that's better than the others. Of course, that might mean that they suck in the mids and highs too. I onyl want to replace my head unit (Scion) and the door speakers for now, plus Dynamat, and I want to make sure I get the best sound I can. I was thinking just go with the Infinity Kappa 63.5i all around, even though the bass won't be the best. I already have four Kappas in my 12 year old Del Sol (amplified setup), and I love them, so maybe I'll just go with what works. Seems kind of a shame to buy nice speakers like that for a factory head unit and not amps.

Another possible solution is that I also have four Kenwood KFC-1687 6.5" three-ways I purchased for my S2000 (which I sold a few months ago), but never got around to installing them. And since they will fit the RAV if I recycle the factory speaker bracket, hey, why not.

So, I have a choice between:

Pioneer TS-A1681
Infinity Kappa 63.5i
Kenwood KFC-1687

Wayne: You've got the Pioneers, right? How's the bass response?

And, not to start anything, I didn't realize how incredibly overpriced Crutchfield is. I can get two pairs of the Pioneer TS-A1681s for what they want for one pair. Ouch.

One more thing, when you recycle the factory bracket, is there anything special you have to do or is it pretty much a snap? I can't tell if there was anything weird you had to do to use the bracket from the pictures I saw. How do you attach the speakers to them?

Thanks.

 

[EHinthe604]

First, regarding installation... when I had my speakers installed professionally, they didn't reuse any factory brackets. They installed the front speakers with a bracket, but they were able to mount the rear speakers directly onto the frame, with Dynamat between the door and the speaker.

Second, with respect to speaker choice, I can only speak for my experience with Infinity speakers. I have a pair of 6002si on my front door panels. The sound is very clean, although I would highly recommend amplifying them. They sound the greatest with high-pass, since I have a subwoofer to take care of bass. However, before I got my sub, I had my amplifier on all-pass, and bass response was incredible. However, before getting an amp to power my Infinity speakers, they sounded like a heap of dung, to the extent that I had to adjust my fader to feed more sound to my rear Rockford Fostage speakers. However, with an amplifier installed, the Infinity speakers sound perfect, regardless of whether I had the crossover on high-pass or all-pass.

Good luck!

 

[BryanNH]

Hands down don't get junk like pioneer or kenwood when you're putting Infinity into the mix!!!!! I have infinity Kappa component speakers installed and they are incredible. Hands down don't go with pioneer or kenwood.

As far as installation goes, its fairly simple, but you DO have to buy a bracket to use from Crutchfield - you cannot reuse the bracket in use now from the stock speakers ... I looked & tried! The stock speakers are built into the bracket, all in one, and the bracket is riveted onto the door.

You need to drill out the rivets to remove the stock speakers, mount the new bracket, and then install your speakers onto the new brackets.

When looking at the wiring, the wires from the stereo go up to the tweeter and then down to the main speakers ... so if you have a tweeter in the Rav, I would suggest disconnecting it to improve sound quality. Better yet, I'd suggest going all out and getting Infinity Kappa component speakers for the fronts.

The crossover can be mounted on the door, behind the arm rest. The tweets can be mounted using the surface mount in the same spot as the stock tweets ... then the speakers are pretty obvious. Best of luck to ya, God bless - its easier than it sounds!!!

 

[BryanNH]

One last thing, I saw what you wrote about the rear speaker brackets. I wasn't able to reuse them what-so-ever as the rear speakers are identical to the fronts - the speakers are built into the bracket that is riveted to the door. I once again had to drill out the rivets and install a new bracket from crutchfield - there was no way at all to reuse the rear brackets.

I have a 2001 Rav 4 ... if you drill the back speakers out and put new brackets in, be careful of a bundle of wires that is securely attached to the door frame, directly above & behind the metal of the inside of the door. I drilled right through it and fortunately only shorted a fuse for the power windows - it was on there so solid that the drill went right through it. I didn't break any wires completely, but it was close! HAVE FUN!

 

[JohnnyG]

Other people here have reused the OEM brackets. Haven't read up into how yet, but will in the springtime.

 

[BryanNH]

Really .. I didn't even think to look into how to reuse the speaker mounts. I'll tell u what I did see though, it may make you think about not doing it.

When I took the speakers out, Like I said, the speakers are built into the brakcets. The speakers are firmly attached with glue or something onto the plastic bracket. Under the cone of the speaker are supports that meet at the middle - these would have to be cut from the bracket. The outer edge of the speakers, around the surround, has card board under it - nothing you can secure a screw into. From what I saw it'd not be worth it at all to do a good speaker install if you wanted it done well and done right. If I recall correctly with the infinity speakers I bought, there wasn't even a way to correctly mount the speaker on the oem bracket.

Not that I'm telling you to not reuse the bracket, but it doesn't seem worth it at all if you want it done right - and want to do it with less work. Good luck if you can, but spend the $30 or whatever it is to do it right the first time!!!

 

[JohnnyG]

I haven't looked yet myself, but if it's a lot of trouble, I won't reuse them. I have an existing set of four Kenwood 6½" speakers leftover from when I had my S2000 and I'm hoping that they will fit. I'm also wondering if the Infinity Kappa 63.5i speakers will fit.