Car Stereos: 04 Tundra front door speakers, amplifier output, jbl systems

Question
Brian

Both of my fronts are blown in my 04 double cab tundra.......local sound shop told me they knew JBL systems were trouble and didn't think they could do anything with it, because of the wolfer, tweeter arrangement....went to Toyota dealer, said replacement JBL's were $200 a piece- before install.

Question is, what can I go with as a replacement speaker....not looking for anything fancy. Is there anything on the market that will work and can I still have function of steering wheel stereo controls?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm in a bind!

Answer
Hi Barret,

Sorry about the long delay in answering this question.

I really don't see any very good options, short of trying to find the replacement JBL speakers at a better price.  It looks like this system uses a 3-way design, with a midrange/woofer combination speaker and a separate tweeter. I'm assuming that the tweeter is working correctly, and that it's the woofer/mid speaker that's blown on each side.

From what I can tell, the combination woofer/midrange is driven by a single output from the factory amplifier; presumably there's a crossover built into the speaker to divide the frequency range between the woofer and midrange drivers.  That means you can try just installing a standard 6-1/2" after-market speaker in place of the stock speaker.  You certainly won't damage anything in the attempt. Since the separate tweeter has its own amplifier output, that means the new speaker probably won't play much treble--the factory amplifier will send the treble only to the stock tweeter, and only bass and midrange to the woofer/mid assembly.  It's impossible to predict just how an after-market speaker would sound in the system, but it's worth a try, especially if you're able to return the new speakers if they don't work out.

Hope this helps!

Brian