Amazing how much difference a decent head unit makes

Picked up my 07 DC Friday - all the way home, I was cringing at how horrible the stock (non JBL) setup was - plus no Sat radio and no Aux in. Also the stretch of I-20 I had to drive home picked up nothing but country stations. (shudder)

I'm a car audio guy/installer from back in the mid 90's and have a nice stash of old school gear laying around, so I've got a full system planned, for a nice smallish system, but step one was at least getting some sat radio and Aux ability in.

I had an old Clarion ProAudio headunit on the shelf, with the sirius modules, so that went in for now. Routed the sat antenna through the 3rd brakelight, cause I hated having it over the windshield like on my last truck.

The stock speakers actually came to life once I had the new HU in - they're not great, but sound a lot better with a much better source, and probably a few more watts running to them.

I could only find the dash kit in the grey/black locally yesterday, but it looks good to me. I can always spray dye it down the road when I do a Dual Din and Navi setup if I've changed my mind.

 

I haven't messed with the radio in my truck, I was pretty much trying not to because once you take things apart in the dash they never quite go back together quite right, atleast with my experiences. Especially now that everything is plastic. But as of late the poor quality of my radio has been driving me nuts. It may come to this.

 

Lol it's just plastic clips and screws. If you break something and say "meh, it's just one clip, I'm sure the others will hold it", then yeah, it's gonna squeak and rattle.

But if you know what you're doing things go back together just fine.

 

The radio goes in and out very easy in these trucks.

 

Oh I definitely don't know what I'm doing 90% of the time!

I pretty much quit taking apart my dashes back in 2002 with my 01 Tacoma. Because I was scared of all the plastic I had an audio installer do some work, well it rattled and moved so I took it back apart to do it better you know because that was such a great idea. Well I found the clips they hadn't secured. However I broke a few others. So in the end I just try not to mess with these new plastic dashes.

But in the same sense wheeling has caused all sorts of odd noises both inside and outside of the truck. meh

 

Lol. Gotcha. Probably smart to leave it alone then. Ha ha.

 

X2. I did my head unit this past winter. Yesterday I put in new Hybrid Audio Technology speakers (Thanks Mr. Marv), my goodness what a difference. Impressive. Here is a pic comparing magnet size.

 

I have an extra double din dash kit from Metra, I'll sell it to you ($20) if you're interested. It looks like this:

 

Thanks, but I'm happy with the black - and I got the Metra "99-" kit that is either single or double din - so when I change out, I can just reuse what I have.

 

I was just about to post this same topic after i installed my Pioneer double din NEX4000 a couple days ago. The stock setup doesnt even send real audio to the back speakers- stock radio havers, try adjusting your balance all the way to the back and youll see what im saying. just weird background filler noise for some reason.

Anyway i put my new deck in and OMG WHAT A DIFFERENCE. decent bass, decent highs, good overall volume... almost made me wanna keep the stock speakers. Almost. will be putting in a Alpine PDX-V9 (5 channel amp) and some new speakers all around with a ********* 12" ported sub.

Just a night and day difference.. Every taco owner should put in an aftermarket deck unless you have the JBL system. Even a $100 pioneer or something. Youll be glad you did.