2023 W/JBL Audio Speaker Replacement

I am in the planning stages of a stereo upgrade in my 23 limited with the JBL audio. I am not looking anything too crazy and am going to use the stock amp and speaker wiring if at all possible. At least for now.

What i have come up with so far is

- Beatsonic ENA 2T3 AMP
- Pioneer A series 3.5's in the Dash
- Pioneer A Series Max components in the doors
- leave the factory sub for now.

One question I have after looking at the audio wiring diagrams, does the stock JBL amp have a crossover built in to the amplifier for the front tweeter and door speaker or is the door speaker a full range speaker and the tweeter has a capacitor across the terminals? Any input on this would be very helpful.

 

I just put two sets of morel components w a 12 channel dsp amp. The JBL system is junk especially for an 80k rig. The morel are probably the best speaks I think you can get. Crisp clean loud and what a difference. I have a 24 sequoia platinum. I used a Jl 12 in a box I had from another vehicle and WOW I thought my Escalade 19 speaker center point Bose sounded good. This combo crushed it. I did however spend 6200$ but so worth it for my forever car. Now looking for advice for a small lift wheels and tires

 

Okay, so with the G3 in its 3rd year. Has the JBL system been improved at year 25? Wonder if it has, use earlier modelcsn upgrade to 25' components.

 

The 25 JBL is exactly as the 24. Crap !!

 

Fyrefighter67, which JL amp are you using? I am upgrading my system as well. I am using the JL HD900/5 for 2 sets of CDT speakers and a JL 10W6v3 sub. I am still waiting on some brackets for the door speakers before I could tell how it sounds. Hopefully, this Thursday, I could get everything back together.

 

@Wtundra2023 have you made the speaker swap yet? Whats the verdict?

 

Completed it today. The new speakers combined with the Beatsonic dsp are very impressive. There is a noticeable difference in the clarity and reproduced frequency range from before. The bass is also quite a bit tighter and more controlled where as before it was very "boomy". It doesn't need to be anywhere near as loud to get a nice clear sound.

I used all the factory locations and these connectors -

$14 RED WOLF Front or Rear Door Speaker Wire Harness Connector Adapter for Toyota 2018-2022 Camry RAV4 Avalon, 2020 Tacoma Door Speakers, Lexus is CT 2011-2018 Dash Tweeter Only

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08213PXTP?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title to tap into the factory wiring. If you use these you will need to swap the leads as they will reverse the polarity of the signal going to you new speakers in their stock configuration (the red lined wire will need to go to the negative terminal of the speaker). I also was able to make the pioneer tweeters fit in the door panels in the stock locations as well.

If you are are not modifying the factory wiring in the rear doors, you will need to cut the connector off of the back of the tweeter (I also cut the capacitor out of but I don't think that is needed). Plugging in the tweeter connector to the factory plug and then powering the components off of the "woofer connection" gives a full range signal that can be used with the crossover supplied with the component speakers.

The fronts I used/modified the universal mount that came with the pioneer 6x9 components. I had to drill/enlarge some holes on the pioneer mounts but they worked pretty well.

The dash speakers I did very little to make fit except cut the tabs a bit on the pioneer 3.5s to allow them to hit both factory bolt locations. For the Pioneer 6x9s i added 3 layers of sound deadning around the speaker cut out to help space the speaker away from the window. There is about 3" from the inner door panel to the window and the Pioneer 6x9's where just about 2 7/8". I probably didn't need the extra space, but better safe than sorry.

I put skar sound deadening everywhere I could without taking off the wiring harnesses. I simply worked around them. On package of 4 sheets worked very well. Fun fact about sound deadening, you don't have to cover and entire surface to get the desire affect, using it in advantageous locations and leaving others without it is fine so long. Use your best judgement on that one.

I kept the stock subwoofer and a pillar tweeters. I may change my mind on these later, but for now, I am happy.

 

Excellent writeup! thank you for your prompt reply! Any plans to upgrade the sub? I'm considering the ********* budget sub harness with a LCi signal processor (it's cheaper elsewhere) and replacing the JBL shit sub with a pre amplified sub box.

 

No plans as of yet. Changing the other speakers and adding the beat sonic dsp made it hard to justify a new sub for me.

If i do, I'll probably buy a female sub connector (if i can find it) and use it as line level inputs for the sub.

 

Did your A pillar tweeters fit into the existing cutouts or did it require any modifications?

 

I haven't touched those yet and am not 100% sure I want too. They meld in very well with the pioneer set up. If I do anything, I may disconnect them all together if possible. There are plenty of highs coming from the 3.5's in the dash.

However, from the research I have done (lots of ebay listings with pics of the JBL system and a pillars) it looks like they are mounted the same way that the rears are. If that is the case, I would do the same thing i did for the rears, cut the connector off of the JBL tweeter and wire it to the pioneer tweeter.The factory tweeters on the a pillar have a capacitor on the connector like the rears, you will need a crossover which could be difficult with factory wiring if you have traditional style car audio crossovers that are a separate small box. The pioneers (I didn't know when I bought them) have a crossover built in the wiring of the tweeter which is just another capacitor making this a fairly easy task to tuck it away.

Check out this guys web page. He's done a i think 2 tundras now.

https://audiobyart.com/f/toyota-tundra-hybrid-audio-upgrade
https://audiobyart.com/f/2023-toyota-tundra-hybrid-1794-received-a-complete-audio-upgrade

The pioneer tweeters fit in the factory location in the rear and I assume they will in the a pillar. I put 1 wrap of 1/8" weather strip foam around the OD of the tweeter which made it fit snugly into the factory hole. Then I made a bracket that held the tweeter in place from behind and screwed into two of the three holes surrounding it (if you do this, short and fat screws should be used and great caution should be exercised so you don't break through to the front of the door panel or a pillar like I did).

I should add, the rear speakers can be mounted using the previous gen taco/tundra 6.5" aftermarket bracket. They won't touch the window.

If you were near the Houston area I would let you take a listen to it.

I am still working out some rattles and buzzes that are likely from broken trim clips such, but overall the factory sub and a pillar tweeters sound pretty good to me when combined with the pioneer setup.

 

Thank you again for the detailed answer. I’m located in California else would’ve hit you up on your offer! Will certainly keep your pointers in mind while upgrading the speakers

 

@Wtundra2023 Which Beatsonic DSP did you purchase? any other odds and ends do i need ?

 

IF you have the JBL system, the only real option you have is the beatsonic ENA-2T3. The other version don't play nice with the JBL.

What speakers are you planning on getting if any at all? I have found that the Pioneer 3.5"s are very bright and I am working on trying to account for that. Likely will be disconnecting the tweeter on the far left and right ones to see what that sounds like. I may be adding a bandpass crossover to them as well depending on they sound once I modify them. Doing this would bring them more in line with the factory set up.


As far as other odds and ends for speaker install, you will need a soldering iron, solder sticks, heat shrink, and zip ties. I also used some foam weather stripping and electrical tape to wrap up the rear tweeter connectors and tuck them away so they wouldn't rattle in behind the door. If you are just installing the beatsonic, it comes with pretty much everything you need.

 

Wanted to add an alternate grounding location for the Beatsonic amp. On the drivers side metal dash frame, there is an unused threaded hole. You can use an M8x1.25 (may be a m8x1.0) bolt and a washer to ground the amp.

 

Figured I would update this thread just to keep account of what has been done.

I disconnected the tweeter in the dash speakers and that helped immensely with the overly bright sound they had.

I also experimented with replacing the a-pillar tweeters with the pioneer ones that came with the 6x9 components and found the factory textile domes to be superior. I have order some infinity reference textile domes to see if I can further refine the sound quality.

I have removed the Beatsonic amp for the time being. I don't like how it sounds in my set up. The way it processed the highs created some very obvious sibilance that I wasn't able to adjust out. Once the infinity tweeters are installed I may give the Beatsonic another chance, but I am likely going to sell it off.

I did find that these adapters work for the tweeters after reversing their polarity (the red adapter wire should be wired to the negative speaker terminal).

$14 RED WOLF Car Front Dash Tweeter Speaker Wiring Harness for 2008-2022 Toyota RAV4 Camry 4Runner Highlander Scion, 2010-2019 Subaru Forester Factory Speaker Replacement Adapter Connector Non JBL System

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07RMZ4CR6?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image

I'll update a final time once the new tweeters are installed.

 

I am considering the Beatsonic amp in lieu of doing any other changes. Given your experience with the beatsonic would you still recommend it if one wanted a decent upgrade without swapping any speakers? Is it worth $300?

 

The Beatsonic is great. Easy upgrade with great sound. Gets a touch louder, and a lot clearer. I had one in the my 22 w/o JBL for two years I recently removed it when I re-did the complete system. DSP amp, Sub, and new component speakers. I listed it on eBay for $200 start. Good deal for someone looking for an alternative to complete system upgrade.

 

If you're not going to swap out the speakers, its a great upgrade. It does do a lot for the highs and mids while not adjusting the bass to make it overly loud. I ended up replacing all the speakers with the exception of the subwoofer. I am also in the process of adding after market to amp to power them to get more adjustability out of the system to tune it to the new speakers. Plus I can't leave well enough alone.

If I had stayed fully stock I would keep the beatsonic, but since I did not, I plan on selling it in the very near future. if you're interested in it, DM me and maybe we can work something out.

 

It's been a little bit since my last post and a lot has happened with the system install. Going incrementally as I have has really given me an appreciation for how complex these new stereos setups are.

Since the last update I have made several changes,

1 - The a pillar and rear door tweeters were replaced with infinity 375tx soft dome tweeters. These tweeters fit nicely into the casing for the factory tweeters which allowed me to use the factory locations without any modification (until a tab broke on the a pillar thus the zip tie).I have put pictures below for refence on how I accomplished this if anyone else would like to try in the future. the case to the left of the factory tweeter is simply hot glued on. A little gentle heat with a heat gun and they came apart with a little work.




2 - Added DS18 pro 2 way crossovers to the rear doors and a smaller capacitor for the front a-pillars. After listening for a bit i felt the tweeters were still to bright and added the 2 way crossovers to attenuate them by 6db. This helped but the fronts were still screaming loud. I changed the crossover in the front to a small capacitor and that helped a little.


3- Changed out the dash speakers from the pioneer to kicker 2.75's. This was a small improvement as well and made the overall sound warmer, but I still wasn't fully satisfied.


4 - Re - installed the beat sonic DSP. This smoothed out the highs and mids while not affecting the bass too much. I still felt like something was off though and kept searching.

5 - Installed an Audio Control PNW-XN3 3 way crossover on the front tweeters, L&R Dash speakers, and front door woofers. This made the most improvement and finally made it sound like a cohesive system. The door speakers are not full range but the factory amp crosses them over at to high a frequency (IMHO) causing them to reproduce frequencies they really don't sound at. The crossover also has built in -3 and -6 DB lpads for the highs and mids. I set these at -6 for the highs, and -3 for the mids which allowed them to mesh more nicely with the woofers. As an unintended side benefit, I was able to increase the levels on the EQ in the head unit increasing the level of all the frequencies across the board bringing more mid bass and a overall richer sound quality. The below pic is an in process one. I don't have a pic of its temporary home until I decide if I want to go further.




I have PAC integration kit and an infinity 8 channel amplifier sitting on my bench in the garage, but I am not sure I am ready to install them yet. I also have infinity reference 6X9's as well that I am considering installing. I will update this thread again if I take it to the next step and install the PAC Kit, amp, and infinity 6x9s.

Ultimately, if someone where looking to make a significant upgrade without having to tap into/bypass the factory system, I highly recommend components in the rear with a proper 2 way crossover (many of the ones that come with the set don't have a real low pass filter), components in the front setting up the fronts as a three way system using the PNW crossover, and the addition of the beat sonic DSP*.

*I am going to remove the DSP soon to see what it sounds like without it while keeping the crossover hooked up.