Stereo upgrade question

What kind of upgrade gives you the most bang for the bucks? New receiver? New speakers? Amp?

What’s the best place to start?

Thanks.

 

Probably by searching through hundreds, maybe thousands of TW forums posts containing tons and tons of info about car audio.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/audio-video.12/

 

I'd say first speakers, then a very close second is an amp. To get decent speakers you will need the amp. Finally the radio, any stock radio is usually crap. If you know little about vehicle audio systems Crutchfield is an excellent place to look. They have complete systems all the way down to individual parts.

I'll second to look in the specific forum.

 

If you specify what it is you want to accomplish it will help the audiophiles among us help you.

And there is an audio forum as well.....

 

Tacoma sound systems suck. Go to an audio shop and find one you like, don’t cheap out or half ass it. Replace all speakers for sure, most likely replace the head unit. I would add an amp and lastly subs are optional, I did not add subs but it sounds pretty damn good. The sound system upgrade is probably the best money spent on my trucks long list of mods.

 

Thanks. Very useful.

 

Thanks. The stock system is muddy and the road noise doesn’t help. I just want to hear the music clearly - the highs, lows, details, etc. I’m going to try the tweeter and speaker upgrade as a start.

 

If the truck is a long term keeper, making the effort to apply sound deadner seems to be something people get good improvements from.

 

I incrementally upgraded my stereo in my 2014 Taco. By incrementally, I mean I upgraded the head unit, then speakers, then added an amp.

Best bang for the buck was easily the head unit since the stock unit barely puts out any power. I run a Kenwood DNX997XR for reference.

However, given the way the Tacomas have their speakers wired up, you’d want to upgrade the speakers too. If I had to do it all over again, I’d just do everything (head, speakers & amp) all at once.

Also, sound deadener makes a world of difference. Highly recommend you try this first to see if it gets the sound to where you want it.

 

Dynomat on every surface that made a high pitched sound when I tapped on it was the best stereo upgrade I've ever made (2013 with JBL system). Hope to eventually upgrade the head unit and speakers but I'm not in a hurry till I find a head unit that fits my application and has a good sized screen for maps.