Originally Posted by AlexNY

i swapped front + rear to 6.5 inch focals. definitelly better mid-bass.

Considering how garbage the stock speakers was, changing all door speakers + 3 dash speakers was the best investment i've made in my ES. The stock amp definitelly lacks the power to drive all the aftermarket speakers, but swapping amp is way too much work + money.
i've done multiple $6k+ setups in previous cars many years ago. The stock amp will never reach even 30% of what an aftermarket amp can do, but since i don't really crave deep bass anymore, i'm happy with the stock amp.
Maybe adding a small 10" sub in the stunk would really bring out the bass, but do i want to spend another $250-$300 in this? i don't know

Originally Posted by notabot

Sorry it took so long for me to post this.
Mods - if you want to make this a sticky, go for it.

This is for a 2013 ES with the premium audio (nav, but no ML). I only did the front doors, but I assume the rears (a future project) are very similar.

Changing the door speakers isn't difficult. And this is from someone who has little experience in car audio. I've used Crutchfield before for my previous cars, but the tricky part here was that the speaker bracket (Metra) they sent didn't fit, but I was able to find a different source for an exact fit. The wiring harness was a perfect fit (plug and play with no splicing required).
Proceed at your own peril, but honestly, once I had the correct parts, it wasn't too tough a task at all. I watched videos and researched this for a few weeks before making the attempt because I really, really didn't want to mess up my car.

Here's where I got the speaker mounting bracket:
http://www.car-speaker-adapters.com/
Fast shipping and it was a perfect fit for both the speaker and the door.
*Disclosure: don't worry, I don't work for these guys.

After-market speaker, mounting bracket, and wiring harness.
Deep breath. Here goes:

The door trim removal is surprisingly easy. (There are YouTube videos out there on how to remove Camry and Avalon door trim. The ES is similar, but there are crucial differences - mainly the placement of the screws and there is no need to remove the sail plate trim piece near the rearview mirrors.) Really the only thing you need to take off the interior of the door is a phillips head screwdriver. The whole thing is held on by 4 different sized phillips-head screws and a LOT of retainer clips.

Tools:
1. A phillips head screwdriver, an adjustable wrench or small socket set.
2. Trim removal tool ($9 on amazon).
3. A tiny bit of courage. Really. Just a tiny bit.

1. Prep work: I went ahead and installed the speaker into the mounting brackets before I got started. Luckily I didn't have the foresight to do this with the Metra brackets that were included with my JBL 6x9 3-way speakers from Crutchfield because those don't fit the door (too small). In fact, the speakers didn't even fit the brackets so, I didn't commit any serious errors. The first time, but I gained valuable experience taking that door apart and buttoning it up again.

2. Disconnect the negative terminal for the battery just in case something goofy happens.

3. There are four Phillips head screws that you need to remove:
a. At the back edge of the door in a little rubber
b. Behind a small plastic trim piece (easily popped off with a trim piece removal tool) at the chromed door handle you pull to open the car door
c. Under a small piece of fabric/backing (again use a trim removal tool) at the door handle you use to close the car door.
d. Under the power window switch. Use a trim removal tool to pry this up and unclip the lock/unlock and the power window switch.
What? You want pictures? OK:
#1 Phillips head at the back edge of the door This just pops right out with a pry tool.

#2 Phillips head at behind the plastic piece by the door pull

#3 Phillips head under that little piece of felt at the door pull. This just seemed a little cheesy and flimsy but hey whatever.
Believe it or not, the driver's door is easier. There's just one wiring harness to unhook, not two.

#4 Phillips head under the window switchDon't worry, all four screws are different sizes, so you're probably not going to mix them up. If you have poor short term memory, maybe take pics like I did, so you remember.

4. Now the slightly tricky part that requires some courage. There are retaining clips all along the perimeter - bottom, front, back - of the interior trim piece (it's all one piece) of the door. The first time I did this, I used a trim piece removal tool to work a couple of them free along the bottom edge and the rest sort of pop off after that if you pull away from door. It's difficult to break these clips, they're more like oversized plastic thumbtacks with a grippy end. You start at the bottom and then move up along the trailing edge of the door with the front top (near the rearview mirror) last. The short cut way for this step? (courage required here). There's a little handhold near the front bottom corner of the door. Pull with a short, sharp pull and you'll hear the little retainers popping out/disengaging. I did this a bunch of times (5? 6?) and it worked every time. I found it a lot easier than blindly rooting around with a trim removal tool. Remember how you pulled it off though, because you do everything in reverse to get it back on.
Pics:
This is one of the many retaining clips. Some may even get dislodged, but as you can see, it's easy to pop it back in.

There's a little hand hold area here if you just want to pull the bottom interior door trim to disengage the clips along the bottom edge. 5. That's pretty much it. Once you dislodge the clips, the door trim is just held on at the top near the window edge. Pull up (starting at the back) and out the the whole thing just lifts right off. You can disconnect the lock mechanism and courtesy light wire pretty easily.

6. From here it's just a matter of disconnecting the wiring harness, unscrewing the four screws holding the speaker in place and voila! It's out! To be fair, the OEM speaker isn't bad. It's not great, but it's not the garbage paper cone stuff you find in some cars. But come on - we didn't buy our Lexuses for "not bad." Pics:
Stock speaker

Stock speaker next to the 6x9 JBL 3-ways already in their mounting bracket.

Not much to drive the bass in the OEM (left) though.

Hey look, some OEM soundproofing!

Just screw in the four screws and attach the wiring harness. 7. Now button everything back up. I actually found this to be harder than taking things apart, but that's the case with anything I take apart... Here's the thing to keep in mind: When putting the interior door trim back on, start at the top front corner, and you'll see that there's a natural slight bend (inward to the interior of the car) in the middle that helps to keep everything snug, so apply a little bit of pressure in the middle as you ease the entire top edge in from front to back. This provided quite a bit of frustration for me before I got the hang of it. (Also some momentary panic, but I eventually got it.) Top frustration: It didn't fit right the first few times, so some of those retaining clips kept popping off. They are very easy to put back in their holders so don't worry if it takes you a few times. You'll know when you've got that top edge in correctly because everything else (all the other clips at the outline of the door trim) fit/align perfectly.
8. Put those Phillips heads back in and pop in the trim pieces, then re-attach your battery and start it up.
9. Final panic moment? When I tried to start the car after the battery was reconnected, it didn't start the first time I pressed the button. This happened all five/six times I had to disconnect the battery. Not a big deal - it starts fine with the second press of the button. It takes about 20-30 seconds for everything to boot up again, but then you're all set.

10. Now about those dash speakers....