Stereo questions. Searched. 2004 Tundra DC Limited.

I'm currently adding links and parts to a google drive before I make any purchases, ha. Especially that Metra harness.

The speakers in my 06 are pretty blown from the previous owner. I have only owned this truck for 5 days so far so I'm working on clean up and mild upgrades. I'd like to keep it as stock as I can but I plan on upgrading the sound system/head unit, wheels and give the lights an upgrade. Just basic modernization and clean up.

I would prefer to do the head unit and speaker install on my own if I can VS paying a premium for the install labor and the potential for them to cut my OEM harness. I haven't done a install like this so it is a bit of a learning curve.

Edit here: Actually I just noticed that you're in the ATL area and so am I. Would you take on a job for an install? You seem like a pro at this and I wouldn't mind paying a premium to someone that is as knowledgeable as you.

 

As long as you take the install step-by-step, it's not too bad.

As a first-timer I cannot stress to you enough that you should buy from Crutchfield just because they offer the free support.

There are one or two places I can think of where you may get tripped up. Our friend @Cummins3500 has a DC and recently overhauled his stuff, I seem to remember him hitting a snag with a specific part of the speaker adaptation for his front doors, but coming up empty on that post. Crutchfield helped walk him through. I wasn't 100% clear on how to handle myself, but I believe it did involve some splicing.

I spent a small chunk of my life working for a shop. The biggest advice I would impart on you is getting the right tools for the job. Set aside a budget of $60-80 to buy quality stuff to do the job right as a DIY'er:

• Never use electrical tape, wire nuts, or scotch-lock style clamp-down connectors in your wiring
• Buy an assortment of blue and red butt splices like these
• Buy a good set of crimpers/cutters like these and strippers like these, don't bother with the shitty multi-crimp tools like these b/c they're total garbage

With the right tools, some basic knowledge, adapters and support Crutchfield sets you up with, and advice from folks on here with the same vehicle setup on this forum, you can do this yourself, save several hundred bucks by avoiding a shop which, honestly, will probably never do the job to your liking.

PS - the JBL "Club" series of components are a KILLER bang vs. buck for these trucks. Great sound reproduction at a wallet-friendly price and should include everything you need for a hassle-free install.

If you happen to be anywhere near ATL, I'm happy to help with install.

 

Thank you! This is a wealth of information.

I am on the Southside but work ITP on the east side of ATL. I would gladly take the help with this job from an actual professional or pay the premium, ha.

 

Myself and a couple others are on the south end of ATL. I'm ITP, abcinv is south OTP, and Cummins is OTP north. Can totally help knock this out over time, but I need a few more weeks to recover before I'm cleared to do anything strenuous. There are others I'm missing but seems like most of our ATL members are OTP north.

 

I am south OTP so it seems like we're all pretty close by.

And no worries on the timeframe. I am in no rush at all with this. I'll buy the head unit and speakers/adapters that yall have suggested on this to be prepared over the next few paychecks. You can let me know whenever you're 100% and we can make some arrangements. Your health comes first of course. I appreciate all of the help.

 

I've not replaced my head unit or speakers but have added BT and a reverse camera that works with an upgraded rear view mirror so I'm a little familiar with some of this. I also repaired my front speakers vs replacing them to save a few bucks and it turned out pretty good. Still sounds good after ~5 years.

Here's the link if you're interested -
https://www.simplyspeakers.com/toyo...9RhqmObxPeEdYYxQv2QjVWIbswBHOZcUPrmy2dd_kQAt0

 

That's a really great suggestion! $31.00 is a great deal for a quick fix for a while.

The previous owner installed the GTA bluetooth adapter to the head unit so thankfully I can connect my phone. The main problem is just the blown speakers / Tweeters. I will try out this fix and maybe order some OEM tweeters while I stack up my upgrade items.

 

@Dakillacore I just did my own head unit install a couple months ago and it is totally doable for a beginner. I had no experience whatsoever. I second shifty on using crutchfield. I ran into a few little hitches and they helped me figure them all out in literally ten minutes. I bought the

$280 Alpine iLX-W650 7" Double DIN Touchscreen Digital Multimedia Receiver with Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto

Alpine iLX-W650. It's cheap compared to the others but works well if you don't want a floating screen style unit. Wiring the backup camera was a little bit of a learning curve but again crutchfield made it super easy. Just know that for apple car play to work the phone has to be plugged in, so you'll have a cable to deal with or I guess you could setup some sort of jack. All in all though - huge upgrade. You can do it! Just go for it!

 

Easy enough to work around that : https://www.tundras.com/threads/howto-add-flush-mount-usb-aux-port-in-center-console.70236/

 

I'll definitely be using crutchfield when I buy everything. Thanks for the response and confidence boost, ha.

And damn, Shifty, is there anything you don't know or haven't done haha.

 

It's been a long and bizarre life for this fella.

 

I gotta tackle the stereo and speakers in my 06 double cab JBL. Not looking forward it this installed. I'm leaning towards paying someone to do this. I've used crutchfield before and they are great. Just seems like so much to go wrong trying to bypass the JBL system and getting the right speakers.

 

It's not that bad. After the stuff I've seen, I would never trust another person to get in my stuff unless I was shadowing them.

 

so i'm on the page at checkout where i select the install kit. i mainly want to retain the steering controls and bypass the amp. which do you recommend I select? Going with the
Sony XAV-AX5600 7-Inch





btw.... my cousin has installed a lot of head units in the past and is asking why i want to bypass the factory amp and why not just get a new head unit and speakers and keep using the factory amp. i dont really know the answer to that!

 

I'm having a hard time making heads or tails of what this list is, I think it may be missing something? I can't see what actual stuff they're offering?

I personally love the Axxcess

$63 ASWC-1 Steering Wheel Control Interface

ASWC-1 or whatever, with its plug-and-play adapter harness.

Simply put: You can, but it's a nightmare, and as you'll see in the 1st column of your image, you lose fader/balance control due to the way the truck is wired.

To put it in basic terms, Toyota basically setup the radio in these trucks to push a faded/balanced signal to the amp. Wiring with the amplified signal then goes to each speaker. Your aftermarket head unit has two output options:

• An un-amplified low-level output, typically RCA, often several pairs to buid a multi-channel low-level output (front L/R, rear L/R, subwoofer)
• An amplified line-level (amplified) output in the form of straight-up speaker wires using the standard green pair, purple pair, white pair, grey pair format.

You really have two options here:

1. Buy an adapter box that will take (I think line-level, but possibly RCA) outputs from your aftermarket stereo and convert them to a signal the factory amp will tolerate, then send them back to the amp over the OEM wiring
2. Get a bypass harness that carries the green/purple/grey/white line-level speaker output back to the amp, where you can send it to the speakers using Toyota's speaker output connector you pull out of the OEM amp

The problem some have found with #1 - and for the record, Axcess and at least one other company make an adapter box for this - is that you may and/or will lose certain functionality for fader/balance and even if you don't, some on here have complained about scratchy output, low output volume, the typical crap you'll deal with any time you use a LOC (line out converter). Obviously #2 is less expensive, it's a little more wire, but ... meh, at least I don't have to worry about my 15-20 year old OEM amp failing, or the adapter box brains failing, or having those two extra absolutely unnecessary parts fail.

I personally prefer having a more-direct connection from my head unit to my speakers, and I also recognize my 15-20 year old OEM amp is dated technology compared to what most current-year head units have to offer in both processing and power. I also hate having a lot of unnecessary/extraneous moving parts in something that doesn't require it.

You can get a mostly plug-and-play experience through Crutchfield with this - they'll give you build sheets and instructions for damn near everything. There's only one 'aha' gotcha point where you'll need to splice in the front doors that may throw you off, but I know a member here in GA that's been there and done that.

 

Ok I'll send him that explanation.

Here's the stuff crutchfield has in the cart for my truck with the package I selected. I think this is right...



And now for the speakers... No idea. Maybe I'll go with jbl since you seem to recommend them and it'll retain the JBL sound my truck intended

 

Ok, gonna break this out like so, I numbered the parts so I can explain what each one does...

1. This is the auto-learning box that translates the output from your steering wheel buttons into a signal your Sony radio can understand.
2. This is the amp bypass wiring: You'll attach one end to the speaker and power wires at the back of the radio, and plug the other end onto one of the two plugs attached to the OEM amp.
3. You'll need this kit to properly fit an aftermarket stereo into the dash opening; some trimming of parts in the kit may be required, that's normal for almost any kit.
4. This wiring goes with #1 above, and it makes attaching the adapter box in #1 hella, hella, hella easier IMO, a mostly no-splice affair ... highly recommend
5. I presume because you have a DC, which has 8 speakers - 3 of which may be in the front door IIRC? - these will get installed in-line to the tweeters in your sail panels (corner nook where the rear view mirror is), most likely.
6. You may not need these; these are what let you screw #3 part above into the sides of your aftermarket radio; Sony should already supply said screws, but at $1.41 extra, I would just buy them and have leftover parts if you don't use (cheap insurance).
7. There's no 7 below, I just wanted to say: For a nominal fee, like $30 or something if memory serves, Crutchfield will pre-crimp and test EVERY harness you buy from them, making this about as plug-and-play as it can possibly get if you want. Again ... if you are of the belief that "time is money" and you don't trust your skills, this could be more (cheap insurance) as with #6.

I don't see a lot you can pull off this list, given you don't have a shop, you won't have caps you can use to bass block/LPF to crimp inline ... and you probably want to keep steering controls.

​

 

PS @dirtnsmores

About steering controls and keeping them. This info I plopped into the steering control info thread may help give you a deeper understanding of your options there too, since there's more than one acceptable kit: https://www.tundras.com/threads/1st...phone-controls-info-dump.131492/#post-3344432

There are other options, but if you want to K.I.S.S. method this one, Axxcess is the best option. No pre-programming required, you just plug it all in, turn on the car and POOF it auto-learns and works as long as you don't use a Kenwood/JVC stereo.

 

Perfect that helps a ton. I will keep everything in that list and pay the $24.99 for them to prewire stuff. Now to figure out the speakers I want ...

 

I personally love JBL components, their Club line specifically. We primarily sold JBL and JL at the shop I worked at bitd. JBL just has absurdly good quality, natural reproduction and is solid bang v.s buck. I like they typically run with 3ohm on their components, which helps eek a little extra out of your head unit/amp. There's a reason you find JBL at major concert venues and clubs all around the world ... what other car audio brands can say that? But everyone's got their thing. There are a lot of brands I avoid also

 

Ok I'll look into pricing. I also came across a JBL speaker repair kit on this site for my speakers. Wonder how that would work out with my new HU and the amp bypass.

 

Again ... 15-20 year old tech. My OEM speakers were mint, in fact, I gave them away on here. They didn't sound bad with my alpine head unit, but the top-end was clearly chopped off, and the low end was pretty rattley, even with the surrounds intact. I could definitely tell a complete difference in the shape and tone of sound coming out with new, modern drivers using something other than paper cones.

Question for you, since I think it may matter: Did your DC come with the JBL or non-JBL audio system?

 

It has the JBL system. Currently adding the JBL club series speakers to my cart to see where I sit with this.

 

I'm either going with JBL or possibly infinity. Apparently crutch doesn't have the Club series for the front and I don't think that I want to mix n match

 

Infinity is one of the brands I typically avoid. Never had a good experience with their stuff, not due to quality, just find the sound output to be very one-note.

 

Good to know thanks

 

Threw cheap cloth surround Kenwood's in mine. I hate them. I'm too cheap and don't drive the truck enough to change them out. Lol.

 

I like the OEM look and would prefer to stick to a Toyota branded unit. Is there a list somewhere of the head units that will work with a 2006 JBL DBLCab?

Or will all double din work if we splice the harness?

The only features I'd like to add are the rear camera and bluetooth.