Are the "rear" speakers in Access cabs a joke?

I just got a 2014 that came with the Entune Plus stereo. Aside from it not sounding very good in general, the rear speakers are mounted overhead, and when I balance it all the way back they are barely audible, and sound like playing a microphone as a speaker (yes I've done that.) When balanced to the middle it sounds the same as all the way front.

Why did they bother? Any suggestions for aftermarket upgrades for all speakers? Where would a subwoofer fit? I have a new Alpine head unit and a couple of amps that I could put in.
Kevin

 

HAHAHA i was confused and maddened by that too... but its not the speaker its the head unit thats the problem. Get a new deck and the speakers will work like they should. Pretty good actually, for a stock system.

Ive never heard a speaker like that before... cant understand why Toyota would do that.

 

I was and still am bothered by this one. They aren't real "speakers". I saw someone on TW call them inducers or something. Bottom line they are complete crap and they're not speakers. Was a pretty big shock coming from my 02 that had real rear speakers, for a total of 6 speakers, to a 2013 that actually only has 4.

That is crap Toyota and is right on the edge of false advertising.

 

Are the newer AC's different from the earlier year 2nd gen AC's? Mine has true speakers at the bottom of the door, but I still feel the overall sound system sounds like crap. As soon as I have some spare cash I'm dropping in a full Alpine setup. Head Unit, 4-channel amp, and component 6.5's up front with 6x9's in the rear.

 

Have you actually seen what Toyota uses for "speakers"? The weak link isn't the head unit. New door speakers, small amp and a line-out converter will make you much happier. The sound is very much improved and you get to keep the functionality already there.

 

Yep the newer ones (not sure when it started), have these crap inducer things in the headliners. I keep thinking of installing speakers like yours, but I want it to look factory. So to do that I'd need to get some older molder door covers, which I haven't accepted yet. Toyota should have just kept real rear speakers in the AC. I didn't mind the sound in my 02 hell, it was a lot better than the sound in my 13.

 

In my 2011 Non-JBL Double cab, the headunit WAS the weak link. It didn't put out nearly enough power so when you turned it up, it flattened the sound badly. Never got all that loud.

I put in a Kenwood headunit and the speakers aren't bad at all now.

 

That's odd ... I have had a '10, and now a '14, AC and after a bit of tweaking I find the "rear" speakers to be of fairly good quality ... sure they are not perfect but I experience a surround of sorts.

 

When I replaced the head unit I disconnected the "exciters" in the ceiling and bought some bose outdoor speakers at Costco and velcro'd those to the rear compartment covers and ran the rear channel to those.

 

I was playing around with my radio yesterday and was SHOCKED when I turned the radio all the way to the year and heard the overhead sound. The stock system for me isn't too bad, but I have since added a subwoofer. Helped a lot. Next will be replacing the door speakers. I don't want to replace the head unit because aftermarket head units in a new vehicle look like garbage. I want to wait and buy a really nice alpine or pioneer touchscreen HU. But I also don't want to drop $500 for a head unit haha

 

It's worth it to upgrade head unit and speakers. I have a Pioneer 3500 with Hybrid Audio Technology speakers and it is a huge difference compared to stock. Wish I had upgraded sooner.

 

in my DBL cab I just upgraded from the stock deck to a pioneer NEX double din and the speakers went from "inducers" or whatever theyre called to actually producing sound, like a normal speaker. the only thing i changed was the deck. so they gotta be real speakers and the problem has to be in the deck. Also i noticed that the stock wiring has a seperate harness for the rear speakers, totally seperate from all the other wiring for the radio.

Though i do completely agree, aftermarket speakers will make me very happy. 2 days ago I ordered a 5 channel alpine amp that will run my aftermarket speakers and a sub. More than likely a ********* ported 12" sub, but cannot decide what door speakers to get. Cant wait!!!

 

there's speakers in the rear? I have the two up front and 2 tweeters, 2011 Sr5, guess they're hiding in the head unit which is why I wondered why the window sticker says 6 speakers and I only see 4. lol.

 

this



they are not a joke or crap

the system has been carefully designed to do a pretty good job
of making the sound system halfway decent for a work vehicle

the little ceiling speakers bring out some space to the sound, without
them the stereo would be pretty distant and muffled

stock stereo definitely is not boomin and can't be made to boom w/o hardware upgrades

 

Could they have chosen a worse name? not really that exciting. I swapped out the front door speakers with some Infinity's and added an Alpine powerpack with the stock HU. Its a lot better, but since the speakers are so low to the floor there's still that empty sound from the back. Gonna have to drop some coin on putting some 6x9s in the read to fill everything out.

 

At a live concert or music festival the sound stage is in the front, that being said I did 6x9s in my '09 front doors, a bridged Alpine with a Clarion NX404. Amazing and simple. BTW....Put in a steering wheel control adapter, parking brake by-pass and wired the camera to the Clarion screen.

 

It could be different in my DBL cab but i doubt it. They are actual speakers in the back but they dont get the right signal to make them produce real sound. I can only figure Toyota didnt wanna spend the money on a bigger amp to push 4 speakers, and thought they could get away with powering only the 2 fronts? Doesnt make sense however they cut it.

I put in an aftermarket deck, and they became normal speakers. surely i am not the only one to notice this....

 

trash the crappy roof speakers and throw some 6x9's into new door panels off a junked 08' or older. The panels come off pretty easily and all you would need to do is run some wires.

Some of my buddys have those roof speakers and IMO Toyota would of been better off just deleting them.

Chock up another win for the Toyota bean counters cheeping out on the trucks over time.

 

I feel your pain, it took me a few weeks to figure out where they mounted the things.

 

Thanks for the replies. I can understand why they wouldn't put a great stereo in a truck, I just expected better in a 2014. It's not a work truck, it's my daily driver now. My wife's 2004 Volvo came with a Bose system that sounds 10X better, almost as good as the one I put in my '89 944 Turbo. I have always put in my own, and I guess I'll be doing it again, but I want to keep the head unit since it has the backup camera, Bluetooth, etc, and it's already paid for.

For reference, in my 951 I put a Nakamichi head unit, Audiocontrol preamp/crossover/EQ, Proton amps (from back when they made really good stuff, Subwoofer in back, and I kept the stock 10 high-quality speakers including the tweeters that came with that option. It's a small car with great acoustics and I don't expect that from a truck, just something that doesn't sound like was stock in the 70's.

I don't think I've ever been to a concert that sounded near as good, and I like it to be filled in reasonably in the back.

So assuming I keep the head unit, this is what I'm thinking for a compromise:

1) Get a 5 good channel amp that would fit under the seat that takes line level inputs.
2) Replace the front speakers and tweeters with good ones. Any suggestions on what would fit?
3) Add some good 2-ways in the rear door panels in place of the non-exciters (I honestly can't hear them, either ther's something wrong or getting old I guess.)
4) Put in a subwoofer where it won't be obnoxious, maybe a tall flat one between the rear mini-seats with matching carpet so the seats can still be used.

Last resort would be replacing the head unit if the above is not good enough.

I don't really want to cut out the rear door panels and might make some enclosures that could drop into the bottom pockets first.
Any more comments and/or suggestions would really be appreciated.

Kevin