Teendriver

I was just curious, what do you guys think would be some good speakers for a 1998 ES300? I'm looking for some preferably with some really nice bass, but not subwoofers. Also, this car does not have Nakamichi on it.

sadielady

welcome, fellow newbie. i don't own a lexus (yet) but i've got my eyes open hoping the perfect es300. as for your questions about speakers for your '98, i'm sure you'll get plenty of feedback from the good people on this forum. now for my thoughts.

i've been reading posts about people wanting to do speaker upgrades. about 5 yrs ago, i wanted to upgrade the sounds in my 2000 buick regal. it alreay had a pretty decent factory head unit (i think it was a monsoon) along with the factory speakers. i was prepared to drop some coin on a complete makeover when a salesman offered his advice. he said, "save your money, keep your factory setup, and simply add a nice subwoofer in the trunk." i thought the guy was crazy when he told me adding a sub would make a HUGE difference.

i took the advice and the guy was right. there was no need for me to replace/upgrade the factory head unit or speakers. adding a sub made the existing system come to life. believe me, i didn't want that thumping/rattling/bone-shaking/trunk lid rattling box in my trunk. after all, i was in my late 40's and while i love a quality car stereo system, there was no way i thought i'd be happy with a sub. how wrong i was. i turned down the power on the sub to add 'just enough' bass to take the load off the rear deck speakers and man....it was awesome. yeah, i threw down about 500 bucks including installation but it was the best 500 i've ever spent. i'm glad i didn't throw away $1500 when the 500 sub did the trick. of course, YRMV.

mdbrown

I just replaced the stock speakers in my car with Boston Acoustics SE series speakers. Unbelievable improvement in sound quality. A very highly recommended upgrade. Keep in mind my car still has the stock Pioneer sub, amps and head unit but now it sounds like a new system.

R1R

Do you know the exact model number for the Boston Acoustics?

I just want to replace the front and rear door speakers. Not the tweeters or sub in the back.

Are they easy to install? Any modifications needed?

mdbrown

If you don't replace the tweeters then don't bother. The weakness of the stock system is that the rear door speakers are single cone full range and the front speakers lack a real crossover. You have the tweeters crossed over but the speaker in the door is full range. All this adds up to strained, tinny high frequencies and muddied upper mid-ranges.

I replaced the speakers with Boston Acoustics SE60 and SE65 speakers. The rear speakers are 5.25", I went with 6.5" to get a little more of a full range sound. Rear speakers are simple, most difficult issue is removing the door panel. Front door is more involved as you need to find a suitable location for the crossover and you will have to finagle the tweeters into the stock mounts. It took me an afternoon but the results were well worth it.