Will 6x9 Speakers Fit in the Rear of a Xtra Cab P/U?
 

I'm looking to upgrade my truck's stereo system by replacing the 4" speakers in the rear of my 91 Toyota pickup with some 6x9" speakers. I want the low frequencies of a pair of 6x9" without forking out the cash for a subwoofer and amp (and figuring out where to put them...). The problem is when I take of the plastic panel, there's only 8" of space from one side to the other. Then there's the mounting issue.

Has anyone successfully installed a 6x9" in the factory 4" rear speaker cavity? I've search the forums but didn't see anything. Am I chasing a pipe dream?

i'm assuming you're talking about the cubby holes on the sides? i think that's where factory speakers went (my truck only had the 4" in the dash). essentially, yes, people install 6x9s in the cubby holes all the time. you may need to make a spacer for them to fit depth-wise so that everything clears the opening...or cut the opening...it's up to you. i've even seen them mounted on a diagonal to help fit in the cubby. someday, my plans are to add 6x9s in the rear cubby's plus an 8-10" sub under the jumper seat.

Thanks for the reply, glad to hear others have done it. I don't have cubby holes, my truck has the factory upgrade that include 4" speakers in the holes (it doesn't have the latch on the panel, instead it has a slotted speaker cover). But diagonal makes sense, that could work. I'm yet to rip the guts out to see how deep it goes, since I want to sound proof it and build an enclosure. I'll probably look to keep the speaker cover on since I like the stock look of things and put them slightly behind, if at all possible.

If anyone else has thoughts/pictures/links that would also be appreciated!

the cubby's are pretty shallow - like 4". i'd guess you could try to find some used covers from the other model truck, but not sure if they will help. what i was planning to do for mine is cut a piece of wood to fit over the cubby, like to the edges so it has a nice profile, then cut a 6x9 oval to space the speaker depth and use the grilles that come with the speakers. this way you have a pretty clean install and only like 4 screws on the square plate to keep things in place.

here is a pic of someone who put 6x9s on a diagonal in the cubby hole with just a flat plate of wood to mount it:

here is what i was planning to do with a sub:
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...R8RRE9Igbt1BP3

Good idea. Now that I see it, diagonal looks kinda funny. I like the thought of adding extra an extra layer of wood and have the speaker sit IN the enclosure instead of having it stick out, especially if people are sitting back there they might bump/knock the speaker and damage it.

A bit of shaping and sanding could round the edges too so there's no sharp corners that could jab people sitting in the back. I like this... thanks for the ideas man.

Also the more you spend the slimmer you can get, don't chince on the speakers you get what you pay for good entry levels are always infinity, pioneer, kenwood name brand stuff some slimmer than others for clearance, I'm talking magnet depth.

Have seen plenty of flea market garbage and that's what they are garbage:(

I have also heard some 6 1/2 inch speakers destroy 6x9's but they are considerably more expensive, just a thought something about that pic of the sideways 6x9's just looks horribly tacky to me...

when i mentioned the spacer, i meant for the speaker to sit further out of the cubby...if you can get it to sit deeper go for it! i never plan to have passengers behind me...tried that...not so fun trying to drive stick with 4 adults in an xcab 3rd gen pickup when you're used to driving with the seat all the way back :(

true, there are 6.5" speakers that will blow a 6x9 out of the water. my 4" Boston Acoustics dash speakers blow my 6.5" pioneer door speakers (added) out of the water in every way. i had an old k5 blazer that only had a 12" sub and two 4x6 Infinity Kappa plate speakers in the dash and it sounded fantastic for such a simple system.

I understood what you meant. I was thinking of adding a second layer of wood to sink it in, with the speaker mounted to the first layer. So if the speaker stuck out 1/2" past the first layer, put a second layer of wood 1/2" thick around it to make it flush.

Also, point noted about the quality of speakers. I'm definitely for higher quality, it'll only be as good as I'm willing to put into it. Ebay and Amazon have all these seemingly nice cheap speakers, but I've made that mistake too many times!

Dunno how much you're looking to spend but you could always just upgrade the front speakers to something decent and then add some 6" midwoofers to those cubbys... Wouldn't hurt to get an amp on them either.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...-C2-650CW.html

Done!
 

Thanks for all the imput. I've finished the job, here's the final results:

https://www.yotatech.com/members/gam...r-speakers.jpg

https://www.yotatech.com/members/gam...ed-product.jpg

https://www.yotatech.com/members/gam...g-brackets.jpg

I installed Kicker KS690 6x9 speakers. Decent lows, good mids and highs. Definitely adds a lot of full sound to my music. Not as much bass as I was hoping, perhaps down the road I'll end up mounting a sub somewhere anyway.

What I did was take out the old plastic 4" speakers (they weren't wired up anyway, stupid previous owner...) and the housing and keep the mounting points and brackets. I then cut the MDF board to size, mounted the speakers, then put the original brackets back on the MDF and secured it.

The Kicker speakers are open-air or Infinite Baffle speakers, meaning they do not need to be put in an enclosure. Since I didn't have enough space anyway (only 4" or so deep) I just sealed the edges with expanding foam. If there's open air between the front sound waves and back sound waves then the speaker doesn't sound too great. Granted, the thin metal is not very sound proof, but it's what I had to work with. I still need the back seats to be functional so separate enclosures was not an option.

It looks better than the pictures, you can't really make out the fact that I kept some of the original opening intact. I just cut lower into the panel to make it all fit. Overall, I'm pleased on how it came out but took about 10+ hours since I didn't know all that I would have to do until I opened it all up.

I also installed new 4" Kicker DS40's in the front dash, along with a Kenwood KDM-255U receiver. Now I can play music off my phone (Pandora) and I'm loading the rest on a 16GB flash drive that plugs straight in the receiver. No more searching radio stations or dealing with scratched CD's!