2021 Limited - the JBL system is underwhelming.

New 2021 Limited Nightshade with JBL and whoa, this system sucks. I can understand how some think it sounds good, but I think it's from lack of a better reference point. The total harmonic distortion (THD) must be off the charts on this embarrassment. The Mark Levinson on my 2003 Lexus sounds amazing and it's almost 20 years old. The sad part is the execution on the head unit is excellent, but the sound - wow, it sucks.

What happened to the good old days when radios had a standard form factor? I had to search for a dash adapter, only one company makes one, and it's backordered (no surprise, these days).

Has anyone gone for a *gasp* standard double-din replacement and had any luck?

 

The 4Runner is a box meant to carry passengers and cargo and the speaker location is optimized for interior space and the fact that this thing is essentially a truck not a premium luxury car or SUV, so you are already working against good audio quality with crappy speaker placement.

 

And, even after many years of the JBL system, there are ZERO upgrades for it. I just don’t get it!!!

 

How about the OEM system?
https://oemaudioplus.com/toyota/4runner/

 

Do you have a setup at home, like a higher-end record player and amp?

 

For sure its a good sound system (i've experienced it on ES350) but even if we get that on our 4Rs we will compare to another system. Either way none will come close when we come home and listen to music on our home theater systems right? I don't have a fancy system but a normal Martin Logan Motion setup . I love the warm and clear sound. When I get too much into it I plug a guitar to the mixer and play along using headphones (else neighbors will call police).

 

You should hear runners w/out jbl

 

Worst sound ever was in a base model stock 2021 civic I had for a month. It was disgusting

 

A 'Runner, no mater what sound system you put in it, is not a live end dead end listening room. It's meant to get you from here to there, on or off road. It's not a symphony hall or home theater.

 

Whatever, I rather like it in my ‘21 PRO. It’s way better than the non JBL that’s in the ORP I had anyway.

 

I have jbl and after adding an after market HU, sounds much better.

 

Were you able to use the stock mic? All steering controls work?
In the past when I change HU I had to use the ugly mic came with it and steering controls also don't work 100%. (Not on 4runner though).

 

I am fine with the JBL system in my 2021 Pro!

 

All oem controls work. I’m using the mic on the HU

 

I went crazy with my system. Head unit, all new speakers, amps and subs. 3200 watts RMS. Custom a pillars,all new speaker wire, dual batteries and a hot rodded alternator.
Have you thought about just getting a sub and amp? makes a huge difference. The issue with swapping stock speakers with aftermarket is most are going to be 4ohm and the stock ones are 2ohm so you would lose some volume.

 

The non-JBL 4Runner have much easier options to upgrade their speakers and electronics with plug and play options. Everything I have read about the JBL system is that you cannot just add speakers and get an improvement. Something to do with the amp and that everything is run at 2ohms….

All of the stereo system upgrades that people write about in these forums are in regards to NON-JBL systems. It’s a bummer…

 

There are many, many threads on ways to improve the performance of the 4Runners OEM systems (JBL/Non-JBL). My home 2 channel system cost much more than my 4Runner Limited / TRD ORP and with modest investments I can get my 4Runner's where the audio is really quite good. First and foremost you need to sound dampen the truck. Bang on the doors and you'll hear a very tin can echo...you don't have go nuts, just some butyl rubber sound dampening works wonders - next on non-3rd row trucks - pull up the carpet and styrofoam add a little butyl rubber sound dampening and cut a Dynamat Dynapad to fit and put the styrofoam and carpet back. You now have quieted the truck by at least 3db - which is a doubling of volume.

Next I change the speakers - these are my speakers of choice.

Dash: Kenwood Excelon

$79 KFC-X2C 2.5" Mid Range Factory Replacement Car Speakers, 120 Watts Max Power (Pair)

KFC-X2C (4ohm low efficiency - 83db) these help pull down the front sound stage a bit and are very natural sounding - you'll remove some of the harshness of the reflective sounds waves coming off the front glass. On non-JBL systems you need to use the supplied capacitor to cut off the bass, on JBL systems the DSP unit controls the frequencies so no capacitor is needed.

Front Doors: Infinity Kappa 693M - (3ohm high efficiency - 94db) these are a great choice for the non-JBL systems as the system sends fully frequencies to these drivers - the 3 way speakers add some great presence. In the JBL system they basically only get used as a woofer but I still use this speaker as I hear some slight other frequencies (I think the DSP unit has a 12db slope)

Rear Doors and Hatch: Infinity Kappa 62ix - (2.5ohm high efficiency - 95db) these are just an all around good choices for the back of the truck, smooth silk dome tweeters and good efficiencies - they help balance the sound stage towards the rear with out over using the fader. I do run these with the 3db boost switch on.

To do these upgrades it's about $650 and it really makes the truck sound very good - it's not going have rock concerts volume levels - but for me it's audio signature is very good. I am pretty picky bring along over 9,500 FLAC songs on my USB drive - I can't even listen the compress satellite radio music. Folks that ride in my 4Runner will typically comment how nice the sound is.

Of course the other extreme is a complete $3-6k audio make over!

 

Or you could just go to lots of live concerts, run hundreds of thousands of rounds through a variety of firearms, and learn to play with explosives. That’s what I did for 47 years and now I couldn’t care less.

 

For me pretty much any sound system in a vehicle is ok. As long as it doesn't distort, some vehicles I've had to turn the bass down for that.
At home it's a totally different story, it has to sound perfect to me. I don't have high end system at home but it's at the point where it would take a ton more money for me to tell the difference.

 

I can hear myself sing at the highest volume... rip I don't sing well.

 

You're in for a lot more than you may think if you go aftermarket. Here's my thread:

 

best part is it looks like an 9” oem stereo but It runs native android apps, YouTube, Netflix and CarPlay.

 

Yep.
Head unit/source, maestro/idata link, amplifier(s), shit ton of second skin deadener, door and dash drivers, dsp. Rear sub enclosure and subs are on the way. Dual battery and higher voltage charging alt, is a added bonus all around. I had a thread on here somewhere.
Best of luck with whatever direction you choose mate. I know for me, music,.... welp, music is one of the few things, I absolutely love. Calms my soul. Better than therapy. I hope heaven is a drive, on a cool night, windows down, with music rollin.....
Best of luck.

 

Did you sound dampen over the moister barrier or did you remove it first.

 

I w as really hoping I could just add sound dampener and insulation through the vehicle, drop in new speakers, and a new sub into the factory locations and get get a bit more performance…

But I don’t think that works as well for the JBL system as it does for the regular systems…

 

Focal makes a drop in 2-way component set. But it is a 6.5" and a tweeter which means you have to change the wiring at the dash as the doors and dash run in series.
Id say pick a price point and work from there.
Sound deadening is a start. especially will help with midbass response in doors.
As you can see I sound deadened every square inch, Roof, floors doors etc. Took a ton of time but I have zero rattles. 1 layer on door skin, one layer on inner door skin and layer on door panel.
I think you would see a huge improvement if you sound deadened behind the door speakers.
You can always replace the factory sub and get a small sub amp and splice the OEM signal from the sub input into the high level inputs on amp then out to sub. Basically getting almost the same amount of power to the new sub as the OEM system has total. You can do it pretty cheap.
Im in deep deep deep with my system over 10k at this point.
I could go on and on.

 

Please post more on what you’ve added. I would love to learn about the components you used form speakers, to Amps, to the sub!

Thanks!!

 

I went over the top boss.

 

Just be a bit aware, using the oem source, you may or may not see frequencies you want. Many lower low end response as volume goes up. Also, they may cut frequencies to locations. Dash, vs doors. So just simply changing drivers, you may still see a shitty pass band.

I as well, could go on. And on, and on, and on, like my other music lover up there.

 

Head unit Alpine ILX-F309
Zapco HDSP-Z16 AD-16A as my DSP
front stage amp
ZAPCO 160.6 LX running
Tweeters Morel Mt350
Mids Morel CDM-880
Midbass Hybrid Audio Legatia X6
Sub amp Kicker CX1800.1 at 2ohms powering
2 Adire audio Brahma mk2 12" subs ina na Adire audio sealed enclosure
1/0 gauge ran from secondary battery XS power D3400 XS series all the way back to distribtution block
Primary battery is an Odyssey group 31
Alternator had the 120 stator replaced with a 240 amp stator
FUll sound deadening floor to ceiling
14 gauge Speaker wire ran from front speakers back to amp


CX1800.1