Hi,
I don’t think I’m the only one that considers the overall sound quality of the standard audio system in the IS300h to be disappointing. Upgrading the speakers can result in an improvement in sound quality in just about any audio system and that’s what I’ve begun to do with my IS300h, starting with the dash speakers.
Unfortunately it was not a straight forward plug in and bolt in job, a bit of tweaking and butchering is required.
I replaced the stock dash speakers with a pair of Pioneer TS-E1002I. The stock speakers have standard bolt spacing and that is the only part of the fitting that was right from the start. The stock speakers are unusually small for what are essentially 10cm speakers. I measured the speaker cones at less than 5cm! Some headphones have drivers that size, they really are feeble, nasty things.
The Pioneers are deeper and wider than stock and it was necessary to use a stanley knife to trim away some of the internal plastic of the dash to make some space for the Pioneers. More of this trimming was needed for the passenger side than the driver side. The speaker space is not symetrical between left and right, indeed the speaker grilles are different sizes which I didn’t notice until I had them off. Luckily the plastic is quite soft.
Because the Pioneer speakers are deeper than stock I had to mount them 5 or 6mm higher up to clear some of the ventilation system ducting that runs close to the speakers. I used rubber grommets as spacers, If I had some washers of the right size at hand I probably would have used a stack of them instead. I might go back and do so yet. As a precaution I also trimmed away some plastic from the underside of the grilles to create a little more clearance above the speakers.
The biggest fiddle was electrically connecting the speakers. I scoured the internet for ready made IS300h dash speaker adaptors but couldn’t find any. That left two oprions, cut the existing plug off and use crimps or make my own adaptor using the sockets molded into the stock speaker. Although crimps were my first choice I decided against them because the loom wires feeding the speakers are short and you have very little working space with them tight into a corner. So I carefully cut the sockets off the stock speakers, filed them down into neat pieces and then soldered on the wires supplied with the Pioneers. A lump of epoxy putty at the back of the sockets sealed the connections in.
All in all a bit of fiddling and faffing about but the result was worth it. The improvement in sound quality is substantial. Front doors next