21 TRD Pro JBL Upgrade

I've been corresponding with James, and here is what I'm considering doing.

JBL Amp Upgrade and Ported Sub Upgrade package
JL C1 690 for the front doors
JL C1 650 for the rear doors
JL CF 2.75 for the three dash speakers
Keep the stock head unit

Has anyone else done this, and can speak to the sound improvement? Does it rock (i.e., quite loud with good bass) or is it just a fuller/better sound over the stock setup? Thanks guys!

 

I have the DSP 4086 JBL upgrade and w/James' single ported sub, and I can say that it delivers good clean bass that's tight and not over boomy... The DSP definitely helps w/signal processing (which is severely lacking from the OE head unit and amp). At a good level, you can definitely feel the bass flowing through the vehicle, and I believe you'll be happy as long as you're not expecting competition levels of output. A little side note... When I first did the upgrade, I was on a familar road and started experiencing what I thought was abnormal vibration coming from the drivetrain (similar to installing a lift and not doing a carrier bearing drop)... anyhow, I was thinking something was wrong w/the truck, but then realized that I was listening to something that just came on and it had a repetitive, rolling type of patterned bass, which is what I was feeling. I laughed to myself a little and felt a little pride in my stereo at that point

My next step will be something similar to what you're looking at for the door/dash speakers, and I'm sure that will siginifanctly improve mid range and highs. But, with that being said, I am experiencing better sound through the factory door and dash speakers after the amp/dsp upgrade.

I do get some distortion if I try to push the volume too high, but we're talking at almost uncomfortable long term levels of sound. I'm sure that distortion is a result of the factory mids and tweets not being able to handle what's coming in to them.

The only criticism I have w/the sound spectrum of my current setup, is that it does seem to lack volume/coverage somewhere in the lower mid range frequencies. I'm not sure if that's due to the settings of amp possibly the crossover points of the factory mid range speakers.

I would 100% trust that James would ensure the entire spectrum is covered and balanced if he's matching the amp to an entire setup of amp, speakers, and sub.

Final tip: Make sure your bass knob is mounted where it is easily accessible, as I do find myself adjusting levels quite frequently; not necessarily within the same album, but if I'm running a playlist w/multiple albums or artists in it, I do make adjustments to maximize system performance and my listening pleasure

Edit: Also, I just noticed you're in an '08. So, the headunit in my '21 is not the same as yours, however I'd expect similar performance. For the record my OE JBL system in my '21 is way worse than the OE system in my '08...

 

Thanks! Just updated my signature to reflect my New (new to me) 2020 Tundra Platinum and yes...the JBL system in this '21 is light years worse than my '08 Limited.

 

Ok, in that case then... You have the same experience and perceptions of the 2 systems, so I'm thinking you will be very pleased w/the upgrade you're looking at!

 

Pulled the trigger and ordered yesterday. Will let y'all know how it goes!

 

I have had the JBL upgrade kit with all speakers and a new sub/box for a few years now and it is still holding up great. James has even been amazing at helping support me through the warranty process with the JBL amp that started to mess up a few months back. His customer service and diligence were amazing and I am so glad I bought the kit from him. Any other audio shop would have told me to pound sand. Don’t think about it, just buy your kit from James and enjoy.

 

What problems were you having with the JBL amp? How long did you have it before it started having problems. Did JBL take care of it?

 

The amp lost the ability to maintain the custom firmware that James had loaded onto it. So it stopped working altogether. Luckily, I was able to follow the warranty process and obtain a new amp through JBL which James was able to program and it is back working fine now. I had the system installed about 18 months before the amp messed up.

 

Thanks for the info. Hopefully this is not very common.

 

Do you have any details/specifics that you can share on the mid-bass/crossover adjustments that you made? Thanks!

 

Does anyone have this amp completely dialed in, and care to PM your tune file for upload? Thank you!

 

FYI, try to put in some dynamat when putting in the speakers, I have the same kit but had Hertz speakers which he was selling at the time.

I dynomat the crap out of my doors, rear window panel, and rear floor while I put the system in, it helped a ton on making the system sound better, and check your connections, I had this issue with speaker "popping", it took me almost a month to trace down the issue, turns out the wire at the connection frayed.



I opt for the dual JL 10" subs, still like them, but I think the next project is a total audio overhaul.

 

Anyone running this without the upgraded sub? Or just kept for factory sub box and threw an upgraded 8" sub in there?

Definitely want to order the amp in the next few days but trying to convince myself (and the wife) if its worth the extra $300 for the sub? Not looking to rattle any windows, just get a little more out of the factory system.

 

The OE sub is ultra thin paper junk, and the sub box is plastic...

If you scroll back up through this thread, I think one or two guys went w/just the box for a bit. It was a slight iimprovement for them iirc, but still very underwhelming...

The problem is the head unit sucks and the OE amp does zero for signal processing, so you're kinda swimming upstream by just doing one or the other.

By upgrading sub and box, the new amp is also a DSP (digital sound processor) and you can tailor the sub output w/bass knob. Add to that a decent box and upgraded sub at the same time and you'll be pleasantly surprised. From there, if you ever choose to take another step (short of a complete system overhaul), you can upgrade the door and front speakers without buying another amp or anything else down the line if you're trying to maintain the OE headunit.

 

I would definitely upgrade to the sub at a minimum. I couldn’t even tell if the stock sub was working @Tripleconpanna is correct with the new JBL amp being a DSP and being able to adjust with the bass knob makes it great for any type of music. Seems like a good investment with the other products out there. Plus the customer service with JRT is great. @bigmace go for it.

 

Alright you guys convinced me to get both. My old 2020 Tacoma non JBL sounded so much better with a brick amp and under seat self powered sub.

 

Okay just pulled the trigger on both sub and amp. Excited to get the JBL system sounding good!