Making 2013 sound better for least cost

What is the best I could make a 2013 access cab sound for a couple hundres. I would really rather not replace the factory head unit.

Is my best bang for the buck going to be to replace the factory speakers?

Does the factory head unit have a pre-out for an amp?

~S

 

Replacing the speakers and keeping the factory head unit wont change much, if any sound.

If you wish to retain the head unit you will need a line out converter to take the high power speaker signals from your head unit and provide RCA pre-out.

From there you'll want an amp and a decent set of components. Line-out converters can go from 20 bucks to a couple hundred. For your budget, I'd go with a less expensive one and save that money for an amp and components.

 

How does converter work? Wouldn't volume stop working then? How clean is sound coming off converter? With average speakers and amp would quality loss due to converter be noticeable?

Thanks.

 

Since you don't want to replace the stock head-unit, more than likely the stock head-unit wont have RCA out-puts. Therefore you need a line out converter (1) which is connected/tapped into your rear speakers (2). That will provide you a RCA outputs for your amp.

1.


2.

 

I have a line converter for sale, paid $45 used for 2 weeks yours for $20 or $25 shipped

 

I'll keep that in mind. Did you end up replacing head unit?

 

Yes I did

 

upgrading the speakers is the most effective thing to do.......stock cone speakers have very bad high freq reproduction and are made of the cheapest crap......get a good component set or a true coaxial set with a good tweeter and crossover system.......I have had the same set of mb quarts in my tacoma since new in 1999......nothing i have ever heard has ever come close.....next would be to add an amp....and you will need a high to low level converter to add this to stock radio.....head units typically dont offer much diff in sound quality....for the most part....a cd player is a cd player.......they all have low power....and power is key to sound quality.........upgrade: speakers , then amp.....then head unit...as far as upgrading sound quality

 

I just upgraded my 2013 to mid level Alpine components in the front and coaxils in the rear. I used ********* adapters and also sealed my doors with sound deadening material. The highs and mids sound quite a bit better and the lows, I think, are better reproduced but not as loud then with the stock speakers. I still have the stock head unit as I like the way it functions and I already paid for it anyway. I may add a powered sub in the future to fill in the lows but I am satisfied for now. Hope this helps.

 

These last two posts are exactly what I wanted to hear. I picked up truck Tuesday, and sounds very muddy. My $200 setup in my beater trucker sounds way better: $50 jvc deck, 6" kicker 2 way set, and 4"no audio in dash. I am going to start by just uprading speakers then. Did you do the tweeters too?

 

Yup, 6.5 mids up front with tweeters in stock location and the coaxial have tweeters also. I thought the highs would be too much but it sounds fine. In hindsight I think I would have gone with 6X9's in the front doors for a little more bass. A couple manufactures make 6X9 component set ups.

Check out ********* for the speaker adapters also Mr. Marv sells adapters on this site. They both are a lot beefier adapters than what come with aftermarket speakers. They both make adapters for tweeters as the stock tweeter mounts are an odd shape and won't accommodate an aftermarket tweeter

 

Did you componant speakers come with a crossover, or did you use just use the existing wires to the tweeter location (which I assumed are crossed over by the deck)? Would 6x9's fit in the rear locations?

 

Head Unit is the single biggest improvement you can do to a stock system

 

If it was me, I'd get an aftermarket head unit. You'll save some cake off getting a line converter. Generally speaking, head units are pigs. You can dress it up but it's still a pig.

If you can scoop up a used HU that might be a good way to keep costs down..then just get speakers as you go.