Why does the audio suck in the 3rd gen? (Solved)

I would have thought that happened after "yo, vip..."

 

AM radio sounds real good to me?

 

Is that a question or a statement?

 

Would you suggest it at $2200+? Because that's what it'd cost in Canada

 

First all, hello everyone! I am new here, having made the transition from (unreliable) Jeeps over to a 2020 Taco TRD Offroad a little over a month ago. I love the truck, but the first thing I noticed when I took delivery was the absolutely abysmal sound quality of the stereo.

For a bit of background, I am an electrical engineer and a Front of House engineer (live sound) who has worked with several national touring acts (including a few you have most likely heard of, and probably many smaller local bands you haven't) over the years up until two years ago. These days I am a signals and communications maintainer on the railroad since I was tiring of the touring lifestyle, but I still provide FOH/backline work, as well as venue PA installs for a close friends live sound company in the region.

While the stock loudspeakers in the Tacoma are absolutely atrocious, the blame for the bulk of the sound quality issues lies in the head unit itself. It is under-powered to an astonishing degree (something like 10w to the front L/R channels, and 5w to the rear channels). Being under-powered, it has a massive issue with clipping. In layman's terms, if you don't know what clipping is, it is when an amplifier exceeds its physical capabilities, and the audio sine wave starts to become somewhat of a square wave as the amplifier physically cannot put out more power and 'clips' the tops of the sine wave. This spells death for loudspeakers quickly as they end up being held at their extremes with the full output of the amplifier (while a sine wave causes a smooth in/out motion of the cone). This causes the voice coils, which are typically air cooled, to overheat and burn up. Believe it or not, you are far more likely to kill a loudspeaker under-powering it than if you overpowered it.

So what does Toyota do?

Well, it sure sounds to me like they are using a combination of VERY aggressive compression/EQ/limiting to prevent the internal amplifier from clipping the outputs. It also sounds like they are using a stereo expander in their processing to try to make the sound stage sound wider and more '3D'. All of this just makes the resulting sound lifeless, hollow, and "tinny" with no warmth.

While adding an amplifier and loudspeakers to the stock system will help a bit, the sound will still sound very 'off' due to the expansive processing Toyota is doing in their head unit, and the fact that there is no true line-out on the head unit. Essentially, you are amplifying an already processed signal. I have also noticed a lot of people using coaxial 2/3 way speakers in their doors. Don't. This destroys the sound stage and causes phasing issues.

How to fix it?

If you do nothing else than just replace the head unit with a decent unit (even as absolutely horrible as the stock loudspeakers are), you will find that it sounds MUCH MUCH better.

Bottom line, if you want good sound quality, I recommend the following (this is what I have done with mine, and it sounds stunningly good):

Head Unit:
Pioneer DMH-WC 6600NEX (it is a direct-fit, has wireless CarPlay/Android Auto, great screen, etc...; you will need a Meastro adapter to interface with factory functions)

Front loudspeakers:
JL Audio C2 650 Components (while I have mine wired to a 5-channel amplifier, you can wire these directly to the head unit outputs if you are on a budget, and they will still sound great. Be sure to use the passive crossover though). Mount the tweeters in the factory tweeter locations, using an adapter. Focus them upward just like the stock ones; the windshield will reflect the sound back an create an expansive sound stage. Mount the 6.5" woofers in the doors using a Crutchfield adapter. Sound deadening recommended in the door if you have the budget.

Rear loudspeakers:
JL Audio C2-525x Coaxials. In the rear, it is okay to use coaxials since these are just being used as rear fill for rear passengers, and should be running at a lower output than the fronts. Once again, use an adaptor from Crutchfield.

Subwoofer (optional, but reccomended):
JL Audio SB-T-TACDCG3/10TW3. This is optional, but will add a lot of energy and warmth and fill out the sound. It mounts in the same spot the factory JBL subwoofer would be, and is designed specifically for the 3rd gen Taco DC's. I have mine paired up with a JL Audio HD900/5 full-system amplifier (which powers all my loudspeakers), but a decent 1 channel amp will suffice.

Other notes:
Once installed it is highly recommended you get your hands on a good RTA and tune/EQ your new sound system properly. I would also avoid using the factory speaker wiring if possible as it is very light gauge wire.

I am sure I missed a ton, but moral of the story is that the factory loudspeakers only account for about 35% of the sound quality issues in this truck; the factory head unit is the bulk of the issue.


EDIT: I see many people recommending the Kicker Key. While it is a budget option, it is a pretty low-quality amplifier. Also, remember, all it will be amplifying is the pre-processed garbage the stock head unit outputs, and trying to use the built in Kicker DSP/auto calibration to reverse thestock processing is not a good method to get decent sound. Garbage in -> Garbage out.

 

Welcome! And thank you for that well written informative post. You obviously know your stuff and I'm sure this info will help a lot of folks.

 

You did all that to a JBL/Premium 2020 Offroad? That is what I have. Did you lose any of the factory functions or settings when you swapped out the headunit/Meastro?

 

Maybe try this version
https://youtu.be/Mx7kzarSwGE

 

Im in the minority, i actualltly think the sound is not bad at all. I do listen to xm only though, it seems to have much better quality of sound than bluetooth/fm/cd etc. Nice clear sound and i blast it at min 45 when im alone, sometimes 60.

It sounds like there is a small sub when you stand outside the truck. Im happy with it.

 

I am assuming you are talking about my post. If so, it should be noted that my truck did not come with the JBL sound system; only the "premium" sound system with the standard 8" head unit.

I retained all factory functions that I know of with my upgrade, including the back-up camera. Not sure about the wifi hotspot or XM (though the head unit I listed is XM compatible) since I do not use those. Also, having wireless CarPlay, I can now hop in my truck, toss my iPhone on the factory Qi wireless charging pad and drive away; no more lightning cables to hook to the iPhone to use CarPlay, which is nice (and is something I wonder why Toyota overlooked). You also get HD Digital FM radio as well with the new head unit.

The only issue I had was the factory microphone in the headliner not interfacing with the new head unit, but I simply replaced the microphone capsule with a different one, using the same factory microphone grille, and it is impossible to tell it is not the factory mic.

Additionally, the Maestro feeds OBD2 info to the pioneer head unit as well, which is really cool since it shows a lot of data about the vehicle. Here is a video showing some of the data it shows on the head unit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzNd_BRzAQc

 

I was going for both at once in an ungrammatical sentence. I often do stuff like this, you should go 4wheeling with me sometime.

 

Great post, thanks for taking the time!

I recently bought a DSP in an attempt to keep the stock 2020 head unit (non-JBL 8"). The DSP also has a direct Bluetooth input, so I was able to compare untouched Bluetooth with stock unit processing. Assuming Bluetooth is flat, these are the rough scan results. OEM has a broad bass emphasis peaking around 11 dB at 85 Hz, flat from 250-400 Hz, around 9 dB of emphasis peaking around 650 Hz, flat about 1 kHz to 4 kHz, then increasing emphasis to the highest frequencies. Comparing OEM equalized to this, they sound similar. (Note the "Automatic Sound Levelizer" in the OEM head unit screws up the sound when moving, unless disabled.)

How would a stereo expander manifest itself it test measurements?

 

How did you measure this?

 

I’ve been called “picky” about how the radio sounds in my vehicles. My ‘17 Sport came with the JBL system and I’m pretty happy with it. Don’t like that every 4 months or so I have to tighten the screws on the plastic surround on the sub behind the rear seat to keep it from rattling...

 

Frequency sweeps with REW (Room EQ Wizard) using a laptop. A microphone is needed as well.

Wish I had a portable spectrum analyzer in the audio range.

 

With the access you have to audio equipment, do you have any objective way to measure the level of "garbage" on the stock headunit?

 

How are you accounting for biasies in the microphone, speakers, and resonance oh the vehicle as opposed to just the electrical output of the head unit?

 

Those three aspects are not relevant when comparing the OEM curve with an OEM-bypassed Bluetooth curve. They can look ugly and sound ugly, the difference between the two is what's important. I mic'd close to the speaker on a mini tripod, back-to-back measurements.

I did this comparison to understand the engineering baseline before proceeding to the art part.

 

How can you say those are irrelevant? What microphone are you using?

 

I’ve enjoyed my Audio+ upgrade. All plug n play install and cranks almost as well as my $2000 stereo in my 2nd Gen. Easier install too.