Amazed at how cheap the factory speakers are

lol, all i'm going to say is that rockford doesn't compete in sq events, so those terms tend to be extremely contradictory...

 

Fancy whizzer cone there, lol. Wonder if that's 20 watts peak or RMS.

 

Agree with this...

 

The magnet on this bad boy is about 10x the size of the Tacoma speaker… that said I changed out the speakers with quality kicker units and it was only a moderate improvement. The tweeters offer a massive improvement as does a small sub

 

neodymium magnets have a significant magnetic advantage over older ceramic magnets. just because it's smaller doesn't mean the forces are less.

 

Hilarious. Seinfeld shrinkage episode comes to mind. Tiny little magnet

 

Could you please elaborate on the wiring adapter needed, and did you also get that at best buy or have to order that from somewhere else? I am tempted to do this upgrade based on your descriptions of how much the sound improved! Seems like a low cost/easy way to upgrade the sound quality

 

Totally not related to speaker upgrades, but the speakers are fine if your source is good and if the DAC is high quality.

I am an admitted, addicted, audiophile. Fifty years of music full time, every day. Except when in the bush on my off road trips. Then no music.

I did not want to mess around with the system, so I had a high quality portable and rechargeable DAC in the house I take in the truck now. It has its own battery supply, good for about 8 hours of full time music.

All of our mobile phones (and OEM head unit) have dreadful DACs in them, and the volume output is limited on our phones.

Hook your phone up to a separate DAC via the USB port, then output the DAC via analog cable to your existing analog input jack (AUX) in your Taco. Now the sound quality and volume control of your OEM system are bypassed with the DAC taking over those duties.

This is not for everyone. I know many use Google music and so on. That won’t work, as you need the USB Audio Pro app that is designed to work with outboard DACs.

I listen only to the albums I have ripped to my phones HDD, and stream Tidal and Amazon music. USB Audio Pro works with both of those apps. I have lots of mobile data, so no MP3 streams for me. I stream from Tidal and Amazon to my phones mobile data at CD quailty, 16 bit 44hz.

Your OEM radio features are still used as they were before, so AM and FM still sound like shit. That is ok, I listen to neither of those.

So you are limted to Tidal and Amazon music and whatever is ripped to your phone, but for me that is perfect.

My DAC is overkill for this, but the sound with the OEM speakers is quite good, even for my spoiled ears.

The DAC I use is the Chord Mojo 2.

I can drive 70mph down the highway with both windows down, and just blast the volume using the OEM speakers and head unit with the DAC handling all of the sound processing and volume control.

In my case, I just have some velcro on my TACO center console near my knee that keeps the DAC in place. A USB cable from DAC to phone, and analog cable from DAC to the Taco AUX input.

 

A couple of informative videos regarding Aftermarket Speakers & website to check compatibility:

https://www.crutchfield.com/car/outfitmycar/mycar.aspx





Kicker 6 Info:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaFPjLwtXkg&t=10s

https://trailgridpro.com/products/kicker-plug-play-6-speaker-bundle-upgrade-16-23-tacoma/

 

Its a neodymium magnet. The lowest grade neo magnets are still 5-6 times stronger than a ceramic magnet found on many after market speakers. Higher grade neo magnets are way way stronger that that too.
Many high end speaker companies use neo magnets as they are denser and can provide a more confined magnetic field for the voice coil to sit in.
For toyota, they can use a neo magnet over a ceramic magnet and save a couple of pounds of weight without making the speaker worse. In fact, toyotas speakers would sound just as terrible with a giant ceramic magnet on them.

 

unpopular opinion: the jbl sounds fine, its just not that loud.

 

Not sure re Best Buy but I ordered mine with my radio on Crutchfield. The adapter wires up to the replacement speaker and plugs into the factory harness so no cutting on the truck's wiring. Only way to go.

 

Actually, I would really like to meet the engineer that could make that factory speaker produce the kind of sound that it does.


That's a guy that could singlehandedly repair the lunar module using a paper binder and a length of wire.

 

Are there good cheapy door speakers that are direct bolt and plug in?

 

Cheap speakers are no better than the stock ones, and if you want ones that bolt right up and plug in, then your not looking at cheap speakers.

These are the only direct replacements that dont require adapters or wiring that I know of
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-aRjtR...u70i_9h2d3qTTr2tzgTM5B0dkQhgUtxwaAsmpEALw_wcB

 

Honestly all I did to my JBL system was the

$61 GX328 3-1/2" Coaxial Car Audio Loudspeakers

GX328 dash speakers and the staging of the sound made a good improvement. The bass from the doors seems to be better defined not having “muddy” sounding dash speakers. Cheap too.

I was considering the kicker set from trail grid but they are 4ohm and it’s not worth it unless you go for the gusto and get a good amp and head unit upgrade.

 

I suppose the one positive aspect of having tinnitus, it allows me to forgo all of this expense.

 

It is and it isn't. Not trying to hate but some folks are different when it comes to their tunes. As much as I dislike it, it'll do for now, it's not the worst. But the highs are weak, mids muddy and the sub is so damn weak and I have a 60% seat delete.
I would have opted for a regular stereo if it wasn't locked in with the damn premium pleather that the wife said was a must.
Would have been my first upgrade mission after the cupholder lol.

 

there's also
oem audio plus
https://oemaudioplus.com/product/toyota-tacoma-dbl-cab-16-base/

powerbass
https://powerbassusa.com/products/mobile-audio/OE69C-TY-Component-OEM-Replacement-Component-Speaker-System-Toyota /

and memphis,which i was previously unaware of, but looks to be a direct copy of powerbass with some different decorative options.
https://www.memphiscaraudio.com/car-audio/speakers/pr-speakers/toyota/

but none of them are all that different in price from any other speaker+adapters costs, so it's mostly a stubbornness issue to use these over alternatives.

 

nan, they're just built to a price. same as everything else.