Terrible OEM speakers

I'm wondering if anyone here has replaced the OEMs with while still using the OEM radio that has made it sound better?

I haven't had a weaker and poor sounding OEM sound system since my 2015 Subaru WRX STi Lauch Edition, which was absolutely pathetic.

 

If they still make them, there is a company called Focal that made direct plug and play replacements that drop right in and sound alot better. Crutchfield may still carry Focal as well.

Edit..... https://www.focal.com/en/car-audio/car-audio-kits-solutions

 

It isn't the speakers that are crappy, it is the entire Entune system.
I'm guessing your 16 Pro is not JBL, which is good.
Non-JBL is easier to improve..
I'm assuming it is a crewmax as well.

Keep in mind the OEM door speakers are 2 ohms to pair up the crappy OEM amp.
Also the dash speakers are powered by the HU to run as tweeters and the front doors only get a low and mid signal from the factory amp.
You won't get any high-end in the doors just by replacing the speakers.
Dash speaker a 6 ohm sides and an 8 ohm DVC center.

 

The Focals @Tundra234 was referring to:

They used to make a front door replacement without a separate tweeter.
Focal Inside IC TOY 690
focal IC 690toy | eBay

You could always purchase JBL door sails, run the tweeter wire, and use these..
Front with a separate tweeter
Focal Inside IS TOY 690 6"x9" component speaker system designed for select Toyota, Lexus, and Subaru vehicles at Crutchfield

Rear without a separate tweeter, double cab.
Focal Inside IC TOY 165 6-1/2" 2-way car speakers for select Toyota, Lexus, and Subaru vehicles at Crutchfield

Rear with a separate tweeter, crewmax
Focal Inside IS TOY 165 6-1/2" component speaker system designed for select Toyota, Lexus, and Subaru vehicles at Crutchfield

Your best bet, if you want to keep the Entune HU, is an LOC, replace the stock amp, then on to the speakers.
I'd get a 5 channel amp because you're going to eventually want a sub.

 

Im still running stock door speakers, but with the LOC and amp upgrade as @1lowlife suggests and it sounds fine. Nice and loud and also have a sub for that extra bass.

If you are set on replacing speakers, PowerBass might still have direct replacement for your Tundra

 

I ran my stock speakers with aftermarket amps for 10 years in my 2005...

 

The stock Entune system is horrible..Replaced the door speakers. Improved some, I installed a Kicker amp Key 180.4 with signal processor and 45 wpc x 4... replaced dash tweeters...Bazooka powered sub woofer tube behind back seat... Huge improvement, completely satisfied..

 

Does anybody have a pic of the back of the head unit or the head unit specs ?
Thanks for posting the speaker specs. This is going to be nearly impossible to just replace the speakers.

 

Hi am new to the forum but I notice that when I faded my speaker to just the rear they are super low even with the built in sub which came with the truck. Can anyone help me out here as to resolution to this issue plz.its supposed to be a 12 speaker system but actually plays like crap

 

This is the first post I read that actually “ Gets it” with what is happening with the sound system. You can’t just replace the speakers. The Head unit has a built in Crossover that goes to each speaker. Each speaker will only get certain frequencies. You have to bypass everything. if you want to keep your 14” screen then you have to go with a LOC. Convert all these signals back to low level signals and then take them thru your own amp and then to your new speakers. Otherwise it is a waste of effort.

 

Replacing just the speakers or just the amp is a fools errand due to the power handling of the factory speakers/amp. Keeping the factory head unit is an option, but if doing so to really get good sound a DSP amp is all but required. If looking to replace the amp/speakers but keep the factory head unit, the best bang for your buck route IMO is the Kicker Key amps. Auto-DSP corrects factory EQ, 50w x 4 channel, and a 500w x 1 channel mono. Beyond that, higher end DSP amps are a better option but take more know how to set up, whereas the Kicker does it all for you.

Factory head unit powers each dash corner wired to one side of the DVC center like @1lowlife mentioned. Head unit also powers the rear tweeters. All 4 of those channels are ~20w @ 4 ohms. The factory amp powers the door speakers, 35w each @ 2 ohms, ~6x9's up front, ~6.5's in the rear. Another member just PM'd me and I put together a system with a $1,000 budget that keeps the factory head unit:

Amp: Kicker Key 200.4 $280: Kicker 47KEY200.4 Compact 4-channel car amplifier with automatic tuning DSP — 50 watts RMS x 4 at Crutchfield

Amp Wiring Kit:8 gauge with 25% discount $38: Crutchfield CK8 Amp Wiring Kit 8-gauge amplifier wiring kit — includes power wiring only at Crutchfield

Factory Integration Harness $16:Toyota Entune Amp Upgrade for Tundra and Tacoma

Amp Rack: Sounds Good Stereo $71: Custom Made Amplifier Rack/Plate/Board Compatible with 2014-2019 Toyot – Sounds Good Stereo

Heavy Duty Speaker Rings with bolt kits: Taco Tunes $70 front and rear, $140 total (ignore the link saying Tacoma idk why it's doing that): Toyota Tacoma 6.5" 6.75" Heavy Duty Speaker Adapter Installation Kit and Toyota Tundra 6.5" 6.75" Heavy Duty Speaker Adapter Rear Door Installation Kit

Sound Deadener: NVX brand is good for price $35: NVX SDBDK12 Sound Deadening, 4-Door Kit, (4) 12" x 36" Sheets

Foam Speaker Rings $50:SoundSkins Rings v3 Sound deadening kit for four speakers at Crutchfield

Optional Sail Panels $50: JBL Sail panels, about $25 per side.

Optional Crossover Mounts $20 (only need if you get a component set with separate crossovers): Toyota Tundra Front Door Crossover Mounts for Component Speakers

This brings the total so far to ~$630. You could get away with skipping the heavy duty speaker rings in the rear (or front too, but I think they're worth it), which would bring it down to $560.

For speakers, I'd get some that have integrated/in-line crossovers simply for ease of install. To stay below the $1,000 mark:

Front $150: JL Audio C1-650 C1 Series 6-1/2" component speaker system at Crutchfield
Rear $120: JL Audio C1-650x C1 Series 6-1/2" 2-way car speakers at Crutchfield

Front $200: Focal ASE 165 Auditor EVO 6-1/2" component speaker system at Crutchfield
Rear $150: Focal ACX 165 Auditor EVO 6-1/2" 2-way car speakers at Crutchfield

With everything listed above, the JL C1 option would total $900. The Focal Auditor Evo option would total $980.

Add the cost of some wire splice connectors, heat shrink etc. and either package would be about $1,000.

 

Great post
Due to several past customer service issues from TTunes, links to their website can't be posted here.
You'll see your links for their stuff go nowhere..
I will say they do make great speaker adapters/spacers though..

 

Lol I didn’t know that, thought only the name got *******-ed out. I can’t speak for their other stuff, but agree, their speaker adapters are solid and my anecdotal experience with them was fine. Speaker rings and crossover mounts is probably all I’d personally order from them based on price.

 

I wish this post would have been around @Snert last year before I blew thousands on the lackluster OEM audio + upgrade lol

 

Hindsight’s always 20/20 as they say, live and learn for next time and try not to beat yourself up too much!

 

This is going to be a nice build. I personally like JL audio and most likely will go with their amp or alpine pdx900. Which I had previously.
taco tunes does carry a few things that will make the build easier like wire harness and amp mounts if I keep everything in the back.

 

I have a few questions myself even though I've read, reread and read again almost everything I can both here and other sources. First off, I started at the HU and went with a knockoff dasaita android unit similar to one linked below in the Amazon box. That alone has improved my sound incredibly but not enough for me to be happy. So now that I've opened Pandora's box, I'm looking at adding speakers and a passive sub box with its own amp as well. With the insight from the community here, I'm also leaning towards needing an amp to power new speakers appropriately. Where I'm getting tangled up is the rear door speakers. The speakers I'm looking at are JL audio C1 series. For the front doors the c1 650x seem to fit with an added mounting bracket. However, according to crutchfield the rear doors will not accommodate any c1 series speakers, but do list the more expensive c2 525's? Does anyone here have knowledge of a c1 525x not fitting without some modifications? I'm trying to keep my budget on the lower side so that's why I'm looking at the c1's. My ocd is also tangling me up because I want all my door speakers to be from the same brand. Does this matter when it comes to overall sound or would I be okay if I mix and match brands between doors? Crutchfield does offer a plethora of options for front and rear doors so I could possibly choose another brand. Last question is about mounting brackets. Crutchfield offers included Scosche mounting brackets with the purchase of speakers. Are the mounting brackets an important part when changing everything? I've seen quit a few votes for the TTunes brand brackets. Am I overthinking this?

Also of note, I'm in a dbl cab.

As always, I appreciate the insight of everyone here. Thanks in advance for any opinions offered to my special needs.

 

The JL C1's should be a great option. Not crazy to want to have all your speakers match. I believe both the front and rear doors should have no problem fitting the C1-650X's, not sure why Crutchfield says they won't fit. The front doors are an oval opening, whereas the rear doors are round. For the front doors, Crutchfield lists these specs:


And for the rear doors these specs:

Ignore the speakers I picked for the rear doors, just looking at the depth, magnet diameter etc. The only thing I see that doesn't work is the mounting height which I'm guessing is due to the tweeter in the middle of the speaker. How close are your rear speakers right now to the speaker grill on the door in the rear? That's the only thing that seems to be the hold up and I honestly doubt it's actually an issue.

As far as speaker rings go, in my personal opinion the "heavy duty" ABS ones are worth it, but if you're looking to save ~$150 the ones Crutchfield includes would work just fine. Whether doing the heavy duty speaker rings or not, 2 other things I'd highly recommend are foam speaker rings, and some budget sound dampening.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_239SSKRING/SoundSkins-Rings-v3.html ~$52 These are closed cell foam and attach to the front of your new speakers creating a gasket that channels the speakers sound/output into your trucks cabin. They have little pads that attach inside the door as well to help with back waves.

https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item-133807-NVX-SDBDK12-Premium-Stealth-Black.html ~$35 This is budget sound deadener that's scored fairly decent in testing. 4 12"x36" sheets would be plenty to install around your speaker openings to reduce resonant frequency and make your speakers perform better.

If you were to skip the heavy duty speaker adapters, you can use some of the sound deadener to beef up the speaker adapters crutchfield includes. Money no object I would do all three things, but on a budget I'd probably say the foam speaker rings would make the biggest difference, followed by the sound deadener. You'll notice that on the factory speakers there's some foam around the speakers to seal them to the door/channel the sound into the cabin better, hence my suggestion of recreating that with the foam speaker rings.

As far as an amp for your speakers, look for a 4 channel one that does around 50 watts rms at 4 ohms. Couple on Crutchfield that jump out are the Sony XMS400D for $150 and the Kenwood Kenwood Excelon X303-4 for $250.

A powered subwoofer like you mentioned with a subwoofer, box, and amplifier all in one is a great option for filling in the low end. I think a lot of times people mistakenly assume that subwoofer = loud bass, rap music etc., when in reality, nearly all music has low notes and when you add a subwoofer, even if a small one, you realize what you've been missing in bass guitar, drums, etc. Something like the JBL Basspro Nano for $229 would be a great option to consider but there are many other great options below and above that price.

Your other option would be to get a 5 channel amplifier, 4 channels for speakers (1 channel for each door) and 1 channel for subwoofer(s). You could then get a small subwoofer in a pre-fab box. For example the JBL Club A5055 for $337 does 50 watts rms x 4 channels at 4 ohms, and 500 watts x 1 channel at 2 ohms (roughly 300 watts at 4 ohms), or check out the Kenwood Excelon X803-5 that has the same specs and comes in at $400. Grab a subwoofer that comes in a box already for around $200.

I would say if you don't want much bass, the 4 channel amp and powered subwoofer would be great. If you want a little more bass the 5 channel amp would be better (still not crazy bass by any means).

 

@Snert that is just the advice I was looking for. I had planned on sound deadening already but forgot tor mention it. I'll also look into the few other options you listed as far as brackets go. Even though I'm not completely sure on what sub option I'll go with, but what you outlined is basically what I've already pondered. I do know that I want something that doesn't take up much space because my back seat is full with recovery gear, basic tools, and some outdoor adventure gear that lives under the seats, which is why I was leaning towards a all in one sub option. Lots to consider before I put my order in and send it though. Thanks again.

 

For sure! If you have a budget and want to PM me i’d be happy to put together a list of links for everything. Few other things you’ll need: amp wiring kit (crutchfield discounts them if you buy your amp from them, otherwise Knuconceptz oxygen free copper kits are good), an amp rack (can make your own, or Sounds Good Stereo has them reasonably priced) and possibly a factory wiring integration harness if your truck has a factory amp.

 

I love your original post. Unfortunately, it's been tried a million times on this forum and the results are always the same. Let's just say for hypothetical reasons a person simply wanted to keep his stock radio and just upgrade the sound let's say 20-40%. Just improve it enough to where it is clean and a little louder. Or usable. The problem is immediately that goes to the majority saying the original system is pure junk and here is what you need to do. First, go the bank and get a second mortgage on your house. Next, install this 20 quadtrillion watt amp, you will require one for each speaker. Etc, etc...........rabbit hole. I'm not 16 years old anymore and do not need the approval of the cheerleader in the Prius two doors over who's actually laughing hysterically at me. Literally any speaker will be an improvement on what is in the truck now. A "Line Out Converter" will drastically improve the issues with what our head unit sends to the speakers. Audio Control makes a vast assortment of these for every price range. YouTube will solve the install process.

 

The issue is that the factory amps in most our trucks do roughly 35 watts at 20 ohms, using ohms law, that means about 20 watts at 4 ohms, and 90% of aftermarket speakers are 4 ohms and start at about 40 watts rms, meaning if you keep the factory amp, your speakers will be underpowered by half, making them quiet and also risking damaging them since under powering speakers can be harmful just like majorly overpowering. Likewise, if you replace the factory amp and keep the factory speakers, an aftermarket amp is going to overpower the factory speakers and risk blowing them. Most aftermarket 4 channel amps start at about 50 watts at 4 ohms, which means they usually do a little more than that at 2 ohms, say ~70 watts, double the 35w power handling of the factory speakers. That said, factory speakers are also shaped/optimized to fit/seal in the door openings well. Often times people will replace their factory speakers with better speakers, but lose mid-bass due to the new speakers not being optimized etc., hence the recommendations of minor sound deadening, foam speaker rings etc. Most amps nowadays accept high level or speaker level inputs so a line output converter isn’t necessary unless you’re buying it solely for the accubass feature, but with an aftermarket head unit its entirely unnecessary. I don’t think the factory systems are complete garbage, but if someone’s going to go through the effort of removing their door panels and installing new speakers, it’s good to know the factors at play and extra install bits to maximize your results.

 

I'm compiling my list today after a big day at work yesterday. Thanks again for the recommendations.

 

Also one thing to consider, they’re a little more expensive, but the JL C1 component speakers with a separate woofer and tweeter would maybe be an option, they use in line crossovers so they’re super easy to install. Does your truck have factory tweeters front or rear?

 

That's what I'm looking at for the front. Putting the tweeter in the sail panels I just ordered. Rears no factory tweeter.

 

Nice yeah if you can swing the extra cost of the component version having the tweeters separate and up closer to ear level makes a big difference at least in my opinion. Nice thing about ordering from Crutchfield too is their easy return policy, so if you order the coaxial ones for the rear and they end up not fitting, can always return them and get something else. With the “heavy duty” adapters from taco tunes or somewhere else like sounds good stereo, what fits might also differ. Their customer support has been good in my experience, wouldn’t hurt to ask them about clearance issues as I’m willing to bet they’d know right away, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve had people install those exact speakers in your exact truck.

 

let's start with the disclaimer that I'm 4 years old when it comes to understanding how to wire everything together for this upcoming install. With this in mind I'm trying to grasp the totality of it before undertaking it. I'm fairly competent that I can do it though once I understand the process.

This is where I started and the HU I'm am now working from.

$130 EagleNav Car Stereo Android 13 for Toyota Tundra 2007-2013 Sequoia 2008-2018 10.1" Touch Screen 2+32GB Car Radio Wireless CarPlay GPS Navigation WiFi BT Mirror Link Steering Wheel Control

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CJFK9Q4W?ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

I'm coming from a non jbl 2012, so I'm also now understanding that my oem HU had a built in amp so I'm fairly certain that has now been deleted. I also looked under the seats for a factory amp and there isn't one. Which start my questions because I don't think a simple integration harness is my option. However I could be wrong.

When I'm all set to wire in a new amp I'm assuming I'm going to splice and solder into the speaker wires coming off the new HU harness and route them to the inputs of the new amp location. Then I'll also reroute the from the outputs of the amp back to each respective speaker location?

My second set of questions come from assuming my logic above applies. Seeing how I'm now powering the speakers from just the HU and it sounds exponentially better already. Do I even need the amp to power new speakers? I'm leaning towards just installing the speakers first and using the wait and see approach.

 

TT makes some great speaker adapters..




@OldGuy03 I agree with @Snert on using a component set on the front doors.
I used OEM and cut them to fit my Focal tweeters.
In the end I disconnected all 3 dash speakers in my 2014.
A decent set of 2-way components will give you a nice front sound stage..


TT also makes some door sails that are much cheaper than OEM.
I can't post a link because of past issues members had with TT.
$35 a pair beats OEM @ $50 each.

2007-2022 Toyota Door Mirror Trim Ring (Right, Front, Lower) 67491-0C020-C0 | Sparks Parts


2007-2022 Toyota Corner Cover 67492-0C020-C0 | Sparks Parts




The only issue I had with adding door sails to my truck is that my interior is graphite.
It's a very dark gray, the OEM and I'd guess TT door sails are black.
It is hardly noticeable to anyone but me..

 

Thanks for the advice. I already ordered the oem tundra sail panels from cool springs for $21 and change per side. So I am putting in a component speaker up front that is for sure. But I'm all over the place for which ones. I'm basically overthinking this whole process and just need to order something and be done with the wafting back and forth between brands.

 

I doubt you want to spend what I did, but the Focals I have are phenomenal.
I had no plans to spend $550 (price back then) on them when I bought mine but they sounded so good at Cartoys.
Focal PS 165 FXE Performance Series 6-1/2" bi-amplified component speaker system at Crutchfield



Focal makes a plug and play front door component speaker for your Tundra.
No speaker adapters needed.
Focal Inside IS TOY 690 6"x9" component speaker system designed for select Toyota, Lexus, and Subaru vehicles at Crutchfield