Stock HU screen bad.. help me replace HU and new front speakers!

I borrowed this form from r/CarAV, figured I’d copy and paste.

Head unit going bad in 2013 Tacoma... Recommendations?

What are your goals for your car audio system - as loud as possible (SPL)? Sound quality (SQ)? Some combination of both? Describe to us how you want your system to sound.

-Mostly just want the head unit, but I prefer SQ. I'm probably going to upgrade the front speakers while doing this, and possibly deaden the front doors-

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What vehicle? - year, make, model, type (coupe, sedan, SUV, truck, etc.)

-2013 Toyota Tacoma-

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What is your maximum budget?

-Budget system. $1000 for total package (head unit, speakers, deadening). This number is flexible, but I prefer to stay as low as reasonable. I'm mostly going for a "premium audio" package that you might find in a new build car, not necessarily anything to blow your socks off-

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Will you be installing the gear or are you going to a shop? If a shop is doing the work, does your budget include the cost of labor?

-installing myself-

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What gear is in your existing system? (Is it stock? List any aftermarket gear.)

-bone stock non-JBL-

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What is your country of purchase? Leave any finishing thoughts here.

-US

I've been eyeing a few models..

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158XAV7000/Sony-XAV-AX7000.html
I like this because it has a larger built in amp (45W RMS), but from my research, I feel like I'll prefer Pioneer or Kenwood head units. Should I feel that way?

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_113DMX706S/Kenwood-Excelon-DMX706S.html

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_113DDX9707/Kenwood-DDX9707S.html

Is this one worth the extra few hundred dollars?? My only requirement is CarPlay which all of these have. I'd like wireless, but I've read that can cut out, so I'm good with wired.

I am considering leaving options open to add a stealth sub later down the road. Also possibly a small amp for the front speakers. How hard is an amp for the front speakers to install? Can it mount inside the dash or is it under a seat?-

 

You can definitely meet your budget but that’s radio is going to take most of it. Actually with that one, you won’t meet the budget but it’s a great start. I’d add the radio and deaden the doors and then look at speakers later down the road. The Maestro RR harness is a great way to go to but that will hit you for another $100. For sound deadening, look at the Noico stuff, I recently did it to my 2010 with adding a Kenwood head unit. I have a thread further down with some details. I haven’t swapped my speakers yet but just the head unit alone and deadening made a huge difference. I do have some components I’m going to throw up front and leave the rears stock. There are a ton of other threads on here mentioned the kicker key 200.4 to run your speakers which will fit in the dash or under the front seat.

 

I assume you’re talking about the $729 Kenwood? Do you have any idea of the difference between it and the $430 Kenwood? I really can’t see any difference between the two just looking at pictures and specs. I assume a better screen? Is it worth the extra money?

I’ll look into that kicker amp. Is it tough to run a wire through the firewall?

 

I have a Kenwood excelon unit that I’m very happy with so I would definitely go with one of them. The main difference is the more expensive unit has wireless CarPlay. Mine doesn’t have the wireless car play so I connect my phone to the usb jack under the AC controls and the radio picks up my phone. For me the extra money for wireless was t worth it.

It’s very easy to run a wire through the firewall on these truck. There is a grommet right above the brake pedal that you can run the wire through. Probably one of the easiest to run wire in.

do you have a double cab or access cab

This is what I have done so far
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/my-2010-dc-audio-build-chronicles-kenwood-hertz-more.719743/

 

I’ve read that wireless CarPlay can be buggy and cut out anyways, so I’m not too worried about wireless.

Glad to hear it’s easy to get through the firewall. I’ve been out of car audio for 15 years or better!

I have a double cab. Really nice build you have going!

 

Yeah. I agree on wireless. Not worth it. I’ve been out of it for about 20years myself. Still go by my old shop time to time but the industry is really different now. The one for 430 you chose of excelon is the route I would go unless there is a model between them. I think if you do that first and do some deadening. You will notice a night and day difference. I didn’t go crazy with the deadening. Pretty much any big places I could find and directly behind the speakers. Try that first and save some for speakers later

 

Kenwood Excelon is the way to go. XR if you are feeling spendy.

There’s already good advice in the comments above, the only thing I’d add is that my preference would be a T-Harness and a compact DSP amplifier instead of using the Kicker Key, primarily because if you are adding any kind of external DSP functionality, you’ll want total control over it which isn’t the case if you use the Key.

 

I agree with Dolbytone above. If you expand your budget and want to spend more than the kickerkey, you’ll have some great options out there. It all depends on how far you want to take it and how good you want your sound to be. Doing it in stages will help you notice each change more and more

 

Cool, I might actually like that better anyways. Just doing the HU first and seeing how it performs with the stock speakers. I’ve read that the bass just isn’t the same compared to the stock HU, even if you replace the speakers. I’m curious to see how that works out.

So would this be a DSP amplifier?

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20647KEY20/Kicker-47KEY200-4.html

What exactly is the difference?

 

Go ahead and order you a box of Noico sound deadener from Amazon. Do your doors when you do the radio. The Maestro RR and TO2 harness makes the install easy and gives you some added functions. I think your year will use the TO2 where mine was the TO1 but shouldn’t be easy to confirm

 

My issue with the Key is that it performs adjustments automatically and you gain no real control over the EQ, time alignment and crossover settings. It’s also limiting in terms of expandability.

 

You could also look at an Audio Control

$599 D4.800 AudioControl D-4.800 4/3/2 Channel High Power 800 Watts Car Audio Amplifier W/DSP & Matrixing, Premium High-Fidelity

D4.800 it has a built in DSP ans could run everything but again it’s all about budget

 

This may not be budget friendly, Im an SQ guy all the way, and I just recently replaced my older Kenwood Excelon (10 years old) with a Kenwood Excelon XR model, wireless carplay. Local place had it on sale as it was last years model. Keeping my phone in my pocket when I get in and drive away is really nice. Ended up paying 650 for that one I think. Worth it for me. I already had nice speakers/amps in place though. Good luck!

 

I’ll check it out. Sounds like it would be great, but also possibly more to set up than I’m interested in. As far as getting the sound right. Are they hard to set up?

Wow that’d be great if I could find a deal like that!! Definitely starting to like the Kenwood models over Pioneer.

 

I put in the steering wheel control module which was about another 100$. If you do the wireless carplay but don't do the maestro unit, make sure you have a "hey I wanna demand siri does what I want" button on the unit somewhere. I think that's necessary.

 

It’s a little to setup if you want to go the DSP route. They also make one that doesn’t have the built in DSP. A great channel to watch with several taco builds is 5Star Car Stereo on You Tube. They do a ton of detailed builds

 

Oh sorry I missed your setup question. Theres a lot of options. Local audio shop I bought it from said to turn most of it off. Sounds great! I just set up my crossovers and that was about it. Really its gonna sound great stock, just dial it in one little thing at a time from there.

 

Good call on that YouTube channel, I’ve seen a few good things on there so far. Especially the Best Kits install kit. It looks very quality and I want to keep that black metallic surround.

 

Definitely good stuff. If you follow their IG. They often do a question and answer session through the day when they go live. They do the Same thing on FB on Mondays around 6:30 or 7

 

Ill check them out as well. I got one of the standard surrounds for my unit, but I always paint match stuff with SEM brand paint. Turned it from looking like cheap plastic to slick and part of the car.