Guides  /  2016 Lexus RX350

2016 Lexus RX350 Dash Speaker Upgrade (Get the Missing Tweeter Highs Back)

If you’ve driven a 2010 Lexus RX350 and then a 2016, you’ve probably heard it: the newer car’s audio lost its sparkle. The reason is one cost-saving decision — Lexus removed the front-door tweeter on the 2016. Everything else (the six-inch door speakers, the rear subwoofer, the dash speakers) is the same. The fix isn’t a full system rebuild. Swap just the two dash speakers for a 4-inch coaxial set with a built-in tweeter — about $79 for the pair — and the missing highs come right back.

Here’s the full install.

Pick Your Speaker

The set used here is the JL Audio C1-400x — a 4-inch coaxial with the tweeter built in. It’s the low end of JL’s upper line: solid components, better metal than the base models, around $40 a speaker. Any quality 4-inch coaxial in that class works; the built-in tweeter is the part that matters.

Do this first — battery warning: Don’t leave the ignition/accessory power and lights on while you work. The creator ran the system all day filming and drained the battery dead, then had to charge it (6 amps, 12 volts) to restart the car. Work with the car off.

Removing the Factory Dash Speaker

1. Pop the dash grille. Slide a mini screwdriver or pry tool under the grille edge and pull back gently — it pops off. The grille is a rubber-like trim that won’t scratch or mar, so you don’t have to baby it. It’s held by two small clips, with the rest seated in at an angle.
2. Unbolt the speaker. You’ll need a 10mm ratchet. The bolts are not very tight. Don’t lose the washer, and be very careful not to drop the bolt down into the dash — if it falls in, you’re not getting it back without a lot of grief.
3. Release the connector. The factory speaker uses a proprietary connector. Put your screwdriver up into the clip and push — it pops loose and comes right off. The old speaker looks pretty sad next to the new one; the magnet size difference alone is dramatic.

Wiring the New Speaker

The factory plug won’t reuse, so you’ll splice on spade terminals.

1. Match the terminals to the wires. The kit’s connectors come in a wide and a narrow spade. The narrow terminal goes on the black wire; the wide one goes on the white wire. They only fit one way.
2. Cut, strip, crimp. Clip the factory speaker wire, strip it down (wire strippers that go to 20 gauge), and crimp a terminal on where the wire came off. Leave a little copper showing just outside the sleeve — don’t push the copper all the way through. Squeeze the crimp and work down the barrel so it grips firmly.
3. Watch for mismatched wire colors. On the second side the factory wires were a different color than the first — frustrating, but go by terminal width: treat the wire on the narrow/black terminal as ground.

Fitment — the Part That Takes Patience

The new speaker is not a clean drop-in.

1. The factory bolts won’t pass through. The original bolts don’t fit the new speaker’s mounting holes, so you’ll work the speaker into the factory bracket rather than bolting straight up.
2. Bend the outer tabs out. Bend the outer metal mounting tabs out of the way and leave the inner ones.
3. Lightly grind the inner tabs. Using a rotary cutting wheel, gently grind down the inner clamping tabs — light push-and-pull passes, just enough to clear the new speaker. It doesn’t have to be perfectly straight; it just has to seat.
4. Drop it in and reinstall the grille. Once it seats, put the dash grille back the same way it came off. Repeat the whole process on the other side.

Dial In the EQ

To match the richer sound the 2010 had, set the EQ the way that car ran:

• Treble all the way up
• Mids centered
• Bass two clicks up
• Fade back to center (the creator had run it forward with the stock speakers to squeeze out highs — no longer necessary)
• Turn off the DSP extras (sound leveler, simulated surround) so you hear the source as recorded.

That’s It

Two dash speakers, about $79, and the crisp highs that Lexus deleted in 2016 are back — without touching the doors, the sub, or the head unit. The exact JL Audio set is linked in the parts box above. One honest caveat from the video: better speakers expose bad audio sources, so feed the system clean, high-quality files and you’ll really hear the difference. And again — don’t leave the car powered on the whole time you work.