Speaker upgrade for an 2006 Tacoma Access Cab with JBL Sound

I am planning to swap out speakers in my 2006 Access Cab and would like to retain the stock head unit. I have already updated the head unit with a Bluetooth module and AUX inputs so it does what I want in terms of phone and music integration. I also like the fact that it doesn't attract much attention. However, I would like to install upgraded speakers. I am not interested in spending a ton of money and simply want a decent upgrade to the factory drivers. I could go all out but, frankly can't bring myself to do so in a vehicle.

For a matched set I am looking at:

Rockford Fosgate R169X2 Prime Series 6"x9" 2-way car speakers
Rockford Fosgate R1T-S Prime Series 1" Mylar balanced dome tweeters
Rockford Fosgate R1675X2 Prime Series 6-3/4" 2-way car speakers

The Crutchfield site seems to indicate that these speakers are pretty much plug and play and simply require the mounting adapters and wiring harnesses that Crutchfiield specifies. Also as the speakers are rated for 2-65 watts I hope they are within the capacity of the stock head unit which seems to be 2 ohm and 45 watts per channel. I'm pretty sure I understand that the 6x9s will only be getting mid/low range as the head unit contains crossover and sends high frequencies to the tweeters. Please correct me if I am wrong and if anyone has experience with this I would appreciate input. Thanks!

 

I have not yet replaced my speakers but have done a little research about it. Looks like the speakers you are looking at are all 4 ohm and I think you'd get a lot more success using lower impedance speakers. You'll lose some efficiency by running a higher impedance speaker like that when the amp is designed for a 2 ohm load.

Crutchfield has a good selection of 2-2.7 ohm speakers. Unfortunately, I didn't find a 6x9 mid woofer for the doors. They make some 6" mids and there's an Infinity 6x9 component set that would work.

 

I replaced my speakers just a few months ago with JBL Club 9630’s in the front doors and JBL Club 6520’s in the rear. I didn’t need to upgrade the tweeters. Although I’m running an aftermarket headunit a Kenwood DPX793BH they sound really good once broken in. The low thump the stock speakers had is gone and replaced with crystal clear music. I got impatient with the speaker break in and bought a Walmart Dual brand 80$ sub to fill in the lows and that with the new speakers I couldn’t be more happy with the end result.

 

There seems to be a trend on TW for owners to install 2 or 3 way 6x9 speaker and a separate tweeter in the same door. That's not the correct way to do it.

Ideally you want a 6x9 mid and a tweeter. Also ideally the set will come with a crossover that would be used.

I know extremely little about the Tacoma JBL system. I've read that system has a separate amp and that both the front and rear speakers are fed by the same 2 channels with each speaker being 4 ohms for a total of 2 ohms per side. I'd like to know a lot more about the Tacoma JBL system.

If I were still working and my customer had an aftermarket head unit and a JBL system and if they wanted aftermarket speakers I'd try to talk them into getting a aftermarket amp and rewiring the system appropriately. The benefits of any piece of aftermarket stereo equipment is reduced with the use of any factory stereo piece (antenna is the exception)

 

This link may assist you
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2nd-gen-jbl-specs-and-“easy”-upgrade-options.571736/

 

All of my searches led me to believe they are 2ohm but I admit that is second hand info. After seeing your post last night I did some more searching and found conflicting info. Most of the info out there says they're 2ohm. I did find this thread: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/jbl-system-speaker-upgrade.635628/ but it's in the 3rd gen forum so not sure if it would be the same for our 2nd gens. But, according to this the fronts are 2ohm and the rears are 4ohm.

 

I am wondering if the 2 ohm vs 4 ohm confusion has to do with the fact that the front speakers are wired in series and the rear speakers are on separate channels. That makes sense to me because then the load in the front would be cumulative for a total of 4 ohms. I am also trying to figure out if the head unit in the 2006 Access cab is really any different between the JBL and regular units. There is no amp or sub woofer connected and I don't know if that's even possible with the radios that came in the access cab. The left door speaker grill is branded with the JBL logo but there is nothing on the radio to indicate that designation. The model number on the bezel is A51809...

 

I don't think that's true about the front being wired that way. My interpretation is that they're wired on separate channels. If the tweeter and woofer are getting different amounts of power (as illustrated in the wattage chart from the above linked post) they then would need to be on separate channels, no?

Some info here too, but again, no confirmation on what's going on with a 2nd gen.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/factory-sub-replacement-modification.15991/

 

Actually I just checked–had a long conversation with one of the people at Crutchfield and cross referenced with several of the relevant posts here on Tacoma World. As noted in other posts front door speaker are wired in series with power passing through the tweeter and then running to the woofer. That's why you lose sound in the woofers when the tweeters are disconnected. The tweeter has a passive filter that functions as a crossover and stops low frequency information making it to the tweeter which would overload it. So left woofer and tweeter both on the same channel and ditto for right. Back door full range speakers on another pair of channels. With that established the techs at Crutchfield confirm that impedance is cumulative, meaning that two, two ohm speakers wired in series will make for 4 ohms in total. It sounds like component speakers will work the same way with 2 ohm tweeter and 2 ohm woofer run off of a crossover resulting in a 4 ohms cumulative impedance. I think that may be why there is so much conflicting information regarding the power output for head units and the speaker ratings in the Access Cab and Crew Cab. The front door drivers are not really functioning as four separate speakers, but rather the doors are functioning as a left and right component speaker units. Hope this makes sense and I am still not entirely sure if I have the whole picture but it makes the most sense to me given all of the available information.

 

If that's the case then how does the system apply different power to the tweeter and woofer? Or maybe that's just on the 3rd gen?

That really is a best case scenario if what you're saying is correct. I had been trying to figure out a good way to replace the front woofer and tweeter but keep the factory amp. I assumed there was a crossover component within the amp and that it sent out individual signals to the front tweeter and woofer via 2 sets of speaker wires. This would make wiring up a standard component set difficult. But, if it's sending ALL the power via one set of speaker wires to the front doors then it should be easy to just wire up a component set as you normally would.

 

I can't speak to how the 3rd generation system works. It may well be something entirely different and I think there is a lot of confusion between the two generations (I was confused) because conversations drift and specifications get transposed between the two. Also, from what I am able to tell the 2nd Gen Access Cab has a different setup than the 2nd Gen Crew Cab since there is no amp/sub combo run off of the head. From what I can tell the Access Cab is overall nothing special and the only thing to make it "JBL special" are the speakers and speaker configuration-and those are not that special. It may be the same head unit in both but all of the complication that comes along with that amp/sub are not present in the access cab.

 

I have an 06 access cab sr5 as well and I’m going to follow what you do. Mine needs upgraded, bad.

 

Incidentally the model number on my head unit is A51809. Can someone with an Crew Cab offer what their stock JBL system head unit is carries as a model number?

 

Hmm, that's interesting. I assumed they were the same concept but different execution. The JBL systems I've seen in the AC's have had a sub unit strapped to the back wall between the rear seats. I assumed this also contained the amp and powered all speakers rather than having an amp in the head unit like the non-JBL versions.

The JBL radio in my 2010 Double Cab is model # 86120-04160 (printed on the top of the unit) and has A51864 printed on the front. I just replaced it with a JBL radio from a 2014 Tacoma and am LOVING the upgrade.

 

There is no sub in my 2006 AC with JBL and it wasn't part of any stock configuration available that I remember. Only in the double cabs. If there is an amp somewhere in my AC I have never seen it, can't find any trace of it and it's not mentioned in any of the guides that discuss updating speakers or head units.

 

OK, so I just couldn't get this out of my head and then remembered I had some wiring diagrams from when I was researching my head unit swap.

According to these diagrams, the non-JBL system has the series wired front speakers and the JBL system is an 8 channel setup - 2 tweeters, 2 front wooers, 2 rear mids, and the sub running off the last two channels. Of course, there's always a chance the JBL system changed from year to year and I do not have diagrams for every year.

See attached PDF's for 2015 JBL (separate type amplifier) and 2013 non-JBL (built-in type amplifier) stereo wiring.

 

Looks like it was only available in later model years: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/05-access-cab-factory-subwoofer-fs.180447/

I'm wondering now what the JBL system is like in your truck. Perhaps your fronts are wired like the non-JBL models?

 

Thanks fore those. I have a feeling that the JBL and non JBL head unit was the same prior to the 2007 AC Tacoma. See this link to the exact radio from my truck.
https://www.amazon.com/2005-06-Toyota-Tacoma-Radio-86120-04140/dp/B07K7XWSDN

 

I think you are right that the fronts are wired like the non-JBL models. I don't really know what makes them JBL at all then, but I've got the label.