4th Gen JBL replacement

I have the Beatsonic. It adds volume, but the center speaker is still overpowering.

 

Thanks for that! Taking notes...

 

Thanks! Do you have the JBL system? (I have no idea if the non-JBL system has a center speaker.) If so, maybe just remove that speaker? Couldn't be easier. Or maybe for either system, pad that connection at the speaker to reduce the power level to it?

Which Beat Sonic model did you install...?

 

Bhelms
if you want to throw $300 at the beatsonic & you think you will be happy, go for it...
It does make a drastic improvement from everyone I spoke to, but I haven't gone through the trouble of meeting up with a gal I know who actually has one installed.
As im convinced Im ditching it all.
Easiest & cheapest box options right now is multiple options from ground shaker, underseat box from either a single 10 or 12 in a standard woofer or shallow jl tw3...
takko tunes is going to release an enclosure made of plastic / fiberglass similar to the jl stealth boxes soon within the next few months / any day now.....
designed for various configs, single 10 or 12, or dual 10 most likely shallows in the dual 10 config but they're not certain yet till they get their hands on the product...

 

the non bbl does also have a center speaker....
nobody should be running their center speaker in their jbl systems, there's ZERO benefit when it comes to car audio improvement & that speaker....
Sound quality is SUBSTANTIALLY better without it....
Its not night & day, not a "my perspective" thing...

 

You can’t have true stereo separation using that center speaker.. mine has been out the day I drove my truck home

 

Just dropped mine off.....
focal k2 m power 3 ways up front,
k2 m power coaxial in the rear.
ARC Audio NightHawk & Blackbird amps
Ground shaker 12" undersea enclosure with jl 12tw3d4....
pac audio ap4-ty-14 interface controller that just came-out last week that everyone is waiting for....
fully active dsp tune

 

You will be a happy happy camper when you get it back

 

GROSSSLY over-budget, midlife crisis....
Should be insane...

 

You get what you pay for..and my system sounds fantastic

 

I’m going broke, not really but going deep in this one…

 

I have the JBL. As far as I know, there is just the one pnp amp for it.

 

Interesting. I'll try running my system under various conditions with that center speaker removed, certainly couldn't be easier!

 

Not that I have money to burn, but having dropped just a tad south of $60K on this Limited with options including the Toyota tri-fold tonneau cover, I figure what's another $300? I would like to at least experience that "drastic improvement" you mentioned with a Beat Sonic as a start. But if I don't like it or eventually opt for a better whole system overhaul, I can probably dump it on eBay to get some of that $$ back.

I probably can't fit a suitable Kicker or equivalent completely under the driver's seat which is my preferred location, but some of the other options you mentioned especially in a shallow enclosure might work, as would a Kicker or equivalent only halfway under the seat with the rest taking up some of the limited floor space in the left rear seat area. I have a currently unused Apline amp that was once driving 4 speakers in my last S-10 - that could easlily be bridged to deliver 140W RMS each to 2 4-ohm subs. That amp could fit under the passenger seat (providing another seat heater, no doubt) with possibly a thin sub under my seat?

I'm still interested in your ideas! Lots of possibilities. I really don't want to give up the back seat, but I wouldn't mind having a powered sub or thin enclosure and amp on the floor...

 

Slater - which model GS enclosure are you installing? I'm looking at the GS-TOYTC112B. And can that and the JL sub you mentioned be installed without modifying the seat bottom or the area underneath? Tks...

(I wasn't planning on spending this much...but...hey, life is short...! At least I won't be starving to do it, although I could stand to lose a few pounds. As far as "mid life crisis", for me that ship sailed decades ago! Mine is more a like an "old age, spend it while you still can" crisis...!)

 

Crazy what has come of stereo technologies compared when we were kids...
Now there's quality 1000 watt amps no bigger than a pencil box with built-in dsp's....
Some higher end stuff even more compact due to high end components being utilized like Mosconi....

 

Echo that! My foray into "high end" car audio began with installing a "Tenna Ranger" 8-track player under the dash in my buddy's '63 Belair, with a 3-spd stick on the column! (I learned how to drive a manual in that car.) It played through two 6x9 speakers with "whizzer cones" mounted in the rear deck. We tied the single speaker in the dash (for the stock AM radio) into the "system" as a bit of a center channel (L-R) configuration. That 8-track led to his back seat getting a lot of action...

 

That 8 track is huge compared to what I remember, but I do remember, im only 52...

 

It is a 4th generation but is not the JBL system I actually just removed the alpine speakers and added Audison Prima 4 inch speakers they do sound more natural than the alpine just my opinion but the difference is huge