Replace OEM JBL sub and add an amp?

I waited 5 months for my truck w/ JBL to be built. I enjoy it a lot. I'm not listening to that much drum & bass and jungle any longer, so I don't notice anything lacking. The mids and highs could be a bit better, but bass output is good for me. Hell, I had to go two notches down from mid-point on bass setting in the head unit just to not draw attention. Where I live, bump in the wrong part of town (hell, the wrong block) and your shit gets broken in to. If I want to push the audio, I can.

I did have the driver front dash speaker short out; warranty covered it though. I think the factory didn't connect the leads completely.

If you do replace the system, save all of it and sell here. People look for that stuff. The factory sub box especially.

 

Are those tweeters plug and play?

 

Actually it wasn’t that heavy lol. Then again I had another person helping me the whole time. The box its self is light the subs are what’s heavy.

 

Interesting. Has the JBL system gotten any better?

Had it on my 08 and it was terrible! Replaced deck so my wife could have backup if she drove. That killed the sub so ended up replacing all the speakers with Focals and a JL 10” sub. Sounded really good once it was all done.

 

The JBL is ok. It's better than stock. But I replaced my stock on my '17 with Kickers and it was Great!!! They sounded better than my current JBL...

 

Thanks! I found this post too, had a lot of good info https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/upgrade-3rd-gen-jbl-speakers.517420/page-2 (post 31). Unfortunately the Kicker speakers I currently have are 4ohm. I'll have to look into those infinity speakers! Maybe changing the speakers will give me the louder and better sounds I'm looking for!

 

The JBL in my 2012 was "ehhh". It would lose bass around 25-30 and would just sound flat. The speakers were a joke too. Agree that they are slightly better than stock, not by much. Once I replaced the speakers and the subwoofer, it sounds amazing now. I am using 2.7Ohms speakers and dual 150 JL Audio subwoofers.

 

My box weights 65 pounds, I don't know how much each sub weights. Im gessing around 10 pounds each. Wasnt too bad putting the box inside the cab, did it all by myself one weekend.

 

I don't have the JBL system, but I added an under seat 8" powered Sub. I spliced the rear speaker wires to do this and all is hunky dory for me. Yes it's far from earth shattering Bass, but it's good. Did that and the "must change" Subaru Tweeters.

@like2detail, perhaps you could do something similar "and" keep the JBL Sub hooked up.

 

@fivefoot : Do you have part/model numbers for the infinity speakers you used? Also, can you tell me a little about the adapter I see for your RCA inputs to the amp? That's my main question right now is how to get a clean signal to an amp to power whatever sub I go with in the rear seats...

 

*Sorry to revive an old thread, but I was under the impression I had to change out my JBL head-unit also in order to get better sound of of Non JBL speakers. Is this not entirely accurate??

You can keep the factory headunit, the issue is there's no eq besides the shitty 3 band it comes with. An aftermarket headunit and the factory jbl system is louder and cleaner sounding than the normal factory setup. Basically any aftermarket headunit will make whatever speakers you're running sound better due to the audio adjustment options.

*I have some Kicker speakers I had put in my '17 that I'd like to put in my '18, but haven't because I've read just changing out the speakers wouldn't make a difference on the JBL systems.

It'll help a bit, but you're still stuck pushing them with the factory headunit. It muddies the sound since its sending all frequencies to the speakers.

*How can I add an amp to get more power to the speakers?

Place one under your seat and run it to the factory wiring or run new wires.

Replying to someone and butchered the quote option. Made my own

 

Everything I used in this upgrade came from Crutchfield, so they include everything you need for an easy sway. With that said, here are links to what I used:

Front Speakers: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108P9613IS/Infinity-Primus-PR9613is.html
Rear Speakers: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108P6512IS/Infinity-Primus-PR6512is.html

Amp: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_206CXA3001/Kicker-43CXA300-1.html
Speaker wire to RCA:

$17 Kicker KISL K-Series Interconnect

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I4EBOYK/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_Z-DzCb5EPED8K
Subwoofers: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_13692079/JL-Audio-8W1v3-4.html

If you don't have the JBL package, you can get a line level converter and tap on to each of the rear speakers to get a signal for your amplifier. Youll need this:

$17 Kicker 46KISLOC K-Series Interconnect, Speaker to RCA W/Line-Out Converter

https://www.amazon.com/Kicker-KISLO...s=gateway&sprefix=line+level+c,aps,161&sr=8-6

 

I went a similar route as fivefoot today, but only door speakers so far.

Front door - Infinity Reference REF-9632ix
Back door - Infinity Reference REF-6532ex
Lots of Dynamat, will be doing more deadening/insulation/dampening as well.

Now my front speakers were already starting to sound bad anyway bc I blast my music but just swapping those out and the dynamat made a huge difference. The EQ is slightly different now IMO (or I could just be not used to the better sound yet) but I’m still very glad I spent the 5-6 hours and few cuts to my hands doing it lol.

I don’t know enough about audio yet but I may try a different front speaker eventually, maybe the 3 way like fivefoot did.

Guess I’m just going to order Memphis audio 2.5” to replace the dash since that’s about the only option without getting into wiring?

Still researching sub options

May eventually change HU

 

I've been pretty disappointed in my JBL "upgrade"... I was excited about everyone going with these Kicker CS and Subaru Kicker Tweeter upgrades.. but realized they are for Non-JBL.

Now I'm debating on going that route on just replacing everything or just live in regret.

 

Has anyone just replaced the jbl sub without adding and amp and heard improvements?? I was thinking bout replacing it with kicker 8” shallow sub ...

 

I did at first. Replaced the fac sub with a Pioneer 8” shallow. The factory amp didn’t have enough juice to really provide the power the sub needed. And it also sounded like crap because I’m guessing the stock subwoofer box volume was too big for the Pioneer. So I didn’t go that route and instead replaced the factory box with a custom one and added an amp just for the new subs. Kept the factory amp in place though. So my truck has two amps now.

 

Sub'd...

 

Anybody know where the amp is in a double cab JBL system?

 

If you still have factory box, would you mind filling it with water and telling us the volume?
Then we can use that info in the future to adjust with fiber fill or internal block outs or whatever to tune it for an aftermarket sub

 

That box is somewhere in a recycling center now. fiber would not work as it would act as a bigger box. closed-cell foam would be your best way to reduce volume without adding any weight and closed-cell foam is easy to work with.