Radio fader plays the front speakers or back speakers but not both

Hey guys. I have a new 23 Taco and the radio fader either plays the front speakers or the back speakers but not both so far as you can hear from the drivers seat. Two different dealers have now told me that the other new Tacos on the lot are the same way. I told them they're all busted then. I haven't had a vehicle in 45 years that wouldn't play all the speakers at once. There's no TSB or anything. Anybody else with this issue, or not having this issue on the same truck?

 

The radio unfortunately is that way . Very little power is going to the rear speakers .
Couple of options for you
Add a small amp and change your speakers ( plenty of good options and won’t break the bank )
Kicker key and kicker speakers in the doors

Check out a company called trail grid pro . They have a Sony radio bundle that is fully plug and play and the radio has some really impressive power. Drop that in and you are good to go .

do a full system ( this is what I did )
Sub
All new speaker s
4 channel amp
Sub amp

 

By the way any one of these will be a tremendous improvement

 

I have no issues with mine as I don't care about the back seat music being loud only the front is fine for me. just saying

 

This comes up from time to time. The truth is, at least from my perspective, you don't need much volume behind you for your brain to perceive you are in a "sound field" with some depth.
Take the following with a grain of salt. I'm no expert, but this is what I have found listening to audio.

Some people think they need their rear speakers blasting in order to deem their systems working well. This is not true.
Ever watch a Dolby surround-sound movie on a home theatre setup? The speakers in the back reproduce very little of the information the main sound source reproduces in the front L/R speakers.
Don't trust me. Try it if you have a 4 or 5 channel home entertainment setup. Watch a movie like Apocolypse Now, The Matrix, Das Boot, or Titanic and stick your head against the rear speakers. Your head might explode.

I digress.

Anyway, do yourself a favor and try this experiment in your Tacoma:
Adjust your L/R balance so it's biased slightly to the right/passenger side.
Adjust your F/R fade so it is biased to the middle of the 4 seats (i.e. slightly back behind your ears).
Leave Treble and Bass adjustments mid-range.

Now - this is REALLY important... Listen to something recorded with high-dynamic range with a wide sound-field.
Personally, I always recommend something from Alan Parson's Project, or Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, or Beatles Abbey Road (the common element is Alan Parsons was the recording engineer for all of these albums).
In general, he is known for recording expertise, and you will hear it in your truck with even the non-JBL system. Don't trust me. Try it for yourself.
You can google these things, and find other recordings considered exceptional. I'm a Steely Dan fan, and well, give me Aja or Gaucho albums, stick me on an island. I'm all good.

Now don't get me wrong... some may have a certain amount of hearing loss because of the nature of their jobs, extended use of headphones or earphones, age, etc, etc...
And, well we all know the truck's cab will not be a superior listening environment, specially while driving because of road noise being coupled and made resonate in the doors and behind the back seats.

Yes, speaker efficiency will do a lot. You might find if you need to replace speakers, the tweeters in the dash, and the speakers in the door are low-quality and begging to be upgraded. Most haven't noticed great improvements replacing those in the rear doors. YMMV.

So then some invest in putting sound deadening materials in the doors and behind the back seat. What they are doing is lowering the noise floor, hence improving the Signal to Noise ratio at their ears.

A drastic improvement in S/N is also achieved by listening to recordings from sound sources of better quality and higher information bit rates decoded by the radio...
For example, AM will sound terrible, SirusXM is probably not going to sound as good or better than FM, and FM will not sound as good as a CD or an MP3 with low-loss compression.
If you are judging the quality of the Head Unit by listening to SirusXM, who's kidding who?

Use the best source of audio with the highest bit-rate available to you that you can. Then decide if you should go the sound-dampening route and/or better speakers, and/or a higher end HU.

Me? I need to spend money in other places as a priority over my truck. I will be swapping out the OEM tweeters, for the Subaru / Kicker tweeters to see if that improves things much, but that's likely it for now.

 

Thanks for the info guys. For the price we pay for these trucks you would think we'd get a decent radio. The dealership said over time Toyota would do a fix if enough people complained about it. This is my 3rd Taco after 2 Tundras and between this radio and a transmission that doesn't know what gear it should be in, and the 15 mpg, I'm really disappointed in it.

 

You can only polish a turd so much. The factory standard speakers are garbage and the headunits output is equally unimpressive. The aftermarket exists and if you can install it yourself, as i have, you will have a great sounding truck with very little invested (less than 1k)

 

Thanks stftaco. We listen to the same stuff but is seems to be missing something without the full effects. I've been listening to it with the balance and fade like you say because the back are useless and it's what I have to work with but I shouldn't have to settle for face music. I traded in a 2018 F150 with a 5.0, that got 17 mpg, and it was more comfortable, and WAY more powerful. My 3rd V6 Tacoma has 5000 miles on it, half a radio, starts downshifting every time the nose starts pointing up, and gets 15 mpg; and Toyota can't fix any of it. I think I made a big mistake.

 

Some issues are easier to fix than others. Alot of us had the same gripes but yours may be a bit exaggerated because you came from V8 vs another V6 or 4 cylinder. You bought reliability and that usually means older tech, ford is on the opposite end of the spectrum.

 

I bought a harness as not to cut the factory speaker wires and wired the front speakers to the behind the head unit. I also upgraded to the Subaru tweeters and upgraded all speakers. I did not want to get a new HU because of the functions that I may loose. . If nothing else, change the tweeters as they are plug and play and under 100 dollars.

 

I suspect you did, a longer test drive might have been warranted.

 

And to add to this the trans is learning your driving habits
Mine has 30 k miles and it shifts perfect
Also keep in mind the F150 is a full size truck
Wider wheel base and V8 totally different animal . Now comparing a Tundra to a F150 would be a better comparison . You will get aquatinted with the Tacoma and it will do the same with your driving habits
Just be a little patient and don’t read into all the gripes here . The Radio fix is really very inexpensive to do if it bothers you that much.

 

uhm my '17 plays all four at once, I put it faded one notch to the front vs back but I can certainly hear the rear speakers. only the front or rear playing but not both at once isn't "normal" nor "ok"...I know of no other vehicle that does this, call corporate.

But first, just make sure it is, in fact, not playing audio from the rear when set to the middle or one notch to the front first. When I put mine one notch to the front the rears ARE much quieter but they are playing...I often open the rear door to clean out my truck and there is clearly sound coming from the back speaker (just reduced).

I also played with one notch to the back, the fronts were nerf'd but still played. I listen to everything from gregorian chant, classical, metal, r&b, rap, and electronic. I appreciate a full range and when my rear view mirror and side mirrors are thumping I'm in love. I keep it one notch to the front because I hear the fronts more regardless, but having the rear thumping helps the overall sound...your head will not explode, you might feel some vibs in your lower back instead of just your leg with the rears hitting, and hear more of the sound, especially in r&b/rap and electronic music that tend to use the L/R F/B fading techniques which sound amazing, imo.

You should be able to find something online that will play a sound through each speaker...some sort of audio test or speaker test.

 

When you go to a concert (name your genre), are you sitting somewhere between the musician's monitors and the drummer up on stage? Nope, you are not.
So to expect volume levels behind you the same as in front of you is somewhat odd in my opinion.
Now, I do remember going to two concerts when I was 18 or 19, where it was insanely loud no matter how I turned my head: Cheap Trick, and The Clash.
Thank goodness I didn't suffer permanent hearing damage from those events. Literally for one week, everything sounded odd.

I agree with the sentiments of others, go with an aftermarket HU. You can get them with Maestro interface so you don't lose functionality.
Put it this way - you will spend less getting an Aftermarket HU with all the bells and whistles that you want, including new speakers than if an equally good HU and speakers were an option on the truck.
What comes with the truck is a competent compromise, but it isn't special, similar to the OEM tires that come on most vehicles... Don't expect them to be at the top of TireRack's list of highest scored tires.
You get to optimize the vehicle to your liking and budget.
Put another way, no one buys the Tacoma for the exceptional radio or tires that could, but don't come standard.

One last thing: for me - when I drive situational awareness is key. I'm using my eyes, ears and seat of the pants feel feedback in deciding how I control the truck. For example, I want to hear a little road noise, as that road noise will change as a function of environmental conditions, roadway quality, etc.

And, if there is a police officer, fire truck, or ambulance coming towards me, I want to know about it right away. I'm sorry, but the comment about the mirrors rattling, I found comical.

 

You should do some research. I don't think anyone has lost functions if you linked a maestro unit. I actually gained functions

 

Tie in the backs with the front for free. Then you’ll get the front signal on all. But the Tacoma had some of the cheapest speakers I’ve ever seen all around.

 

There's always this, but you'll get far better results from replacing the head unit. The Pioneer 6600nex fits well.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/premium-audio-upgrade-for-less-than-250.510424/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/new-pioneer-dmh-wc6600nex-flush-mount-install.668580/

 

Great head unit
I agree

 

I didn't say rattling, now did I, and all you have to do to keep situational awareness is just not blare it...I sometimes crank it and I can STILL hear that siren...so what...good lord what's your deal man?

when you go to watch a movie, or set up a surround sound system (even a cheap one) in your house, do you have speakers behind you? yes you do.

oh and your concert scenario, if it's a proper concert hall the walls and ceiling are designed to make the sound reflect all around you (not really just reflect all around but surround you for a fuller sound), not just come from the front but we aren't talking about a gd concert hall we're discussing a truck with 6 speakers...stay on topic man

Not sure what your deal is and I don't really care, you've got some bug up your ass about having mono and single direction (limited) sound as somehow being superior to true (or more similar to true) surround...whatever, I'm not debating this any more. Hey if you want to crank it all to the front or all to the rear, whatever, I don't give a damn, you set up your sound how you like and I will with mine, aight?

How about let's focus on the point, not our individual personal sound preference;
the fact is NO radio only plays only the front or back speakers and not both...certainly not this truck, mine doesn't, if OP's is THERE IS A PROBLEM! the dealer is WRONG telling them otherwise. if op's truck is not putting out sound through all 6 speakers something is wrong! I specifically said for OP to verify the rears are actually doing this by putting it to center, opening the back door, and listening...geez us

 

@Bcjammerx , You've missed the point I think, but that's OK. You've got passion. I recognize that. At no time did I say the Toyota audio offerings were great. Instead, I made recommendations that would help someone maximize their experience. I'm all for aftermarket HUs and speaker upgrades. For some, that is going to be super important to them.

I don't disagree with one of your points, that is if absolutely nothing is playing through every speaker in the stock radio, that's a problem. No argument there. My point, unless you're a passenger in the back seat, you don't need a powerful rear source to develop a very good sound field, but a lot will depend on the quality of the recording AND the information bit-rate of the source. Can we agree, it's easy to make a great system should like !@#$%^&*. ?

Yep, I know some people like powerful bass, some so much they can feel it, and see it's effects in their windows and mirrors. If you judge a car audio system based on power and the presence or absence of a sub-woofer, literally and figuratively more power to you. Those two just don't make my list of "critical to quality" car audio features. BTW, apropos profile pic and quote.