For every 3rd gen owner burned by jbl and ghosted in forums...

Title looks

Tacoma World—I'm comin' for ya.

Not with flex pics. Not with a parts list.
But with the raw truth that nobody shared when I needed it.

I was one of the frustrated ones.
I bought the PAC to keep my hands-free mic working and flatten the factory EQ.
That’s it. That’s all I wanted.

But JBL had their own idea of "premium."
Toyota gave me a ghost-tuned, locked-down system and told me it was an upgrade.
The forums told me to cut the dash or figure it out myself.

And eventually—I did.

I built something I now call DE LA SOL.
It’s not just louder.
It’s not just bass.
It’s presence. Stage. Clarity.
It sounds how the Tacoma should've sounded from the start.

So this post? It’s for the guys who were told “don’t bother,” “just get a DSP,” or “you’re doing it wrong.”
You weren’t wrong. You were just early.

I’m not dropping a full how-to thread (yet).
But I’m here.
You’ve got questions—I’ve got answers.
And if you want the sound you thought you were buying when you got the JBL badge?
I’m the one who made it real.

Driven Mobile Install. Born from spite. Tuned with soul

 

Friday is 5 days away.

 

There's at least one dude out there crumpled up pac instructions and a screwdriver through the back window.... if you need help, just sayin...

 

A lot of the "don't bother" responses were for people that didn't want to pay more than $200 for the adapter.

Many of the other responses deal with specific instances where people wanted to maintain specific parts of the JBL system while gaining specific attributes. Factory integration is rarely cheap.

I wish you the best, but am suspicious about the viability of the market you're searching out.

 

I prefer a OEM Audio+ system myself. JBL has always been disappointing

 

I enjoy the sound of the many voices in my head.

 

trying to convince people of your knowledge of the JBL system without showing the finished product is a hard sell. Sounds like smoke an mirrors. Most people just upgrade and be done with it. Why is your solution any different?

 

And neither are you, apparently

 

Wut

 

also:
1. there's a very clearly described vendor process here. why not take advantage of it?

2. why post only in the 3rd gen area? the 2nd gen's have a nearly identical audio setup, major difference being the tweeter location is in the door instead of the dash. but the overall jbl system parts count and functionality remains identical.

3. an even better spot to post this besides your brand new vendor area would absolutely be the audio section, where people with audio questions generally and logically go looking for answers.

unless you've just got some spite built up for 3rd gen owners specifically. then in that case, i suggest the 2nd gen area for more sympathizers. there's a reason the saying is "2nd gen is the best gen"...

 

didn’t post this to prove anything.
I posted this because I used to be that guy—the one holding a PAC harness in one hand, crumpled Crutchfield instructions in the other, wondering why none of it sounded right, and why every thread seemed to end in silence or someone saying, “just get a new head unit and move on.”
I wasn’t trying to be loud. I was just trying to be heard.
Most of Tacoma World gave me the cold shoulder when I needed help. Same way they treat a lot of new guys. I learned to figure it out on my own—not because I wanted to, but because I had to.
Eventually, I got it right.
Not by copying someone else’s build, but by listening, testing, tuning—until it finally sounded like the truck I thought I was buying.
This post? It’s not a guide or a sales pitch. It’s a signal.
If you’re out there feeling stuck, ignored, or like you’re the only one who hears how bad it sounds—you’re not crazy. You’re not alone. And yeah, it can get better.
If this helps even one guy avoid the wall I hit… then it’s worth posting.
The rest of the noise? That’s just static.
–Matt
Driven Mobile Install – Born from spite. Tuned with soul.

 

i'm confused. so far, what instructive or constructive use have any of your posts on the matter had so far other than a haphazardly slapped up cat poster for others looking to also modify the jbl audio system?



you just say you have a solution, and you've been there. but don't offer anything further. isn't that the actual definition of a tease?



ok, curiousity has my attention, and i have the rest of the night off. so i went hunting.

i am happy you're formatting the posts a lot more-- far easier to comprehend than your first few word-salad posts.


your first audio question on november 30th was here, asking what size speaker the dash speakers are, if 2.75 is the largest, or if 3.5" speakers can fit:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...rs-and-subwoofer.716167/page-13#post-30291844

that post was immediately answered in the next post with this link to a page showing a how-to on installing 3.5" speakers on the jbl system.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/jbl-system-tweeter-upgrade-better-than-subaru-tweeters.599583/

seems like you got the exact answer you were asking about there.


after that your next post was about crossovers for the speakers, on december 5th, and how you installed new coaxial speakers everywhere, but you're not getting additional sound from any of them.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...bl-premium-system.717414/page-3#post-30303589

that was again, immediately and fully answered in the next post.


after that answer, you disappeared for another month, and the next post in that same thread you made was about running speaker wire, adding amps, and make some of your confusion known on the PAC unit, which is replied to two posts down.

january 8th, you make a post in a PAC thread asking where everything goes, and get no answer.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/posts/30372796/

but then january 11th, you made a similar post in a different thread, but started running into major problems with the PAC, installed it by the amp. there, dustin links to the manual, and also specifies that it needs to be behind the radio in 2020+ trucks, instead of by the amp in pre-2020 trucks.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/posts/30365714/

later, i see dustin helped you figure out you might have gotten the wrong PAC unit that's not compatible with the tacoma--posts #91-94.

post #95, you make it clear you're returning the wrong model, and getting the right model PAC for your install from crutchfield.

and then the last post in that thread is #99, which is really just a word salad about you having someone else custom-build some crossovers, and how you're having difficulty getting the wires through the doors-- which suggestions were already made for that.

to be fair, the door grommets suck. i prefer to use a length of solid-core copper wire, but dustin's zip tie suggestion is just as good, and far cheaper if you mess one up. but neither makes the suck of the grommets any less. so i see no reason for any of the knowledgeable audio guys to add anything, myself included.





so after that synopsis of your audio post history, you got fast and accurate responses in the majority of cases that you asked for help. you absolutely did not get 'dead air' like you say you did.

but i can also tell there's a ton of stuff going on behind the scenes on your side of things that aren't well articulated on the forum-side, or you self-researched and were led down either the wrong path, or chose the wrong path because of your own preference or ideas on the best methodologies.

in my opinion, you only ever asked the forum for help when you already backed yourself into a rather large corner, after you had already spent a good amount of time and money, and were pulling your hair out after whatever you did, (without anyone's input here) didn't work.

it seems to me that you're eager to blame someone else to justify all the hassle and expense you went through, instead of calming down and trying to learn from the experience that you never really fully stated your intentions on the forum, but turned to the forum every time a random piece of your larger puzzle didn't work out the way you intended.

i feel for that, i really do. i've been there. it's why one of my contributions here was the 'soundman's super simple speaker stencils'. it's why i post in the audio section, specifically for many of the larger oddball audio builds. for my past vehicles, i've always been one of the only guy's that really go off deep end, with minimal support, and try to do something entirely different than anyone else just recommending "oem+".

in most cases of the car forums i've been on, there's almost no official documentation on the way the factory system is wired, which leads to a ton of confusion for anyone looking to modify it.

one of my personal goals is to take all of the mystery out of car audio. i'd love to see everyone motivated enough to have the confidence to mechanically tinker with different options within their audio system, with a full understanding of how it currently works, and what changes any alteration will make as well.

in most cases when i'm building my systems the oddball way, i fail. but i try to document where and why i failed, so anyone else that has even an inkling of doing the same thing has something to base their research on.

hell, i hail from the mp3car days. i installed a computer in my car, and got my rocks off visiting random car audio so i could ask them for random parts, to which they'd exclaim "YOU CAN'T PUT A COMPUTER IN A CAR!" and i'd get to walk them outside and show them my full install of what they just said was impossible...

i've got a whole shelf of speakers that i can't use because i ordered off someone's "the speaker opening is this deep" post, and they never accounted for something like the window down, or the crash bar. which is why i created those speaker stencil images-- every vehicle, i've needed something to know and understand every obstacle in the door panel so i can correctly understand the conflicts that any alternative speaker is up against.

i hope you've learned something from the experience, at the very least, i hope your next audio build, you spend a little more time talking and planning, instead of spending and fixing!

 

Who needs daytime soaps when you have Tacomaworld?

Stop being so cryptic and post something of substance.

TW Cry Baby - Did something on my own. Applaud me.™

 

Do what, now? I’ve seen post after post from newbies who are given a ton of support and answered questions.

 

My PAC & DSP will blow the doors off anything youre offering.....

 

OP settle down. It’s a radio, it’s not that serious.

 

Sounds like another spin on the beatsonic garbage.....

 

Im not the one upset here evidently, but somewhere there's s guy or gal struggling with it, and for fear of the way you guys treat people is afraid to ask for help and I want that 1 guy or that one gal to know there is help without the bs if they need it thats all im not selling anything didnt say mine was better than yours none of that and yes there was 2 guys here that helped me, one with the pac and figuring out the same model came 2 different ways and one on actual problems with the truck.. im not discounting them i have thanked them and if you think you follow everything I've done your pretty smart .