Help: Budget speaker upgrade for 3rd Gen (2016) SR5 Tacoma

I recently got my 2016 SR5 Tacoma and I am looking for some help for a DIY sound upgrade on a budget. Alls I'm really trying to do is to round out the sound on the low end, as I think that the stock speakers don't give me great lows. My initial thoughts are for swapping out the door speakers for higher quality ones that might give me a fuller sound without the use of a subwoofer. I am pretty new to car sound systems but there seems to be a lot of good information on this forum and other websites so I feel pretty comfortable I could figure it out. Am looking to spend $100-$500 for this.

 

Ok so i think your best options is to look for a factory speaker upgrade. Stay with the 6"x9" in the front doors to get good mid bass out of your new speakers.

You could also try to find a stealth box/sub/amp combo. They typically come with an 8" sub that will not beat up the block but will give you better lows than your door speakers can. Not sure if they make this option in your price range. Maybe a bit higher, but is a very simple and easy way to add bass inside the cab.

 

$190 Sound Ordnance B-8PTD 8" Powered Subwoofer

https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Ordnan...9204498&sr=1-1&keywords=Sound+Ordnance+B-8PTD

 

Thanks! I think I'll start with the addition of the all in one sub and see what it does for me.

 

You have a double cab...it's not like you have an access cab or regular cab. You need to decide how much bass you want. Music and sound is subjective: meaning that what sounds good for some doesn't sound good for others. So a little bit of bass or a lot of bass... depend on music and hearing levels. Don't want you go buying stuff without realizing what you want.

Having said that... is your stock radio 22W RMS or less? Most stock radios are under powered..so as you crank the volume, you get a lot of distortion, so if you upgrade the factory speakers, without a more powerful amp... it won't help much if you want to play at a higher volume.

Alpine makes an aftermarket amp for stock radio that has 45W x 4. I bought

$288 KTP-445U Universal Power Pack

KTP-445U on TW that I am going to sell.. (decided to go full aftermarket), but it's takes the speaker wires as the amp input and then provides 45w per channel.

My suggestion is to get something like the KTP-445U amp and 4 JBL speakers and a powered subwoofer in your $500 range. If you want to just upgrade the sub, get something will provide enough power and fit behind the passenger sides.

Just upgrading the speakers will not give you a lot of improvement if the amount of power to drive the speaker is the same...the head unit will still provide 22W Max RMS on most stock head unit or less...so you will get distortion when playing higher volume. Getting a sub will provide more low end fullness, but if the sub is too strong...your puny amp and speakers will have hard time keeping up.