PAC Toyota Adapter = Crap?

UPDATE 4/30/12 - I GOT IT! . . . . . AND I THINK IT BROKE . . . . READ POST #13.. .. NEXT UPDATE, IM AN IDIOT. IT STILL WORKS! SEE POST #14

IF YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE READING A LOT:

Im looking for personal opinions and histories on the reliability of the PAC Toyota Adapter (as shown below) for 2003-present tacomas.




IF YOU DO FEEL LIKE READING MY SOB STORY:

For Christmas i received a Kenwood Excelon KDC-X395 head unit for my truck. I went on crutchfield, entered in my vehicle, liked this one the most for the price and features, sent the parentals the link to it and the adapter. i knew i would need the adapter as well, but we're not an extremely "material" family so we've never spent lots of money on christmas presents. I told them if i got one and not the other i would just order the other myself after christmas. So, got the H/U, not the adapter.

The other day i went to a local and very trusted car audio store in my area to buy the adapter because i'd rather patronize a local place than to save $10 by ordering it. BUT! the owner told me he doesn't even sell the PAC Toy adapters for trucks with the JBL system (as mine has) because they quit working religiously. he told me it's my only option to run it through the JBL amp and so on.

So from there we talked options. he said i could just take my wires running into the JBL amp and put them into the kenwood and use it's amp (a chip is all it is) and skip the JBL amp completely. That i know would lose sound quality. Or i could upgrade to a better amp and ditch the JBL system all together.

Im really at a crossroads here on what i need to do. This is the first ive heard of the PAC toy adapters being trash, and he's an audio expert so im inclined to believe him, but i don't want to lose sound quality, and i don't want to spend a lot more money at the moment to upgrade the entire system.

Please help me
Thanks!

 

I've installed one for a guy I work with over a year ago, works just fine

 

Got a jbl and want to upgrade so subd

 

ok, thanks. . . . anyone else?

like i said, after talking to the guy he really had me sold not to get it. I mean, i went in there to spend money at his shop and he wouldn't let me haha. He said he used to carry them but because of them breaking so bad he won't even sell them anymore because he didn't want his reputation tarnished.

 

hmmmm. and you have it running between an aftermarket H/U and your factory JBL amp?

 

hahahaha, no problem man. you know, i thought i had read in other audio threads about you using that over other options to use ipod, but you posted it and then i replied without thinking about what product you actually posted either

 

and my laptop just died and my charger is in my truck. so I'm posting from my stupid iPod touch now, but I need to go to bed anyway.

Please anyone feel free to continue posting advice or conversing the matter further. I'll check back tomorrow. thanks.

 

I just bought a kenwood h/u with all the interfaces and got the h/u to work fine, but couldn't get the steering wheel controls to work and they all say that the kenwood is finicky with the steering wheel control interface. So long story short I'm back to the stock h/u until some better interfaces come out or I'm thinking of trying a different brand h/u.

 

The PAC TATO works just fine if you know what you're doing. We've had very few problems with these at our shop. If you plan on adding a complete aftermarket system, that is the only reason you should bypass your JBL system with an aftermarket radio.

 

interesting. . .hope i don't run into that problem. though once i have my ipod running through it i probably wont be using them as much anyway. i mostly just use them now if im working with the radio or cd player playing ill reach in through to window and change volume or track or what not from the steering wheel.

and by your statement im assuming you work at an audio store?

but either way that is more assuring along with what hookedontronics said. ive been thinking about it a lot today and i somewhat came to the conclusion that im just going to go ahead and get it. my reasons are - i don't want to spend a lot more money right now. and if i was to skip the amp, the mental (possibly even just placebo effect) strain of losing the sound quality wouldn't be worth the $70 i can just spend/"gamble" now. does that even make any sense? haha.

 

in february i think it was, we had an NC mod day. was a great time to meet members and see a few i hadn't in a while. while there, i got help from 2 awesome guys on here that helped me install my headunit. . . aw hell who am i kidding, they did most of the work haha. anyway, the guy that installed it (speedydave) use to install them for a living, i know he did it right. however, as luck would have it, the other day i think my PAC TATO adapter took a shit on me.
The radio is the only thing that works. ipod and cd are no longer recognized, nor will it charge the ipod anymore. i got nothing. i think it's the adapter because just the radio works. The antenna for the radio goes straight in to the headunit and skips the adapter IIRC.

so, i guess im back to square one. do i get another adapter? get a different amp? am i totally missing something and maybe my adapter isn't actually screwed up?

help! ideas! . . . thanks!

 

Im thinking you should go ahead and get a new amp. I have been toying with this exact topic in my brain for a little bit and have come to realize that all the fuss about adapters and harnesses and whatnot isnt worth the just 'ok' sound quality that you get from the stock system (im in a 2006).

As long as you have the new HU, get yourself a nice 5 channel amp to run your current speakers off of, and have room with the 5th channel to add a sub later if you want. It all plugs in with RCAs from the back of your deck.

 

yep yep man, dont do it. i was honestly disappointed with it most of the time. the sound quality wasn't at all better. i lived with it, but i always wanted MOAR!! haha. i also really need to do my homework on amps and such. i love to play and listen to music, but as for what's what in the aftermarket stereo world, clueless. it's gonna have to be something i do quick too, i got to have my tunes. good thing the school year is almost over for me. i get to move back home and work to pay for it all haha.

 

another update - im an idiot.

maybe this adapter isnt a piece of crap. after driving around for 2 months with just the radio playing i went into my audio shop and showed them the problem and wanted to talk about an upgrade. when i told him i the radio still worked he shocked me by saying "if the adapter is broken than the radio and headunit shouldn't work at all". . he popped the faceplate out, reset it in the back, put it back in, everything works fine now. derp.

he said that these kenwood h/u's just need their microprocessor reset every now and then like a computer.

still probably going to get a different amp here soon, as the stock JBL is not loud enough, but just adding another post to my ongoing audio saga. peace.