surferfrank

Has anyone had any similar experiences with replacing the stock 4" rear speakers on a 1990 4 Runner? I just replaced the rear speakers with Alpine S-100s. I plugged them right in the stock speaker boxes. My deck is a Pioneer 3500 with 50 x 4 watts.
When I fired up the stereo, the rear speakers sound terrible. The midrange and tweater sound ok, but the bass is thudding and not producing a clear sound. The stock speakers sound way better. How can this be?
Is this problem have to do with the small amp that the two wires connect? I'm not sure what to do next... Put the 15 watt stock speakers back in????
(FYI, the info on removing the rear panels was right on the money. Thanks to the people who posted that info. It made my speaker installation much easier. )

Anyone feedback is welcome....

1990 4runner, Magnaflow exhaust, K+N FIPK...

KevyWevy

yup i had the same problem on my 94. and im pretty sure you have the same problem as me. i put some pioneer 4"ers in and they sounded like crap as well. the first thing i did was put some weather stripping in there to fill the gaps around the speakers. this really helps with the bass because the air is no longer excaping out of the gap, instead it will be going out of the little port thats built into it. but i went to install some subs last weekend and thought i could make some boxes back in the cubbies (i was wrong it doesn't work with 10" subs) but while i was back there and had the back panels off i was looking at the subs and saw that the weather stripping wasn't really helping that much any more. my friend happened to have some small peices of dynomat left from his subaru. so what we ended up doing was putting strips of dynomat around the speaker hole and put the same weather stripping back on. so now there isn't any air coming out of it at all. it actually sounds like is has quite a bit of bass. so in short you just need to seal the area around the speakers better.

oh yeah and i ended up leaving the factory amps in. i didn't want to deal with all the wiring.

surferfrank

Thanks for the tip.
I did notice that the new Alpine speakers didn't cover the rear speaker box competely. I also did not know that a little air escaping could make the bass sound so terrible.

I'm not familar with "DYNO MAT".
Is this something I can pick up at a hardware store?
I wonder if could cut out a plastic ring to cover the gaps...I'm checking in with the stereo deck installer in a few days, maybe they have something to fix the gaps.

I won't give up on these new speakers yet. They sounded good at the Good Guys. I picked them up for $50 a pair.

I've read a few threads about rewiring the new speakers without the small amp connections. What is the best solution for an aftermarket Pioneer deck?

I guess I'm going to get good at removing the rear panels again...

impulsebrklyn

Are these speakers off you factory oem head unit??

yes make sure it is completely sealed off, the proper thing to do would to make a speaker ring out of some mdf 1/2 inch. I also like to use some weather stripping between the mdf and the door. Plastic ring will also work.

its a sound deadening material one of many and the most expensive one of them all. Any car audio store will have them or you can go purchase peel and seal at like home depot or lowes.


Why only pioneer headunits? Alpine and Eclipse are my favorites.
How much you looking to spend on the headunit??

Chris

Cebby

Guess what - it's a 4" speaker and was not designed for bass. That wet rag thud sound you hear is the speaker trying to play frequencies it can't play. There is nothing you can do to make it play bass. Larger speakers in the proper size and type of enclosure will give you some bass.

If you aren't competing or wanting to rattle your neighbors windows, you can get self-contained, powered unit (taps off of the speaker leads for signal or RCA input) A custom enclosure in the rear side panel is possible for an 8" sub and should give nice results. With the "cabin gain" you will experience in an SUV, an 8" sub will do pretty well (and won't take any space out of the cargo area.

Victor

I'm with Cebby on this one. I say seal it the best you can and then in the future use some sort of crossover to stop sending bass signals to the rear speakers. Reroute the bass to a bass tube or sub in one of the side storage comparments. Someone had some great pics showing their sub install about a week ago.

surferfrank

I agree that a 4" speaker isn't going to create much bass. Isn't the stock speaker box with the small amp suppose to simulate bass?
I trying not to spend too much $$$ in the audio department. I thought swapping out the stock speakers would produce a little better sound. I'll let you know if sealing the speaker box works...

Just how much would it cost to install a 8" subwoofer without losing cargo space? Would that involve buying an amplifier as well?

ohio

I think the problem is that you're running it off the factory speaker box and built in amps...

I'd remove the whole box and run them off the signal wires, but I have a feeling that requires a new head unit, or you'll be attempting to power them with a preamp output.

surferfrank

yeah, I thought that may be the problem. If that's the case, then I will probably return the 4" rear speakers and use a 6x9 and cut out an oval hole in the panel. I was trying to avoid any cutting with the 4" speakers. It looks like I might have to pull out the saw afterall....
Any other suggestions with a budget speaker setup?

KevyWevy

i say try sealing them up first trust me it helps a lot!!!

surferfrank

Thanks...
I took off the rear panels once again and seal the gaps with some transparent tape. It worked!!

I have to find a good tape or make a plastic gasket to fill the small gaps permanently.

Do 6"x9" fit in the place of those speaker boxes? I'm sure I would get better bass with some of those babies.

New issue: The same 4" Alpine speakers don't fit direct into the front speaker boxes. The stock speakers have TWO mounting holes while the Alpines have 4 mounting holes. I'm afraid to grind down the flange and void the warranty.
Any ideas on how to tackle this problem? I think a tight seal on the front speaker boxes applies as well...

Thanks again for all the input...

surferfrank

I found some info in old forums on 4T speaker sizes that have two mounting holes...



Anyone know where I can find these speakers ?

kaiberg

first off...did you replace the head unit or are you running the stock ??

secondly...see all the above replies that a 4" speaker isnt intended to reproduce bass freq's...if all you want is cheap decent sound...stick with the factory...the little amps and speakers are matched with crossover points to get the best sound out of a midrange speaker...if you want to upgrade then get rid of all of that stuff and build a system...you dont have to put 2g's into it to make it sound decent with the windows up on the freeway...just a head unit,basic 4 channel amp,and fairly decent speakers all the way around...

what ive found with factory yota systems is that once you attempt to use bits and pieces of the factory setup...this especially being the case with the built in amps..along with aftermarket add ons...the overall sound ends up suffering...the only thing i reused when i did my system was the crossovers off of the side panel speakers that run up to the tweeters above the rear window...do you have those in your runner ?

Bumpin' Yota

Standart 4" coaxials will fit a 4T location. I've done it on mine. Just use two of the 4 screw openings to anchor the 4" coaxial. The only difference is that the 4T has only 2 mounting holes.

The BEST bet would be custom kickpanels.

Steve

surferfrank

Thanks for the tips. You're right. The 4" speakers really don't produce bass. I went to the local Best Buy and listened to some bigger speakers. I think a 6x9 would be the best solution for an economical setup. My head unit is a Pioneer 3500 cd player with a Pioneer CD changer in the rear storage bin.
I'm trying out the Alpine 4" speakers for a week or so. The new speakers are better than stock, but there isn't much low-end as some of you have mentioned.
I listened to some 6x9 speakers, but I'm not sure where I can install them. I thought of cutting out the rear panel and attaching them on the plastic after removing the stock speaker boxes. Yet, wouldn't the speakers vibrate too much attached to the rear panels? Is there a way to install 6x9's in the speaker box area? I read a thread about someone custom fitting a piece of plastic in there, but I'm not sure how that's done. Until I figure out how to fit some bigger speakers without losing cargo space, I'm stuck with those little 4 inchers...
Oh yeah, I made the 4" speakers work in the front dash spots. I ground down a little flange and used some weather stripping to fill the voids.

Cheers!

1990 4 runner, Pioneer 3500, Alpine s-100 speakers,...

SeeBeeAre

i cut the holes in the boxes to hold 6 1/2s should i cut out the Cross over/ amp instead of using the existing speaker wires in the box should i eliminate the box all together??