Parcel Shelf Speaker Upgrade

[johnny01]

Hi to everyone :)

Just thought I would post details of my little 'bank holiday project,' use it as inspiration if you wish! My car has the optional Toyota parcel shelf Speakers fitted and I decided to upgrade these for now, as opposed to making a new 'stealth' shelf or tracking a spare shelf down in order to hack it to pieces. As the wiring was already in place in my vehicle, I haven't needed to cover this aspect. Time taken - a very leisurely three hours :)

As usual: any wiring must be done with the ignition switched off!

Firstly I removed the original parcel shelf to have a closer look. For those who have never seen what the genuine option looks like, here it is top and underneath:

The speaker grille was removed by levering off the 4 spring clips underneath and then gently lifting the grille from above, taking care not to scratch or deform the plastic. You can see one of the 'offending' Toyota Speakers below, and the comparitively large diameter of the grille itself, which was what inspired me to fit larger Speakers under the original grilles:

I removed the Toyota speaker by undoing the 3 mounting screws and unplugged the wiring connector from underneath. In the picture below I've laid masking tape on the parcel shelf and drawn around the outside of the plastic grille so you can see how much space there actually is under there. The speakers I fitted were 165mm or 6 1/2 inch diameter:

Then I marked out a circle which is the same diameter as the cutout diameter of the speaker, which in my case was 145mm or 5 and 11/16ths inch. Usually the easiest way to do this is hunt around the house looking for something of the right diameter and I was lucky enough to find a 100 CD-R bulk pack holder of *exactly* the right diameter :) You can see this in the image below, along with short yellow lines marking the approximate location of the edges of the 'acoustically transparent' part of the Toyota plastic grille:

When I was sure the circle was in the right place (I looked at it through the grille to make sure) and it was the right size (measure twice - cut once) I took saw in hand and with heart in mouth cut around the circle I had drawn around the CD-R holder. Remember it's better to cut a smaller hole and file it out than make a hole that is too large:

This is what I ended up with:

Then after cleaning away any loose particles from the hole I gently lowered the speaker in, making sure it was a snug fit. I could've filed out the hole if the speaker didn't seat properly because it needs to be flush with the parcel shelf.

Next I rotated the speaker to line up the 'axis.' If fitting 3-way speakers as here, it's good practice to have the tweeters at the outer extremities, and the midrange driver towards the centre of the car (see second to last picture for clarification.) If fitting 2-way speakers it's not usually relevant.

Once the speaker was 'lined up,' I marked through the holes I was going to use to fasten it to the parcel shelf. I used a chinagraph pencil, but anything that made a clear and precise mark would've been OK:

I removed the speaker and carefully drilled the holes. I used a centre punch first, and also drilled a small pilot hole before the proper size hole for the fixing screw. If you mess up the hole location and have speakers like these that have multiple fixing holes, you at least have the option to try again.

Then I fastened the screw clips to the parcel shelf and lowered the speaker gently into the hole to fasten it in. I made sure I tightened slowly and in turn (imagine a clock face and tighten 12 then 6 then 3 then 9 etc) ensuring the speaker basket didn't distort out of shape.

Before fitting the speaker: I made sure I'd used the gasket that had been supplied with it, between the speaker rim and the parcel shelf. It's there for a reason!

The picture above shows the underneath of the upgraded speaker, fitted using the supplied fixings. Wiring was straightforward, I just ensured the polarity was correct by noting which wire fed the original speakers' + and - terminals. I cut off the original connectors and fitted spade connectors appropriate to the new speakers.

When completed and rewired, the upgraded parcel shelf looked like this:

And this is it fitted back into the car, before and after the original Toyota grilles were put back on. It's now a sort of 'semi-stealth' shelf as from the outside it looks exactly the same as the original Toyota fitting :)

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and maybe it will inspire some of you to have a go too.

Regards - Johnny

[Baby Yari]

Good post mate, well explained!

Bet the sound has improved loads now eh, the standard Toyota Speakers arent renound for being the best!!!

[johnny01]

Good post mate, well explained!

Bet the sound has improved loads now eh, the standard Toyota speakers arent renound for being the best!!!

Cheers Baby Yari :)

Yes, a remarkable improvement in sound quality and I haven't even done the door Speakers yet! It's getting slightly 'trebly' though and I think when I fit the coaxials in the door I will have to back off the top end a bit as I'll have tweeters in the dash, doors and parcel shelf. Having said that though it's a lot louder than it was, partly because the dash and parcel shelf Speakers are wired in series and the JBL 2-Ohm Speakers suit this well. Even with the standard headunit I can drown out *all* engine and road noise completely if I have a mind too :D

[Yaris Ts]

looks great i think im going to do this in myne just need to get the wiring sorted

[.Chris]

really glad you got a tsport... good to see you doing all these awsome tutorials for it now! haha

awsome stuff mate!

[phadge]

anyone know where you can buy screw clips as in the pictures? I have searched online but prob not calling them the right things!

Thanks

[Boro Sera]

anyone know where you can buy screw clips as in the pictures? I have searched online but prob not calling them the right things!

Thanks

Possibly Halfords in the 'little items in Blisterpacks' section. It's certainly worth a try anyway