Audio System Upgrades, Advice Needed! Brand, Specs, etc.

Hi Everyone,
I just bought my first 2018 Toyota 4Runner Limited. After a couple weeks of driving, I believe my front door speaker is blown, still works but has a lot of popping going on. So, I'm thinking about upgrading the audio system (not the head unit...yet), does any one have any insight on good speakers to install (6x9 and tweeters for the front & 6.5" for the rear and tailgate)?
I'm looking for crisp sound, good bass and mids. Any advice helps.

 

Welcome to the forum, here’s a start. If you use the search bar at the top right you will get plenty of info. https://www.4runners.com/threads/oem-audio-in-2022-orp-speakers-only.25436/#post-339716

 

If you have the Limited, you have the JBL system which means there is VERY LITTLE information on upgrades!! However, anything can be done if you really want to! Just remember, most of the articles or posts you read on here about audio upgrades have to do with the non-JBL systems. What you have is very, very different!

Good luck with the upgrades, and please post what you decide to do here for those people in the future who would like to do it as well! Thanks!

 

Big music dude here. It is a must for my rig.
Jbl or not, you still have the same ole 6x9's in the door, same space in the dash corners, and and 6.5's in the hatch. Nothing different there. Direct swaps, would be super easy.

Not sure exactly what you want to do, but, i swapped the 6x9's out for 6.5's in the doors, and the dash tweets for some 4" coaxial's. Theres so much room for activities in the dash location, just sticking a 1" dome, for me, seemed silly. I also added 47 tons of dampener while in the door skins, and in the rear hatch. (I am doing the roof soon as well, big believer in deadener)
Dont know your budget, but, there are a million great drivers out there (I went with Satori Egyptian for my mids, and Hertz and ScanSpeak for the tweets/coax) from lame and tame, to wild, and all in between. I chucked the oem source, for a after market, and also added 2 amplifiers and a dsp. I am loving the output, as well as getting a real nice band width, with some tweaking using REW OS, and UMIK-1 for testing. Nothing is hard at all, removing the door skins and such. Just takes some time, and a few beers. Best of luck getting to where you wanna go, or whatever road you go down.
(Dunno how much i can help or not, but ask away if you need)

 

I went with the JL Audio C1-690 component setup in the doors and dash. A definite upgrade from OEM (non - JBL), but probably not super high fidelity. I used the original dash speakers (with the cones removed) as a bracket for the tweeters.

https://www.crutchfield.com/

Crutchfield is a good source of information. They have fitment guides, reviews, and usually include any necessary hardware/adapters you'll need.

What did you use as a dampener? I might like to add some to my front doors.

 

Do we have a write up anywhere of the + and - wire colors for the JBL speakers in the dash and doors?

 

I was under the impression that the JBL speakers are 2 Ohm. My non JBLs were all 4 Ohm.

 

If nothing else, it might be marked on the speakers themselves.

Otherwise, maybe the wire colors will be a giveaway. Any idea what color they are?

 

Actually in a Uber on the way to Costa Mesa to pickup my 4R after having them install Arc Audio’s PS8 Pro processor and needing to replace my blown Focal Universal 10 with a JL 12W3.

On my setup, I have done Dynamat all around, Morel Ultima Studio’s (F/R), Morel amplifier to drive said speakers, and a Gladden amplifier to drive the subwoofer.

The Arc was about $2000 and from what they say, the sound has been utterly transformed which it should be considering the price.
Very curious to see the results in a few mins.

 

For sure. My car is currently chock full of stuff from my old condo, which the installers had to move around.
We are moving to a house Friday so I will be able to do that.
This is the shallow mount Focal that I just replaced. Need to call them as I need to send it in for warranty as it lasted a month.

It really sounds amazing. The ported W3 with the Gladden utterly rocks.
Haven’t taken shots of the amps and actually do not known where they put the Arc.

 

gonna follow....I've got a 2019 SR5...honestly doesn't sound horrible for a stock system but I feel like it could be a little better...not sure where to start though.

 

Here is a link to a review of the processor: https://www.pasmag.com/technology/test-reports-reviews/arc-audio-ps8-pro-dsp-processor-review
It really is pretty amazing.

 

As my 4R is finally mostly free of stuff, here are pics of the Morel Amplifier, Gladden amplifier, and the Arc Audio DSP.

Swapped out the JL 10W3 for a 12 inch that I noticed when having my DSP optimized being shocked at the weight of it.

While I really had hoped to make as little of a footprint as possible with the box, the system sounds so good that I simply could not live with less than a 12 inch woofer and of course worst case I can temporarily take out the box when needing the space.

The sound quality is so damn good that it almost brings tears to my eyes. The DSP, while really expensive made a simply profound difference. Really am lucky to live near a top tier car audio joint in Henderson’s in Costa Mesa.

 

I just wonder how good we can get the sound to be in a JBL equipped 4Runner - I just don’t want to “add” any subwoofer boxes or anything intrusive. I have a family of 4 (all tall people) and two dogs that need to fit in the vehicle… so, I would have to ge the best performance I could out of a JL Audio 8W3 in the stock location for base, and hope the 6x9’s and 6.5’s can fill in the rest…

 

While the 12 sounds utterly fantastic, eventually I will have a shop fabricate a box to fit where the JBL OEM goes. The box I have now definitely takes up some space.
Here or at T4R, someone had a very slick install with Focal’s and custom fabricated box.

I cannot recommend enough the ARC DSP I got aided immensely by a top tier retailer. While the tuning cost quite a bit on top of all the amplifiers, sound deadening, and speakers, it simply does not seem possible to get around the compromises inherent to the factory h/u without DSP.

 

For me,... a DSP is a absolute must. I wont have any system, with out one. I cant totally see the average dude, that just replaces oem speakers and says "man, i replaced my oem drivers, and the difference is NIGHT AND DAY", this dude, again, i can see, not needing or wanting one. Me? I wont have the simplest system, and not have the control a dsp provides/gives me. Then again, i wont run drivers off a oem deck, ... ever either so,....

To each their own,...


"For the love of audio"

 

I know you said that you're not putting in a new audio system *yet* but these guys have a lot of good info posted relating to the headunit wiring: https://www.autoharnesshouse.com/mycar

 

I'd eventually like to upgrade my speakers all around, and possibly add a subwoofer, if I can figure out a way to fit one in without taking up too much space.

What's the purpose of a DSP? And, what is the tuning process?

Would something like this be worthwhile?

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_109DSP4086/JBL-DSP4086.html

I like the idea of having more power to feed the door speakers. I have JL C1-690's in the doors now, but they were chosen for efficiency, not fidelity. If I had more power, I figured I could step up to better speakers without sacrificing output.

 

For the benefit of others I’m just going to copy/paste my comments on this topic from elsewhere.

So something you need to realize is that the biggest jump in car audio upgrades is the stuff you have already done. Replacing the stereo, speakers and adding an amplifier is the biggest sound quality jump you will make. Everything else has a smaller and more subtle effect, and the return on investment becomes greatly diminished.

The harder you try, the harder it is to get satisfying results because your expectations with every upgrade is that you’ll finally reach audio Valhalla and finally, FINALLY! dine on honeydew and drink the milk of paradise. It’s just not like that and you have to check yo-self or you’ll end up like a dragon chasing junkie.

Now, that’s not to say there aren’t REASONS to add a DSP, there are. You get yourself into a whole new level of experimentation and control. The difference being you have just gone beyond the point where you can make adjustments by ear, and you need to have a much deeper understanding of audio, and the accompanying equipment because you’ve begun making changes that are not really audible.

What you get with an external DSP:

1. Advanced crossover settings
2. Independent EQ for each channel.
3. Better channel balancing controls.
4. Mapping/routing options.

I can’t speak for all DSPs but with the JL Audio TwK you get presets that you can switch between on the fly so you can A/B compare different tunes/settings, as well as a valet mode that can be activated to protect your system from assholes at the shop or kids going to prom or whatever, or you can use it to activate a preset that has a time alignment for when you have a passenger.

While you can have more of these features, there’s just a LOT more things to fuck up too. It’s really easy for a novice driver to crash an Indy car and you have to be mindful of that.

If you are determined to go down this path I recommend that you get an RTA and learn how to use it. One with FFT would be helpful for phase and time alignments but even a simple spectrum analyzer will have value when diving into this much deeper level of audio.

It’s a time sink, it’s a money sink, and the gains are incremental. Keep these things in mind.

 

I just went ahead and upgraded all of my speakers to the Kicker KS series, and I love them. It's a night and day difference! Maybe in the future, I will look into an amp for a little more kick, but for now, it's well. Went with this set: https://trailgridpro.com/products/kicker-8-speaker-4runner/

Cheers,

Sean

 

I appreciate your reply!

I still have the stock head unit, and haven't yet replaced anything beyond the front door and dash speakers.

Would you recommend replacing the head unit first, and then moving ahead from there?

Or, would adding a DSP, and changing out the rest of the flimsy OEM speakers produce better results?

I'm satisfied, but not blown away, by the JL's. What I want is a little bit more power. I wonder if just having an amplifier, with better control over EQ's, might be enough.

I'm sure I'll replace the rest of the speakers, regardless. I'm just trying to figure out the most logical next step.

 

Be careful with audio upgrades @Thatbassguy.

One time Cartoys installed new headunit and speakers to my buddy's Mazda that came with Bose sound system and it was a disaster. When no music is played we had a annoying hissing sound. Only volume controls on the steering worked. It was not able to use the stock mic so had a cheap looking mic that stick out from the headliner. Ever since I'm scared of audio upgrade on cars other than speakers.

 

It sounds like the moral of that story is to never let Cartoys touch your vehicle.

I've heard horror stories, as well.

Back in my late teens, I used to do head unit and speaker upgrades for friends. I even installed amps and subwoofers in my Supra, MR2, and 2nd gen 4Runner.

But, with all of the new technology and features, I'll certainly be doing some research before I mess with this one.

 

Wish they were easy as upgrading home audio system. It would be a dream to have a trend car audio be easy to modify like home audio so car manufactures don't have much overhead for audio quality.

These headunits seems to be a hot mess. Even the HVAC syspem connects to headunit (per the headunit firmware update)? That is totally unnecessary and not Toyota like IMO.

 

I'm not a fan of everything being integrated into the stereo. My work Chevy is like that. I don't think my '19 is quite as bad.

One concern about swapping the head unit is what to do with the stupid knobs on the dash. As much of a POS the stock head unit is, I'd consider just adding an amp and possibly one of those fancy DSP devices to avoid to avoid the issues that could come with swapping it out.

 

Kicker has an entire speaker upgrade for the 4runner now that's plug and play. It's on trailgridpro

 

Has anyone done this upgrade? I’m considering it along with one of their Sony headunits to get carplay back, the 7000 version puts out 45w x 4 vs I think 20 or 25w for the larger screened model, though it doesn’t have the HDMI port, which isn’t a deal breaker for me, plus it’s cheaper.

 

I actually did. It was super easy to replace. Cliff and his guys do wiring harnesses for you and make it truly plug and play.

With regards to the sound, it is night and day. It is amazingly better. If you're not using a amp, you will have to keep the volume at about 15-20 to notice, but that's where it usually stays anyway.

Cheers,

Sean

 

Did you keep the stock head unit?