REAR SPEAKER REPLACEMENT

REAR SPEAKER REPLACEMENT

I am new to the forum. Awesome job by Methane to set this up. I got my '03 Corolla in March, and I love it. It is a silver LE, 5 speed.

I have the 6-speaker system, and I am ready to upgrade my rear speakers, leaving in the factory head unit. I bought a pair of Polk GXR69 speakers on EBAY for $80, a net savings of $20 over getting them from Circuit City (Thank You very much).

Some questions come to mind:
1. Of course, the Polk speakers are 4 ohm and that makes sense, but the factory speakers are 6 ohm. Why? Do you know if the Polk speakers should work well with the rest of my system?

2. Anybody know the specs on the factory stereo head unit? Please include RMS or Peak designation for power. What about the impedance?

3. It looks like the plastic rear deck needs to come out to get at the rear speakers. All I can see is the plastic screw clips, accessible from the inside, and it looks like it will come out. Is that all the fasteners? Are there any tricks needed?

Thanks for any help ya'll can give.

Re: REAR SPEAKER REPLACEMENT

I'm not sure on the specifics of the stock headunit... but I'd say it's probably about 12 W RMS, 35 or so peak. I had some 4 ohm Pioneer 6x9s on the stock deck and they worked out pretty well... 6 ohm speakers are cheaper to produce than 4.

To get to the back speakers, remove the plastic covers on the C pillars and remove those clips you mentioned (a small flathead screwdrvier worked well... just stick it in barely enough to turn the plastic screw, if you push on the screw as you turn it, it won't unscrew.. be gentle!). The rear deck is secured by 3 white serrated pegs that secure into the sheet metal below the deck. Stick your head in the trunk, look up... push up the 3 pegs and the deck will come lose. The stock speakers are held in with 10mm bolts, but you won't be able to use those same bolts for the new speakers due to the fact that the bolts are spread out farther on the stock speakers than typical aftermarket ones. I just used zip ties to secure them in. You could also drill new holes (you would need to drill up from inside the trunk). The stock speakers are soldered to the wiring... either cut the wires or melt the solder.

Hope this helps.

How in the world did u get a 5 speed Le?

Hey Welcome! I just wanted to know how in the world did u get a 5 speed Le. I thought they only made the Corolla S and Ce with 5 speed. did u special order or something??? B/c my dealer said that only S and Ce came with 5 speed. Not that it matters to me, b/c i have an automatic. My mom won't get me a stick shift (not that i know how to drive it anyways, so it really doens't matter). I still have the brochure of my car and it says that Le only comes with automatic. I spent alot of my time over the summer at those toyota dealership places, so they told me alot about my car. in where i live, once the corollas hit the floor, they are sold. So i kinda had competition for my car. i had to order mine and wait a month for it. But anyways they told me that the only car that didn't come with 5 speed was the Le, so i was just wondering how u got one??? :?

FWIW I also have a 5 speed LE. In some areas of the country they are rare, in others they are commonplace. My outlook was "no five speed no sale", so the dealer found the only one in a five state area. It took them about 6 days to get it locked down and transported to the dealership. Perhaps they have stopped offering them due to low demand?

why would u want an LE?

Ok i figure you wanted a 5-speed, but why an Le? i only got an Le, b/c the Ce doesnt' come with power windows and power locks and they say they don't have any in the whole southeast toyota area and if i wanted a Ce with power windows and power locks, i would have to order one from the factory. so that's why i got the Le. The good thing about the Le, is that it doesn't that black side bumper thing on the door and they have those lights on the rearview mirror. I HATE the wood grain thing. It's so ugly. that's the only thing i hate about the LE, but the wood grain thing is easy to clean. so that's a good thing, i guess...

Re: why would u want an LE?

You can always get a brushed aluminum dash kit to cover up all of that wood trim crap. I thought that it looked pretty pimp at first, but now I wanna go all silver.

i've thought about that already..

I've thought about the aluminum trim already. I've been looking around for new trims and i can't seem to find one that matches. I don't think aluminum would look right on dash that is half dark gray on the top and half light gray on the bottom. Plus i don't think the aluminum looking trim would look too good on the doors either. You actually thought the wood grain looked pimp??? :? I thought it looked like a granny car interior. But it's not that bad, now that i'm kinda getting used to it.

Re: i've thought about that already..

cant be worse than my Tan or biege interior ........

Speakers Etc.

Thanks Methane. I won't be replacing the speakers until the 26th, but your tips will definitely help me. I'll post if I find anything different. These Polk speakers advertise variable mounting dimensions, and they may drop right in.

As for the 5-speed LE and my buying experience, it was quite interesting. I didn't notice that the pamphlet said that they didn't sell the combination. I just logged onto Toyota.com and did the "build your own" stuff, then you click locate your vehicle and it would show all of the vehicles with my desired combination coming to my area (usually they had about 5 matches), allowing variable colors and options, but showing you the differences from what you picked.

It turned out that these were the vehicles going through the South Texas distribution center where they add many of the options and then put them on the truck. They have an intended destination, but if your dealer locks in on it before another dealer, the car can be redirected to your dealer. You can also change the options being installed, if you catch the vehicle before they receive it at distribution and enter it into their computer. So I had access to much of the data that the dealer was looking at, and that felt pretty cool. Other areas of the country use a different dist. center, but it should work the same way.

I wanted the LE for many of the standard and available options including the factory aluminum rims.

My mistake. . .

Well i rather have a beige interior than that ugly wood grain interior. But i am seriously thinking about that another trim though.

Ok my mistake, the brochure didn't say the LE doesn't come with 5-speed. I think it was the dealer that told me that the Le doesn't come with it. B/c when i ordered my car, i told them i wanted an Le automatic and they were like "the Le doesn't come with a manual anyways". they had to locate a Corolla for me, b/c it was so popular and everybody wanted one. When did they add that 5-speed option to the Le?? they didn't have that option back in June and July. Cuz i had to search for my own car, b/c those dealers kept saying that "we don't have this and we don't have that", so i search for my own Corolla brought it in for them and i said "well i found it". cuz they would find a Corolla with all those add on accessories that nobody needs and expect me to pay for it. But i swear they did not have that option back in the summer time. And when i search the inventory of the cars for different dealers, they don't have that Le 5-speed option.

did you know that they came out with a Corolla Trd Limited?? it looks really nice. i want that Corolla, instead of mine . It looks better than the S. They always come out with better ones after you have bought yours. Cuz they had a Corolla TRD Limited Ce with power windows and power locks like 2 weeks after i brought mine. :x

Re: REAR SPEAKER REPLACEMENT

[I have the 6-speaker system, and I am ready to upgrade my rear speakers, leaving in the factory head unit. I bought a pair of Polk GXR69 speakers on EBAY for $80, a net savings of $20 over getting them from Circuit City (Thank You very much).

Hello:
How this speakers works on you?
Do you really get better results?
thanks
victor

how do you remove the plastic covers on each of the side of the rear deck:?: the ones by the roof

The pillar covers are held in place with 4 (if memory serves) trim clips - three along the leading edge and one further back. You have to fold down the rear setas, loosen the trim around the opening to the trunk, peel back the wetherstripping around the doors and carefully pull the pillar covers off. Start at the bottom - that's the easiest.

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Hey, if anyones interested, Fry's Electronics has Infiniti 6x9's on sale for $69 right now, huge sale. Just in case anyone is around one and is looking.

Nathan

I might let my friend know about it.......

I have tha pioneer 6x9z 4ways and tha pioneer 3way 6.5s for 75 bucks...New