Head unit upgrade

i have a 17 crewmax sr5, wanting to upgrade my sound system. how much better does an aftermarket head unit sound than factory? i’m assuming they produce higher wattage. my thoughts are to do head unit first, run the proper cables for an amp, then upgrade speakers and add subs later… suggestions? thanks in advance.

 

Loads better. Here's a thread where a bunch of us were able to score a good deal on an Alpine or Kenwood headunit. Lots of good information in there on installation.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/alpine-ilx-f511-game-changer.121157/page-59#post-3648020

 

I recently installed a Sony XAV-9000ES in my 2021 SR5 as part of a 100% system overhaul.

What's your budget? Replacing the stock head unit is easy and depending on the replacement you go with you'll probably retain all factory functions as well as adding some cool new ones like wireless carplay/android auto, ability to add a front camera easily etc. To retain steering wheel controls and stuff there are a couple of options, namely an iDatalink Maestro unit or a Crux wiring harness. Both have their pros and cons, but main difference is price and features. Depending on your budget and technical prowess, want to give a quick shoutout to the folks over at TrailGridPro. I'm in no way affiliated with them, just a happy customer and it was actually cheaper to get my head unit through them than Crutchfield and it came pre-wired plug-n-play. I realize that might be out of other folks budget though.

Generally speaking aftermarket head units don't usually pump out a ton more wattage than stock. A new headunit will definitely be an upgrade as far as sound quality goes though, but depending on the head unit you may lose some volume slightly (there are a few variables at play). You'll also gain the ability to run RCA outputs to easily add an aftermarket amp. Something like an Alpine with a powerpack would be an easy way to bump up your wattage without needing to add an amp, but if you're looking to add a sub/amp, really any head unit from the big brands would do well.

If you're looking to go down the rabbit hole, starting with the head unit is a good place. Down the line adding something like a 5 channel amp, or a 4 channel and a monoblock is fairly easily done by removing the factory amp and buying a wire harness to interface at the factory location and use the factory speaker wire. You can easily ground an amp at the factory location and fabricate or purchase an amp rack that fits under the passenger seat. Running power wire is actually pretty easy, there's a firewall grommet on both sides (passenger side is a little easier to access at least in my truck).

For speaker options, your truck should be like mine and have a center speaker, a speaker in each dash corner, a woofer in each door, and a tweeter in the rear doors. You can run component speakers throughout, and mount your new tweeters where the dash corner speakers are, or you can buy the sail panels from a JBL equipped truck and mount the tweeters there. Some people decide to go coaxial throughout for ease of install, or coaxial in the rear since they're just for rear fill. I went component throughout. If you decide to go component throughout, one thing to keep in mind is that the center dash speaker and the dash corner speakers are wired to run off of the head unit directly, whereas all the other door woofers and tweeters in the rear are wired to run off of the factory amp, meaning you have to run new speaker wire to either the dash corners or the new sail panel locations, but other than that you can use the existing factory wiring (so long as you're not installing some whopping speakers that are high wattage).

For sub options, while there's not a ton of room behind the seats, there's enough to install 1-2 shallow mount subs. Premade empty boxes exist from a few different brands. Can also have either the rear single passenger seat or the 60% part of the center/driver side flipped up and install a sub box there, but then you're losing out on seating. I built a box that more or less acts like a center console extension and fits between the center console and rear seat. At some point in the future I will probably switch to a single shallow mount 10 or 12 behind the rear passenger seat.

Happy to answer any questions about the install process as it's super fresh in my mind. Also happy to help answer any questions about gear/provide links within budget constraints. Whichever route you choose to go, you'll definitely appreciate the upgraded features/sound!

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I had a friend gift me a Sony XAV-AX1000 head unit. I figured i'd throw it in just to try it out. Is there a specific instal kit i need to purchase? Where could i source the wiring harness for this unit? Thanks again.

 

Nice congrats man! I'm loving my Sony so far and I'm sure you will too! As for wiring/install, you'll need a couple things. I'll post them below with links/descriptions.

Dash Trim Kit - There are a few options. I'm using the silver/black Metra one and the fit/finish is pretty darn close to factory. I know some people have used others like the Daisaita one or Taco Tunes offers a silver or black option (people on this forum despise Taco Tunes but I've had good luck, to each their own). If you order an install kit from Crutchfield, they include the Metra one.

Amazon.com: Metra 99-8252 Multi Installation Kit for Toyota Tundra 2014 and Up,Silver : Automotive

Amazon.com: "Dasaita 2Din Dash Kit for Toyota Tundra 2014-2021 w/Metal Brackets & Multi Installation Kit - Upgrade Your Truck's Audio & Tech!" : Automotive


For wiring, again, there are a few different routes you can go. Crutchfield offers a few different options at different price points that retain certain features or ditch them. I'd like to take a second to point out a few things you might hear other people talk about in terms of radios and features etc. You might hear or read about a "Maestro" unit. While the Sony XAV-1000 is a great unit, it's just slightly too old to have an iDatalink connector (required for a Maestro). No worries though as it will still definitely be an upgrade over the stock head unit. The other couple of things I'll point out are retaining the factory usb plug in the lower part of you center dash (near the cigarette lighter etc.). Again, just due to be a slightly older head unit, the XAV-1000 doesn't appear to have a way to retain this. If you have a factory USB outlet down there, I can probably look up and figure out how to retain it by re-wiring it to your fuse panel using an add-a-circuit. Another option would be getting one of those USB chargers that plug into the cigarette lighter socket.



The Crutchfield options are here:










You can also purchase everything from AutoHarnessHouse for super reasonable prices. If going through AutoHarnessHouse, you'll need to buy the dash trim kit seperately. As for what to order for them, see the links below for full descriptions etc.:

Toyota Stereo Adapters (2013-2018) - Tundra, Tacoma, 4Runner, Camry (autoharnesshouse.com)

Sony Double-Din Install - Toyota Tacoma and Tundra (autoharnesshouse.com)




Down the line when you're ready to go to an aftermarket amp, you'll have a couple of options on how to wire things up as well. The easiest/most high fidelity option would probably be to run new RCA cables from your new head unit, to the new amp you'll purchase down the line. This would carry signal from your head unit to your new amp, and then on the output side of the amp, you'd simple get a harness that would plug into the factory wiring and have bare wires on the other end to plug into your new amp. Like this one from AutoHarnessHouse:
Toyota Entune Amp Upgrade for Tundra and Tacoma (autoharnesshouse.com)


Either Crutchfield or AutoHarnessHouse have great customer support and will be willing to verify/answer questions to make sure you are getting everything you need. Crutchfield is kind of the gold standard for shipping times, customer support etc., but AutoHarnessHouse is also top notch.
My recommendation would be to purchase everything from AutoHarnessHouse. They have detailed descriptions of everything you'll need to order on the 2 pages I linked above, as well as the add an amp harness for later on. While it might be a little more expensive (roughly $50 more when I added it up quickly) as opposed to Crutchfield, everything should be plug and play. I did a quick Google and it sounds like the Crux SWRTY-61N works like a charm for some people, but others have issues with it, specifically in regards to steering wheel controls. If you're not comfortable piecing the cart together yourself, you could always reach out to them at

inquiry@autoharnesshouse.com

and I'm sure they'd be more than happy to go through everything you'll need to purchase to keep your steering wheel controls and have everything be as simple as possible to install. Just be sure if you reach out to them to include the model of your head unit, and maybe a picture of the front and back so that they can verify things I mentioned above like not being able to retain the factory USB outlet.





Last thing, the guys over at TrailGridPro came up with their own 3D printed microphone mount for the Sony microphone. If your buddy didn't include the microphone, you could skip this step, or buy an aftermarket or OEM Sony One. The microphone mount from Trail Grid Pro is only $9 plus shipping. The mic itself is anywhere from $10 ("aftermarket" Amazon cheap one) or $40 for the "official" Sony one. I installed the Sony Mic that came with my head unit and the Trail Grid Mount in my truck and the call quality is great.

Mic Mount (installs up by sunglass holders), super easy to do, takes maybe 30 min to an hour: Sony Microphone Mount | '07-'21 Tundra – Trail Grid Pro

Sony Mic (this one will fit the Trail Grid mount perfectly): Amazon.com: OEM Sony Measurement Microphone Shipped With XAV712BT, XAV-712BT, XAVAX100, XAV-AX100, XAVAX1000, XAV-AX1000 : Electronics

Aftermarket mic (any Mic with a 3.5mm headphone jack will work but may not fit the Trail Grid Mount perfectly): Amazon.com: Microphone Car Mic Compatible for Sony XAV-712BT, XAV-AX100,XAV-AX1000,Xplode XA-MC10,DSX-S300BTX DSX-S310BTX MEX-BT5700U MEX-BT4700 MEX-BT5700U MEX-BT3900U XNV-660BT XNV-770BT XAV-72BT XAV-62BT : Electronics



I know this is a lot of info, and again, happy to help with any questions about any or all of this stuff!

 

Just changing out the HU was a substantial improvement in sound quality in my non-JBL 2019 system.

Not as good as adding thousands more dollars in subs, amps, and components, but good enough that (hopefully) I won't feel the need to do that anytime soon.

Plus I got the gauge pack which lets me monitor trans temps, I added a front camera, and it mirrors the screen of my Samsung S22 perfectly. YouTube, Netflix, Prime, Peacock, etc.

Yesterday on my way to go surfing I was watching the Olympic surfing.

 

Which HU is that?

 

Wow!! That is a TON of info, thank you so much. So, regarding the factory amplifier, is it recommended to by pass it and run the speakers off the HU? How do you by pass that? Hoping it's an easy process... Also, regarding the comment about the Sony being an older unit, i totally agree and am already looking at other options. In the end, my goal is to have a better HU with apple car play and my music, adding a sub box and amp down the road... I would like to keep all steering wheel functions and rear camera. Thanks again guys, y'all are awesome!!

 

I did this with the factory head unit still installed.
Removed factory amp and replaced it with the following.
No need to spend big money to get decent sound.

LC7i - Line out converter - https://www.audiocontrol.com/car-audio/factory-system-upgrade/lc7i/
Kenwood 801-5 Amplifier - https://www.kenwood.com/usa/car/excelon/x801-5/
Rockford Fosgate Sub - https://www.crutchfield.com/p_575R2S1X12/Rockford-Fosgate-R2S-1X12.html
Factory Amp Bypass Harness - https://autoharnesshouse.com/41112.html

Cost was around $475.00 Total

 

Kenwood DMX1057XR

 

OP has a gifted Sony XAV-1000 he can install, no need for a line output converter at this point, but excellent point that you don't need to spend a ton of money to get good sound. The biggest thing right now will be tying the Sony XAV-1000 into the rest of the factory system for now, until he upgrades the amp, speakers, and adds a sub.

To answer your question, for now you will want to keep the factory amplifier. Your Sony XAV-1000 has these specs for its internal amplifier:



Note that the speaker impedance section lists 4-8ohms. The problem here is that while the factory center speaker is 4 ohms, and the dash corner speakers are 6 ohms, the 4 speakers in the doors themselves are all 2 ohms. Powering them directly off of your new head unit will damage it. It's always okay to connect higher amperage speakers to a lower amperage stable amplifier, for example connecting 4 ohm speakers to a 2 ohm stable amplifier would be safe for the amp, you would just lose roughly 50% of the power/volume. The factory amp is 2 ohm stable, and the speakers it powers are 2 ohms. If you were to keep the factory amp and replace the speakers, you would likely buy 4 ohm speakers as the overwhelming majority of car speakers (besides subwoofers) run at 4 ohms. If you did that, again, you would just lose some output from the amp and in turn volume from the speakers. Here are pictures of all of the speakers in the truck to illustrate all of this:

The 2 dash corner speakers are 6 ohm and 13 watts.



The dash center speaker is odd in that it appears to be 8 ohm dual voice coil (usually seen in subs) wired in parallel (+ to + and - to -) which makes its amperage 4 ohms. The black cylinders you see on all the speakers are capacitors or "bass blockers" that prevent low damaging frequencies from going to the speaker:




Front doors are 2 ohm (important thing to note is the 2 ohm rating) 6x9 speakers:




The rear door speakers are 2 ohm ~6-1/2 speakers (again important to note the 2 ohm rating):






In short, you will want to keep the factory amp for now so that you don't damage your new head unit. Your new head unit will have wired Apple Car play via the USB slot on the front, which will also act as a charging port, so you won't really be losing your other USB charging port unless you want to charge something else when your phone is connected. If you want to keep factory steering wheel controls for now, you'll have to go either the Crux option from Crutchfield, or the various pieces from AutoHarnessHouse. The cheapest thing to do for now would be the Crux option from Crutchfield at $150. The unfortunate thing is that if/when you decide to get a new head unit down the road, the Crux harness may not work with it. I pulled up the Sony XAV-4000 on Crutchfield and for wiring it up with steering wheel controls, the only option they have listed uses a iDatalink Maestro RR unit (which are great, just another expense). I would recommend talking to the folks at AutoHarnessHouse and tell them:

Looking to install a Sony XAV-1000 for now. Some point in the future, would like to upgrade to a newer head unit. Would I be able to reuse the same wiring harnesses etc. purchased for the Sony XAV-1000?

It looks like rather than the Crux SWRTY-61N radio interface module that Crutchfield sells, they sell the Axxess ASWC-1. Judging from their plethora of notes, it seems as though if/when you upgraded to a newer head unit, you'd be able to use the Axxess module, whereas with the Crux you'd have to upgrade to a Maestro. AutoHarnessHouse also offers an "upgraded" wire harness for like $10 extra that comes pre soldered so everything would just plug in, no having to match up wiring diagrams and solder or crimp wires.

Just like for the mic mount above, want to give another shameless shoutout to the guys at TrailGridPro (again, I have no affiliation, just a happy customer). I bought my head unit through them and to save me time on install since I was focused on sound deadening, rewiring, bunch of other stuff, I ordered my head unit through them and it was actually cheaper than Crutchfield and came totally put together, wired/soldered/taped up and was just a simple plug and play install.

 

Dang - i missed post number 4

Sounds like a good friend to gift him that head unit. NICE !!!

 

Right! I wish I had friends that would gift me ~$300 head units lol. And even though it's a discontinued model, it still has wired car play which honestly I wish mine still did. I like wireless car play for hop in and go, but there's a lag when changing songs and stuff that wasn't as present with a wired connection, and it's nice to have that guaranteed extra phone charging time as I don't always plug in when I'm out and about now. Also, the XAV-1000 that OP has still has a volume knob! Probably my biggest "complaint" about my head unit, but worth the trade off for getting a front camera, and all of the gimmicky gauges etc. that a Maestro enables.

 

all this stuff is confusing, sorry guys, but thanks for the help. So, how do you know when to bypass factory amplifier? Are you sure i even have one in my tundra? How do you know that the upgraded HU (no matter brand) matches your speaker impedence so you're not damaging equipment? I'm used to sound systems from the 90's which were much simpler so, pardon my ignorance, and thank you for your patience.

 

Smart, you sound pretty knowledgeable about a lot of this equipment. Sorry about long post.
I’m having a CarPlay issue with a JVC KWM750BT. I got it installed at crutchfield 3 years ago. CarPlay is wired and it was always spotty. No it’s stopped connecting all together.
I have disconnected battery and it worked until I shut truck off, now it won’t reconnect , even disconnecting bat again.
I get a usb connection error on screen. Brand new Apple cable, changed usb outlet, crutchfield tech support is at a loss.
Seeing if you have any ideas before I buy another aftermarket head unit.

 

I've added a lot of info for background that's probably made things more confusing then it needs to be. I agree stereos used to be a lot more basic. Single din radios with no steering wheel controls, cameras, etc. were a much simpler time.

I'll try and be as succinct as possible to answer any current/future questions haha, no need to be sorry!

You will only want to bypass the factory amplifier if/when you replace it. Until then, best to keep it as it matches the amps of the speakers it's powering.

99% chance you do have a factory amplifier since you have a 2017 SR5. I believe the only trucks that don't have one are the bare bones "work truck" models. Overwhelming majority have a factory amp under the front passenger seat. Take a peek under there to confirm but it's impossible to miss and will look like a black plastic cover with some wires running under it to a silver metal amp, like this:



The most important thing is that whether you're talking about speakers, or subwoofers, you never want them to have a lower amperage than your head unit or amp can support. It's always okay for speakers/subs to have a higher amperage than the minimum of an amp, you just lose volume output.







The important numbers to pay attention to are RMS wattage (RMS stands for root mean square, fancy way of saying what they can safely run at constantly), and ohms of both the amp and the connected speakers or subs. The numbers below are very general and some standalone amps and head units may be lower or higher.

Head Units: have relatively weak built-in amplifiers in, like ~20 watts RMS at 4 ohms. Most head units are rated for 4 ohms minimum.

Aftermarket multi-channel amps: like a 4 channel amp , are going to be anywhere from ~50-100 watts RMS at 4 ohms, and maybe 75-125 RMS watts at 2 ohms. Some amps will have the same power rating for 2 and 4 ohms, but generally the lower the amperage, the higher the wattage output. Less amperage resistance = more wattage power.

Aftermarket single channel or "monoblock, mono for short" amps: have 1 channel to power 1 or more subwoofers wired together. Mono amps are usually 1-4 ohm stable, with example power of 1 ohm: 1000 watts, 2 ohms: 700 watts, 4 ohms: 300 watts.

Aftermarket speakers: most are going to be 4 ohms, and they'll want say ~50 watts rms. If you connect 4 ohm 50 watt speakers directly to a 4 ohm 20 watt head unit, you'll be underpowering them by 30 watts and they'll be relatively quiet. Connecting them directly to your head unit won't hurt anything, they just won't get very loud.


There are some 2 ohm speakers but they are more rare. The reason our trucks have stock 2 ohm speakers is that with lower resistance, it's an easy way to get them to have more volume output.

 

Ahh dang that sounds super unfortunate. If you've got a brand new cable and your phone connects to other things like a home stereo or a computer fine (for playing music or saving your pictures etc. to a computer, i.e. transferring data, not just charging) then the issue is almost certainly with the head unit itself.

On the JVC website, it says that this is the list of iPhones it supports for Carplay. Just want to make sure yours is on the list. I only ask because until about a year ago I had an iPhone 7 that worked just fine for my needs.





When you say you changed USB outlet, are you referring to the USB outlet down by the cigarette lighter?

On the back of your head unit, it looks like there are 2 USB inputs:



My guess is that one of those USB inputs is wired to the USB data outlet down by your cigarette lighter using a USB retention cable like this:



USB male end on this cord plugs into the black or white usb female ends coming from your head unit. The grey end on this cord plugs into your factory USB connector, completing the connection between your usb data outlet and your stereo.
In my truck there is only 1 USB outlet that does data and has the little 3 wire picture like on this cable , but there are 2 more that do charging but no data and just have a little charging icon on them.


If your phone is on the list above, it could be 1 of like 4 things I can think of.

Option 1: The USB data outlet in your truck is worn out. Fairly easy to replace, sounds like you maybe did that already?

Option 2: The cord I pictured above is bad. Again, fairly easy to replace.

Option 3: The USB cords coming out of of your head unit are bad. Would be harder to replace, but honestly I would imagine any PC repair place could probably repair it for fairly cheap, maybe for $100 or so? I have no idea on cost but USB slots go out all the time on computers and I don't think they're super hard to replace for a professional.

Option 4: Some sort of software issue.

To test any or all of these theories, I would recommend disconnecting your battery, and then removing pulling the head unit out far enough that you can access the red and black USB plugs circled above. Head unit is not hard to take out, just a couple trim pieces and 4 screws. YouTube has plenty of tutorials on how to remove it. If you pull it out far enough to access those two USB cords, I would disconnect the wire or wires going to them, and then try plugging an iPhone cord directly into them. If your Carplay works directly plugged into those USB slots, then the culprit is either the USB outlet down by your cigarette lighter, or the cords between that USB slot and the head unit. If your Carplay still doesn't work, then it's either both of the USB cords coming out of the head unit are bad (seems unlikely) or there's a software issue. If you have a friend or family member with a different iPhone you could test theirs and see if it connects.

Option 4:

 

If your speaker covers have the JBL logo and/or there is a small box under the passenger seat, your truck has an amplifier. Mine isn't JBL but has the amp under the seat in the pic.

And if you haven't already, I highly recommend reading through this thread The Great HU Install. I couldn't have done my own HU upgrade without it. Details all the options you have and what parts are needed for all. Basically you can just get the wire harness for your Sony, install it and get better sound. Crutchfield is a good place for the harness. But once you start looking into:

1. Maintaining steering wheel controls
2. Adding cameras
3. Maintaining Satellite radio antenna/adding antenna
4. Reusing OEM microphone for bluetooth calls
5. Adding OBD2 functionality (gauge readouts on the screen)
6. USB/cig lighter for wired car-play/android auto

All will require additional wiring/adapters/parts. Not that it's overly complicated, but will just require some more time, planning and $. So just think about what features you want and start putting together a shopping list. Good luck!!

 

I'll look to see if i have an amp when i'm at the house this evening, i'm fairly confident that I do. So, that begs the question as to what ohms is the factory amp? Or should i upgrade the factory amp along with the head unit, then speakers? Not sure what the best approach is here, there's way too much to think about.

 

I got the magnet phone mount idea from someone on here. Love this thing!

I'm frickin' Goldilocks about phone holders, there's something I don't like about almost all of them. Don't want to use my vents, don't want it above the dash line, didn't like the cupholder one I had, these are prefect location and solid. Not bad for like $14 for a 2 pack.

 

Since the factory door speakers are 2 ohms, almost certain the factory amp has a 2 ohm minimum (most amplifiers outside of head units are 2 ohm stable). You can replace the stereo for now, and leave the factory amp as is. If you replace the factory amp now, it's replacement will probably be more powerful than the factory amp, which means you could potentially blow the factory speakers.

I think the steps below would be a good plan of attack and allow you to take things piece by piece so as to not get overwhelmed by the scope of the whole project. I'll include cost estimates and times as well.

1) I would focus on replacing the head unit for now.
Cost: roughly $150-$200.
Install Time: 1-4 hours.

Optional: When you replace the head unit, since you'll have the dash somewhat taken apart, you could also take the opportunity to run RCA cables from your new head unit to the factory amp location for future use. You could also run a remote turn on wire for future aftermarket amp, but I believe the bypass harness you'd use later on has one. Both of these would be optional for now. It would just save you from having to pull the stereo again in the future to run RCA's and possible remote wire for aftermarket amps. The Sony XAV-1000 has front and rear RCA outputs, and a mono subwoofer RCA output. You would want 2 pairs of 2 channel RCA cables, or one 4 channel RCA cable. You would also want a 1 male to 2 male RCA adapter since your head unit has a mono output.



2) I would then focus on buying an amplifier power kit, and getting your power wire ran and ground wire hooked up. Like the optional part of step 1, you can do this step and leave the wires taped off/not hooked up to the battery for future use.
Cost: $50-$100.
Install Time: 2-4 hours.



3) Purchase new door speakers, an aftermarket amp, an amp rack, and install everything. The easiest speakers to install will be coaxial, meaning the woofer and tweeter are all in one piece. If you think you'd like a subwoofer down the line, you could buy a 5 channel amplifier. You could also buy a 4 channel amplifier to start, and then add a second monoblock subwoofer amp later on. You could also save some money by getting a 4 channel amp, and getting a small powered subwoofer with a built in amplifier later on.

Cost: Amplifiers vary widely. For a solid brand names:
5-channel: anywhere from $300-400.
4 channel: probably about half the cost of a 5 channel, or $150-$250.
1-channel aka mono: about the same as a 4 channel cost wise, or $150-$250.
Amp rack: $50-100.
Powered Subwoofer: $200-$400
Speakers: Anywhere from $50-$300 per set.

Time: I would budget anywhere from 4-16 hours. Can definitely be done in a weekend.

The front doors have a 6x9" speaker in them. You can replace with another 6x9", or you an use a 6.5" which will give you more options.
The rear doors have a 6.5" woofer and a ~.75" tweeter.

If you want to install component speakers, things will be more complicated. Component speakers have a separate woofer and tweeter. Component speakers will also have passive crossovers that will further complicate the wiring and take up space. In the front doors you would mount the woofer. To mount the tweeters in the front, you could mount them in the dash corners, you would just need to run new speaker wire to them. You could also cut holes in your sail panels to mount them, or buy the JBL equipped Tundra sail panels that have a tweeter mount. They are roughly $20 per side. If your rear doors are like mine, they will have factory tweeter mounts and wiring. You would mount the woofer in the metal door itself, and the tweeter in the plastic door panel.

Again, the easiest speakers to install will be coaxial. You wouldn't have to mess with wiring crossovers (not hard to do by any means, just more wiring and room for error), and coaxial speakers will still sound great. You could leave the dash corner and center speaker installed, or you could remove them. No harm either way and they will play just fine off of your aftermarket head unit directly since that's how they are wired in our trucks. Many people remove or replace them. Easy to do as well.

4) Purchase subwoofer(s), a box, and install.
Cost: Varies widely, but a good shallow sub can be had for $150-$200 each.
A box will be anywhere from $150-$300.
As a cheaper, option, you could get a powered subwoofer for $200-$400, bass output will just be less than if you have a dedicated subwoofer amp and bigger subwoofers.
Time: 2-4 Hours.







If you have budgets in mind, I'd be more than happy to put together some options at different price points with different features, like coaxial vs component speakers, powered subwoofer vs dedicated amplifier and bigger subwoofers, wiring kits etc.

 

I do in fact have the factory amplifier, and i think i'm going to change directions here a bit. I watched a video or two last night on upgrading the factory amp with a 5-channel amp. If my thinking is correct, this will give me more power to my door speakers (which i will upgrade) as well as a channel dedicated to a sub as well. Does that make sense? Any recommendations on an amplifier? What about connections between factory wiring to my amp? Thanks again for all the informaiton.

 

For the sake of clarification and not to confuse you more !

My post above (number 9) totally ignore that !!!
Since you have the Sony XAV-1000 - what i did "WILL NOT" apply to you !!!

And BTW - i was totally confused when i started my journey as well, to get to my end result
which was my post above. (#9).

Like i said - TOTALY IGNORE that post.

 

OP, not to hi-jack your thread or anything, but an update to my CarPlay issue. Thanks snert for the checking data transfer cable. That was the culprit. All fixed.

 

My recommendation would be to get a 5 channel amp, unless you're worried about cost. A 5 channel amp will have 4 channels for speakers, and 1 channel for sub(s). I have a 5 channel amp in my truck. Recommendations will depend on your budget, and what speakers/how many subs you want to run. The cheapest 5 channel amps will run you about $300. The most expensive will run you $1000+. I would recommend avoiding the temptation to buy a not big name brand for under $300 unless money is tight.

Are there any brands you like or are loyal to? Do you want the brands of everything to match?

The more expensive amps will generally be more powerful for both the 4 channels and the 1 sub channel. I will link a few setups at different price points. Since different amps, speakers, and subs, will all have different power requirements, if you can share an overall budget, it will be helpful in making recommendations or building a system where everything matches nicely. The last thing you want to do is buy a bunch of gear, and have it be under or over powered and not sound good, or blow something.

Car audio can get expensive fast, but it doesn't need to to get a great sounding system that will be a drastic improvement over a stock system.

If you have a budget in mind, like under $750, under $1000, under $1500 etc., I can put together a few packages of amps, speakers and subs that will all mesh together nicely.

 

That's awesome to hear!!! I'm glad it was something as simple as a ~$10 cable!

 

do these steps and advice apply for the JBL? At its worst the HU can reboot up to 4 times in an hour drive. It doesn't happen consistently but it sure does make me salty when it does.

 

If you are removing/replacing the head unit, the info will more or less be the same, but the products/harnesses used to tie into the factory JBL system might vary slightly. It looks like per Crutchfield, to retain the JBL system but just swap the head unit, you'd use a PAC RP4.2-TY11 wiring harness and control module or an iDatalink Maestro RR, depending on the stereo you went with. For all the wiring harnesses etc. from Crutchfield it looks to add about $150-$250 to the cost of the stereo, again depending on which stereo you chose. I personally have a Sony XAV-9000 and use an iDatalink Maestro. I'm not too familiar with the PAC units so I can't say for certain, but as far as the Maestro goes, it is super easy to install and program, and it actually adds some functions that your stock head unit probably doesn't have, like access to certain gauges etc. that are part of the OBD system in all vehicles. I know that extra cost is not anyone's favorite thing to hear when they're looking at getting a new stereo, but to tie into the factory system it's the unfortunate nature of the modern vehicle beast.

I would budget around $500 to replace the stereo alone.

The tricky parts of an install in a JBL truck really only apply if you are wanting to keep the JBL head unit, and whether it's the JBL head unit or non-JBL, that then gets into using a Line Outputer Converter like purplenova posted in his system.

If you're looking at replacing your JBL stereo, let me know and I can gather some options.

Unless you're not happy with the sound of the speakers themselves, I would probably just replace the head unit which it sounds like you might be interested in. If you're looking at replacing more than just the stereo and have a budget for that as well, let me know and I can gather some options for that as well. I know a lot of people hate on the JBL system, and with a head unit that keeps rebooting I would be super annoyed too, but in regards to the speakers, I've not heard them in a Tundra, but I have heard the JBL system in a Tacoma and thought it actually sounded pretty good as far as bass, midbass, treble, and overall sound go.

Since the original poster was gifted a slightly older head unit, his features/cost will be a little lower overall.

To replace the whole JBL system, including speakers, amp, and sub, I would budget around $1500.

That said for both of these estimates, there are certainly cheaper or more expensive options available. If/when I make recommendations to people, since I know money is tight for a lot of folks especially nowadays, along with the cost of car audio going up in part due to general inflation, but more so the cost to integrate in newer vehicle factory systems and all the extra parts needed, I always recommend that people save up or have enough budget to get a quality stereo/amp/speakers the first time around, that way you're not dissatisfied with the end result, or back to square 1 in a couple years when a cheaper stereo or amp fizzles out. Just my 2 cents.

 

So, for sure skipping out on the HU for now. I'm probably looking to stay sub $1000 for everything... amp, speakers, and subs if i can... I have had alpine amplifiers in the past and was pleased with their performance. I'm actually still using one i purchased in 1994 right now in a vehicle. The only thing i'm confused about now is the wiring harness, i definitely want it to be plug and play. Also do i need to use an audio control unit? Thanks for the help everyone.

 

That has to be the most comprehensive response i've ever received on a forum... seriously, I am floored. Hats off to you for sorting all this out and it definitely makes the thought of replacement less daunting. Thanks so much for this.