Stock radio SUCKS, any advice?

First off, hi I'm Michael and I just got a 2010 double cab super white Tacoma! Prerunner, SR5, TRD offroad. Brand new owner, and I must say I will never own another model truck now.

So I've done some looking around and see that I'm not the only one who thinks that the stock radio completely sucks. I do NOT have the JBL upgrade FYI. I'm a little confused though...

My dad has a 2006 double cab Taco, also without the JBL upgrade and his stock system sounds great. The sound is full and the bass actually bumps if you have a rap song on (God forbid lol).

I don't want to waste space with a subwoofer, and I am not too fond about the look of aftermarket HU's or dash kits. I just prefer having the stock look inside. I've read about an amp bypass or something? Is there anything I can do, without purchasing an aftermarket HU, that will give me better sound?

 

Not sure why the '06 is so much better.
My '08 sucked. Replaced the speakers and it still sucked.
Replaced the HU and it'll blow the windows out now without a sub.

 

Without calling you an idiot, have you checked the bass and treble settings on both your dads and your truck's stereos? I know mine was turned all the way down when I bought it.

 

Not really. There are aftermarket EQ's and line level amps, but in all honesty, your headunit is the reason the sound is terrible. It's designed to prevent the paper speakers from failing, not provide sound quality.

The problem I had with the stock headunit is I could not make out the highs that the truck should have had from having tweeters in the doors. Just switching headunit to a cheap sony headunit and adding a very small 10 inch kicker subwoofer in a slim enclosure (Small enough to fit in a reg cab behind the seat) with a 250watt kenwood amp made the system sound amazing. Total investment was roughly 400 dollars.

I was very much against losing the stock headunit as I didn't want to mess with the truck but I got over that idea after about a month of trying to make the stock headunit do something it was not designed to do, then becoming extremely frustrated listening to shitty sound.

 

+1

Replacement speakers won't bring the stock HU to life because the stock HU is detuned.
My Polk DB6501 component system was so pathetic that I couldn't even hear it with the window down, and couldn't enjoy it with the window up at highway speed. It was okay for news and talkradio, but not music.

The Polks were better than stock, but not much.

The new HU woke them up.

No amp, no subs... just the two 6.5 mid/bass and the two tweeters.

 

Haha don't worry I'm not that dumb, yes I have the bass and treble all the way up. Bass at 5 and treb at 4 on my dad's '06 sounds great.

So what you guys are saying is basically I'm going to have to replace the HU if I want better sound? There's no way to override the stock HU or anything like that?

Thanks for the replies so far!

 

ALL stock stereos in the Tacoma suck, period end of store. Upgrade the HU at least, but speakers and HU is the best.

No there is no way to squeeze more power out of your stock deck.

 

That's exactly what we're saying.

 

Hmm alright thanks for the advice guys.

How about switching our head units out with one another, would this be ok and work? I can't see the text on my 2010 with polarized glasses anyway, but I can in the '06.

 

Bump. Any info on whether this will work or not? If I could just switch them out it would be great. The '06 doesn't have steering wheel controls or the AUX plugin. The 2010 has both though, if that would even make a difference.

 

Yep, time for a new H/U and speakers. Stock head unit and paper speakers are garbadge. You can get a decent stereo for around $100 and it will sound way better! buy a metra dash kit/wire harness and you are good , its an easy mod.

 

True an aftermarket hu will sound better. However, you could get an audio control unit if you're getting different speakers and keep the stock hu.
Just another option.

 

Doesn't that only work with the JBL system?

 

You could certainly swap the units.
The lack of the features on the '06 would not be an issue for the new HU, but I don't know if the older HU will support those features in the '10.

Just remember that your speakers look like this....

 

I know mine IS the JBL and i have no complaints yet.. Sounds great to me, however I'm no longer a teenager that blasts his music everywhere he goes , yep, I was that guy lol. But like everyone else said change out you stock HU with a new one, and if you wanna get premium sound out of it without adding a sub or anything you may wanna change out the stock speakers too so you don't blow them due to being paper thin. It won't take long to blow them

 

Thanks for the answer Rich91710! I'll switch the HU's and see what happens. And yes from reading around the forums, I gather that the speakers are basically paper and not far from being complete junk. I'm not looking for sound/bass that the car 5 back from me at the stop light can hear. I just want a little bass and a full sound that I don't have to crank to maximum when the windows are down.

We'll see how it goes... if not then I guess I'll have to take your guys advice and go with a new HU when I get the money. (WeatherTech digital fit mats are #1 on my priority list right now though!)

 

.
Stock radios in the Tacomas have been pretty sad for a long time ... and he upgraded JBL systems are a little better.

FWIW ... My 2012 has JBL-Entune-Nav. and I like it better than stock radio ... but it is not worth the $2,000.00 sticker price IIRC.

IMO ... I would look for a HU that looks stock and replace the speakers too.

.

 

... ^^^ ... "Where's the beef" (I mean magnet) ... lol ...
.

 

Yuuuuup...stock audio sucks. It sucks really really bad. The replacement HU and Alpine 6x9 S series speakers were well worth it to me. No clue if the '06 will fit, but no way would I bother with it. You can go aftermarket for cheap and it'll still sound insanely better than stock.

 

No shit.

I can lift the main speaker by sticking the tweeter to it's magnet and lifting the tweeter.

I can barely lift the tweeter by lifting the main speaker. It'll lift, but it'll drop in a gentle breeze.