Officially Contacted Dealer about stereo!!

Well ladies n gents did my research, more than my fare share and after doing so just emailed my local Toyota Dealer, the sales manager and the salesman detailing the issues I am have with my "lack of sound" for a better word and disappointment with the sound in my Tacoma with the speakers. I quoted statements from threats, others complaints with the same issues that Dealers won't fix. I am hoping they are willing to try and square this up. I was very professional in the email and also told them I would be keeping Toyota forums updated with the progress.
Here is to wishing for the best

 

What are you speaking to them about? Poor quality of sound on JBL?

 

Well, as long as it was an official email!

 

yes I have non JBL and I can barely hear Any sound coming from the speakers on the dash at all. A majority of my sound I hear behind my seat and passenger door. It is almost disorienting

 

Was it like that from day 1?

was the fade / balance set up right?

 

And you've tried fully adjusting the F/R mix to F? Just to see how it works (or doesn't work) that way?

 

They're probably gonna look at the email and put it in the trash lol. Have you not gone down in person?

 

Yes it has been like this since day one. Fade and balance are set up correctly. When centered and faded to the left literally sounds like a speaker doesn't work or extremely light sound( again sounds imbalance and very low output)If I put the speakers on front only, all I really hear is the front doors. IF there is coming out of dash, it is that faint and doesn't even seem right

 

I don’t know about 3rd gen Tacoma’s, so correct me if I’m wrong. But aren’t the dash speakers tweeters? If they are, you won’t really hear them. Not saying there isn’t a problem, it just doesn’t sound like a tweeter issue.

 

i have adjust to just front, to just left. Literally sounds like if you have a 4 speaker system plugged in a garage and you turn it on that instant" ok which speaker isnt working right?"It is that noticable

 

The factory speakers are trash. The factory head unit pushes almost no sound to the rear speakers. What most folks to do fix this is replace the door speakers with kicker, and the tweets with subaru kickers. Then to make it sound right most will add an amp. Pro tip: get a 5 channel amp so that you can add a sub and only have to use 1 amp.

 

Why will you really not hear them? every vehicle I ever had even if it was a crappy car the sound you could still tell was balanced. This does not sound that way and have to have the volume to over 30/55 to even sound someone decent but still sounds like something is missing. On blue tooth, i have to have volume almost all the way up and only hear conversation out of right door speaker

 

no time yet. Working 60+ hours a week

 

Did you listen to others on the lot, or better yet a local owner that will let you sit in their truck and mess with settings for a while?
I am wondering if you are not happy with the performance of the upgraded audio system, or if there is an actual problem? (not being shitty here, of course we can't hear it in person)
If you think there is an issue and it sounds worse than others on the lot (or maybe find a local owner) maybe a real auto audio shop can do some type of measuring and documentation?

 

Before getting the TRD Sport (not JBL) head-unit, I was reading many comments from many threads about the lack of quality of the truck's audio system.
So for me, I was pleasantly surprised to find the audio much more acceptable than I had imagined I would.

For me, the sound field is pretty important (placement / separation / dynamic range), and I realize, these 6-speaker systems are mainly designed to serve the front seat occupants, and that the rear speakers will be perceived as having much lower volume. If you want a sense that the music is primarily coming from in front of you, with a small perceived secondary source from behind, I find the optimal fade and balance setting is slightly biased to the rear speakers and to the passenger side. I also use the equalizer and bump up the treble a bit.

YMMV

Now a couple of more things. If your source is SiriusXM, you need to try some experiments, because you're listening to audio with a very low-bit rate. That impacts dynamic range. Streaming audio from Pandora, Spotify or iHeart is probably going to have bit-rates multiple times higher (I don't exactly know what it is but imagine it 8x) better than what is delivered from that shark-fin.

Now you can get more power with amplification, but a bad source amplified buys you nothing, unless of course, your hearing is impaired.
Try listening to music via Pandora, Spotify, or iHeart radio. You'll hear the difference, and that may be enough to at least like the stereo in the truck.

Want something even better? Try playing music you have ripped from a CD at a higher bit-rate and stored / accessed from your phone or USB stick via a USB connection.

Understand that if you use a Bluetooth connection to the head unit, it may represent a quality hit, but I think you'll find it much better than listening to a SiriusXM source.

So then, what else to do? You can improve the quality of the speakers in the dash and doors, and use some sound deadening.You can replace your head-unit. You can add an amp. You can do a combination or all of these things.

Just start with a better source, and a more acceptable equalization, fade and balance configuration and see (I mean hear) what you get.

 

You can also adjust your bass/treble/mid settings for every individual input (ie, bluetooth, sxm, android auto, fm).

 

My radio hasn’t worked in 8, no 9 years

 

Non-JBL’s here. It’s garbage. I keep the volume at 10-15 around town and I’ll put it at 20 on the highway. It’s clear enough, but it has absolutely no power to it whatsoever. It’s whatever. My days of playing with car audio are over. I can jam at home with headphones in when I want.

 

I approve this message.Gold!

 

Are the speakers in the front doors working? I'm not sure, but I think what somebody else said about the dash speakers just being tweeters is correct. Try cranking up the treble and playing something with a lot of high pitched sounds and see if you can hear them.