31/08/2026
This week started with a beautiful 80 Series Toyota Land Cruiser that came in for a sound upgrade.
Because the car was so well preserved we decided not to do anything that could not be reversed to get the car back to standard configuration.
This meant that we had to retain the factory speaker size and use the factory speaker positions.
The OEM head unit was replaced with a Sony XAV AX4000 with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
For the front speakers I used Rockford Fosgate Prime R14X2 mounted in the factory dash locations. I 3D printed a filler ring to close the gap between the body of the speaker and the OEM speaker mount.
For the rear speakers in the rear doors I designed and 3D printed a speaker mount that utilised the three OEM mounting holes in the door and postioned the speaker perfectly in the speaker opening in the door card. With the speaker grille mounted on the door card and secured to the speaker mount, there was no chance of any vibrations.
The base speaker in the luggage area had succumbed to the ravages of time and had started to disintegrate. I found that the Rockford Fosgate Prime R1675X2 was a perfect fit in the factory mounting bracket. The low pass filter was still working perfectly and was connected to the 6.75 inch driver.
With everything connected and the polarity of the speakers tested, it was time for some old school test tunes.
Dire Straits' Money for Nothing was just the right song for the test and the upgraded system passed with flying colours.