The speaker upgrade I mention below is for my (soon to be delivered) Toyota Innova Hycross – GX-O – 7 seater version, but the same can be replicated in almost any car
BHPian dkaile recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
All About The Upgrade
I have been talking about Stage 1 speaker (Level 1) upgrade in ANY CAR in my Baleno thread here
Just to repeat myself, Stage 1 UPGRADE refers to the most basic speaker upgrade that anyone can and should do to their stock FACTORY FITTED STEREO SPEAKERS. It is usually recommended when you DO NOT want to the touch the original headset or mess with the original wiring and also upgrade the SOUND QUALITY while keeping your WARRANTY INTACT in any new car.
The speaker upgrade I mention below is for my (soon to be delivered) Toyota Innova Hycross – GX-O – 7 seater version, but the same can be replicated in almost any car just by changing the speaker ring adapter as well as speaker connector adapter. This upgrade has ZERO WIRE CUTTING or Drilling in the car chassis.
I wanted a upgrade which was better then the factory one and also the most basic one (level 1) that I done on my Baleno, as mentioned above but still keep the budget under Rs. 10,000/- for a 6 speaker setup upgrade. Though eventually I overshot my budget by a couple of thousand bucks, but then I was able to upgrade the system to a 8 speaker setup (with 2 sets of components) which will, any day, sound even better than a 6 speaker setup (with 1 set of components and 1 set of coaxials). All recommendations below are without any economic interest based on my years of survey and listening to the actual speakers and you are free to choose any speaker brand of your choice. Each audiophile has a different set of ears and therefore your choice may vary according to your taste of music. I gave clarity of sound and bass the most preference, in that order.
I started out with my all time favorite brand since the last 40 years – Pioneer; and shortlisted their upgraded A series components – TS-A1608C – – MRP Rs. 11,990/- and street price (with full GST bill and warranty) of Rs. 5,800/- for a pair.
The weight of this Pioneer woofer was 763 gms. Though the weight is not the only parameter to judge the speaker. Lighter speakers can sound better. But the weight does go around pointing towards it’s build quality and weight of the magnet used (which eventually does affect the sound quality) –
Next best, I was suggested to go with, the current hot favorite in today’s market, the Morel Maximo 6 MK-III – MRP was Rs. 11,000/- and the Street Price again was in the 6.5k to 7k bracket – These were an upgrade over it’s very popular MK-II series (which came with pure paper cone). These one’s had an upgraded paper+mica cone. Now while the paper cone speakers produce the most sweet tones in a home speaker environment, they may not be the best choice in a car speaker environment, due to the fact that these cones will deteriorate faster when subjected to any contact with moisture, which any door panel will be have ample of. A Silicon Rain Guard is a must IF using any paper cone car speakers. These also came with very sweet sounding, full 1 inch, silk some tweetersagain preferred more in Home speaker environment.
The Morel MK-III were lighter than the Pioneers (surprisingly) at 749 gms.
Focal was not on my radar due to it’s reputation of being much costlier and also high end, especially it’s Made in France products. As many audiophiles must be aware, they are a speaker-only company and their home range runs into several lacs and adorns the homes of the Who’s Who of the world. But I was suggested by my friendly neighborhood installer, who I have known for decades, that their base Auditor series, Made in China, but using the same Focal France’s technical know-how, has seen some good offers coming in, though they have increased the MRP in 2025. Even it’s base series was much better than the high/middle end ones of many competitive brands. It also featured it’s revolutionary inverted dome tweeter technology, in full 1 inch size. And once I saw the build quality of it’s woofer cone and heard the sound quality in another car setup, I knew this was the one.
It weighed a whopping 880 gms due to it’s magnet and full steel speaker bowl –
There was a very sweet deal going on if I went for a pair these Focal component + coaxials (6 speaker setup). The Component model number was ASE 165 – – MRP was now increased to Rs. 13,999/- from 11,999/- a few months back. And the the Coaxial model number was ACX 165 – whose new MRP is around 10,999/-, if I remember correctly. So the total setup’s MRP was around 25,000/ – but was available (with full GST Bill and 18 months warranty) of just Rs. 10,500/- !! I however went for 2 sets of components, both for the front and rear, i.e. a 8 speaker setup, MRP Rs. 28,000/- at Just Rs. 13,000/- !!
The packaging was quite simple compared to it’s counterparts –
MRP mentioned was Rs. 13,999/- and they were freshly imported in March 2025. Surprisingly, the ‘Manufactured by’ address was of France, though the country of origin was PRC.
I also got (for Free from my dealer, otherwise a street price of 100 bucks for 4) the Toyota Hycross specific, Plug and Play Speaker Harness –
A closer look at the connectors of this plug and play harness –
I also went for very high quality Silicon Rain Guards for protecting my investment, from the brand Aura from Russia (manufactured in PRC). People in the knowledge, know Aura for it’s loudest speakers in the car industry. Their speakers sound profile is not to my liking though. I got these for an additional Rs. 1000/- for 4 pieces (for all the 4 woofers). These silicon rain guards, besides protecting your speakers from any water ingress, also provide ample cushioning and vibration dampening in speaker installation, thereby negating the need for using any speaker gaskets on the speaker rings and behind the speakers –
My dealer also gave my some Multi-Fit Speaker Adapter Rings (from Pioneer) for FREE, for fitting these speakers in any car by modifying those rings. However these rings inside diameter was smaller than the ones I required for the Focals and I had to go for different ones. And also 2 Tweeter Installation Metal Adapter for installing the Tweeters in the Front Dashboard Speaker space, which exists in my Toyota Hycross, if I so desired.
These were the Speaker Adapter Rings specific for Toyota/Mahindra that will eventually be used in my car. The 3 mounting holes are in the exact same position as in my Toyota and will be mounted without drilling any extra holes. These also have a larger inside diameter to accommodate the Silicon Rain Guards properly without any modifications –
A closer look at to what all comes in the box (in sets of 2). The Woofer (or mid bass), the Tweeter with 2 sets (4 pieces in each set) of Adapters to flush mount or mount it directly on the dashboard and Crossover with separate outputs for the woofer and tweeter unlike the Morels and the Pioneers which came with a simpler crossover (with a capacitor inside basically) for the Tweeter side while sending full input frequencies to the woofers –
The Diameter of the Woofer Magnet was 85 mm –
While the Width of the same was 15 mm. Notice the build quality of the steel bowl with Focal branding –
The Crossovers were modified by me to add exact thimbles punched, soldered and heat shrinked at each end connecting to the plug and play Toyota Adapter, to make a totally wire cutting free setup. These came with bare wires from the factory –
A closer look as to how these will connect to the plug and play Toyota adapter. Notice the different thimble sizes for the positive and negative connectors so that a wrong connection is impossible –
A look at the Technical Spec Sheet for the Woofers and frequency response curves. These are rated at (a true; lolz) 60W RMS which is more than sufficient for the stock head unit. Though these speakers will also work just fine IF I feel to integrate a amplifier in the mix at a later date –
Now comes the interesting bit about some economics!! Focals also wants to sell the Toyota Owners a Made for Toyota, plug and playproduct in the guise of Model numbers IS TOY 165 (for components) and IC TOY 165 (for coaxials) with exact same 60W RMS power and exact similar frequency response of 60Hz-21kHz. Though if you will look closely at the frequency response curve these are about 2~5% better than the Auditors in sound quality. But they want to charge a whopping Rs. 53,000/- MRP for both, Street Price around Rs. 40,000/- which is nearly 4 times more than the Auditors with nearly similar sound quality and exact same specifications, same magnet size of 85x15mm, by just providing a Toyota specific plastic shell (adapter in our case) and Toyota speaker connector prefitted (a adapter in our case) in the mix. And most Hycross/Fortuner owners get swayed inwithout comparing the exact sound quality, just on the contention that a high end price (4 times more) will provide a 4 times better sound quality, in their high end, high cost car, which is much far away from exact ground reality. This is just for awareness from my experience, and I respect your point of view if you don’t agree and I don’t want to get in a argument on this in this thread.
Technical Specs of IS TOY 165 –
Technical Specs of IC TOY 165 –
A closer look at the Silicon Rain Guards attached –
Lateral view of the same with the speaker bracket –
Side view, perfect fittingmaybe even better protection than the Made for Toyota products –
Now the setup was again tested (1st test was in a actual car environment) in a bench test with my old removed Kenwood Car stereo. Though the bass cannot be ascertained in this setup due to lack of boom created by the door enclosures, but clarity of the vocals and mids certainly can, and they were fantastic.
A closer look. Notice the quality of the cone on the woofers which helps in uniform spreading of the mid frequencies –
Now a few stock images, this one of the Hycross’s rear door and how the door pads will be removed which is a simple 10 minutes job which I will be tackling myself –
The Rear Door’s door pad removed to reveal the innards and stock speaker placement –
The front door innards –
This is how the final rear door innard should look after 3 layers (1 on the inside of the door pads also) of Dr. Artex Iridium (2mm) 3 layer dampingcost Rs. 6500/- for 10 sheets which will be sufficient for the car –
Front door after dampening –
Tweeter Placement on the Rear Door Pads. The front ones will either go on placed openly on the dashboard or enclosed inside the dashboard speaker space –
A closer look of the Tweeter Placement on the rear for absolute factory fitted look –
This is all for now. Will keep the thread updated with exact car installation as and when possible.
I would like to emphasis and repeat that this Stage 1 Speaker Upgrade can be done in any/all Indian cars which come with puny stock speakers from the factory. People have even replaced the puny 9 speaker JBL stock systems in the Hycross ZXO model, which can’t stand a shadow in front of this setup, if a separate subwoofer is also integrated at a later stage. You can’t go wrong with any of the 3 choices I have listed above but do hear the sound quality first, before taking a final decision.
Cheers for now…
Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
