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Stereo upgrade options - Australia specific

30K views 84 replies 24 participants last post by  BRZ or DBZ  
#1 ·
I thought an Australian specific audio thread could be useful due to our market only getting the 6 speaker base system and certain parts like spacers and wire adapters recommended in other threads being unavailable here or expensive to import.

I have replaced the 6 inch speakers in the doors with the Focal ICU 165 2 way 6 inch speakers. ICU165 2-Way Coaxial Speaker Kit 165mm Woofer - Focal Australia I chose these speakers because they have a shallow basket to clear the windows and have a high sensitivity which hopefully works well off the head unit (no external amp). By using the Aerpro APS332 speaker spacers and Aerpro speaker lead adaptors APS32 the installation was virtually plug and play. The Aerpro parts cost me a total of $32 which was significantly cheaper than importing the parts recommended in the other audio thread.

Hopefully, the part numbers help any others looking at replacing their speakers.

The new speakers sound heaps better than the old ones. I couldn't believe how small the magnets were and how light the stock speakers were. For comparison the stock speakers weighed 189 grams compared to the new speakers of 700 grams. Will be looking at swapping the other speakers over soon.


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#5 ·
Great post. The base USA GR86 6 speaker is similar to your’s I believe.

So do they sound as loud as factory at the same volume?

I found the following specs for these as an FYI. The sensitivity is spec‘ed by 2.83V vs 1W at 1 meter. Since these run in parallel with tweeters they run at 2 Ohm. Thus I believe you would subtract -6dB to get the 1W1M, resulting in roughly 87dB for sensitivity, I think. Also, looks like FR low is 60.

Specifications
Sensitivity (1W at 1 meter)N/A
Sensitivity at 2.83 volts93
Frequency Response60 - 21k Hz
Minimum RMS Wattage---
Maximum RMS Wattage70
Peak Power Handling (Watts)140
Top-mount Depth (Inches)1 15/16
Bottom-mount Depth (Inches)2 1/16
Cutout Diameter or Length (inches)5 5/8
Mounting Height (Inches)0.575
 
#6 ·
Great post. The base USA GR86 6 speaker is similar to your’s I believe.

So do they sound as loud as factory at the same volume?
Thanks, I took inspiration from your post and when I picked up the Trac auto mirror closing module I figured I might as well replace the speakers as well with the door cards coming off.

I haven't had a heap of time to play with it yet but I think they are louder at the same volume. The biggest difference I've found is that the system tolerates higher volumes now and more happily punches out some more bass without it sounding horrible.

I am not overly adept at looking the tech specs and did learn from your post about getting high sensitivity speakers when running it off the stock headunit. The description on the website said high sensitivity and works well with stock headunit so thats what sold it to me, along with the shallow speaker baskets.

I will revisit your thread when I am feeling brave enough to swap the dash speakers. You had some really great info there, it's just unfortunate that most of the parts you used are really expensive in Australia. It was going to cost me around $80 just for the spacers and wire adaptors.
 
#16 · (Edited)
I was thinking that a 3.5" coaxial might be a better fit and avoid having to do the cutting that GRRTalk had to do.
Thinking Polk DB351 or Infinity Ref3032CFX, both sub A$100
No idea on fit but they both look shallow enough to drop in.
I was hoping to chuck in a 4inch as there are more options to choose from and bigger is better.

GRTalk mentioned in his thread that the depth is 1.75 inches (4.45CM).

The 4inch Focal is 4.89CM - too big. The Infinity you mentioned is 3.57CM the 4 inch is 4.73. I cant find the specs on the Polk. The 3.5 inch Infinity should fit easily. Another option is the 4 inch Hertz DXC 100.3 with a mounting depth of 4.3cm

*havent considered the diameter though...
 
#17 ·
Going to give the 4 inch Hertz a go. Will update once I attempt the install

 
#24 ·
OK so this is a learning experience for me. Despite knowing that we have the 6 speaker system I was kind of expecting to see a speaker and tweeter inside the dash. I guess the 8 speaker system has this setup and our's only has the tweeter in the dash.

As Orcy mentioned the adaptors are different due to the inline tweeter setup with the door speaker.

The connector has 4 pins. Two pins in for the tweeter and two pins out for the in series connected door speaker.

I guess my options are either bypass the tweeter and just use the two way speakers I've installed in the door. I think the Aerpro APS43 Aerpro | First Choice may fulfil that job. Or install the 4 inch speaker in replacement of the tweeter which may possibly work with the Aerpro APS44 Aerpro | First Choice adaptor.

I did learn that you cannot simply unplug the tweeter as the door speaker wont get a signal from the headunit. I am no expert when it comes to this stuff so this all trial and error for me.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Appreciate the experiments. All Aussie GR86 are 6 speaker? Is that correct? Can a Coaxial Mid and Tweeter go in the dash? Is the dash fed an unfiltered full range signal? Do the rear speakers even matter?

I personally can live with the default set up. I have a pretty serious home audio rig so I feel I know good audio The car is noisy. Far from ideal as an audio environment. Lots of glass reflective surfaces too. However if I can plug n play better speakers I will do it.

Regarding noise. I have a roll of Dynamat lying around. I might have a go at the doors and roof. I noticed the doors have a plastic liner. That would need to be removed. Is that a problem? Has anyone seen a roof with removed headliner?
 
#26 ·
Appreciate the experiments. All Aussie GR86 are 6 speaker? Is that correct? Can a Coaxial Mid and Tweeter go in the dash? Is the dash fed an unfiltered full range signal? Do the rear speakers even matter?
Yes, they are all 6 speaker. I have a 4 inch coax that I think will fit in the dash but I am tossing up whether to go that way or bypass the tweeter and rely on my upgraded coax in the door.

I've started replacing the rear speakers and its a massive pain. Almost regret starting that job
 
#27 · (Edited)
OK so I've installed a set of Hertz 4 inch coaxial speakers in the rear. Kinda PITA job without much result. The stock bracket for the 2.5 inch speakers didnt even fit the magnet of the new 4 inch speaker. I hacked up the bracket to an inch of its life with tin snips and screwed in the new 4 inch speakers.

My APS32 speaker adaptor wires didnt fit so I hacked that up as well and plugged the de-gloved pins straight into the existing wiring harness plug. This didnt go so well as I managed to short out a speaker and had to dissemble the interior again to fix.

After nearly spending the entire day stuffing around with it the rear sounds ok-ish. Better than the stock rubbish speakers but there is just no body to them. I think the best option is just to fade the back out in the sound settings.
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#31 ·
I ended up bypassing the tweeters using Aepro 43 adaptor. So I am pretty much done tinkering now. End result sounds pretty good. Not amazing but it's certainly better than stock. The biggest difference is being able to pump up the volume and have a decent amount of bass without it sounding really bad. In summary I'm running a set of 6 inch Focus coaxials in the doors and 4 inch Hertz coaxials in the rear. The rear speakers are mostly faded out but still fill in a bit of volume at the back.

I considered adding a set of 4 inch coaxials in the dash but I couldn't get my head around the wiring. At the end of the day its a small cabin so its probably doesnt need a tonne of speakers in it anyway.
 
#36 ·
Over the easter weekend while installing the Trac power mirror module I thought might as well replaced the OEM door speakers with minimum amount of time/effort. After some research, bought the Focal IS TOY 165 as it looks like 100% plug and play. I am super impressed with the end result as it is indeed 100% plug and play with very deep bass from the door speakers and the dash tweeters were unreal compared to OEM. I got it for $340 on Amazon plus $21 for the dynamat door speaker kit, 1/2 the cost of the OEMplusAudio base upgrade.
 
#39 ·
Yep no need for any adaptor or wiring harness. The Focal inverted dome tweeters which are thinner than OEM actually clip in tightly in the original OEM location. I stick the dynamat around the door speaker enclosure with speaker cutout stick onto the door metal behind the speaker.

Have been playing around with the EQ, bass heavy music at vol 20 and bass EQ +6 , the door mirror glass will begin to vibrate in the housing, and at vol 30 the window switches will rattle. Maybe dynamat the whole door might improve it but that defeats the original brief of minimum cost/effort as this car is not acoustically designed for high end listening and LOL anything over vol 20 is LOUD.