Is there any economical way of replacing the large speaker at the botom of the passenger door foof my sc 430.

 

Replacing ...probably not, repairing the existing one for about $40....sure can.

 

Two for the price of one factory. These are 6 x 9's that are available in 8 ohm. http://dcgold.com/products/classic-line/n69c/
Find them on Ebay or Amazon for around $200 for a pair.

 

Here are some pictures of a great install. Custom N69 inspired by installation issues do to the grill intruding on the Lexus plastic piece.

 

My 6x9s rattle and based on reading similar posts I'm going to order the re-foaming kit for $25 and do it myself. There's a great YouTube video specifically how to do this for an SC 430. It starts with removing the door panel then on to R&R the foam. Great (and simple) process.

 

The refoam works like a charm, and is easy and the video tutorials are great! Thanks to the guys that took the time to post it.

 

That XKE is a peach!!!

 

I would suggest you search on the forum...there is a lot of very helpful info on changing/repairing/replacing the speakers. There are multiple choices. There is a step by step direction on taking the doors covers off to replace access the speakers. It is very easy. I have done multiple work on both sides. I changed my speakers out with some suggested off the forum. I am not sure they are really better than OEM, but, they are new speakers. Good Luck.

 

When I opened the door panel the dry-rotted rubber surround of the speaker fell out as if a rat had been gnawing on it. The surround was completely gone. Sad commentary for both Mark Levinson and Toyota.

I just installed round 6.5 inch speakers from Parts Express to replace the 6X9 units - Goldwood 6.5" GW-S650/8 @ $18.35 each (less than $50 for two speakers delivered). They are polycone with rubber surround construction and turned out to be a pretty good match for the other drivers in the door which were still solid (my wife doesn't like really strong bass so the sensitivity of these speakers at 86db were a good balance with the other components).

If you use the existing plastic speaker frames you can fabricate an adapter out of hard board as I did, or you can just mount a simpler hardboard support for the 6.5" speaker directly to the metal door oval cut-out using the four mounting points (you will have to develop a method of connecting the speaker terminals to the existing speaker wire which terminates in a two pin plastic connector).

 

Yep, that's what happens after about 8-10 years with these speakers. Don't throw away the MLs though. They are easily repairable by someone. PM me if you want to sell them. I will certainly cover your $40 investment!

 

What was funny was I did the drivers side first and in order to save time duplicated the piece I fabricated out of hard board to mount the 6.5" to the speaker frame. Then I opened the passenger side only to find no speaker at all. Only the 6X9 hole in the metal door frame.

Apparently a previous owner had pulled the speaker in order to replace it and either had sticker shock when he checked the replacement cost with the dealer or couldn't locate an 8 ohm 6X9 replacement on the after market, and was too lazy to put it back into the door.

I ended up mounting a different hard board holding the 6.5" speaker directly to the metal door.

When I operate the fader I hear nothing from the rear so I guess the two rear speakers and subwoofer are gone also.

 

It's possible. I Also faded to back and found my sub was also toast, which was predicted by the audio shop helping me with my GPS antenna. they told me that they use the repair kits if I wanted then to fix it. That was when I learned how easy it is to repair the speakers. Get a kit on flea-bay for about $20 and try. There are good videos on u-tube as well. If you take your time it is easy.

 

I would have re-foamed my 6X9's except that one was busted. So I did the Fosgate replacement. I must say that the 6x9's OEM were acoustically matched and therefore I can say that I would have been happier to get a 6x9 straight bass. Not the 2 way Fosgates.

But I am still happy with the Fosgates.

 

I'd be curious to see a frequency test of the speaker when new and after re-foaming. I would think that a less than perfect glue job would inhibit the linearity of the cone excursion and change the characteristics significantly, but maybe not.

If the SC430 were a hard top and quiet as a bank safe then I would have been more concerned with really matching at least the speaker sensitivity. But with the convertible hard top creaking and groaning I can't get too excited about it. And even the relatively inexpensive speakers I used sound soooooo much better than no bass at all.

A previous owner removed the passenger side 6X9 altogether and never put it back, leaving just the oval hole in the metal door frame. I used a short depth speaker mounted to hard board, but the wife just informed me that with the window down when the door is slammed the glass can be heard banging on the speaker magnet.

So I will need to fabricate a spacer so that I don't end up replacing the glass next.

 

When I put in the Fosgates, I had to make sure the channel was free and clear of the magnet. Since a few folks have used Fosgates, I was confident about the fit. Although I installed it flushed, it still cleared it.