Buy posi taps on Amazon, easy tapping without damaging cables.

 

Did you get the 16 - 18 AWG?

 

ive never heard of posi taps but have used T taps with good results. below is a random kit to show what im talking about (no need for this many or this specific kit)

Amazon.com: Wirefy T Tap Wire Connectors Kit - Electrical Connectors Kit - Spade Terminals - Quick Splice Disconnect Wire Taps - (120 PCS 22-10 AWG) : Industrial & Scientific

Buy Wirefy T Tap Wire Connectors Kit - Electrical Connectors Kit - Spade Terminals - Quick Splice Disconnect Wire Taps - (120 PCS 22-10 AWG): Disconnect - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

there is nothing i hate more than pulling a panel on a vehicle and finding these godforsaken things. the posi-twists aren’t much better but they at least have a better track record of not severing strands on the wires.

 

makes sense

 

i bought everything on that list. going to install as soon as everything comes in. where did u get the sticky black foam. does walmart or hobby lobby sell it? and is it needed? thanks

 

https://www.lowes.com/pd/M-D-17-ft-x-3-8-in-Gray-Window-Seal-Foam-Window-Weatherstrip/1096043

http://goto.walmart.com/c/404739/56...l-38-in-x-19-in-x-30-ft-2-Pack/17133825?fulfillmentIntent=In-store&athbdg=L1200

those are 2 examples. its not "needed" but if the speaker is sealed against the door then again against the door panel then u wont have vibrations and better sound. worth it IMO

 

Like others on this thread, I bought everything listed, will install by Friday and post impressions. (or maybe questions )

 

Is there anything specific about trim for those rear speaker brackets or is it just the one left and right set? Do you have the part number's for the brackets that you used still by chance? Or could I order premium 22 rear brackets if I'm in a pinch?

 

The bracket part numbers are actually the speaker part numbers. They come together but can be separated. Left and Right are different part numbers and are unique. You can search past years for part numbers or just get the cheapest ones you can find on ebay/junk yard. The old (pre 2022) Scion/86/BRZ brackets in the US are all the same I believe.

 

Dealer wanted like $120 per bracket nor were any local, so got some on ebay for $30 for a set. Hopefully it arrives before the weekend

 

Got them all installed, and holy shit does that make a world of difference. I no longer want to drive into a tree while listening to music in this car. As far as I can tell I got everything working first try which is super great. After holding the stock speakers in hand gotta say I’m incredibly disappointed in the junk that was thrown in from factory. I feel like I could make a better speaker by hand then what Toyota and Subaru decides to put in.

 

Can you tell us what speakers you went with?
Thanks

 

Oh I see sorry. No I omitted going with a dedicated sub for now. I don’t want to deal with another wiring fiasco like I’ve had with other cars. I honestly still need to find a fine tune for it using the dash, but I would say it’s alright, I’ve never been a major fan of the massive “thump” anyway

 

Thanks, you used the Polk speakers that GR86Talk suggested. Glad it went well, you are braver than I. All that cutting and sourcing looks complicated.

 

Maybe look into OEM Audio+, they have a simple front speaker upgrade that's plug and play and I'm sure would be a nice upgrade for a few hundred bucks. I did JL Audio C1's but did require modification. GR 86 / BRZ - OEM Audio Plus

 

That sounds like a good solution but not sure it is available down under. I plan to see how the stock system is for a year then decide what upgrade it needs.

 

Since in Aust we only get the 6 speaker setup, the OEM+ solution is really just a set of component speakers, replacing the dash tweeters and the door woofers. Maybe a set of Polk component speakers would do the job.

 

Or maybe Focal 165's

 

Do you remember seeing any harness for the rear speakers that are in the premium. I want to add the rears to my base but don't want to deal with wiring them up

 

The aftermarket speaker harness for the rears are same for both premium and base as the factory connector is the same. The stock premium rears can go in plug and play in a base with no harness.

 

Thanks for this thread! Looks like I get to try and crawl into the back seat area sometime soon. Sound proofing the rear side panels and doors will be an awesome side benefit too. While doing this work, I'll probably wire taps for a small sub too.

Steve

 

Thanks for this thread! Looks like I get to try and crawl into the back seat area sometime soon. Sound proofing the rear side panels and doors will be an awesome side benefit too. While doing this work, I'll probably wire taps for a small sub too.

Steve

Don’t use the rear speakers for your sub signal. They’re crossed over.

 

OK - Been spending too much time on figuring out what to do with my Premium (Base) BRZ So, I have 3 options

1 replace speakers with the Polks and figure out how to add a sub later
2 I have a friend with OEM speakers and is selling his car, so I can get his speakers for $300 and use the midrange in the back side panels and upgrade to the full OEM soon (wow - that was a run-on sentence )
3 Do nothing

So - here's my delima. With having the base model without the extra wiring already there and no rear amp, how do you get signal to the sub? Does the base head unit have line outs that are just not wired into anything? Or just tap into the font speakers' wiring? The tapping in seems like it could compromise the power to the front speakers and the impedence (which is already really low at 2 ohms). I really miss the good old days of getting a decent stereo installed easily without reading 3 hrs worth of threads. BTW - this is the sest one yet. Only concern is that the Polks will have even less bass and will be trebbley.

Steve

 

So - here's my delima. With having the base model without the extra wiring already there and no rear amp, how do you get signal to the sub? Does the base head unit have line outs that are just not wired into anything? Or just tap into the font speakers' wiring? The tapping in seems like it could compromise the power to the front speakers and the impedence (which is already really low at 2 ohms).

Since the amplifier isn’t actually acting as an electrical load on the speaker signal, there’s no impact to the power level or impedance of the front speaker circuit.

I wrote a subwoofer install guide, i included instructions for base models with no amp. In my
opinion the easiest place to grab front signal is at the door boot harness on each side.

How to: Subwoofer installation

Howdy. Sorry if I suck at writing tutorials. I know a subwoofer is something the majority of the owners of these cars are going to want, so I figured I’d share my knowledge a bit. Background on me, I spent 4 years as a 12 volt electronics installer, and I’m pretty sure I still have an active...

www.gr86.org

 

Also, the premium gr86/limited brz have the same speakers as the first gen, and you can find tons of these on ebay for almost nothing. Even if you have the premium gr86/limited brz, and you don’t want to mess with your original factory L brackets that came with your car, you can get a set of used ones, and save your originals if you would like.

 

Yeah, I would get the sub first. You may be better off using the virtual vocal sound stage on low with fader set a little more to the rear.

 

Crutchfield has the speaker adapters for these for free and they fit perfectly.

Hey, thanks for the great instructions.
Quick question regarding the adapters for the rear speakers. Do you have a reference number for these? Crutchfield doesn't have the speakers in stock so I got them elsewhere, but would like to get the adapters from them.

 

Hey, thanks for the great instructions.
Quick question regarding the adapters for the rear speakers. Do you have a reference number for these? Crutchfield doesn't have the speakers in stock so I got them elsewhere, but would like to get the adapters from them.

I list and link to the harness models for front, door, and rear speakers. If you are talking about the metal brackets, just looks for any past FRS/86 rear speakers on ebay. They are all the same basically.

 

This thread is really a good one. Here's what I did. Because the system is set up with the door as a woofer and the dash as a tweeter, I went with a component speaker that has the tweeter separate from the woofer. If you go with a coax in the door plus a tweeter, or a small driver/tweeter combo, I was worried about too much high frequency sound. I went for the JL Audio C1-650. I got the door adapter and wiring plugs mentioned in this thread. So, the first thing I changed out was the tweeter. Because there isn't a standard mount for these things, I removed the original unit and cut down the mount. The JV tweeter fits on the ring that is left, but there is no way to hold it down. So I JB Welded it in place. I did the epoxy at three places and left them to cure overnight. The wiring was pretty straight forward. I soldered the in-line bass blocker crossover to the wiring and shrink wrapped everything. I used a piece of trim attachment double sided tape to hold the crossover onto the back of the grill. I also covered the holes of the mid range grill with black tape.

For the doors, the adapter had no way of attaching the speakers to the mount. These things are for 5.5 inch speakers, even though it says 5.5 and 6.5 inch speakers. So I took the old speakers and cut the guts out. The three webs were easily cut off with large wire cutters and I cut the surrounds with a box cutter. The 6.5 speaker fit perfectly. Drilled 4 holes and screwed right up. A note on the screws: the plastic ring is pretty thin. Just snug them or the screws will spin. Luckily this actually mated up perfectly with the door panel. I did not cut the ring on the panel. It lines up with the space between the metal and the rubber on the JL speaker. For wiring, I took off the factory plug and ran the adapter through the hole left from the plug. I could have simply soldered the speaker to the plug.

For the wring, I just wired the black wires to the - terminal on both sets of speakers. On the doors, I used some electrical tape to hold the wires so they don't rattle around. While the panels were off, I added several pieces of Fat Mat and Spectrum sound deadening paint to the inside of the doors and the back of the plastic panel. I haven't driven with the speakers yet, but they are so much cleaner sounding. Bass is similar volume but way tighter. Over all sounded way cleaner. I'm still needing to crank the bass, but the equalizer now has the highs at 0 to +2 The mids I am running at -2 to 0 The sound deadening made the doors sound awesome when shutting them. Very satisfied and looking forward to doing the rear. Can't wait for my commute this morning.

An additional note on the sound deadening. The combo of Fat Mat and Spectrum paint has transformed this vehicle. I had already done the entire rear trunk, under trunk, inside rear bumper, front and rear fender wells (backside of plastic liner and metal areas). This made a huge improvement on the noise levels in the car. Even with my axle-back, it's really quiet on the interstate. I'm sure the doors will help too. Also, really looking forward to adding the sound deadening to the side panels in the back.

Steve

 

I used the same exact component system for my fronts in my base, very happy with them. I used the C1 4" speakers for the rears but it was a pain to figure out how to mount them as there is no way they fit in the factory mounts. I ran this alone for a while but ultimately still put a sub in the spare tire area to round out the system. I added some lightweight sound deadening material in the doors, trunk and rear quarter area to improve the speaker quality. I may have to try the fender wells to reduce some of the tire noise.

 

I'm looking like I'm going to use 5-1/2" rear speakers that are really efficient for the rear. And get a sub of some kind. I'm going to mount the rears directly to the side panel. Since there won't be any bass, buzzing of the panels won't make a difference. And I'll put in sound deadening in there too. The Spectrum paint from Amazon is really good. I also use FatMat where I can too.

Steve

 

not sure where your at location wise but for me living in the desert i opted to use firewall instead of spectrum. while not as optimized for strictly deadening as the spectrum the original owner of second skin mentioned firewall still does a good job at deadening all the while reducing heat transfer.

just food for thought if you are getting more in the future

 

I think that is my screen shot I took from the translated Japanese Toyota site. 😂. I have it in another early post during my research.

 

Great minds think alike. I came across the same thing.

 

One thing with I experienced with baffles a long time ago with low wattage speakers is the speakers seem to loose volume/efficiency.

In addition to the stock base rears being 2.5 and 6ohm, the rears are filtered at the head unit, which limits the freq range of any size speaker back there unless you use a non oem head unit or external amp feeding off front channels.

 

One thing with I experienced with baffles a long time ago with low wattage speakers is the speakers seem to loose volume/efficiency.

In addition to the stock base rears being 2.5 and 6ohm, the rears are filtered at the head unit, which limits the freq range of any size speaker back there unless you use a non oem head unit or external amp feeding off front channels.

I don't have the base system.. but you can determine the level of filtering by playing white noise or any number of test tracks on youtube and using a spectrum analyzer app to determine the frequency response. If they are using a passive filter, there probably isn't much roll-off and there'd be a benefit to using a more substantial (larger) driver.

I've not seen a situation where audio speakers, intended for mount on a baffle, sound better free-air than on a baffle. (exception being free-air dipoles transducers).

 

WOW, this system sounds so much better. Doing the rear speakers this weekend. Looking for a sub now. Sound deadening is amazing stuff. The rear side panels are next

Steve

 

WOW, this system sounds so much better. Doing the rear speakers this weekend. Looking for a sub now. Sound deadening is amazing stuff. The rear side panels are next

Steve

Like I said in another thread, in order to keep the costs down Subaru manufactures this car 90% done. Doing the last 10%, like sound deadening, really creates a quality product.