Speaker only upgrade?

Alright so I’m not a huge nerd about the sound quality of my music but I do like something that sounds better than stock speakers. That being said is there any speaker upgrades out there that will be plug n play upgrades over my existing ones? Links would be appreciated! Oh I have a 2022 3rd gen Double cab short bed.

 

Go to the Crutchfield website and enter your truck. They will show you a number of drop in swaps. Don't bother swapping the rear door speakers unless you are willing to go further than just a speaker swap. The factory head unit sends almost no power to the rear doors. They are pretty much just decorative. Set your volume to what is comfortable to you, then use your fader control to shift all of the sound to the rear. You will see what I am talking about.

 

I agree. Crutchfield will give you the mounting frames and wire harnesses to be plug and play. There is a You Tube video with perfect instructions. Be careful to follow the advice on the sail panel clips on the front doors or you will punch them into the door. Crutchfield is the best. And he is right on lack of power to rear speakers. The head unit really needs to be amplified but that is a difficult installation.

 

Thanks for the advice! I’ll go take a look and see what I can find!

 

You may want to ask others that have changed only the speakers what they think of the new system.

 

Yeah I actually noticed that a lot of people on the forums have said it’s better to change the head unit as well because it also deals with sound quality. I don’t fully understand how/why it does but it is what it is so now what I thought was going to be a smaller upgrade like $500-$700 is looking more like a 2k upgrade for a new unit and speakers.

 

I changed the speakers and like others have said the rear speakers are pointless without adding an amp. I just added a kicker key 200 and now I have sound in the backseat. My kids got in the truck and said dad there is music back here now. What did you do? I’m not sure if that was meant as a good thing or if I was interrupting their peace and quiet with my old man music but they do work now.

 

Was it pretty much plug and play for you to add the kicker key 200?

 

Yeah it was and wasn’t. I had to make an in-line harness and was a bit intimidated by it but with the help of the folks on TW it was way easier than I had assumed it would have been. Probably spent three hours actually doing it and thirty hours studying it. Lol I bet I could do it again in two hours.

 

So your issue in general is that factory head units are "tuned" for the speakers they ship with. They may even filter out certain frequencies that will cause the stock speakers to perform poorly at higher volumes. They may even have high/low pass filters that kick in when volume is over a certain level. How can anyone know? It would take specialized equipment and an afternoon with the radio...

IF the stock radio were outputting unadulterated signals for use with any speaker variety I would suggest what I have, a KTP-445U. I did replace my head unit, but ALSO wanted an amp on top of that but wanted to keep thinks simply. I zip tied this under the dash next to the glove box.
This would work with (I think, pending a harness or minimal rewiring) with your stock radio and new speakers. Wire the stock radio to the power pack amp and then the speakers to the amp...
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-VmqyWMEbsDb/p_500KTP445U/Alpine-KTP-445U-Power-Pack.htm


Same difference as the kicker amp

 

i am going to end up doing the same I feel. Looking/studying for an insane amount of time then it only takes a few hours to do the install. Good thing is I got a lot of time on my hands though!

The more I look into this the more I think it’s better just to wait a bit and get a new head unit with an amp and new speakers. For as much as these vehicles cost I’d think they would come with some half decent sound systems.

 

Easiest place to cut corners....it LOOKS nice...lipstick on a pig. For a while there auto manufacturers were offering premium sound upgrades for many vehicles but with mass production why bother...

 

This company makes a system to just replace the speakers and you can also add a subwoofer or even a complete system.

I am thinking about going to them. You can find them here: https://oemaudioplus.com/toyota/tcd1600/

 

Yeah I get the cutting price aspect for sure but I also gotta think that with how many are sold they could get a better deal with mass buying a bunch of half decent stuff for $300-$400 more. And they would still make a good profit. But whatever. Is the stock head unit and speakers worth anything after taking them out? Hoping maybe to get some of the money back from them in the future.

 

I got new speakers from crutchfield. I changed the front tweeters and the front door speakers. Noticable imporvment in sound quality, but they still seem a little underpowered. Thinking of adding a key amp for them. I do not have rear speakers (sr access cab), but also add a small 10" woofer for bass. Does the trick for me.

 

Something to think about. If you change your head unit you may then loose the use of your steering wheel audio controls.

 

I never use them anyways.

 

That’s next for me I think. I have a sub and amp and when I made the harness for the key I made preamp taps off of the front speakers. I just need to make the time to do the work.

 

Depends on your budget and goal. I have the base unit in my dash ( and pants )

I put Kickers in front doors and dash and they were 100 times better for me. Like $250 I think, 1 hour and plug and play. No where near the performance of the Mark Levinson in my Lexus, but puts out some Db with fairly low distortion and some bass for what it is.

 

This is where I was...Access cab with no rears and I didn't want a subwoofer taking up my doggie space...
You get plenty of full sound with nice tweeters, crossovers and mid range woofers...
I got marine rated speakers in case of any door moisture issues...
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_107MM6502/Polk-Audio-MM-6502.html

Some people (Me) hang onto the OEM to maybe put back in in the event you are trading in or selling the vehicle...or it's being totaled and you must have a radio in the dash



BTW I made my own tweeter mounts from a plastic cutting board..
https://www.tacomaworld.com/media/door-tweeter-template.527922/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/media/use-a-2-inch-hole-saw.527923/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/media/top-view-tweeter-bracket.527926/