Gen 3 Speaker Upgrade WITH JBL "premium" system

Looking on the OEM Audio website it shows the speaker upgrade for non-jbl. Did you use those speakers anyway or am I missing something from their website?

 

I also know Kenwood makes a line if speakers designed to be plug and play to replace.toyota.oem and jbl oem speakers.
I have also had a lot of good luck with infinity brand speakers as they have some that run a 2.ohm load instead of 4 ohm to get.more.volume and sound quality out of oem systems and have had a lot of great luck with them.
Just another guys throughts.

 

I have the crud JBL in my 19 Taco. I just bought some 2 ohm Powerbass 6 X 9s and a set of 2 ohm Powerbass 6.5s. on sale at Crutchfield for $155 for all 4. I chose these because the JBLs and Infinity's had mixed reviews and were running at 2.7 ohms or 3 ohms I wanted a true 2 ohm speaker. I bought $20 skar audio tweeters and a $42 dollar 8 inch dual voice coil 4 ohm sub also from Skar audio. I'll run that parallel to get down to 2 ohms. All in I'm at $217! Cheapest build ever! I've already installed the tweeters which has given me the high range I was looking for. Everyone says you can't do it which I don't understand because if you have any car stereo experience you know you can just cut the wires after the Toyota connector and butt connect the wires to the new speaker. Yeah you can buy an adapter but why? Car stereo 101. Anyways, I'll post more after the system is done and take pix on the way. I'll give my honest opinion on the sounds afterwards. FYI I'm 51 years old and have installed my own system in almost every car I've owned. No amp change on this build so we will see what the stock JBL amp can do!

 

I just removed the Toyota connector from each speaker and connected it to a short jumper soldered to the new speakers and BAM custom connector.

 

If anyone is interested, replacing the JBL sub with the Skar audio 8 inch dual voice coil 4 ohm. On sale at Skar Audio for $39. Model IX-8.

 

Did that sub fit? It looks too deep for that shallow stock box.

 

I used a Polk Audio one and had to dremel off the plastic "fins" at the bottom of the enclosure to get it to fit.

 

Haven't installed it yet. Been waiting for everything to get delivered before starting. If it doesn't fit, I'll probably add a spacer on the front end or Dremel it. Can't wait to see/hear. May be a waste but keeping my fingers crossed. I'll post pix.

 

I pretty much wrapped my factory sub box with vibration damping material since it is all plastic.

 

Dangit you are right, too deep. I'm getting a 3/4" spacer and we will see if that works. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Ok so installing a pair of 2 way 6 x 9s in the front are pretty much a waste of money. Only $89 so I'm not that sore about it. The JBL amp must crossover the highs and cut them out to the 6 x 9 speakers in the front. I suppose that is why Toyota put only the 6 x 9 woofer down there. The difference is minimal if any between stock and the PowerBass. The volume is about the same. Remember I am installing 2 ohm PowerBass 6 x 9s thinking that the output would increase but not so much. I put in some sound dampener in the door and also tried to use one of those styrofoamish baffle boxes but that wouldn't fit to allow the window to roll down so it's only the new speaker and sound dampener. On the positive my door sounds nicer when I close it. Lol

Now if you have the non JBL system putting in a two or three way speaker into the 6 x9 slot probably yields full range. It's this JBL system and it's internal crossover that really limits you.

Anyways, on to the 6.5s in the rear. I'm hoping this makes a bigger difference because I can hear muted highs coming out of the little 3 inch speakers back there. A 6.5 2-way with tweeter should upgrade things.....hopefully.

 

Finished the system upgrade with exception of the 8 inch Skar sub. Also lined all doors with Siless sound dampener. For a little over $200 this system sounds a lot better. But out of the 10 or so systems I have installed in cars I've owned, this one may be the worst. Of course it's like 1/10th the price I've spent on other stereos. This is my first system where I am not running my own amps, crossovers, or a real sub box.

Installed the Skar audio tweeters Skar Audio TWS-01 1-Inch 240 Watt Max Power Neodymium Silk Dome Tweeters, Pair

Skar Audio TWS-01 1" 240 Watt Max Power Neodymium Silk Dome Tweeters, Pair

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HQRAMTS. $20.39 on Amazon. These were rated very high especially given the low price point. They come with an inline crossover that you can connect or disconnect. I chose to connect the x-over which gives me a high range that cuts off about half of the voices. They sound crisp without sounding harsh. I know not the best looking install but the tweeters wouldn't surface mount on the adapter and the adapter wouldn't fit in the spot. I had to get creative with my drill and Dremel. I would recommend them.

The PowerBass 6 x 9s purchased from Crutchfield model OE-692T on sale for $80.68 got mixed reviews from me. First let me say that a 6 x 9 doesn't belong in your front door. It's too bass heavy for my liking coming from the front soundstage. By upgrading to these speakers, I was disappointed that there were no real mids or highs out of these two way speakers. Not the speakers fault, Toyotas JBL amps fault that crosses over the highs out of that speaker location. That being said, the bass is noticeably tighter and less muffled sounding than the JBL. I think I would actually prefer a 6.5 or even a 5.25 up front instead so it isn't so bassy. I just like my bass coming from a sub instead of through the midrange speakers. I would say that the loudness level is about 25% greater on the PB vs. the JBL.

So too bass heavy on the front speakers and the tweeters up front producing only the higher highs. Only partial vocals coming out of the front. Weird.

The 6.5 PowerBass 2 way speakers model OE-652 for the rear doors were a big improvement over the JBL little toy 3 inch speakers in a 6.5 enclosure. It's really laughable actually that JBL/Toyota did this. The 6.5s bring the vocals I much needed from the lack of vocals from the front. But weird right? Who wants vocals coming from the rear? So I played with the fader a bit and set it back two notches so I hear more vocals. Not bad actually because it sounds like the vocals are surrounding me It's different but not bad. I feel like JBL/ Toyota pushed less wattage to these speakers because they are not loud even at full volume.

What's also weird is now I can actually hear the JBL sub. Before I think the bass was kind of mixed in with the front JBL 6 x 9s. I guess there is more separation and less of that muted and muffled sound from the stock system. That's a good thing.

So overall, I would rate the system now at a 7 out of 10. Pre upgrade I would rate it a 4.0 .

The 8 inch Skar dual VC 4 ohm sub is next and I'm just waiting for the spacer to come in. Hopefully it will add enough height above the box to fit in the JBL shallow box. Might have to shave the plastic box or get creative.

I would say on the cheap though if anyone is looking to upgrade their JBL system this is not a bad route to go.

I'll post more after the sub install.

 

Sub installed. What a pain.

I want to document this because I couldn't find too much detail on the JBL system's upgradeability on the forums. I really wanted to know if it was possible mostly. Sorry if I go on and on.

Now we have the Skar tweeters, PowerBass 6x9s, PowerBass 6.5s and the Skar 8 inch sub. So let me start by saying it sounds good, a little better than ok in my opinion. It's not a system that will bump or impress an audiophile. It's good enough I suppose. There is an unbalance in this system, there's too much bass and mid bass, not enough vocals, and plenty of treble. Playing around with the settings just makes me think it sounds ok only to change the song and then think it doesn't sound good. I really don't think the speakers you buy will matter all that much because of the preset amp settings that cut off highs to the front doors, and lower the volume in the rear doors. It really limits the sound. Seeing the low quality speakers that Toyota/ JBL uses are really kind of pathetic.

The sub was a pain. I bought a dual voice coil 4 ohm 8 inch sub from Skar for only $39. Pretty great sub for the price imo. I have had competition subs in other systems I have built and this sub is probably a 7.5 out of 10. I figured an 8 inch sub ain't gonna bump anyways in this box so why not. So taking apart the stock JBL sub box revealed 2 sets of wires to their sub. A dual VC sub is used by JBL. I really didn't expect this. I've always used an amp and bridged it or ran the sub in parallel to bring the ohms down but with 2 sets of wires I admit I was stumped. Just know the red is negative and yellow positive on the one channel. So I wired up the sub with one set of wires/channel to one side and the other to the other side. So I believe it's running at 4 ohms. Could be 4 or 2 and the amp is supposed to be running the sub at 2 ohms so I felt comfortable knowing the sub wasn't going to burn out the amp.

As for the sub fitting, No, it didn't. I had to use a spacer of 3/4". It barely fit with the spacer. I had to cut the connectors off and wire it direct. I butt connected the wires and wrapped them in electrical tape. Should be fine since they're not going to be moving at all. The sub is definitely an upgrade from the JBL. It's probably twice as nice on the bass. But having to use the spacer and drilling in the speaker to the spacer and into the plastic of the box, it just wasn't easy with only two hands. I got it done and used some cement screws that I had laying around, I didn't want to make a trip to the store for screws so I just said whatever. Hence the blue screws. But it worked and I got it in.

The spacer pushed the sub out too far and so I had to shave off the plastic round speaker circle on the back of the plastic rear deck cover. You can't see this side so it doesn't matter. It cut off just enough to get the backing to fit back on the truck. Not sure what I would of done if it didn't snap back in place.

System done? I am very disappointed in the mids and vocals in the front. I found some Pioneer 2.75 inch 2 way speakers on Amazon for $52. I am going to swap out the tweeters with these which should give me more vocals. They are supposed to fit right into the screw holes of the dash speakers. I'm hoping for an easy install.

But this is it. After this I'm done regardless of how it sounds. I hope this helps someone out there looking to upgrade their JBL system. There are systems out there by OEM and Taco Tunes that are way too overpriced imo. All in all if I went with the Pioneer 2.75s without buying the Skar tweeters in the first place, I am all in for only $260 otherwise I paid $280.

This job required a mid-level installers skill level. There was a lot of drilling and cutting with a Dremel. If you want to avoid that, go with the plug and play systems. If I did this job right with 2 amps, separates, mids and a custom built sub box, I know I would have been in for at least 2 grand. So $269 vs $2k, I am good with the sounds. It was 3 days work at about 2.5 hours per day if you're wondering.

Feel free to hit me up with any questions on your install. I'll post again after I install the 2.75s in the front. I hope that increases my liking of this system.

 

I received the Pioneer 2 3/4-in coaxial speakers today and installed them and I'm quite happy with the sound and the voices that are coming out of these small little speakers. This resolved the issue of no vocals up front as the little 2 3/4 inch woofer so to speak produces those voices that were missing when I had just installed the tweeter. With the Pioneer speakers I did not use the supplied crossovers that came with them as I listened to the system with and without the crossover and it sounded better without it. The highs are not quite as high and crisp as the tweeters from scar audio, but they are plenty sufficient. PIONEER TS-A709 A Series 2-3/4” 2-Way, 450 W Max Power, 16mm Tweeter – Coaxial Speaker (Pair), Black

$53 Pioneer TS-A709, 2-Way Coaxial Car Audio Speakers, Full Range, Clear Sound Quality, Easy Installation and Enhanced Bass Response, Black and Gold Colored 2.75” Round Speakers

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VR5N1FN

The best part about these Pioneer speakers is that they were the perfect size for the screw holes in the Tacoma and I didn't have to modify anything.

So overall now the sound is pretty good coming out of each and every one of the speakers I would say with the exception of the front door speaker which still in my opinion is just giving out too much base because it's a 6x9 and the front. I bought some base blockers for about $11 on Amazon and I'm going to try those out and see if it knocks out enough of that annoying, lower end bass that is just too heavy coming from the front. After that I should be done and still kept this system under $300. I'll update after I try that out.

 

Installed the Skar audio inline crossovers/ bass blockers with cutoff at 2ohms at 300hz on the 6 x 9s. That means they are only producing sound at a range of 300hz to about 550hz. I thought this would help but it knocks out the 6 x 9s a bit too much. There just isn't enough bass coming from the 8 inch replacement Skar audio sub that I installed. So what now? I'm about to give up. This JBL system is just absolute trash. I mean I can get certain songs to sound good but others are just completely lacking mid bass and low bass. The vocals and highs are decent. But it lacks really high highs. The 6 x 9s are garbage. That's what really takes this system down. The 6.5s in the back only add filler and don't have enough power running to them from the amp. The woofer just doesn't get enough juice either from the amp. The crossover points are just wrong all the way around.

I think the only way to fix this system would be to install a line output converter and run an amp that would power the 6 speakers and the sub. Bypass all the crossovers and run direct lines to the speakers to give them full range. Otherwise, it's really just kind of a waste of money with this JBL system. To do it on the cheap cheap, I would just replace the dash speakers with these Pioneers I got to give you full range vocals and more highs. If you just replace it with a tweeter you miss out on a large range probably between about 300hz and 3k hz. That's just my opinion nothing actually measured.

So what a disappointment. I may just get an amp installed next year with the speakers I'm running it should sound pretty good.

Anyways hope this helps someone out there. Good luck!

 

Same issue I had. Ended up going with the JBL DSP Amp with 8 output channels. Two channels are run to the sub since I have the dual voice coil 2 ohm Polk sub.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better. Seems like a 10" sub on some songs. And the DSP helps the signals running to each speaker.

 

that's likely too dramatic of a cutoff. that's right on the edge of the vocal range, which will account for some of your dissapointment, but not all of it. typical door crossover point is 100-150hz. i know the jbl system already filters the signals to all the speakers, but i don't know those crossover points. in my brz/86/fr-s/toyobaru, the oem door speakers only have a low pass filter-- if the jbl system is anything similar, a 100hz bass blocker would be what you need to correct some of the tone issues.

as far as the rear doors, i went through all the effort of replacing my rear door speakers with the same peerless hds' as i have in the front doors, and the location just plain sucks(on aftermarket head unit power currently). this isn't a power issue, this is an acoustical space issue. i disconnected my rear speakers after 1 day.

 

I may try that! Question, do you still have the stock head unit? If so, did you tap in with an LOC or is there an RCA out on the back of the head unit? If an LOC, which wires did you tap into? Thanks!

 

Running into an issue because I'm running 2 ohm speakers and it increase the cutoff point x 2. So for my 150hz bass blockers, those are rated at 4 ohms and so when I used them on the 2 ohm speakers, it cut it off at 300hz. I found one 85hz one which would cut off at 170hz. May try it but just getting tired of very little change to the sounds. Frustrating system to say the least. I may do the JBL amp that TacoManOne was talking about.

 

i would definitely suggest replacing the amp if your capabilities allow. that's where all the processing and mucking about is coming from, so cutting the old factory amp out of the picture would solve a lot of problems.