Anyone upgraded the dash speakers? (UK)

[Steve169]

Anyone done this mod? There's a few in the US, wondering if anyone in the UK has done it. 

Cheers 

[satts67]

Did it on a 2013 Rav with some Alpine tweeters. You need to link out two of the pins with some adapters

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133409127894?hash=item1f0fcdbdd6:g:72UAAOSwOU1eutaZ

Not sure what this does with factory crossover etc but I did mine when adding a separate amplifier under the seat and replacing door Speakers with components.

I think replacing just the dash Speakers on their own wont achieve much but I played around quite a lot with my own setup and it sounded pretty good in the end.

Definitely better with a separate amp and upgraded Speakers.

 

 

[ernieb]

10 hours ago, Steve169 said:

Anyone done this mod? There's a few in the US, wondering if anyone in the UK has done it. 

Cheers 

Bought the Speakers to do this but when I tried the UK spec Speakers are very different and the ones I'd bought, as per US forums, did not fit. They could not be made to fit whatever I might have tried. Luckily I was able to return them.

[KPG]

yes i've changed both the dash and the front door Speakers, 100% improvement and well worth it.

[ernieb]

Karl was that the HEV or PHEV? What Speakers did you buy?

[Bcc212]

Very interested in this. Could you please advise on what Speakers you bought?

[Steve169]

5 hours ago, KPG said:

yes i've changed both the dash and the front door speakers, 100% improvement and well worth it.

Have you still got details of the gear you bought / used? 

[kucyk]

I'm waiting for mines delivered, you can find many manuals on YouTube. You will need a cables as well as the existing Speakers are plugged in directly to the connector.

I got these, went for .de as they were available and cheaper than co.uk
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Harman-Kardon-2-Way-Speaker-Sound-Black/dp/B07XS4V26X/

These are the cables you will need:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003233514932.html?spm=a2g0o.9042311.0.0.791f4c4dbsceDG

[ernieb]

I bought the JBL 322’s in August 21 and could not fit them to the PHEV, the UK dash Speakers are different on the UK model. Now it might well be mine is not spec’d as the current ones are and they may be more like the US models?

[kucyk]

31 minutes ago, ernieb said:

I bought the JBL 322’s in August 21 and could not fit them to the PHEV, the UK dash speakers are different on the UK model. Now it might well be mine is not spec’d as the current ones are and they may be more like the US models?

Wow really? So what is different about them? Are they too deep?

UPDATE1:

Is that the case?

UPDATE2: 

This guy found a solution how to upgrade it and retain SOS speaker:

https://www.rav4world.com/threads/dash-speakers-this-i’ve-never-seen-before.311627/post-2910686

[KPG]

5 hours ago, ernieb said:

Karl was that the HEV or PHEV? What speakers did you buy?

i have done it in both my hev and currently my phev makes zero difference from that point of view they are identical. 

i went with https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124308331527?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 followed recommendations and instructions from a different forum. also went with the cable adapters and switched the cables around. you will need to remove the sos speaker from the passenger side and re mount it.

 

easy just took around 20 minutes.

[ernieb]

1 hour ago, kucyk said:

Wow really? So what is different about them? Are they too deep?

UPDATE1:

Is that the case?

UPDATE2: 

This guy found a solution how to upgrade it and retain SOS speaker:

https://www.rav4world.com/threads/dash-speakers-this-i’ve-never-seen-before.311627/post-2910686

The image is the speaker configuration that I have but I could not see how to facilitate the 322 speaker into the hole that would be left by removing the dual OEM and I’d be left with with the tweeter wires  unterminated. I have to say I was very pushed for time when I tried and decided to give up on it and return the 322’s.

id certainly be interested in seeing images or video of the 322 being fitted.

[ernieb]

This is what I’d expected to find based on videos I’d seen in the US, which seems to have a bigger cut out than the UK version?

[kucyk]

1 hour ago, ernieb said:

The image is the speaker configuration that I have but I could not see how to facilitate the 322 speaker into the hole that would be left by removing the dual OEM and I’d be left with with the tweeter wires  unterminated. I have to say I was very pushed for time when I tried and decided to give up on it and return the 322’s.

id certainly be interested in seeing images or video of the 322 being fitted.

It's not tweeter wires, it's SOS speaker (the bigger one), also claimed to be used by sat nav etc. As far as I can see you need to remove it from the enclosure then leave it inside the hole, and connect 322 to other wires.

 

It's only on one side, other one is like prime.

[ernieb]

Luke, interesting I still find it very confusing and I’m not sure I’d be happy just disconnecting the SOS leads and leaving then disconnected. However, it will be interesting to see how other get on with the modification and how well is performs. I’m usually not bothered about car Speakers as I figure it’s a car and not a HiFi system and hardly an environment that is made for quality sound. However, I do find that the speech frequencies are very poor and muddled this may of course be in part due to my age and hearing?

[kucyk]

2 hours ago, ernieb said:

Luke, interesting I still find it very confusing and I’m not sure I’d be happy just disconnecting the SOS leads and leaving then disconnected. However, it will be interesting to see how other get on with the modification and how well is performs. I’m usually not bothered about car speakers as I figure it’s a car and not a HiFi system and hardly an environment that is made for quality sound. However, I do find that the speech frequencies are very poor and muddled this may of course be in part due to my age and hearing?

You've seen others on YouTube doing modification, the stock Speakers are hardly a Speakers. They are just made from a piece of plastic, so I doubt it's your age. I'm going to upgrade mines to 322F soon, I won't disconnect SOS speaker, it just needs to be taken out from the enclosure only to fit JBL.

[ernieb]

Luke can you take a few photo’s on your instal and post here?

[kucyk]

On 1/27/2022 at 8:25 PM, ernieb said:

Luke can you take a few photo’s on your instal and post here?

I managed to upgrade the dash Speakers today. What I did is I removed SOS speaker from the case and haven't even unplugged it, just made a small cut in the material (highlighted in red) to be able to slide it in the empty space, then installed JBLs, no issues with space. The driver side seems to be more tight, but it's a straightforward job as the SOS speaker is only on the passenger side.

Went for JBL 322F and totally I fully recommend them, great Speakers, huge difference.

 

 

[Steve169]

20 minutes ago, kucyk said:

I managed to upgrade the dash speakers today. What I did is I removed SOS speaker from the case and haven't even unplugged it, just made a small cut in the material (highlighted in red) to be able to slide it in the empty space, then installed JBLs, no issues with space. The driver side seems to be more tight, but it's a straightforward job as the SOS speaker is only on one the passenger side.

Went for JBL 322F and totally I fully recommend them, great speakers, huge difference.

 

 

🤔 Interesting, which leads / harnesses did you buy? 

[kucyk]

29 minutes ago, Steve169 said:

🤔 Interesting, which leads / harnesses did you buy? 

You need these with 4 cables inside as the speaker inside doors is connected to that as well.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003233514932.html

Get three just in case, one of mines came faulty.

[ernieb]

11 hours ago, kucyk said:

I managed to upgrade the dash speakers today. What I did is I removed SOS speaker from the case and haven't even unplugged it, just made a small cut in the material (highlighted in red) to be able to slide it in the empty space, then installed JBLs, no issues with space. The driver side seems to be more tight, but it's a straightforward job as the SOS speaker is only on the passenger side.

Went for JBL 322F and totally I fully recommend them, great speakers, huge difference.

 

 

Thanks Luke.  I assume the SOS speaker does not rattle against the bodywork, have you done a test run?

[kucyk]

6 hours ago, ernieb said:

Thanks Luke.  I assume the SOS speaker does not rattle against the bodywork, have you done a test run?

Yes I did, no rattles, it's pretty tight up there, but if any appear I will figure out something to stop it.

[Steve169]

On 2/11/2022 at 1:23 PM, kucyk said:

Yes I did, no rattles, it's pretty tight up there, but if any appear I will figure out something to stop it.

Any rattles longer term? 

 

Cheers 

[Morley86]

I'm looking to replace the front-left (dash) tweeter as it doesn't appear to work properly. Can anyone explain how to remove the grill without damaging anything. I've got some trim removal tools but not actually tried yet so would like to know where to attack it! Thanks

[ernieb]

Use your trim removal tools, I bought a cheap set from Amazon and have found them very effective in removing trims.  Whilst I did not in the end change my Speakers as I was confused about the set up I did use them to remove the cover easily enough.