Beat Sonic DSP/AMP thingee

TLDR; anyone have experience with this thing? Worth it?

I've built mild sound systems in many vehicles over the years, but I'm finding as I get older that I'm not about a lot of the work involved, but would still like something that doesn't sound terrible. I'm no audiophile, but would like a sound system to enjoy while cruising or whatever. It might be important to note that my hearing ain't what it once was, so crazy, amazing sound isn't what I'm shooting for.

I'm also trying to keep the OEM headunit. Yes, I know. If it comes to replacing it, I'd like it to be a last resort type of thing. I had a Tacoma before the 4runner. Said Tacoma had the Kenwood DMX1037S in it. I have never enjoyed a headunit as much as that one. The Tacoma also had the OEM+ set-up. Only issue, is that I felt it lacked a little in the bass department. Other than that, it was great.

With the 4runner, I'm trying to do this as cheaply and easily as possible. I looked at the big name DSPs and wasn't keen on all the wiring and price. And that doesn't always include a four-way amp for the main stage. I can and have made my own plug and play harnesses in the past, but just not there this time around.

Found the Beat Sonic AMP/DSP combo. The wattage is kind of low, but I think I can be okay with it if I have efficient enough speakers. My favorite part is the plug and play harness. A 15-20 installation strikes me as glorious.

Future-wise, I'll probably pick up one of the Trail Grid speaker replacement sets (I'm local to them), and probably the JL Stealthbox. I'm limited what I can do in the rear because of the drawer system I have. And a good, mildly driven 10" woofer is typically my sweet spot.

Sorry, for the length. Wanted to head off some of the comments, I'm sure to get.

Just wanted to know if this thing is worth the coin. Would really hate to drop $500 on it and realize it was a huge mistake.

Anywhats, thanks for the replies in advance.

 

If you keep your expectations in check, the Beat sonic is fantastic. It's USP is it's plug and play functionality.
You music will play louder, crisper and with deeper bass than what the stock head unit will ever manage.
I liked it and maybe will get one eventually for my infinity speakers that I swapped.

 

Cool. Yeah, I'm not expecting to shed a tear when I turn the headunit on for the first time, just add a little better to the whole thing. Thanks.

Oh! One more question. I see RCA plugs on it. I'm assuming they're outputs? To add amplifiers and such?

 

I think they were Aux level RCA inputs.

 

Thanks again. I'll drop them an email and see what they say.

 

@crashdb ……did you move forward with this? Considering this myself for gaining an easy slight improvement like lc200 described.

 

I did. I actually just finished installing it a few minutes ago. I can't really comment on sound yet, but the install was very easy. Just be sure you T the white plugs in right next to the small black plug you're T-ing in.

A few things they don't mention on the site. There are three RCA outputs on the unit that allow for the addition of separate amplifiers. And a remote wire for said amplifiers. So that makes easy. Lastly, there's a mobile app and PC program to mess with settings. I haven't gotten that far yet, but it's nice to have options.

 

I noticed on their website they now list a new model (ENA-2T3), so my guess it that is the one you got and the things you mentioned are new features. Might be handy to be able to further tailor the sound to one's liking.

After you had some time listening would appreciate your thoughts on it. I am leaning toward getting this.

 

Absolutely. I have a couple of ten-hour drives coming up.

As a side note, part of the install was the Kicker speaker upgrade from Trail Grid Pro. So results with OEM may be different.

 

Are you running after market speakers? I swapped mine to Infinity reference all around and I am skeptical about beatsonic since they require a 4ohm load and the Infinity's are 3ohm.
The last thing I want is a heated amp sitting behind my dash with no cooling outlet.

 

Yeah. The Kicker replacements from Trail Grid Pro. They're 4 ohm as I remember. I'll try and remember to put a hand on the Beat Sonic and see if it's getting hot.

 

If the Kickers are 4ohms, you are fine. The amp should take the load and really open the kickers up.

 

Back from the wheeling trip. I'm a wee bit hesitant to detail my impression of this thing because of the Kicker speakers. Guess, I'll do it anyway. Important to keep a few things about the Kickers in mind. Kicker considers the 6x9s and 2.75s a component speaker set. Other than the included "crossovers," I don't really agree. I'm really only saying this because the 6x9s have no highs whatsoever. It's all mid-bass and bass. The mids and highs are being handled by the 2.75s.

First. Installation is easy. It's all plug and play. I think it took 30 minutes for me to do and I actually ran the wiring a little better than Beat-Sonic's install video. Right now, I have it chucked under the driver's seat. Once I start in on the low-end fill, I'll get an amp rack and mount everything nicely.

Overall, there seems to be increased clarity at higher volumes. There's definitely much more bass, and if you're into music that's less bass-heavy you might not feel the need for a sub. It's very close for me.

There are a little more highs. It's not overly bright, but they're there now, whereas before there wasn't much. Sound-wise, my biggest complaint is that the mids are right in your face. It can a little much at times. I actually had to turn them all the way down on the headunit. It's better, but on certain tracks it reminds me. I also just found out today that Kicker had a bad batch of the 2.75s and I'm being sent new ones. I didn't realize it until yesterday that the driver's side speaker had very poor sound quality. If replacements make the mids more in my face, I may have to try some adjustments through the interface (I still haven't tried this).

Here's my biggest complaint: The majority of the volume is still in the front speakers. It drives me crazy. When I'm camping, I like to leave the tailgate open and listen to tunes. I have to crank the volume up and move the fader all the way rear to do this still. I guess I'll just continue to deal with it. I suppose there's only so much you can do with 25x4w.

I think the thing is way overpriced. I knew that when I made the purchase. The plug and play aspect is what won me over. I'm not a young buck anymore and don't look forward to tearing vehicles apart trying to wire stuff up.

 

I think the premium price is on convenience rather than audible improvement.

Sure it ll make your speakers open up a bit more but nothing can beat the ease of just removing the head unit, connect the 4 connectors and off you go. The longest time is probably deciding where to place amp.

I spoke to Eric and told him i have 3 ohms speakers and would not like a heated amp tucked behind my dash with no air supply.
He said it would be okay as long as the gain was at 50%. But I am skeptical and it is quite expensive.

 

Some time ago the 4R had a "party mode" switch for just this problem. It was designed to be used when listening from outside the vehicle. I don't suppose you asked BeatSonic about the bizarre frequency output from the Toyota head end unit and whether they have made any attempt to correct it? Does the Beatsonic unit have a feature to correct this? I don't mind the built in loudness contouring that Toyota seems to have built in, but the rear speaker frequency output is ridiculous. I asked both Kicker and OEM Audio, and they had no idea it was like this. The rear channels, as you pointed out, also are much lower volume, which also is ok with me as all I really want is a little rear fill, but they do seem to have taken it to an extreme. I suppose one option is to use an amp with higher gain on the rear, but that's sort of pointless unless the response below can be fixed. I don't really want to add amps anyway. I guess one option to sort-of deal with the frequency response below is to just use a plain 6.5" speaker with no tweeter in the rear.





As for adjusting the volume of the dash speakers relative to the front door speakers, it can be done with resistors using L-pad values so the impedence seen by the crossovers is unchanged. If you use only a series resistor, you have to change the value of the crossover capacitor.

https://soundcertified.com/l-pad-calculator/

 

Couldn't tell you what they've done. It's way beyond my knowledge level.

One of these days I'll download their software and see what's going on. It's been bottom of the list currently, as the 4runner isn't my daily. I was also trying to figure out what was going on with my dash speakers.

 

Today I finally got to playing with the software. It's pretty easy to use.

I was able to improve some things I had issues with. Notice I said improve. I got some more sound out of the rear speakers by messing with some settings. Also set the crossover for them. It's better, but not great One other thing I noticed is that the "sweet spot" was set for the passenger front. Moved that and they sound quality improved some.

All in all, it's better, but not amazing.

 

Now that I have replaced my front speakers (they still need high-pass crossovers) I turned my attention to the rear channels. I opened one of the rear doors and put my ear against the speaker, which is a cheap single cone driver. It is absolutely screeching with lower treble. It makes me cringe like fingernails on a chalkboard. Putting a coaxial speaker in the rear door would be a bad idea I think. A single cone speaker screeches enough as it is. The measured response someone posted directly from the head end unit looks like this EQ disaster:



I suppose they were trying to use EQ to compensate for the natural inability of a 6" single cone driver to reproduce treble. What it does produce beams directly across the floor due to the diameter of the driver focusing the high frequencies. A bizarre approach.

Is there any setting in the BeatSonic thing to try to flatten this out?

 

I believe so. There's an extensive EQ in the software. The problem you might run into is that it seems the dash, rear door, and tailgate speakers are the same channel. Or at least that's what it sounded like when. I was playing around.

 

The front channels are the dash speakers and front door 6x9 speakers wired in parallel. If you fade all the way to the front on the head end unit, you should only hear those four speakers. Left channel is left dash + left front door. Right channel is right dash + right front door.

The rear channels are the back door speakers and the tailgate speakers wired in series. If you fade all the way to the rear, you should only hear those four speakers. Left channel is left tailgate + left rear door. Right channel is right tailgate + right rear door.

If yours is as you described, there may be a wiring issue. I would check using the fader control and balance control on the head end unit to verify everything is ok.

 

Yup. That's what I thought, too. No wiring issue that I'm aware of. Nothing has been touched. Maybe it's something the DSP does. Moving the fader to the rear fades out the front door speakers. Even verified it through the software. It allows you to mute a channel at a time.

Unless my hearing is way outta whack (which isn't out of the realm of possibility), I'm certain the way I heard things.

 

That is really, really weird. However, the frequency response output by the head end unit to the rear channels is almost useless, so maybe they simply don't use it and are using only the left/right front outputs from the head end unit to power everything. This gives me some ideas for my system.

 

I recommend emailing Beat Sonic. They're very responsive and have far more information than I do (I would hope). I'm not an audio expert by any means, and on top of that I have partial hearing loss in one ear. And if you really want a reason to doubt me, I only drive the 4runner occasionally and the car I daily has really caused me to hate the audio in the 4runner more.