Best Plug and Play speaker and amp?

Looking for anybody who has experience with an easy plug and play new unit for a 2018 tundra CM. I currently have all stock audio components. Looking to upgrade the speakers and install an amp. I figure the stock head unit is good enough??? I think???
thanks

 

Meh. The stock head unit is 70% of the problem. It does a poor job of sound shaping and cuts frequencies as the volume goes up to prevent distortion due to being underpowered. If I were going to keep my head unit and upgrade the amp and speakers and sub (and add DSP) I would likely go OEM+ audio

https://oemaudioplus.com/product/toyota-tundra-crewmax-jbl/

 

Agree
Stock head unit is garbage


You will see better sound changing the headunit and keeping the factory speakers vs changing the speakers and keeping the factory headunit.

Crutchfield has the sony 9500es on sale for $998
For sound quality and tuning options this is the headunit I would go with

Baja. What is your budget you are willing to spend on the upgrade?
Once I know that I can give you some ideas to work with.

 

Thank you
$1,500

 

Baja
If you want a 10 inch touch screen
I would go with the Sony Xav-9500ES on sale at crutchfield for $998.00
if you want to spring for the Idatalink the kit would be $264.95

I went with the Crux SWRTY-61N kit It is $94.98 when you buy with the Sony from crutchfield.

I went with the JVC KW-Z1000w It is $1249. With the Sony being on sale it is a better value. It also has some tuning features that the JVC does not have that I would have liked.


If you do not want a 10 inch floating screen and want to go with a standard 6.75 inch screen the Sony XAV-9000es is the one I would go with.



If I had it do all over again, I would have gone with an Android head unit. The Teyes CC3 android radio is a good option. If you go with the CC3 you have to do some slight modifications to get to fit. They are around $411.50 But the CC3 is in a whole different level of radio vs Alpine, Sony, Kenwood ,or Pioneer.
Go watch some videos on The CC3.

 

Thanks for all your help I appreciate it!
Im not familiar with audio aspect of the truck at all

 

this was my setup with the stock head unit

you will need this harness to make it happen

 

Baja

send me a pm

 

Stock HU is crap...

I just put in a 10.1" Kenwood and got a substantial improvement in sound quality even with the OEM Non-JBL speakers.

Not to mention wireless Android Auto, Car Play (for my poor misguided Apple using wife) screen mirroring with my Samsung phone (Think Netflix, YouTube, Prime, etc.) better NAV (Google, Waze, etc.) better voice controls, gauge package (including trans temps, with some work)

I also added a front camera. (Very useful since 18 months in I still have no idea where the front of this pig is at.)

And if I add lights or something I'll be able to control them via the relay and programmable outputs on the HU without having to run wires/switches into the cab.

 

How does the Sony XAV-9500ES compare to the Alpine ILX-F511? Anyone have experience with both?

 

I have no personal experience between the 2

I don’t think there is a big difference between kenwood, jvc, alpine, pioneer and Sony

It comes down to the looks and features you want.

I went with the JVC z1000w. It has been a good unit.

Sony 3 yr warranty vs alpine 1 year
Price on sale Sony on crutchfield $998. Alpine $1399
Sony does not have a HD radio tuner, Alpine does.


If you are not going to run a separate dsp I like some of the tuning features the Sony has above the others.

I would just watch some YouTube videos on each of them and pick the one you like best.

With the Sony being $400 less than the alpine. You could get a 5 channel amp and do some other audio upgrades

 

I just installed a Sony XAV-9000ES ~7” touchscreen, plug and play bundle from Trail Grid Pro. $900 for head unit and Maestro unit that comes totally prewired, retains factory steering wheel controls etc. and adds some nifty features.

That being said, if you want to keep the factory head unit you certainly can. A cheap t-harness will allow you to remove the factory amplifier and replace it with an aftermarket one here: https://autoharnesshouse.com/41112.html

They also carry speaker wire adapters so no cutting anything factory: https://autoharnesshouse.com/41114.html

If ordering speakers from Crutchfield they’ll include them for free.

$1500 is plenty of budget to get a nice pair of speakers for the front and rear along with a 4 or 5 channel amp to power everything.

I had JL Audio C2 components ($300)in the front and C2 coaxials ($250) in the rear of my last truck, running off of a JL Audio Rd900/5 ($700). That would total $1250, and since the RD900/5 accepts high level inputs, no need for a line output converter. Add the aforementioned T-harness as well as an amplifier power kit and you’d be sitting right around $1500. Down the line you could add a shallow subwoofer behind the rear seats and you wouldn’t need to add another amp. If you didn’t want to mess with components/crossovers you could simply do coaxials throughout.

Search up “Provo Beast Audio Tundra” on Youtube to get an idea of what all is involved in this scope of project. Crutchfield will include speaker mounting brackets and wire harnesses if ordering from them although admittedly they are the cheap Metra ones and I’d probably recommend ordering some thick ABS ones along with a modest box of sound deadener and or CCF speaker rings to go the extra mile while you’ve got the door panels off.

 

Some good resources on youtube working around the tundra stereo system
Five Star Car Stereo
Provo Beast
*********
Car Audio Fabrication, has a lot of install and general car audio videos
DIY Audio Guy has some videos on how to set amplifier gains with an oscilloscope.

 

Following up with you Surfer, any gripes or complaints with that HU? It looks super clean and I'm just curious how it's holding up before deciding between that and the Sony 9500ES. Thanks!

No gripes whatsoever, I'm super happy with it! If I were doing it over, I'd absolutely do it again.

I hear all good things about the Sony's too.

The one thing I would check (if it even matters to you) I don't think the Sony has an HDMI IN. (someone correct me if I'm wrong)

My wife likes to watch movies on a long road trip. (I of course, only listen)

With the HDMI IN, either one of us can plug in our phones with a USB-C to HDMI cable (or I could plug in a Firestick) and get Netflix, YouTube, Prime, whatever.

 

I have the Es9500. From trail grid pro...it's plug and play and everything is pre wired and assembled. It's was 1295 total and the head unit is incredible. Check them out before crutchfield.

 

That is correct. The Sony does not have an HDMI in nor does it support wired or wireless mirroring for either Apply or Android. I installed one of these (from Trail Grid Pro) in the father-in-law's 2018 Tundra a couple of months ago. He purchased it & didn't realize the unit didn't have these features until after we had installed it, so just something to keep in mind.

 

The Alpine ILX-F511 has HDMI. It’s a really nice head unit and compliments the interior well. Looks like it’s supposed to be there.

 

The Alpine has a nice looking layout on the gauges. Not sure which I like better.



I see you have 0-60 in the big center space, and you've got the braking and 1/4 metrics up as well.

Somebody rippin' around with the Tow/Haul switch on?

I was torn between the Alpine and Kenwood. The actual volume knob on the Kenwood won me over.

Kinda' weird how much that mattered to me. I remembered how much I missed it when I put a Pioneer in my last Tundra that just had UP/DOWN buttons for volume.

 

No not really! That’s just the default layout. I’m on 37’s and haven’t regeared yet so the truck isn’t exactly fast, lol!

I prefer volume knobs too. I added the RUX-H02 volume knob which you can mount wherever you want. I do have to press it down after starting the truck up for it to connect. The knob is nice because it also has built in sub level controller by holding it down and twisting. For volume it is just twisting. Awesome because I can adjust sub on the fly without having to go into a setting on the head unit.