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(DIY) '05 TL aftermarket front speaker and tweeter install.
I figured I would make this thread for anybody who's looking to do a aftermarket install of speakers and tweeters, maybe it will give people a better idea how to do it. I'm installing Kicker KS component speakers.
PART I - PASSENGERS SIDE:
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The first thing I did was take my door panel off (two screws behind the little door behind the handle of the door - another screw by the bottom of the armrest going into the door - and the rest are clips holding the door on. After that there are various wires / cables that need to be disconnected and then you can lift the door panel upwards and off.)
The next part of the install was a bit tricky, I had crossovers that are included in the set so I had to run wire done to the glovebox area to mount the crossover and run new speaker wire for the tweeters.
To take the glovebox out there is a latch on the right inner side of the glovebox which you can push forward and "pop" out. You will then need to push one side of the glovebox inward and one side will come out, do the same for the other side. The glovebox will then dropdown and reveal two screws that you can remove then remove the glovebox.
Then stripped the factory tweeter wire and wired it to a some more speaker wire and used the "hanger" method, only with a ziptie instead.
Ziptie method of threading the wire down through the glovebox.
After threading the wire down through the glovebox area I soldered the connections together and then electrical taped but of them, and then electrical taped those two together so they wouldn't split apart / get tangled.
All connected up.
The next problem I ran into is that mounting the tweets into the housings in the car, I had to custom fab something up. The Kicker set comes with these mounts:
The problem with these mounts that are they're too deep, so they don't fit in the factory slots in the dash. So I took the Dremel tool and cut it shorter to fit in.
modified mount to fit the factory slots.
They ended up fitting quite well:
Nicely fit.
Next thing I needed to do was find a spot to mount my cross over so the perfect place to put it was where my factory amp used to be (kicker panel). So I wired it up and zip tied it up to a factory wire, fits perfectly.
Wired and mounted.
So the end result is a nice clean area with no wires showing:
All done.
PART II COMING TOMORROW!
Last edited by theorginalFrank; 08-01-2016 at 10:57 PM.
Reason: Text fixes.
So as requested by another user I'll finish this thread up by showing the drivers side install.
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So as done on the passengers side I retrofitted the speaker into the door and just used another speaker adapter to hook it up.
After that I had to disassemble the trim surrounding the bottom of the steering wheel / column. To do this there is a plastic screw / retainer clip that is on the bottom just about where your right knee would be. I took that out and the rest of this was pressure clips that you can carefully pull away.
The rest of taking it out is just unhooking various cables / wires that hold the trim in place.
Next thing I did was use the same method I used for the passengers side with the zip tie to pull the wire through the tweeter whole and down through the steering column (it requires a bit of effort.)
The really hard thing about this part is actually wiring the new speaker wire to the existing tweeter wire (factory). There wires are very short and there is a huge room constraint to where you can put your hands; take your time on this though it's very important you do this right or when you pull your new wire through the steering column you'll just pull the wires you bonded together apart.
What I found easiest to do was to use insulation putty to "bond" the wires together and then electrical tape to hold them; since it's almost impossible to get a soldering iron in there.
(wire threaded through)
Next I put my tweeter in place and threaded the wire down through the tweeter whole and the steering column the same way as the other wire and connected it to the crossover.
The final thing I had to do before putting the trim on was finding a place to mount the crossover. The best place I found to do so was right under the steering wheel there is a pretty "fat" cable with heatshrink on it that runs to the steering wheel. I just used a zip tie to fasten in on there.
and last but not least I put all my trim back together.
I hope everyone enjoyed this write up and I hope that this will help somebody else out! If anyone has any questions feel free to PM me or post them here and I'll answer them. Next step is putting an amplifier in to power the new system!
I just need to get the wiring straight. Whats the two wire that are connected to the crossover? I assume one is the new tweeter wire and the other one is from the stock amp? Or maybe the stock wire that goes to the door speakers.
I just need to get the wiring straight. Whats the two wire that are connected to the crossover? I assume one is the new tweeter wire and the other one is from the stock amp? Or maybe the stock wire that goes to the door speakers.
The crossovers have six spots for wires: Tweeter (+/-), Midrange(Speakers)(+/-), and input(power source)(+/-). I personally have connected the tweeters and the input because it was nearly impossible to run the wire for the speakers through the door gromet into the cabin. Unless you wanna drill out the spots in the wire harness that aren't used and run it like that, but I wasn't doing that.
The crossovers have six spots for wires: Tweeter (+/-), Midrange(Speakers)(+/-), and input(power source)(+/-). I personally have connected the tweeters and the input because it was nearly impossible to run the wire for the speakers through the door gromet into the cabin. Unless you wanna drill out the spots in the wire harness that aren't used and run it like that, but I wasn't doing that.
What about the stock wire that goes to the door speakers? Can't those be connected to the crossover? Or am i missing something here.
What about the stock wire that goes to the door speakers? Can't those be connected to the crossover? Or am i missing something here.
You're missing something here. The stock speaker wires are the INPUT the ones that are GIVING power because they are connected to either the head unit or stock amp, unless of course you have an aftermarket amp and then obviously that would be your input. So IF you're connecting it to the crossover (if by some miracle you get it through the door gromet because the crossover is in the cabin; THEN you have four wires. The speaker factory wires that come out of the door (+/-) then you have the other set of wires (-/+) that would go to the crossover. So your factory wires that output the voltage would be your input to your crossover, or tweeter factory wire whichever you decide to use and then connect the other set of the wires to the speakers and then to the "midrange" of the crossover. Then you have your highs and mids sounding how they really should!
You're missing something here. The stock speaker wires are the INPUT the ones that are GIVING power because they are connected to either the head unit or stock amp, unless of course you have an aftermarket amp and then obviously that would be your input. So IF you're connecting it to the crossover (if by some miracle you get it through the door gromet because the crossover is in the cabin; THEN you have four wires. The speaker factory wires that come out of the door (+/-) then you have the other set of wires (-/+) that would go to the crossover. So your factory wires that output the voltage would be your input to your crossover, or tweeter factory wire whichever you decide to use and then connect the other set of the wires to the speakers and then to the "midrange" of the crossover. Then you have your highs and mids sounding how they really should!
Ok i see. I already an aftermarket amp running my front door speakers and tweeters. What i was thinking is running new wires to the tweeters and use the wires that already going to the speakers in the doors and hock that all up to the crossover.
Ok i see. I already an aftermarket amp running my front door speakers and tweeters. What i was thinking is running new wires to the tweeters and use the wires that already going to the speakers in the doors and hock that all up to the crossover.
Right, the only thing would be running the tweeter wires into the door, I wish you A lot of luck with that man.
Ok i see. I already an aftermarket amp running my front door speakers and tweeters. What i was thinking is running new wires to the tweeters and use the wires that already going to the speakers in the doors and hock that all up to the crossover.
that is what i did and it's very simple. take the crossover output for the mids and hook that wire into the "output" wires of the stock amp that goes into the door grommet (splice into it right after the stock amp output harness). that way the crossover is giving your speakers the correct range of frequencies. you don't have to mess with the door grommet or anything, you basically utilize stock wiring from the stock amp area to the door speaker.
Originally Posted by theorginalFrank
Right, the only thing would be running the tweeter wires into the door, I wish you A lot of luck with that man.
why would he have to run the tweeter wires into the door? as long as his crossover is not in his door the tweeter wires would never go into the door. they would be run the same way you did and many others do...straight from the crossover to the tweeter mounting location.
good writeup for people looking for a simple install.
that is what i did and it's very simple. take the crossover output for the mids and hook that wire into the "output" wires of the stock amp that goes into the door grommet (splice into it right after the stock amp output harness). that way the crossover is giving your speakers the correct range of frequencies. you don't have to mess with the door grommet or anything, you basically utilize stock wiring from the stock amp area to the door speaker.
why would he have to run the tweeter wires into the door? as long as his crossover is not in his door the tweeter wires would never go into the door. they would be run the same way you did and many others do...straight from the crossover to the tweeter mounting location.
good writeup for people looking for a simple install.
Yes but you're going to have one or two options; mount the crossover in the door or in the cabin. So if you mount the crossover in the cabin you're going to have to get the speaker wire from the door to the cabin, or in the door you need to run the tweeter wire in the door for the crossover.
Yes but you're going to have one or two options; mount the crossover in the door or in the cabin. So if you mount the crossover in the cabin you're going to have to get the speaker wire from the door to the cabin, or in the door you need to run the tweeter wire in the door for the crossover.
yea but if you mount the crossover at your stock amp location (like you did), you literally need no extra wire other than the stock wires for one crossover. for the other crossover, you just need to run a tweeter wire from the left tweeter to the stock amp location. super easy.
just letting him know that his thoughts were correct and that it's not that hard adding front speakers/tweeters using mostly stock wiring
that is what i did and it's very simple. take the crossover output for the mids and hook that wire into the "output" wires of the stock amp that goes into the door grommet (splice into it right after the stock amp output harness). that way the crossover is giving your speakers the correct range of frequencies. you don't have to mess with the door grommet or anything, you basically utilize stock wiring from the stock amp area to the door speaker.
why would he have to run the tweeter wires into the door? as long as his crossover is not in his door the tweeter wires would never go into the door. they would be run the same way you did and many others do...straight from the crossover to the tweeter mounting location.
good writeup for people looking for a simple install.
there are also metra oem speaker adapters that can plug your new speakers directly into the oem speaker adapter inside the door. it's really an easy process once you get the door fitting your speaker physical dimensions.
there are also metra oem speaker adapters that can plug your new speakers directly into the oem speaker adapter inside the door. it's really an easy process once you get the door fitting your speaker physical dimensions.
I already have a pair of Infinity Reference 6032si installed in my car. Getting it replace should be a piece of cake. A bit off topic but my current set up is.
Infinity Reference 6032si
Infinity REF-075TX 3/4 Inch Textile Dome Tweeters
Rockford Fosgate R600X5 Prime 5-Channel Amplifier
Rockford Fosgate R1-2X10 Dual 10" 800W Loaded Subwoofers
I only have my front stage off the Rockford Fosgate R600X5 and all the other speakers are left on the stock amp. Would it be worth it to replace the rear speakers?
I already have a pair of Infinity Reference 6032si installed in my car. Getting it replace should be a piece of cake. A bit off topic but my current set up is.
Infinity Reference 6032si
Infinity REF-075TX 3/4 Inch Textile Dome Tweeters
Rockford Fosgate R600X5 Prime 5-Channel Amplifier
Rockford Fosgate R1-2X10 Dual 10" 800W Loaded Subwoofers
I only have my front stage off the Rockford Fosgate R600X5 and all the other speakers are left on the stock amp. Would it be worth it to replace the rear speakers?
not worth it. rear speakers are only meant for filler. i run the exact same setup (front and sub aftermarket on aftermarket amp, rear oem on oem amp) and did a lot of research on it and it's not needed to upgrade the rear. the front is the sound stage and delivers what you want...the rear is just filler. you're fine the way you are!
not worth it. rear speakers are only meant for filler. i run the exact same setup (front and sub aftermarket on aftermarket amp, rear oem on oem amp) and did a lot of research on it and it's not needed to upgrade the rear. the front is the sound stage and delivers what you want...the rear is just filler. you're fine the way you are!
Ctx65-CS. Image dynamics. Absolutely great speakers and well priced. People say they perform like $300-$400 speakers. I only had to cut part of the door to fit them and used a 3/4" spacer. It was my first audio install and it wasn't that bad. I had some jbl ones I put in before and the image dynamics blew them away.
i cut holes in the OEM tweeter grills and sat these ones inside so it looks OEM. Tweeters are not harsh at all
Reviving this thread.
I have a component system (JBL GT600C after reading a post of someone recommending it on our TL as drop-in replacement).
Could someone answer my questions?
For the crossovers power input which stock wire do I need to use for the easiest installation?
For driver's side = tweeter wire? (then I assume that I will need to leave the crossover below the steering wheel cabin and re-do the wire to tweeter and door speakers (to get the speakers powered from the crossover to get accurate frequency response? Or just leave the speaker to be powered directly from the stock amp?)
For passenger's side = zip tie the crossover to the factory amp location? How? Should I disconnect/pull the stock amp blue&red wires for the F.P. side from the wire-harness and connect it to the crossover and then re-wire both new tweeter and new door speaker?
Or disconnect the factory wires from the factory tweeter, connect it to the crossover, then re-wire the tweeter from crossover and door to connect the new speaker?
So in short, should I directly swap the front door speakers and let it powered by the factory amp directly or should the speakers get wired to the crossover directly for the best performance and safety?
08-01-2016, 10:54 PM
