4th Gen JBL replacement

Mallcrawler, if the sub vents outside the back wall as I suspect, you don’t need any airspace behind the sub as the air outside the truck acts as the enclosure. My question for anyone who has taken the subwoofer and plastic parts out, does it vent outside the sheet metal?

 

@FotoFisher , agreed that the base grade system doesn’t have an external amplifier or a subwoofer and that the head unit provides the power to the speakers. My comment was specifically for the JBL vehicles.

I also agree that if you are going to go all in on a custom audio system, that starting with the base system is the more fiscally responsible option (2015 TRD Pro forced this route as base grade audio was the only option). It does depend on the individual whether the other options in the “package” are crucial or not and JBL might come with those features.

Your point about adding sound deadener as the biggest bang for the buck is right in my opinion. Back to that pesky vehicle weight thing but vehicle sheet metal keeps getting thinner to save weight. The stronger and more deadened that the mounting surface for the speaker is, the more that the speaker can move air, which produces sound. As a simple example, if 10% of the energy from the magnet/voice coil interaction ends up moving the sheet metal, then that’s 10% less sound output. This is why aftermarket subwoofer enclosures are built out of MDF and/or fiberglass, they are stiff. Plus adding sound deadener keeps out wind and road noise which is an added bonus.

Just changing the speakers on either the JBL or the base grade limits your improvement. Every OEM creates an EQ from scratch to optimize the speakers in that vehicle. Whether that EQ perfectly matches your expectation is a very individual impression. Changing the speakers without changing the EQ limits the amount of improvement greatly. Another example, If Toyota limits the rear speaker with a crossover point, and you add a speaker with more power handling, a stiffer cone, etc, in the hopes to get more bass…. Not going to happen at all because the crossover limits you.

I’ve built quite a few high end audio systems and competed in IASCA back in the day. No OEM system (Tesla, Rivian, Benz, BMW, Audi, Lucid, etc etc) can compare to an IASCA national championship vehicle but balancing “good” versus the cost and time to replace the system is really where we are in my opinion with todays premium systems. This includes my 23 Taco JBL and the limited amount of time that I’ve spent listening to the 24 Taco JBL.

[As a note, The Lucid Air premium upgrade was something crazy like $3,000 just for the Surreal audio upgrade. It was above average but I was hesitant to think that it was worth $3,000 alone.]

 

@Poot Klopp the EQ settings in your phone/apps will adjust the sound in the truck. Those adjustments are made early on in the signal flow and adjust the core signal sent to the amplifier or head unit. The OEM EQ will stack on top of the adjustments that you make in the phone.

 

The huge problem with sound adjustments in the smartphone is that every adjustment is subtractive.
To "turn up" treble or bass, the software is NOT boosting those values, but reducing all values around them to make it seem it's boosted.

I never use the smartphone for sound processing, leave it flat and use more traditional equipment to process the signal

 

@TurboDA6, I’ve never heard this. Guess that I’ll have to throw my phone on the test bench at some point and measure the output with EQ adjustments and without…

 

It surprised me too.

But, it can be an issue with BT headphones that really don't get very loud to begin with (the whole we can't trust you to not blow your hearing out and sue us thing) when you use these apps these BT headphones (and sometimes speakers too) become noticeably less loud.

 

So if you turn everything up... It actually turns everything down¿¿¿ Haha. I'm guessing eq on head units would be better than the phone? I think the JBL only has basic bass and treble sliders unfortunately.

 

WOW that is amazing. What would you think I’d expect to pay Car Toys or something (they did a decent job with my old Taco component install) to recreate that all in my new 24 TRD Sport NON JBL I just drove home yesterday?

 

No, only the frequencies that are lower than the highest settings. It's relative to the highest setting.

A good way to tell if your smartphone EQ software is doing it that way is to actually turn all levels up. If it's a 10 band EQ, for example, turn up all 10 bands to max. If the overall volume is the same, then it's working the way I described.

Whereas most home and car audio equipment will be so turnt up, it'll be distorted loud at full volumes and settings

 

You couldn't beat the price to performance of the Amazon Basic CLD? The Amazon CLD is almost 4x louder(?) To get that same performance with the Amazon stuff you'd have to use 3.75 more compared to the 1 sqft of Resonix. To get Resonix level performance with the Amazon stuff you're gonna spend $1.2125 more on Amazon's CLD? Even more with their Mega CLD @7.40.

And even if being frugal about it was the goal, that study shows you could've saved .71c going with the NVX CLD over the Amazon.

I'm confused on what numbers you were crunching.

 

If you have a few independent audio professionals in your area, visit them and get some competitive quotes. I opted to go that route because the professional I chose had 25 years in the industry and was fully bonded/insured having done super high-end $30k installs for many professional sports players in our market. The local Car Toys had a 2.3/5 rating and had several unresolved ongoing claims against damaged vehicles due to installs. Soooooo, I steered way clear of that route. Nothing against Car Toys in general - just not for me.

If you want to replicate what I did, plan on $4k-ish, give or take (in current 2024 dollars). Installing sound treatment (a must) and speaker replacement only will cut that figure in half, or less.

 

With great respect to you @waffleiron , I am not inclined to enter a detailed discussion of my evaluation; it suited me and that's what counts. Amazon Basic CLD reduces sound on average by 11.5dB. That's pretty darned good IMHO. Do I need better than that in a mid-sized fishing/hunting truck? Nope. And I can tell you that what I did makes the interior sound more quiet than my F150 Limited with a B&O system.

I crunched the figures found in: https://resonixsoundsolutions.com/best-sound-deadening-material-independent-testing-data/.

If you want to buy Resonix, by all means do it! It will make you proud of the job you did and make you most happy.

 

Update, My truck is still gutted, I waited on Amazon for the Mids, there are no mounts available. I am in the process of manufacturing my own Mid mounts. Neither 6x9 or 6.5 mounts from cruthfeid or Amazo lined up, both had to be modified. Toyota used a new version of speaker adapters, in gen 4, I have been soldering in the wiring. Allot of setbacks in the rebuild. My girl and I had plans for this weekend, not much has been done. I will send updated pix tomorrow.

 

Totally fair, the numbers in that study just kinda cater to Resonix's product vs everything else, I was just curious if you knew something about Amazon's CLD that wasn't disclosed in your link.

 

Hi Bob,
Thanks for showing all your hard work and pics. I do have a question, do you have a list of wiring harness adapters you used for the new speakers?

 

I could not locate any adaptors (Crutchfield, Amazon, or Best Buy), so I cut and wired my speakers. Along with being unable to locate any mounts for the Mids. I made good use of trucks (Sport) chin guard and built custom mounts.

 

I know taco tunes has all the 24 speaker adaptors, plug & play harnesses already all dialed-in ready to go, theyre trying to figure-out the box lay-out off of their 3d scan....
Ive never dealt with them so no idea if you can get individual components that you need....

 

You guys have my head spinning over all this what matting is better....
Im with FotoFisher inregards to theres no way im paying resonix money. Dont want to add 100lbs to the truck either...
That article he posted is very informative but kind of shocked that theyre claiming cheap Amazon basic is better than the killmat.
I overthink everything & for the effort involved to go through the trouble & deadening your own doors & rear walls, you dont want to use a mediocre product.
So many options, yes the correct answer would be clear for someone who installs systems & works in the industry, which isnt us...
Ive got limited experience with using dynamat when I fabbed a box in my 90's toyota behind the seat for 2 10's, used the rear wall of the truck as the back of the box, dyna matted the rear wall...
Something Im definetely going to tackle now while I figure things out inregards to the system, door panels off, door panels on, one door at a time, ive got nothing better to do...
just dont know what the right answer is,

 

I used roof flashing as matting back in the day, once the smell went away it worked just fine.

 

never expect “high quality” speakers from a Toyota vehicle bud..