Premium Audio Upgrade for less than $250

Hahah yes. I actually intend to be a dork and compare my friends stock setup to mine with the same settings and song to really see the difference.

I also ironically upgraded my pandora account which is suppose to provide higher quality songs. So everything should be sounding good together.

 

I installed the Kicker tweeter upgrade today. I had a couple of “well secured” panels to pop out but all went well and I got it done during my lunch hour. I would note that the speaker brackets feel plastic. Because of that I’m not sure there was any appreciable difference is the weight of the speakers. In fact, I think my factory tweeters were heavier but that is likely because of the steel brackets for the factory speakers. The factory speakers were paper like everyone else said and they had no protective cover over them like the Kickers. They were heavier than I expected but not impressive to look at (or listen to).

I’d say dedicate about 30 minutes for the install (I took my time). Below is a picture of the speakers and the trim panel tools I used. The tools were a 5 piece set for less than $10 on Amazon with a nice wrap up storage bag/case. My only minor issue is that they are almost too thick to the point where maybe they went a little overboard trying to make them “extra” durable.

The speakers fired right up after I installed them and put all the trim back on (good thing because I put the trim back on before I tried them out - rookie mistake). They sound better but how much better was hard to detect for me because my time was really limited. They are definitely more clear and crisp but not much louder to my ears. I plan to spend some more time listening to them as time permits and will report back. The one thing I would note is the same thing many others have noted and that is there appears to be more sound coming from the front and it likely means they are doing more than I thought and the other speakers need to be upgraded to balance out the sound.

Once I upgrade the doors I’m not sure if I will use the Kickers or go to the Focal speakers I’ve been eyeing. Thanks to everyone here for all of the useful info and tips - what a great community of “people helping people”. Peace and have great remainder of the day.

 

Listen to Pandora through your phone if you're not happy w/ the results via the HU alone. Seems the HU does still struggle if another device such as your phone isn't doing the processing but through bluetooth and usb it's excellent. But honestly I've never used Pandora on the HU alone so would be interested to hear how it sounds vs. other methods.

 

HU Pandora sounds the same as bluetooth. Same communication, just controlling the app on the HU vs your phone.

 

Good to know! I never use Pandora but I should - I have so many damn $10-20 subscriptions! haha

 

I ordered the Subaru tweeters as well as the Kicker's door speakers that everyone is using from Crutchfiled. Tweeters went in with no problems-----I removed the A-pillars first. Then the dash plastic grill. Hard to get to the rear bolt but possible. Plug and Play. Immediate improvement in sound. Next tackled the 6X9's. Spent all afternoon messing with them. The plastic adapters that Crutchfield supplies are NOT perfectly compatable as all the screw holes don't line up. Only two did. I finally used machine screws with nuts and lock washers on these two. Then drilled a hole in the plastic adjacent to the "normal" hole and used longer machine screws and a nut only on the other two. After tightening down those the nut is plulled down such that it's can't rotate. Next were the wire adapters. The plastic end that connects to the OEM harness plugs in just fine. But the connectors on the other end were a pain in the A__. By wiggling the larger (+) finally went on. But the smaller (-) didn't want to go on. I finally got it on with great difficulty. Should have cut both off and installed good connectors for that end but did't have any handy. THEN------reinstalled the door card. I do not think it completely secures on the bottom front. Took back off I think I see why. The integral grill on the rear of the door card has a plastic ring around it that appears to for the OEM speaker to fit into. Won't work with the Kickers. I'm thinking about removing the door cards and carefully cutting that plastic ring off. It stands about a 1/2 inch tall. Might allow the door card to fit down better. Have not tackled the rears yet.

The OEMplusaudio youtube video clip of how to get the plastic panels off the Tacoma was immensely helpful. If I was more of an audiofile I would have bought their system but right now I'd be better off spending the money on a hearing aid.

And I would note that the front 6X9 OEM speakers are complete garbage. Magnet is about a inch in diameter. Cones are cheap paper. I bet Toyota gets them for a dollar each. Hard to believe that you spend $40,000 for a truck and get SH-- like this. I bet the rears will be about the same. Not that it matters now since they will soon be history.

 

The nice thing about the HU pandora app...even without a subscription, no ads. If you use the phone app you'll get ads every couple of songs but they are bypassed on the headunit for some reason.

 

If you angle those screws into the mount vs. drilling the hole it will fit better, I think by drilling holes it actually puts the speaker off center of where it's supposed to be - when I redid mine the way @Scooby24 recommended by angling the screws it fit perfectly and the door secured really well with no issue.

 

Learn something new every day... I have Tidal, Spotify, iTunes match, XM, etc., and normally use those but none have a great "radio" function in my experience. I didn't want yet another subscription and assumed Pandora would require me to shell out another subscription to get rid of ads. Hmmm.. something else to tinker with. thanks!

Edit: If you haven't tried out Tidal HQ, it's like $20/mo so it's steep but incredible lossless sound quality. I subscribed when we put Sonos in our house / outside b/c it took full advantage of the quality we were getting from all speakers. And at this moment I haven't even tried it in the Taco - probably bc the HQ stuff takes a ton of bandwidth over LTE and even though we have unlimited data it can experience a lot of buffering but I'm gonna try it in my garage while connected to my wifi because I'm a dork, and I can. haha

 

I did this and it worked perfect. No need to drill new holes.

 

^^^ This. Angling the screws puts a nice amount of pressure. They should move anytime soon.

 

I finally finished the install of everything this evening, did it in several steps. I used the sound deadener on mine but only installed it inside the door through the speaker holes. I am satisfied with how the Truck sounds, much cleaner all around and the Bass sounds much better, and OMG the Stock Speakers are an absolute joke. Would highly recommend it to anyone that may be on the fence, worth the small investment.

 

Did you find the Kickers to actually feel lighter in weight? Maybe it is because of the lighter brackets. They are cleaner and the more I listen the more I think I need to do the other 4. I’m not sure whether to thank the OP or send him the bill! Ha....

 

I started off the same as you by doing just the Tweeters, planned on doing the doors at some point and as soon as the OP put up the ones on sale I decided to take the plunge. The Stock Speakers have a magnet about the size of a Quarter and weigh about as much as cardboard, its amazing they sounded as good as they did.

 

I didn't use sound deadening, but on bass heavy rap songs it makes a rattle. I don't think it's the speaker itself, but the door. The funny thing is im not even maxing it out on the bass level. I think I'm going to buy a jl audio micro sub so I don't have to push the 6x9s so hard. I'm 24 so I may be playing different types of music (loud rap at times) with heavy bass.

 

i just installed the front tweeters, i can actually hear highs that weren't there before.
by the way you don't need to purchase special tools for the install. just take off the pillar covers
and lift the speaker cover from the sides. don't gouge the front of the covers with screw driver.
I'm actually happy with they way the sound right now and don't think i need to replace the other speakers,
if i didn't already order the other speakers i'd be good. i will install the 6x9's tomorrow.
i was going to wait to see if crutchfield has a black friday sale on the speakers since i missed the last one,
but free shipping, no tax, mounts, and OP made me do it.
do just the tweeters if nothing else.

 

I have lots of bass heavy electronic and dubstep tracks with no rattling..all things equal there's something loose that's causing it and you shouldn't need to bandaid that issue by covering it up or avoiding it. With the factory connector now hanging loose I saw that as a potential rattle point and zip tied that harness to another to make the wires taught where the adapters were now pressed up against the padded lining. Maybe try something similar.

 

Similar here - I definitely listen to a wide range of stuff but without a doubt jam loud bass-drop dubstep and house music as part of my mixes. Good luck, but I'd also suggest getting the rattles out with deadening or tinkering in general so you can enjoy pushing the 6x9s - and THEN still add a sub if you so choose

 

At your service!

 

Equating weight with quality is a mistake and doesn't necessarily mean anything.