'14 Etune w/ Nav, no JBL

X2 on the sound deadening!
I found Stinger Roadkill on sale at Amazon for $90 shipped, One box did the door skins and the rear of the cab with a couple of sheets left over.
It made a huge difference with how tinny the door sounded...From Toyota to Lexus sounding when they close. Nice and solid!

 

Scosche. The local shop marked up the Audio Control unit way too much and frankly I didn't see the value in it.

 

Almost went with the factory JBL, but I thought the $1,100 could be better spent towards an aftermarket setup. Sounds like I should be able to get decent quality speakers, amp, LOC, and sub installed for somewhere between $1,100 and $1,500? $1,500 would be the max. I would want to spend. Doesn't need to be the best out there, just much better than stock.

Shouldn't the rear speakers also be replaced, or is that not really necessary?

Thanks.

 

That is a great budget and you can get some incredible sound for that $. The rear speakers are not a must replace item and they will benefit from additional power to increase the overall output.

 

I'll just chime in here too. I recently threw in some JBL (2013) speakers all around. Didn't add the sub and factory amp yet. That's in my jbl conversion project next.

The materials of the JBL speakers are amazing! I'd compare them to an alpine type x series. The woofers are like mini subs, and the mids are nice and crisp and act as a good tweeter too. Mind you, I have them amped up with an Alpine MPX 400 or whatever it is.

Crossovers for the mids are: LPF 250hz and the 6x9s are set at LPF 45hz - HPF 250hz. (I wired them as active crossovers (( 8wires total for front)). They pound hard and no bass distorts them at all


Not even sure if the JBL amp will make them sound this good

 

Have you played with the crossover points on the 6x9's at all or did you set them and leave them? I only ask because they should play very well up higher than 250 by a good little bit...if you're happy, play away but I suggest you might be leaving some performance on the table by limiting them so low...
and kudos on an active set up! Most people would be blown away by how much output even the factory non-JBL speakers are capable of producing with enough power thrown behind them and a quality active crossover thrown in.
I highly doubt the factory JBL amp would sound as good as what you are driving them with now.

 

I've played a bit with both sets, I mainly have the 6x9s lower because it brings the image up higher, I love having the image coming from in front of me. Having the woofers above 250 kinda gave it a more bassy voice and to me just wasn't as clear. (The other thing I love about active, is it's always changeable!)

Up until a few days ago, I was running the factory non-jbl speakers since the truck was new last year, crossovers were more strict (80hz-500hz) and (800-1.8khz). Sound was improved over factory HU amp but they definilty didn't like it. Sound was screechy, mids hated the frequencies above 1.2khz and the 6x9s were turned way down to just aid a bit of bass without bottoming out. Not surprised with the quarters... Err magnets lol

I'm almost tempted to see how the jbl sounds as factory at the dealership and justify if I want to convert to the full JBL system (I have all the parts to do the full swap) or just leave what I have now and convert to the 2014 navigation instead.

 

I have the entune with navi and just switched my speakers out with Kicker 6.5" CS's in the rear and Kicker 6x9" CS's in the front with a Kicker 300.4 amp, also some sound deadening. When the windows are down they barely clear the speakers... Sound's a lot better than the stock stereo though… I'll be putting in a small 8" sub or two after I do some lighting mods.

 

How much did that setup run?

 

To the guys who've done sound deadening...
Would duct insulation work? I used some stuff that's meant to be for insulation as I built a custom cold air intake heat deflector shield before and that stuff is just basically a thick foil with a thick layer of a sticky tar like substance. It looks almost the same as the higher priced dynamat type stuff.

 

Around $450-500 for everything.(can't remember exact.)

 

The sound deadening products are specific for the use inside an auto. You want it to not hold water and especially not smell.

Here is some info that goes over all of it pretty well:
http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/

 

^
Thanks for the link. I wonder how much weight this will add to the truck if you do the floor, doors, behind rear seats, and roof... and how much...
I need more $$$

 

I am in the same boat guys. Just bought a 2014 double cab TRD Sport and got the Entunes Premium which basically means I have 6 crappy speakers and no sub. My last Tacoma had the JBL's so I for sure want to upgrade but don't want to spend big bucks. I might go the Crutchfield route and try replacing the front door speakers only with some Alpines or Pioneers and see if that satisfies me...if not then I will add a sub and go from there.

 

You can replace the speakers but the stock head unit just doesn't put out much power. I put a processor and amp in with the speakers and am very pleased.

 

Do you get decent bass even without a sub? I would like to follow your example and replace the front door speakers while adding an amp plus Audison Bit Ten DSP. I don't think I really need a sub, but what do you guys think? I don't need cab shaking sound, just a significant upgrade over the surprisingly poor stock setup. I would also add some sound deadening material to the front doors of my DC.

Did you also replace the rear speakers?

Thanks.

 

I get really good bass IMO- enough where I installed anti-vibration material on the interior of the door panels to control vibration when it kicks in.

I installed Polk MM6501 components in the front doors and MM651 coax in the rear doors (I got a deal on them). The adapters came from Mr Marv on here. I have the passive Polk crossovers connected that came with both.

After replacing the Audio Control noise generator I bought initially with the Bit Ten, the audio shop told me they would suggest to just do the front with components and use the Bit Ten to control them w/o the passive crossovers. If I was going to do it all over again, I would start with the front and then do the rear doors if I needed more. With the Bit Ten, I have the rear speaker gain turned down a little which keeps the perception of the sound coming from the front.

I would suggest using anti-vibration material on the door panel, its what's touching you and makes a difference in perception of sound quality. Don at Sound Deadener Showdown was the one who suggested it and it made a big difference. I would suggest checking their site for your research on material for deadening the doors. If I was going to do it again, I would have used much less vibration material on the doors, which helps, but isn't really designed to block noise and hung the sheet of mass loaded vinyl with CCF on top in the first place.

Good luck

 

Are the connectors the same? Just plug and play from stock speakers to the JBL's?

 

I am in the same boat as others. Just picked up a 2014 Dbl cab Off road with premium entune w/ navi but not JBL.

To confirm, people have been able to keep stock hu and install new speakers/amps/subs and get good sound and have it be louder? I really just want to be able to hear my music with windows down on the freeway.

 

If you want to keep the stock HU, you will also need some type of LOC or processor between the HU and amp. Does 2 things:

-smoothes out the amplified signal from the HU (although its a feeble amplified signal, its not advisable to run an amplified signal into an amp)

-Converts the line output from the HU to RCA input into the amp

I have very good quality sound now and can listen with the windows down