Premium Audio Upgrade for less than $250

Thanks again for all the advice. So I figured out that I have the Entune Plus. Not Premium. From pouring over this thread, sounds like an amp is absolutely necessary. So: the Kicker Key200.4 seems highly recommended by Crutchfield and others. But, it's $280. That's a lot of $$$ for 200 amps. For that money, I could get a Kenwood or Sony Class D mini amp that puts out the same power, plus an active LOC like the highly rated Audio Control, and I'd still be under the $280. Would this make more sense? It's hard to tell with the Kicker Key if it's legit or hype (maybe a bit of both). Also, any recommendations on component speakers? Thinking about either the JL C1-690 (6x9 and 1" tweeter) or Kicker 48KSS269 (KS series 6x9s plus 2.75" tweeter/mids, might take advantage of dash speaker space).

Premium audio for less than... $1000... gotta love inflation.

 

that's similar to the Amazon harnesses. that loop on there is still really short--one would still need to cut and splice off the adapter to extend the wiring to a spot where crossover mounting is feasible.

 

with the tweeters that I got, that should not be a problem. they are already wired with the cross-over inline with the wiring going to the + of the speaker. If anything, I should have plenty of wire to deal with.

 

yep, separate tweeters would work fine for that. but i thought the main discussion point was component setups with an external crossover utilizing the factory wiring

 

Yeah, with the harnesses I purchased, I didn't cut one wire anywhere. It will be all plug and play. The harness for the tweeters has about 12" of wire, one top of about another 12" already connected to the tweeters.

 

Hello everyone. First time poster. Thank you for the guide. I just ordered the speakers and tool set in the OP. Excellent and informative guide.

Looks like the OP link to sound deadening mat is currently unavailable, am I going to be ok going with another brand? Any recommendations? Is there a reason to get 50 mil over 80?

 

80mil is slightly thicker. it will make a slight difference, but most likely imperceptible in all reality.

siless or kilmat are 2 other brands with consistent end results. they're really all the same product overall.

 

Dude! I am all over this speaker upgrade. I just did an upgrade for my 16yo son's Pontiac Vibe (the Boom Boom Wagon), and I'm' so worried about that Kicker box getting stolen out of it...
And so today I'm eyeballin' that JL Audio speaker box on Extreme Terrain and decided to do a little search and see what other people are doing to their Taco's audio system...
Now I'm no hip-hop guy, but I love me some Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, and I've been known to wear Van Halen and Megadeth shirts to school back in the 80's, so I'm thinking the Audio gods have lead me to your post right here on Taco World... Christmas in four days, so let me get through the holiday and I'll be repostin' by Feb. 14th expressin' my love for your Kicker recipe. I'm freakin' pumped!

 

Thanks for this information, and that is a shame that the HU do not deliver same power to the back speakers. So it's not worth it even a little bit to change back rear speakers at all?

Also, I am still not sure which head unit I have if I have the Non JBL 8 inch HU, is that number 2?

 

You can also look at this as a 'sort of blessing'. The cost of entry for OEM premium audio upgrade is pretty high already. If you get an aftermarket HU, you can very easily leap frog the JBL system by a country mile. In some ways I'm glad I didn't get that 2023 TRD PRO because it would have sucked to pay that much for an audio system only to upgrade it to my standard. Sure, it will cost a bit more than $250 but, for me, it was worth every penny.

 

I you have the JBL, it's obvious, since the JBL logo will be on the speaker grilles.

The rest are a bit tricky, but start with this post in this thread I made a while back:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...r-less-than-250.510424/page-239#post-28377767

 

I have an 08 prerunner. Planning to install a joying unit. Would this give me improvement?

 

depends on what you're looking to improve.

 

if I were you I wouldn’t do this exact speaker upgrade (in post #1). Too many tweeters! Get some component speakers instead

 

Sound quality by replacing front and rear speakers. And tweeters if I can find good ones that fit. I don’t like how the stock quality sounds. Kinda muffled. Seems like the mids/highs aren’t balanced with the lows. I need more crisp!

 

just about any aftermarket radio can do that, biggest detractor to the joying is the lack of significant crossover adjustment/control over a standard car audio head unit.

how important that's needed really comes down to how far one falls down the rabbit hole...

 

As much as I enjoy a good rabbit hole. I think I'm going to stop myself short on this one. Hopefully..

 

I hear you…but this rabbit hole ended with me really enjoying my stereo and loving my truck even more. Getting back to your query about Joying HU: from what I’ve read, people who own them, love them…but they don’t seem to be big audio enthusiasts…they’re more generalists who want a good and easy overall package at a low price point.

I would say, from personal experience…you get what you pay for…there’s no free lunch. If good sound is what you want, start with brands that specialize in that space. A decent HU from any of the big brands (Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer, Sony etc) will get you a lot more audio features and an ‘audio-first’ approach. With my Sony, I can turn off every speaker and isolate the one I want and mess around with the EQ settings for it. That kind of control is pretty cool. The great thing, I don’t need to do that because the system sounds pretty damn good already.

 

I'd say I think I fall into the generalist category. Anything that improves stock I would be happy with. I did find a Sony around my price range too. I'm definitely weighing my options until I pull the trigger. All the things I want like carplay, volume knob or physical volume button & capacitive touchscreen all lead to very pricey HU's. Idk if I'm willing to spend that much unfortunately.