Platinum JBL sound system.

I have a customer who brought this up to me a few days ago, he said his 2019 Tundra platinum JBL sound system is bad. volume has to be cranked all the way up when streaming bluetooth(yes volume on phone all the way up also.) I've tried a few at the dealer that seem to be the same as his. This customer has tried out a 2018 Platinum before buying his 2019 and said it was the same issue. A- seems like the subwoofer is doing very little to no difference on base no matter the setting and B- seems like its set up so that you can blow out any speakers which is foolish to me? are there any platinum guys that can fill me in. thoughts?

 

Sound like typical JBL system in the Tundra. Do a search for "JBL" in here: https://www.tundras.com/forums/audio-video.30/ and you'll find a lot of information. Change the headhunt, speakers, amp, or any combination of them and you'll find a huge improvement.

 

Many many many threads on this...... the JBL premium is not very loud at all. If you are driving down the road with the windows down volume dang near has to be maxed out to hear it. Doesn't mean it is not clear, just not very loud and the subwoofer is non existent. Perfectly normal for JBL premium system.

The system in our 4Runner Limited is about 3 times as loud.

 

Upgraded mine and couldn’t be happier. Who would’ve thought you can hear a head unit loudly with a volume of 12 on my alpine. I Had a hard time hearing the JBL at the volume of 50

 

sad part is the JBL system in any toyota EXCEPT the tundra works just great. my 2014 4runner the bass is great, the 2016 tacoma the bass was great. so we thought the JBL in the tundra would be the same.

nope not even close. good thing spotify you can adjust the equalizer on it to dial back in the bass that you dont get in the jbl on the tundra.

 

Your right. The JBL in my old highlander was pretty good compared to the tundra..

 

Yup JBL is useless in this truck....but so is the non jbl as well. You have better sound rolling your windows down and listening to other peoples music.
Step 1 ditch the head unit if you are even thinking of doing any amplified speakers. If just speakers then you should be fine keeping it.

 

Speak to James Randy Taylor for some guidance. I bought a new head unit and it woke up the speakers. I'm far from an audiophile, but my simple ears noticed a big improvement.

 

I also was INITIALLY disappointed in the stereo. I had to crank it up way high and still had terrible mids and lows.

Then one night I was sitting in a parking lot fiddling with the touchscreen and switched over to XM, which I dont use much. It sounded much better than bluetooth with the same EQ settings. You probably already know this, but the EQ has to be set for each input source.

I was very irritated because I almost exclusively use bluetooth. Then I remembered that my android music player has a pretty intricate EQ and I had adjusted it for my bluetooth ear buds a month or so before I got the truck. I went in and moved a couple dials and the truck completely woke up. It was a night and day difference.

So...if you havent...crank your phone volume completely and do all volume adjustment with the JBL. Gotta give the amps something to work with.

See if your phone's player has its own EQ. I have no idea about iPhone but on my Galaxy 8 it's in the settings menu of the Play Music app.

Adjust the truck's EQ for bluetooth specifically if you haven't already done that which it sounds like you have.

If you (and a lot of others with gripes about the premium JBL) have already done all this and STILL think it's lacking, I think your stereo needs will never be satisfied without going aftermarket. I will completely agree the subwoofer doesnt seem to be doing very much but the low end from the doors is fantastic. I can roll around with all the windows, back glass and sunroof open and be cranking for the whole neighborhood at around level 35 with great clarity. I don't really know how anyone wouldnt for the most part find this system adequate and far ahead of the average factory unit. A buddy of mine has a huge gripe about $40k+ trucks with crap stereos (always replaces his own) and commented mine was the best he'd ever heard in one.

To each his own I guess, but maybe something there will be helpful.

 

I hated the stereo in my 2018 Platinum. I was prepared to do a complete rip out and replace. Tech12volts had a speaker box and subwoofer designed for the Tundra Crewmax JBL for around $200 so I took a chance before a full $2,500 overhaul. The subwoofer made the difference for me. Simple install. Perfect fit. Major difference in low end sound performance.

Sorry you have to deal with this. The Audio system in the Tundras is just awful.

 

Maybe not OP, but I feel like a lot if people havent taken the time to figure out the input and output EQ settings more thoroughly. My JBL cranks it out.