Idea for JBL Center Speaker Replacement

Ok, someone with more time and resources should develop this idea further.

I took out my Flex speaker since one, it's an easy target to steal and two, the sound quality is significantly improved with it gone. If someone could 3D scan the back side of the flex speaker, it would be cool to turn that slot in the dash into something useful.

My first thought was a heads-up display. You could build out a basic screen with bluetooth connectivity to hook up to an OBD2 reader. Would be cool to see additional data. I'm assuming you could pull power from the terminals for the flex speaker to run the display

My second thought is some kind of phone mount/charging station. Again, you could pull power from that mounting area, but would need to test what kind of wattage it's capable of. I'm guessing if it can charge a Bluetooth speaker it can charge a phone.

I call first dibs on production units if someone runs with this.

 

I've given a great deal of thought to just going on ebay, buying a 2nd JBL bluetooth center speaker, then just stripping everything out of the case and using the now empty case, for an "un-amplified" plain old quality speaker. Before that however, first thing on my list for today, is to head to Toyota dealer, parts department, and see what's installed in the SR5 without the JBL system. One other thought, was to contact JBL for a replacement case only. (however, I truly don't think they will have it or even offer it, but I might "try")

Right now, it just stays "popped out/up"

 

So I dont have a 4th gen, but looking at the speaker online, it looks to have 4 metal contacts on it, 2 would be power and ground to charge it, and 2 would be audio input that bypasses the built in amp on the speaker. So, with that said, you should be able to put a little bit of electrical tape over the contact pins on either the speaker or the dock. If you do just the audio inputs, then you can keep the speaker charged but not have audio coming out of it so you dont need to have it "popped out/up"

 

Here is a flex speaker hole cover

https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=t...Tk3ODY2NDcxOA==,pvt:hg,pvo:19&oshop=apv&pvs=0

 

When you pop the speaker up, the 3 contacts on the drivers side can be covered with tape, allowing it to charge if you want, but keep it quiet for daily use.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/jbl-flex-speaker-delete-blank.855955/#post-30544108

already discussed here. This guy has a pretty clean solution

 

Thank you for the reply . . .