Door speakers

[m4rkw]

Can anyone tell me what speaker sizes I need for the door cards on a 2006 harrier?  Also any tips or links to youtube videos for swapping them out would be most appreciated.

[rich1068]

Have a look here https://www.crutchfield.com/car/carselector.aspx?lp=%2fCar%2foutfitmycar%2fmycar.aspx

[m4rkw]

Thanks but the harrier isn't listed there.

[Mr Vlad]

Best thing to do it take the door trim off and take the speaker out then look at its label and replace with similar spec.

I'm assumingyour car is a hybrid as I don't know the model. If it is hybrid then you're goosed. If not then there will be replacements available.

What is your car similar to?

[m4rkw]

It's a 2006 Harrier, same body as the RX-300. Not a hybrid. Door speakers are probably the same but I'd like to be sure before ordering them, I guess taking the door cards off is probably a good suggestion, thanks!

[sorcerer]

35 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

I'm assumingyour car is a hybrid as I don't know the model. If it is hybrid then you're goosed. If not then there will be replacements available.

What makes you think that Mr Vlad?

The hybrid side of things has got nothing to do with speakers - as long as they have the same electrical characteristics and physically fit in the hole, speakers from any car audio/electronics shop/radio shop/wherever will work, hybrid or not.

[Mr Vlad]

That's what I thought John until I spoke with a couple of car hifi installers who suggested otherwise. Maybe because they were reluctant to work on a hybrid car.

But as I suggested. By taking a door trim off and physically looking at a speaker can you tell.

But I do think that speakers in hybrid/electric cars are so much more efficient so they work better from amps that are lower power rated (in their input I mean, more in more out etc etc)

[Ben01]

2 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

Maybe because they were reluctant to work on a hybrid car.

Only reason I could imagine... but I understand them, messing with three times more cables, some HV and hi amps, much more risk with the same money like with normal car? Some day, when they will have no other choice, maybe 😉

[m4rkw]

Sounds like you need a better car audio shop, I doubt bcss would be phased by a hybrid :)

[Delphius1]

The other thing to check is to make sure the Stereo system isn't a Mark Levinson one. Closed systems like that use different impedances to get the best sound quality for a given speaker size and position, and impedances can vary a lot from the "standard" 4 or 8 ohms. So standard speakers from a car audio specialist may not be a straight swap.

I'm more familiar with Bose systems where the speaker impedances are as low as 0.5 ohms! Yes, half an ohm...

But on the web it looks like the Mark Levinson speakers vary all the way up to 16 ohms.

 

 

[Ben01]

Mark Levinson is Harman-Kardon brand, and they probably used good JBL speakers (their common speaker brand) rebranded, so I don't think you find in "Mark Levinson Lexus" any frankincense and myrrh. BTW Harman-Kardon is Samsung subsidiary now.

I am not familiar with Bose, but "as low as 0.5ohm" sounds for me like marketing babling based on "creative data pick up". If sort-of normal speaker has average 2 ohm, like simple old pioneers in lexus, lower saddle on curve is less than 1ohm, about 0.5ohm. If Bose has average 0.5ohm, not 2 or 1.8ohm, OK, this is something. I have no idea, why anybody prefers heaters in form of speakers, but it is other issue. But only if we talk about average impedance, not down-peak.

[Mr Vlad]

Before a car hifi dealer closed down (due to retirement ) they had a visit from either JBL or Clarion I can't remember but they were showing off a new low voltage and wattage system developed for the new breed of electric/hybrid cars because of the lack of sufficient 12v supply. I think the system ran 20w at what ohm I don't know but apparently the sound was really good and sound level as loud as any true 100w.

Anyway I'd guess in the RX300 the speakers would be possibly 8" or 6" running with possibly 3 or 4" and tweeter.

Door panel off and access speaker and look at label as stated earlier. 

[Ben01]

Your are perfectly right, everybody moves up to highly efficient speakers, even real hi-end manufacturers, conservative as hell. One thing is low voltage/power world, not cars only, but USB, BT devices, Battery powered everywhere, etc. Another thing, with new and much better materials and design "why not?" be efficient. So, when I was young 40-30yr ago, 86dB hi-fi speaker was "hi efficient", normal was about 82-84dB. Now common hi-end speakers are 89-90 or up to 92dB even. And keep in mind every 3dB efficiency up is roughly twice the volume, from same watts.

[Delphius1]

On ‎7‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 9:37 AM, Ben01 said:

Mark Levinson is Harman-Kardon brand, and they probably used good JBL speakers (their common speaker brand) rebranded, so I don't think you find in "Mark Levinson Lexus" any frankincense and myrrh. BTW Harman-Kardon is Samsung subsidiary now.

I am not familiar with Bose, but "as low as 0.5ohm" sounds for me like marketing babling based on "creative data pick up". If sort-of normal speaker has average 2 ohm, like simple old pioneers in lexus, lower saddle on curve is less than 1ohm, about 0.5ohm. If Bose has average 0.5ohm, not 2 or 1.8ohm, OK, this is something. I have no idea, why anybody prefers heaters in form of speakers, but it is other issue. But only if we talk about average impedance, not down-peak.

Nope, thery are definately 0.5 ohms, I've had to order the things on occasion for customers (£170 quid each!) and explain why you can't get standard head units to work.

Rather than picking a standard line level and speaker impedance that all manufacturers can design their amps to drive (4 or 8 Ohms) with closed systems like Bose, Mark Levinson H-K, B&O and others on high end cars the designers can pick and choose speaker placement, design and impedance along with amplifier design to produce what they think are the best results. The effects are subtle but do improve the sound. Of course such intricacies are lost on a partially deaf old duffer like me, only youngsters with fresh ears would have the aural ability to hear the difference. If the impedances are close then you can swap for standard impedance speakers, but the sound quality may not be quite the same. It all depends on the installation.

Then you get closed system amps that can't be driven by standard line levels. Oh the joy of interfacing a standard head unit to one of those whilst still retaining audio quality.

 

[Ben01]

Ok, I believe you. And there is another reason never bother myself with Bose. I could not imagine any other reason for true 0.5ohm speakers and compatible a low volts / hi amps amplifiers other than "creative" marketing. Or totaly wrong design, but I bet it was not a case, it was deliberated.

For me lowest but still "standard" impedance fo car audio is like pioneers in my GS, 2ohm, or 1.8ohm I have seen once or twice, I don't remember what stuff. Anything below this is like falling deeper and deeper in engineering insanity 😉

[m4rkw]

Ok so looking at this:

http://japan.toylexparts.com/harrier/521120/acu30w-awpgk/350w/001/4/8602/861889b

It looks like there are component speakers in the front and co-axials in the rear doors. Am I reading that right?

[Mr Vlad]

Yes looks like components in the front. From what I quickly Googled they are 6.5" and 2ohm. 

[m4rkw]

It looks like there are two variants for the fronts:

http://japan.toylexparts.com/harrier/521120/acu30w-awpgk/350w/001/4/8602/861889b

http://japan.toylexparts.com/harrier/521120/acu30w-awpgk/350w/001/4/8602/861890a

 

Not sure which of these applies to me however both of them seem to include 3.5" drivers in the door trim. That's a pain because there aren't many speakers that fit there. Also means I probably can't use many off the shelf component sets because they tend to have tiny tweeters.

[Mr Vlad]

Have you taken your door trim off yet?

Best you do before it does your head in.

[m4rkw]

Ok so I've had a proper look in the car. It seems there are 6.5" mid bass speakers in the doors and 3.5" speakers in the dash. Nothing else. Where the pillar tweeters might be in a real RX there are just blank inserts.

So it seems my options are to either replace the 3.5" speakers and hope that cleans up the treble or go all out and fit 6.5" components, which I guess would involve running wires and making some kind of insert to hold the tweeter in the pillar. Might nip down to BCSS during the week and see what they think.

[Mr Vlad]

Yup sounds like a good idea and to get a 2nd opinion. Making blanking plates to fit a tweeter isn't so bad to do. See how much BCSS would charge.

[Mr Vlad]

Yup sounds like a good idea and to get a 2nd opinion. Making blanking plates to fit a tweeter isn't so bad to do. See how much BCSS would charge.

Looked on their site and very impressive. If they can't help/advise then no one can.