[ChaosShadow]

Hi All! Have a 2017 Limited with the JBL system, and found this thread very interesting. Overall, I never hated this system... but always felt something was missing. For me, I never had a problem with the speakers being front heavy... I prefer my sound system to have better sound imaging versus the front/rear balance. However, two things I do find annoying are:

• Dash speakers sound soooo tinny, and like everyone else is saying... no mids.

• The other issue I have... I'm 6'3" so, I find at my height, I'm not hearing as much from the dash speakers as I would like. If I slouch down, then they come to life.

So, for those that have replaced the dash speakers with the Sound Ordinance, couple questions I have

• Do the highs sound more clean versus someone jiggling aluminum foil?

• Does the sound fill the front cabin (especially up in the clouds for tall folks like me)?

Also, while looking on Crutchfield, I noticed they have Infinity Reference available. Anyone try these? I had a Civic Si back in the day, and I installed Infinity Reference components in the front and 6x9s in the rear. They had awesome clarity and good midrange presence.

 

[ChaosShadow]

Can't answer your question about being 6'3", I'm only 5'10" but if you go back and read the very first post you will see why the Sound Ordnance speakers were used. They have a sensitivity rating of 84dB while the Infinity have a rating of 91dB. According to everything I have read on this thread the way to make this JBL system sound better is to lower the dash speakers sensitivity rating.
I have a 2016 Rav4 Hybrid Limited with JBL and purchased the Sound Ordnance but haven't had time to install them yet. There was also someone on this thread that purchased three different front dash speakers and did a comparison. Don't know what page it is on but it is in there somewhere.
Also take a look at this thread.
http://www.rav4world.com/forums/124-4-4-interior/264897-premium-jbl-bass-improvement-hack.html

Apologies, I wasn't putting two and two together about the sensitivity piece, but that makes sense.


I did see the comparison post, using a combination of stock/replacement speakers and utilizing rheostats. He did mention that the Sound ordinance did not have good sound quality. Also, my main focus is not so much about the volume of the dash speakers, but the sound quality.

I tested all 3 speakers from Crutchfield and 2 rheostats.
1- JBL Club 3020
2- Kicker 44KSC3504
3- Sound Ordnance P-35B
4- 5-ohm rheostats
5- 50-ohm rheostat.

Between those speakers, JBL club 3020 was the best only in terms of sound quality but the same as OEM JBL, they were too loud.
Kicker 44KSC3504 was not good at all.
P-35B, the sound quality was not that good but it solves the balance problem just a little bit!
Adding a 5 OHM resistor makes the OEM JBL speakers the same as P-35 in terms of sound balance, but the quality will be better.

But I did not like any of them. I thought dash speakers were still too loud and rear speakers were too weak.
So I made 50-ohm rheostat series with the speaker for each side (JBL OEM). I found that somewhere around 25-30 OHM, gives me the best result.
with this, I still clearly could hear dash speakers and they are still dominant vs rear but they are also in harmony.
I still did not solder things together, hopefully in a week or so. I will take pictures and I will post them in a new thread.

If you ignore the volume of the dash speakers, how would you compare the sound quality between the Kicker, JBL and Sound Ordinance? Like... what made one better than the other?

 

[ChaosShadow]

So, I'm really close to biting the bullet and picking up the sound ordinance for the front dash. However, I've read some other posts that the rear speakers are still not as present without fading. It got me thinking... has anyone thought of replacing the rear door speakers with a speaker that has a higher sensitivity (in addition to the front dash)? The point of the sound ordinance in the dash was to reduce the volume with that lower sensitivity, so why not do the reverse on the rear door? Thoughts?

 

[ChaosShadow]

If you really want to hear your rear speakers, adding a small one channel amplifier like this,
https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_89588_SoundStorm-SSL-SMCM200.html in each rear door might do it.

That's more involved then I would prefer ?

I'm not looking for a perfect balance for front/rear, just a little more presence. To be honest, I do like the "stage" like sound, but It feels like nothing is in the rear. I would think a 75/25 balance would be ideal and want to improve the clarity as well. I know changing those dash speakers will make a difference for sure, but thought why not replace the rear speakers as well?