Premium Audio Upgrade for less than $250

You had me at 74 Nova! Pics man, get us some pics! : )

 

Got a long way to go on what to do but we’re getting there

 

So....been doing a lot of reading here and have been comfortable enough over the past 25 years to install my own systems from Crutchfield in my vehicles. Both passive and amped subs, speakers, installed XM in my 02 TJ, etc. No, I have not gone to Crutchfield yet to see what they would suggest I install.

Trying to figure out a way to get better sound in my '22 Tacoma (DCLB) with as little harm to my wallet as possible, so I want to run this by y'all and see what I am thinking wrong:

I am pretty sure I am going to go with the Kicker CS 3 way 150s listed below for the front doors. I like Kicker (all four speakers and my sub are Kicker in my Jeep). I know people have said you should run these through an amp to really wake them up but I won't know if I need to do that until I see how they stand up to the 11HS8s.

I think I read somewhere on here that I could take the wire from the rear speaker and run it to one or maybe even 2 of those Kicker 11HS8s powered subs and stuff them in the slot behind the rear seat. I believe they have a low/high input switch that I would flip to low since there's not much input coming off the stock head unit. Mine is a non JBL SR5.

So that would put me at $107ish for the CS 6X9s, and $269 ea. for the 11HS8s for a total of $645 plus tax. I dont even know if I need 2 of those 11HS8s but hate the idea of disconnecting a rear speaker and not routing that wire to something that will work...

In anyone's opinion is this the best bang for my buck? You might be wondering why I am overlooking the dash tweeters, not opting for this Subaru tweeter that everyone seems to think is a no-brainer...frankly with just 365 miles on the truck I can't see me wanting to go behind/below the dash cover if I can avoid it.

By all means, please let the suggestions fly...

 

That's a good looking garage! Love me an old Nova!

 

I put in one 8” hideaway sub in my rear compartment behind rear seat. Kept factory speakers. You need to pull signal off the front speakers, the backs are pretty neutered. Tap into the front right kick panel. My last Tacoma I did the Subaru tweeters with kicker door speakers, then needed to add a kicker key amp to get the volume back up. I would start with the sub, then decide on the door speakers.

 

Thanks so much, I'll have to figure out what this Kicker Key thing is...never heard of it.

 

So if I understand you correctly, 2 11HS8s is overkill...I looked up the Key and see there are different sizes...how many amps (200amps/500amps) did you go with?
When I designed my jeep system I went with a SoundStream Picasso Nano 5 channel to run everything. It was what Crutchfield was suggesting at the time...I'm not sure over time I'm that happy with it. I should've went bigger.

 

The 200.4 is a 4 channel with signal processor for the door speakers. I had the older 180.4. I don’t have a key in my current Tacoma, completely stock system with the hideaway sub in the picture.

 

Again thanks for taking the time to share.
Just so I am clear, I would run the Key to run the front speakers and also run the tapped into, un-amped front parallel circuit to the

$240 11HS8 8” 150 Watt Hideaway Compact Car Audio Powered Subwoofer Sub HS8

11HS8 in the back seat...as the input for the the 11HS8. Is that right?

 

Yes. My 19 had speaker upgrades/key. My 22 has only sub. Much bigger difference in my 22. You might just need the sub.

 

Roger that! Thanks. Maybe after Christmas I can get on that.

 

not under $250, but posting here for posterity. I have 2014 JBL system and ordered the below for a xmas road trip. Have future plans to ditch JBL amp entirely and get a 5 channel JL Audio amp.

HU - $510 - Joying 9" android head unit w/all accessories - https://www.joyingauto.com/joying-9...or-toyota-tacoma-2005-2015-apple-carplay.html
Fronts - $280 - Infinity Reference REF 9630cx - https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108R9630CM/Infinity-Reference-REF-9630cx.html
Rear - $83 - Infinity Reference REF 6532ex - https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108R6532EM/Infinity-Reference-REF-6532ex.html?omnews=14993300
Sub - $152 KICKER CompRT 8"-

$170 Kicker 48CWRT82 CompRT 8" Subwoofer, DVC, 2-ohm

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NFHXB38?ref=ppx_yo2_tab_ap_product_details

Also bought Rockford Fosgate P3SD2-8 8" $210 to see which was better between it and the Kicker. But it arrives after my road trip. Will return the one I don't like. -

$170 Rockford Fosgate P3SD2-8 8" Dual 2-Ohm Punch Series Shallow Mount Car Subwoofer

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GTWAI2?ie=UTF8

 

Looking forward to hearing which won out...The Rockford or Kicker!
Thanks.

 

Loving my infinity Reference 2-way 6x9s and 6.5s. I just added the 2 3/4" Kicker https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20647KSC27/Kicker-47KSC2704.html or

$45 Kicker 47KSC2704 2.75" Mid-Range Speakers, 4ohm with Brackets for Select GM/Chrysler/Subaru/Jeep and Toyota Included

https://www.amazon.com/Kicker-47KSC...640052761&sprefix=kicker+2+3/4,aps,237&sr=8-2 They come with brackets for the Tacoma, so it is an easy switch as far as the mounting goes. However.

There are four wires going to the harness for the tweeters, two of each color (one color is +, the other is -). When you disconnect the tweeters, the sound from the 6x9s stops. You can't wire the tweeters to just one + and -, you have to wire them to both (i.e. on the right side, cut off the harness, strip all the wires, twist the two green wires together and wire them to the speaker +, then twist the two purple wires and wire them to speaker negative). Pretty sure someone has already discovered that and posted it, but thought it would mention it as a refresher.

 

How are those kicker tweeters? I was looking at the component set a while back...
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20648KSS26/Kicker-48KSS269.html

Seems like it would be a better option than 2 way or 3 way 6x9s in the doors.

 

I like them. Definitely better than stock. And the capacitor on them is physically larger than the cap on the stock tweeters.

 

Rockford won out. They both sounded about the same, but the rockford fit better. The kicker had an ever so slightly smaller mounting diameter and would've left a tiny gap, or drilling holes for it would be too close to the edges.

The infinity 6x9's sound a lot better than the JBL's. But when I swapped the factory 2.5" tweeters for the 1" that came with the infinity's, the 6x9 volume dropped and the highs were too much. I should note that I didn't hook up the infinity crossover. I reinstalled the factory tweeter and all sounded great again. I'll revisit that part of the setup later on when i ditch the jbl factory amp.

 

To be clear, you replaced the JBL speakers and stock sub without adding any power to it yet?

 

Correct. I did a joying 9" hu, and the built in equalizer helped a lot

 

There's 230 pages here already, so I'll just add my experience to this already pretty big archive...

This is per an upgrade of the existing speakers only on a non JBL system from a 2021 TRD offroad DC. I did not add an additional amp or sub.

Upgraded all speakers via Crutchfield. Speakers I went with were 6x9 JBL club 9632 in the front door,

$45 Kicker 47KSC2704 2.75" Mid-Range Speakers, 4ohm with Brackets for Select GM/Chrysler/Subaru/Jeep and Toyota Included

Kicker 47KSC2704 in the front corners, and

$66 Rockford Fosgate R1675X2 6.75" 2-Way Full Range Coaxial Speakers (Pair)

Rockford Fosgate R1675X2 in the rear doors (after first trying and returning a set of

$30 Kenwood KFC-1666S Car Stereo Speaker 6-1/2" 2-Way Speakers with Powerful Sound and Easy Installation - Elevate Your Car Audio

Kenwood KFC-1666S).

Overall impressions:
Fronts and dash speakers are well worth the $'s for the upgrade, but the rears are not worth upgrading (just the speakers in themselves).
Expect more than a "drop in" level of work to do the dash speakers (expect to solder in two capacitors and that nothing from the harness adapter to the speakers matches out of the box)

Details:
Did this over a couple separate days, first installing the 6x9 front door speakers (which in themselves transformed the audio in the truck). Then ordered the dash and rear speakers.

Was a bit frustrated with the online representation (from Crutchfield) about the ability of the dash speakers to be a "drop in" since the install instructions really made it seem that would be the case. After an evening start, spent a later evening soldering in the crossovers as well as the rest of the wiring in order to get it operable. Called Crutchfield and tactfully expressed my displeasure at their representation as a straight up replacement, but knew I'd solder them in and keep going. Once that was done, the whole front of the truck's sound was transformed (way, way better than stock).

Initially did the comparatively easy install of the Kenwood rears and the sound level was no "louder" than the stock speakers. There seems to be a lack of power to the rear speakers. Spoke with Crutchfield, and they didn't understand how that would be, given the fronts were so transformative. They sent out the Rockford speakers as a comp'd replacement (which was very nice of them). The Rockfords are also very quiet, though slightly different (can't decide if better) than the Kenwoods were. The stock speakers were essentially better, because they had greater volume (probably due to the flimsy cones and smaller magnets to move with the lack of energy provided). Seems the whole system is not capable of driving upgraded rear speakers.

Net:
Will be keeping the system as is currently, but unsure if there's anything "easy" that can be done to drive the rear speakers to the same degree as the fronts seem to be getting. Doing it over again, would have just done the front doors, and dash speakers, and accepted that it would take more time and money (most likely) to get the full sound I would have expected to have originally accompanied the fancypants Apple car-play system that was one of the reasons I bought the OR over a lesser model. Yet another mod, that takes my time and money due to Toyota cheaping out a $40K list truck. Happy with the results, but yet another reason I'll be shopping around more for the next truck.