Also I paid $59 for each set of 4” and $69 (priced matched to $59) for the 6.5”. I got these on sale from Crutchfield and they give you harnesses and speaker adapter rings for free. Walmart also caries the 6.5” in their stores.

 

How did you manage to add the harness for free regarding those 4'. Tried older 86/brz model too, just kept said it wont fit and wont let me get the harness as a package

 

After installing these speakers with all the silk dome tweeters I can have treble and mid at 0 on EQ and it still sounds super crisp. Also bass from the door speakers is slightly less than the thin factory ones but these are new and not broken in (butyl rubber and stiff mesh of the spider need broken in). The bass is tighter and less distorted. I changed bass EQ from +2 to +3 and they sound good. I have fader set 3 to rear (rear are only 4 ohm vs 2 ohm up front, rears are high pass filtered at head unit, and rears are further away from ears) and have the virtual vocal sound stage set to low (helps with balancing sound direction and increasing vocals). I also have the virtual bass and beat enhancements on low. I think the extra mid bass from the dash and door speakers helps. With my sub the sound system is perfect! Overall because these speakers have high sensitivity, they sound really loud for a factory head unit.

 

Did you try the Beat Sonic unit in combination with these speakers?

 

Thank you for posting stuff like this it’s a very informative

 

No problem. I spend time researching and doing the work, it is great to be able to help the community when I can.

 

Thanks for the very informative post @GR86Talk ! We in Europe purchasing the "Premium" trim with the 6 speaker peasant audio system will find these guides immensely helpful, once our cars start rolling out. Thanks!

I personally love Focal speakers, so I would love to go with the 3-way PS 165 F3E set, but I'm afraid about the available depths in the speaker wells, so probably will need to settle on the 2-way shallow desing of the PS 165 FSE set.

 

I choose the Polk speakers for the size specs (diameter and depth), the high sensitivity, and silk dome tweeters. If you don’t run an amp, make sure the speakers you use have high sensitivity/good efficiency. The stock head unit is made by Denso and is very nice so I wanted to keep it. There is no room for a micro amp in the dash, so unless you mount one in the glove box area or traditional amp in rear you will need to feed power off the head unit. Some aftermarket head units may have more power, but I like the USA stock one, and so far with my 2ohm front 4ohm rear load, at my maximum listening volume of 23-24, there is no distortion or overheating etc. front and rear are 90db and doors are 92db, so they put out a lot of volume for the low amount of watts.

 

Okay so for the dash speakers, did you have to get a new wiring harness? Or did you just use the harness that the tweeter was hooked into?

 

Thanks for all the helpful information and photos.
I am very astonished that the original door speakers are exactly the same ones that I had in my Toyota Aygo (inexpensive compact car in Europe) which costs less than a third of the GR86. When I removed them from my car I was shocked that they literally weigh nothing which also explains their weak sound.
I wonder if the speakers in the European Premium model are something better or the same junk.

 

The factory door speakers are super light! I honestly don’t know how they actually played as loud as they did.

 

Great Job. Did you use a mounting bracket for the dash speaker?

 

Nope, like I said they are pretty much drop in after making the small modification. They sit right on top of the vent and when you tighten them down, they are right up against it (but the vent piping is very soft/flexible). To me it gives the speaker more support!

The main thing you need to do is shave the area I mentioned near the 45 degree support arm/mount point. You will know you have the right amount taken off when the holes line up and speaker rests flush with the molded curve on dash.

You will also need some #10 speed clips (I spent an hour or so hunting down a size that fit perfectly). These attach to the dash and you screw the two ears/mount tabs of the speaker into them. I forgot to mention you break off the other two speaker mount tabs as they are not needed. I will update that.

I would recommend using a speaker harness too since the harness feeds the door speakers (pins 2/4).

Also, these play louder/clearer than the stock tweeters so if you are like me, you’ll probably want to replace the doors and rear speakers to balance things… Else you will need to tweak the fader/vocal imaging to blend them in as the dash speakers will feel like they are their own sound system. 😂

 

Need some advice. I have a GR86 Premium with the 8 speakers. I’m very happy with the sound and loudness when street driving. However, I find myself constantly turning the volume up and down when driving on the freeways. Would installing an amp solve this problem? How many channels would I need? I’ve bought aftermarket car audio from Crutchfield in the past. I’ve been happy with the advice I’ve gotten from them. They don’t have any info on the GR86 on their website. I don’t really want to add sound deadening if I don’t have to. Whatever solution I end up with will be professionally installed.

 

Need some advice. I have a GR86 Premium with the 8 speakers. I’m very happy with the sound and loudness when street driving. However, I find myself constantly turning the volume up and down when driving on the freeways. Would installing an amp solve this problem? How many channels would I need? I’ve bought aftermarket car audio from Crutchfield in the past. I’ve been happy with the advice I’ve gotten from them. They don’t have any info on the GR86 on their website. I don’t really want to add sound deadening if I don’t have to. Whatever solution I end up with will be professionally installed.

I would recommend sound deadening in your situation if you do a lot of freeway driving. Start with the doors, rear quarter panels, and floor. Then look at doing the roof and trunk.

 

I got a quote for the floor for $1100. He said it would make the car very quiet. I don’t want to completely lose the sound. Probably gonna get another quote. That seems high, although they do have to take the seats out.

 

I did mine over the weekend, significate difference, took about 6 hours and all material took me less than $100.

 

That worked, thanks!

 

They are on there tight, I agree 100%!

 

Hello and thanks for the great write up.

I'm in the process of doing this upgrade, but I will be doing an active set-up using Wideband on the dash and new 6.5 on the doors.
The issue I was having was getting the signal from the dash wiring to my high level input (audiocontrol amp) on my amp. I'm using this amazon wiring kit RED WOLF Car Front Center Dash Tweeter Wiring Harness Replacement. The kit only works and sends signal to the amp IF I join both Positives (red) and Negatives (black) which then turns the amp on like remote 12V turn on wire and full range signal.

I was hoping I could use one pair of the red/black terminals to be my Full Range source that goes to the amp and One set to go to the Doors Speakers this way I will not need to tap or run new wires. Unfortunately this does not seem to work UNLESS both reds/black wires are joined.

From my limited research, I am able to run wires through the door grommet but this will involve modifying the door harness which I'm hesitant to do. If I can tap the wires from behind the kick panels, I prefer doing this but will need the Color Code for each side. Also, I really don't wanna have to go behind the radio and purchase an eBay Harness.

Do you have the Color Code behind each kick panel I can tap into for the Door Speakers? I really appreciate the help and the awesome writeup.

Cheers
Mike

 

Hello and thanks for the great write up.

I'm in the process of doing this upgrade, but I will be doing an active set-up using Wideband on the dash and new 6.5 on the doors.
The issue I was having was getting the signal from the dash wiring to my high level input (audiocontrol amp) on my amp. I'm using this amazon wiring kit RED WOLF Car Front Center Dash Tweeter Wiring Harness Replacement. The kit only works and sends signal to the amp IF I join both Positives (red) and Negatives (black) which then turns the amp on like remote 12V turn on wire and full range signal.

I was hoping I could use one pair of the red/black terminals to be my Full Range source that goes to the amp and One set to go to the Doors Speakers this way I will not need to tap or run new wires. Unfortunately this does not seem to work UNLESS both reds/black wires are joined.

From my limited research, I am able to run wires through the door grommet but this will involve modifying the door harness which I'm hesitant to do. If I can tap the wires from behind the kick panels, I prefer doing this but will need the Color Code for each side. Also, I really don't wanna have to go behind the radio and purchase an eBay Harness.

Do you have the Color Code behind each kick panel I can tap into for the Door Speakers? I really appreciate the help and the awesome writeup.

Cheers
Mike

For the BASE stereo setup (6 speaker) for that adapter, you should be able to use the speaker harness female spade connectors (that normally go to dash speakers) as input for the amp (getting signal from pins 1 and 3 from head unit), and doors get the signal tied in on pins 2 and 4.
Another solution would be to use a high level output converter at the head unit. See my spare tire subwoofer how-to guide. If you have the premium 8 speaker setup, wiring is different. I would tap off leads to amp in trunk.

Here is the BASE 6 speaker wire diagram:

 

Thanks for the great writeup. I also have a 2022 GR86 Base model that desperately needs audio help, and I'll likely go with your speaker recommendations.

Have you considered adding small DSP Amp to help?
I was looking at the Kicker 47KEY200.4 I'm not looking to make it louder, but looking to reduce distortions and tune it for the car.

Kicker 47KEY200.4

Compact 4-channel car amplifier with automatic tuning DSP — 50 watts RMS x 4

www.crutchfield.com

Do you know how to use a 4 channel amp if I add rear speakers?
Thanks!

 

Thanks for the great writeup. I also have a 2022 GR86 Base model that desperately needs audio help, and I'll likely go with your speaker recommendations.

Have you considered adding small DSP Amp to help?
I was looking at the Kicker 47KEY200.4 I'm not looking to make it louder, but looking to deduce distortions and tune it for the car.

Kicker 47KEY200.4

Compact 4-channel car amplifier with automatic tuning DSP — 50 watts RMS x 4

www.crutchfield.com

Do you know how to use a 4 channel amp if I add rear speakers?
Thanks!

I did consider running a small 4 channel amp for front and 2 channel amp for rear early on but I have had good luck running the main sound speakers off the stock deck with high efficiency coaxial speakers, like the polks. If you run a 4 channel mini amp you will have to mount it behind or in or under the glove box as there is no room behind the factory headunit, unless you run it back in the trunk. Keep in mind the front would have dash and door speakers which would take 4 channels unless you run them in parallel. Most small 4 channels may not support 2ohm for 2 channels if you ran dash and speakers together, and 4ohm for the rears on the other 2 channels. The front speaker leads are the only full range signal from the head unit, keep that in mind. You could tap rears for another amp, but they are filtered and amping that isn’t really going to help imo. The main issue tapping all channel input from front for front and rear amps is you loose fader control from head unit. Adding multichannel non factory amps are going to require a lot more signal wiring (although you can hack the dash harness using and adapter to feed the second channel to the doors). Also, If you run a separate amp, always run separate power and use a good ground point, do not try to tap into factory power circuits. There is a lot more to discuss but I don’t have time right now.

 

I put my system together on Crutchfield and spoke to one of their advisors to make sure everything would work together. I asked him about a DSP amp. He said that unless you are going to spend a lot of time adjusting the different frequencies( beyond what you can do with the car’s equalizer), you don’t need one.
I have bought from them in the past, and gotten good advice from them. They aren’t out to upsell you, but can look at your choices and make recommendations.

 

Do you mind sharing what you ordered from them? It shows that they aren't sure what fits our car. I also like to buy from them

 

ignore this.

 

A 3-way component system. 6 1/2” woofers in the doors. You can choose based on your budget. Decide what size sub you want. You’ll probably want a 4-channel amp to drive the speakers and a separate amp for the subwoofer. That’ll all be based on what components you choose.

 

I have the 8 speaker Limited BRZ. I added some noise blocking but, for me, that just highlighted the mediocre performance of the stock speakers. Even though I have the "upgraded" speakers, I decided to try the Polk speakers, wiring harness adapters, and speaker mounting brackets recommended by the op.
For the dash speakers I probably could have gotten away without using the replacement U-clips from harbor freight by just widening the speaker mounting tab gap and using the original bolts and U-clips, but since I had already bought the U-clips I went ahead and replaced them.
For the rear speakers I used the original brackets since they were already the necessary 3.5" ones. I did have to cut off the car connector's key since my Metra 72-8105 adapter had the slot on the wrong side, but that was easy to slice off with a knife.
With the new speakers I thought the sound was a bit bright but I turned down the treble EQ and now they sound very good. There is no more "singing with cotton in their mouth" that I was getting from the stock speakers. My bass EQ is up about where the op has it. I think a sub would help fill in the very low bass but for now I am very happy with the quality of sound for the investment required, in a car mainly designed for sport.
Thanks to the op for his excellent write-up!

 

If you follow this thread, you should find the info you want.
Audio System Tuning - painful frequency
Just scroll down until you see the pictures.

 

Rear speakers in a car this size are just there to fill the empty airspace and aren’t going to have much oomph to them, because your sound stage is in the front. The pitiful output to the front 3.5’s is a much bigger issue in my opinion.

 

Totally agree with this. Though after upgrading my rear speakers (and all the rest), and using an Android headunit that lets me mess with some "surround sound" nonsense, the rear speakers do actually work to "fill" the cabin with a bit more mid-high frequency sound. I was also able to separately EQ them, so they're only hitting ideal frequencies for rear sound.

 

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Ok, I'm totally confused, where did these tweeters come from? Are they different then the speakers you rec'd? I just want some clarification cause I'm definitely feeling the junkiness of the stock speaks and really wanna throw some better stuff in

 

Scratch that I'm stupid it comes with the stuff huh

 

After reading your post, I would like to know if you know if the front speakers are High Level output and the rear low level? I will be installing a subwoofer and need to tap the speakers wires. I also dont know what color the wires are for the high level which are recommended. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Great post!

 

Great job!, I have a 2022 GR86 base, I am trying to tap the speaker wires for a powered subwoofer but would like to avoid removing the panels but rather tap at the front bottom panels. However, I dont know what colors are the ones for the speaker in the back. Do you know or remember the color for the rear speakers. You also mention the speakers have low power, I believe the subwoofer will only use the signal to turn on\off and run the lows, should be ok. Any help would be greatly appreciated, the link to the video to take the panels out?

 

You don’t want to use the rear speakers for your subwoofer signal, they have most of the bass removed from the signal at the head unit. Use the fronts, they are purple/gray at the far side of a connector in the kick panel on each side.

 

You don’t want to use the rear speakers for your subwoofer signal, they have most of the bass removed from the signal at the head unit. Use the fronts, they are purple/gray at the far side of a connector in the kick panel on each side.

5, member: 2344"]
You don’t want to use the rear speakers for your subwoofer signal, they have most of the bass removed from the signal at the head unit. Use the fronts, they are purple/gray at the far side of a connector in the kick panel on each side.
[/QUOTE]

 

can you clarify, connector on the left or the right? you mention purple and gray. (Thanks, I am color blind its hard for me)

 

These two. The wire facing the inside of the cabin is positive, the one closest to the wall is negative.

 

Cerwin Vega cpas10, if your sub does not have on/off sensor you could add a circuit (extra fuse) easy plug in add a circuit and tap and accessory fuse for remote cable. Hope that helps you accomplish. If you buy the Cerwin Vega keep it 2 inches above the surface, make a box out of foam so air flows under it. Avoid overheating. I installed a 12mm fan under it too keep it cool.

 

Thanks! I ordered the Rockville spare tire sub. I believe it has auto on/off. Thanks for the info on tapping those wires, I'm going to do mine that way as well to avoid removing the headunit.