2010 w/ JBL - Speaker Replacement Suggestions

I know that upgrades are tough with JBL equipped trucks like mine and am simply not willing to spend the $$$ to do a full system overhaul by adding AmpPro, amp, speakers, sub, wiring...etc. In my situation, with this vehicle, it's just not a good ROI for me.

I'm looking for a quick/easy upgrade to the sound quality. I don't need more volume, just want better quality sounding mids/highs. I realize that by only upgrading the speakers I'm pretty limited on how big of an improvement I can make. I'm resigned to that.

I was hoping to get some help making a decision on which direction to go. Would components be that much better than coaxials? Would the Focal's designed for Toyota's be better than other options?

1) $50-100 6x9 Coaxials

• Looking at the low impedance, high sensitivity JBL offerings
• I'd hack the wiring on the speakers to allow me to essentially bi-amp them with the stock amp: hook the lower door wiring to the woofer and the upper tweeter wiring to the tweeter.

2) $100-150 6x9 or 6.5" Components

• Again, looking at the low impedance, high sensitivity JBL offerings. Someone locally has a set of used 6x9's for a great deal and I just saw a set of 6.5" JBL components on closeout for cheap.
• I'd hook the woofer directly to the woofer channel and then run the tweeter wiring through the crossover to the tweeter.

3) $250-300 Focal IS690TOY Components

• I like these since they already come with the adapter brackets, wiring connectors and are designed to be run on separate channels unlike a regular component set.
• I don't like that they're higher impedance than the JBL's - but how much does that matter?
• They're double what I was originally wanting to spend, still not 100% sure I'd be willing to spend this much. Are they that much better?

Let me know what you guys think - thanks!

 

The biggest bang for your buck with the 3rd gens is an upgrade for the mid/high range dash speakers and then an upgrade to the front door speakers, after this a radio swap and then an amp and then a subwoofer or rear door speakers.

If the JBL system is anything like the 3rd gens then I would suggest that you upgrade your front stage first. Coaxials are typically easier to work with but for the 2nd gen tacomas I believe that a component system would be ideal because the tweeters can be used to replace the stock speakers, you essentially replace 4 speakers instead of just the two woofers which is something I think you've mentioned.

Plug and play is nice with the speakers designed specifically for the vehicle and can save you time if you don't like tinkering with the vehicle. Lower impedance will give you noticeably louder speakers with the same volume level. At the end of the day if you're hesitant about the price then I don't think you'll be satisfied with the pricier option, $100 speakers nowadays do an excellent job and will typically provide a noticeable improvement over stock.

 

I have the Focal front and back with a JL 8" ported sub and JL amp and it sou d's amazing ! It is not a JBL system.

 

Are they the Focal 6x9 components in the front? Are you running them off of the stock head unit?

 

Any updates to this thread? I also have a 2010 with the JBL system and purchased the Focal ISTOY690 6x9’s, the ICTOY165 6.5’s, and Audiofrog GS8ND2 8” sub. I haven’t installed it yet. I wanted to know what you ended up doing to your truck? The previous owner already installed a single DIN Alpine CDE143BT.

 

Unfortunately, no. My audio project has gotten completely side tracked. Still on the agenda, just low on the priority list. I've been gathering parts still, plans have changed a little and still more to be figured out. Maybe I'll get around to all this someday, lol.