Our take on the JL Audio TR400-CXi

by Buck Pomerantz

You need great speakers to turn the audio signals from your car stereo into music. The Evolution™ TR series speakers take advantage of JL Audio's extensive research and obsessive testing to deliver excellent performance at prices any audio enthusiast can afford. Evolution™ TR speakers come in a wide range of sizes so you can improve the sound in almost any vehicle.

JL Audio's TR400-CXi 4" speakers use mica-filled long-excursion polypropylene woofers for enhanced upper bass response that'll really fill out your drums and guitars. The 1/2" woven textile dome tweeters broadcast all the little details that bring your music to life. Ferrofluid cooled tweeters and butyl rubber surrounds mean that these speakers will bring you great music for many years to come.

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Highlights:

2-way 4" speakers (pair)
injection-molded mica-filled polypropylene woofer
butyl rubber surround
1/2" textile dome tweeter
includes adapter plates for mounting in 4"x6" openings
4-ohm impedance
10-35 watts RMS power range
frequency response: 71-22,000 Hz
sensitivity: 84.5 dB
depth: 1-7/8"
warranty: 1 year
Our 60-day money-back guarantee

Priced per pair

Hands-on research from the Crutchfield Labs (what are the Labs?)

Features and specs chart | What’s in the box? | In-depth notes

Features and Specs

General
Design Loading...	2-way
Tweeter Design Loading...	1/2" Dome
Tweeter Composition Loading...	Textile
Woofer Composition Loading...	IM Mica-filled poly
Woofer Surround Loading...	Butyl rubber
Parts Warranty Loading...	1 Year
Labor Warranty Loading...	1 Year
Specifications
Sensitivity Loading...	84.5 dB at 1 watt
Frequency Response Loading...	71 - 22k Hz
RMS Power Range (Watts) Loading...	10-35
Peak Power Handling (Watts) Loading...	70
Impedance (Ohms) Loading...	4
Top-mount Depth (Inches) Loading...	1 7/8
Bottom-mount Depth (Inches) Loading...	N/A
Cutout Diameter or Length (inches) Loading...	3 11/16

Product Research

What's in the box?

Download owner's manual

Two 2-way speakers
Two plastic 4x6 adapter frames
8 Self-tapping screws (length=1-3/16")
4 Self-tapping screws (length=5/16")
8 Speed clips
2 Grilles
2 Grille frames
Butyl adhesive putty for grilles
2 Crimp-on 2.8mm female quick slides
2 Crimp-on 5.2mm female quick slides
Owner's Manual
Cutout template

Our Product Research Team

At Crutchfield, you'll get detailed, accurate information that's hard to find elsewhere. That's because we have our own in-house Product Research team — they open the box, verify contents, check the owner's manual, and record dimensions, features and specs. We stay on top of new products and technologies to help people make informed choices.

Features

Woofers: The JL Audio Evolution TR-series coaxial speakers feature injection-molded, mica-filled polypropylene cone woofers with 1" voice coils and flat symmetrical-roll spiders. The woofers use butyl rubber surrounds for reliability and strength.

Tweeters: The speakers have 1/2" treated textile dome tweeters with an integral phase plug and powerful, ferro-fluid cooled and damped neodymium magnets.

Crossovers: The TR-series coaxials use electrolytic capacitors on the 1st order high-pass filters. The woofer is unfiltered, using its engineered smooth roll-off characteristics to blend with its tweeter.

Flexible Mounting System: The speaker's 4 mounting tabs are scored to allow you to easily break them off for any application in which only 2 mounting screws are required. In addition, plastic 4x6 adapter plates are included to allow you to install these speakers into vehicles that use oval 4x6 speakers. Four 5/16" screws are supplied for attaching the speaker to the adapter plates.

Grilles: Two black metal mesh grilles and black ABS plastic grille frames are included with the speakers.

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4 out of 5

Decent for the price.

Written By Doug, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada on Thursday, June 02, 2011

I bought 1 of these to replace the 3.5" Infinity Reference in my dash slot. I had to modify the opening a bit to fit the speaker in but there is a huge sound difference. I had to install a 100uF capacitor on the Infinity to keep the lower midrange from clipping the speaker out at high volumes. The TR400-CXi handles them without a problem. The highs are much clearer and the distortion I had is gone now. Where I live there aren't many shops with decent car audio but I managed to pick up one. For the price I'm definately pleased with this speaker. I haven't owned it long enough to know if it has a defect like some people are claiming but I assume it only happens to a handfuul of units. Probably ones made on a Friday LOL!! I would reccommend this speaker if someone needs a midrange fill. If it was actively crossed over properly it would sound beautiful. I've got mine hooked up at 35W from a monsoon amp in a grand prix. The guy at the store was running 150W to them and they were still holding up at moderate volumes!!

1 out of 1 people found this helpful

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1 out of 5

not worth it

Written By jay, colorado on Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)

ran these for about 1 1/2 to 2yrs. i hated them ever since i got them but was never a big priority to send them back, i wish i had. i just faded them down and relied on the other speakers, i couldnt turn them up, even a little without terrible sound. and i spent 2 grand with crutchfield, they put my whole system together so it wasnt a compatability issue. after a while the main speaker rubs on the shaft that supports the tweet in the middle. if u push the speaker up and down its like nails on a chalkboard. 6 mo ago left speaker failed and yesterday right side so looks like a design defect.

3 out of 7 people found this helpful

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4 out of 5

Quality Product for Quality Truck

Written By AC, Olathe, KS on Thursday, November 11, 2010

Installed in a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 1500

Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)

Put these in the rear doors for my extended cab Chevy Truck. They sounded good, but
not quite as good as the front 6.5's in the same model. Still a much needed
improvement over the rattling stock speakers.

Great price, great product, and great service! Thanks Crutchfield and JL Audio!

1 out of 1 people found this helpful

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5 out of 5

Like these speakers!

Written By Ken, Dayton, Ohio on Monday, March 01, 2010

I opted out of the 4x6 in the dash and decided to use the TR400-CXi w/the adapters in my '90 Chevy p/u. Had to cut out the factory grills for the tweeters to stick thru and it's well worth it. Very clean/accurate. My JVC KDR-610 drives them well and volume is good when turned up with any kind of music. They compliment my MTX 4x6's in the rear very well and when I install my 10" JL sub/enclosure (behind the seat) and dedicated JL 175 watt sub amp I will have a system proud to show off!

3 out of 4 people found this helpful

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5 out of 5

TR400-CXi 4'' in 1998 silverado

Written By Anonymous, CT on Sunday, October 11, 2009

Installed in a 1998 Chevrolet K Series

Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)

i had a great experience with these speakers, they produce some nice smooth his
and mids, not much in the bass department...but honestly would you really expect
any?

i have these paired with
JL TR600-CXi 6-1/2

and its a great combo, they play great at all volumes

2 out of 3 people found this helpful

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2 out of 5

Dissapointment

Written By Alex, California on Thursday, May 01, 2008

Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)

I bought these speakers trusting that they would be awesome, I mean they are JL Audio and the facts are all there. I was very wrong, the speakers sounded alright at very low volumes, but as you turned up the volume to normal to loud hearing, it was very bad. The speakers started to sound like a radio station that you barely get frequency to, very unclear. Can't turn it up, because they don't get very loud. These speakers, were just terrible, 4' speakers can be good, but these weren't. I bought these and returned them, don't give them a chance, you may end up doing the same.

140 out of 177 people found this helpful

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