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Toyota Prado - Installation guide - Speakers |
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Here are some instructions and notes on how to remove the door trim on the Toyota Prado.
A screw location 1.
How to remove the front door trim of the Prado:
There are three electrical connectors to unplug. The grab the edges of the door panel and lift forward. They make loud unclipping noises so don't be afraid. You'll end up with the door panel with just the door cables still attached. I wouldn't bother with removing the door cables because there's plenty of room to move. The type of speakers to choose as replacements is again a subjective thing. I always pick quality sounds as opposed to volume, The standard speakers while sounding OK is clearly not premium quality. Rather they are robust. What are the best car speakers? I have always liked split or component speaker sets as they do sound better. However the secret to the best component tweeters is the cross-over settings. Get it right and you have a very well balanced sound. Sure AMP power, cables etc... all play a part but if the speakers are bad so is the sound. The best sounding tweeters are soft dome tweeters. In my opinion they sound smoother and more natural. They do not have that noticeable harshness are loud volumes in plastic or hard dome versions. For the mid range I always look for one with a rubber surround. As for the cone section I like composite paper based for mid range. Again because of the softer sound. For bass either plastic of some sort. Hence I'm having difficulty trying to find a suitable replacement speakers that are reasonably priced and available.
The next bit really deserves it's own page but
because I don't have the time here's a quick explanation of the main
problem I had with changing the Prado's speakers. You see the spacer and the speakers is one unit. It's a completely non-industry standard mounting system. Hence if you want to change the speakers you will need to make a new mounting system since the new speakers cannot be simply screwed into the door. The hole and mounting positions are simply too large.
I'll make another page later with the solution I came
up with. |
So what is the speaker size Toyota has decided to use in the Prado? Surprisingly it's a standard size! Yep the Prado uses 6 x 9 inch speakers and what looks like a 1 inch tweeter for the front door.
A - It's a regular size 6 x 9 inch on a raised base that's about 3cm or 1 inch. B - That's the plug for the tweeter. Doesn't appear to be a separate crossover. The picture below is tweeter mounting bracket on the back of the door panel.
A & B - This is the main bracket looks like a one inch tweeter. Just 3 screws to undo. The rear door speakers in the Prado are the usual 6 inch speakers purely by the look of them. I'll post pictures once I've got some replacements.
I didn't want to spend too much money and I was not interested in putting any additional amplifiers or sub woofers in the Prado? Now I wanted to get component 6 x 9 inch speakers since all the mounting hardware is already there - however there is only one model to choose from. Since I couldn't demo the speakers, namely no one had them I had to try something else. I figure that the standard ones will have to do for now and if I find component tweeters later I'll install them. After all I had no external amplifier - just yet anyway. There were heaps to choose from so it was a difficult choice but after hearing a few different models I ended up with the MTX TDX6903. They are 6 x 9 with dual soft dome tweeters. (Hence Tri-axial) No exotic materials here but where relatively cheap since they where on special $139. I was happy with the quality of the sound they produced and the size. Most of all - I heard them powered by a standard head unit without an external amplifier. They sounded better than the Toyota speakers. The mounting depth is only 7.5 cm which is about right for the Prado. So do I think the MTX TDX6903 sound better than the original speakers? Yes! I'm now looking for separate tweeters with a cross over so that the sound is better balanced. PS. For the rear speakers I chose the Clarion SRX-1784 6 inch or 16 cm speakers. The SRX are very good speakers although they came out a few years ago now. They where on special too! old stock you see $99. See the section on the other side of the page for explanation on why although 6 x 9 and 6 inch speakers will BUT won't fit the Prado easily.
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Prado front door trim
