Truck speaker recommendations

[Falko]

I know we have some guys here up to date on their audio. I purchased a Tundra and will be upgrading the speakers shortly. My last truck I installed Polk component style speakers and they were pretty good for the price. But has anything else come along in recent years that is better bang for the buck? As a background, I plan to keep the factory head unit, add an amp, possibly a sub down the road, and replace all the door speakers. Thoughts?

[CumminsBu]

I'm about to do the same thing and been looking at JBL, Infinity and Polk. Exile will get mention at one point, but don't want the nice stuff taken for the truck.

[Falko]

So I've found a place, Tacotunes.com, that has a complete plug and play kit for the Tundra. Not sure about the quality of the speakers in the kit though, something like that is always suspect in my mind. They do have good reviews though.

[David]

In general and of the better speakers.....my favorite automotive speakers are Morel, Dynaudio, Focal, JL Audio, Hertz Mille or Hi Energy, and Audison Voge. I have Audison Voge in two vehicles. But I wouldn't have any trouble finding a model series within any of these brands that I would be totally satisfied with. Any of the better series from any of these brands will be much better than any marine speaker. Also, the precision matched crossovers in any of the component speakers make these far superior to any collection of raw drivers. Many of these component speakers have variable passive crossovers that allow you to independently tailor the lowpass and highpass sections to the car and component locations.  

Not familiar with all the car/truck/SUV head units, but early on you should find out what kind, if any, signal processing is contained in the Tundra HU. If it modifies the signal with speed and volume, then you could really use a DSP, like the JL Audio, otherwise it's hard to get good quality sound. If no internal processing then it's straight forward.   

[robtr8]

I recommend AudioFrog drivers from Andy Wehmeyer.  http://www.audiofrog.com/

I put GS's in the Triumph and they sound great.  https://www.crutchfield.com/p_898GS60/Audiofrog-GS60.html?tp=94

I put GB's in the 328 and they are amazing.  https://www.crutchfield.com/p_898GB60/Audiofrog-GB60.html?tp=94

I do prefer Morel tweeters though.  https://www.morelhifi.com/product/mt250-tweeter/  https://www.morelhifi.com/product/mt350-tweeter/  

Edited October 17, 2017 by robtr8

[Falko]

12 hours ago, David said:

In general and of the better speakers.....my favorite automotive speakers are Morel, Dynaudio, Focal, JL Audio, Hertz Mille or Hi Energy, and Audison Voge. I have Audison Voge in two vehicles. But I wouldn't have any trouble finding a model series within any of these brands that I would be totally satisfied with. Any of the better series from any of these brands will be much better than any marine speaker. Also, the precision matched crossovers in any of the component speakers make these far superior to any collection of raw drivers. Many of these component speakers have variable passive crossovers that allow you to independently tailor the lowpass and highpass sections to the car and component locations.  

Not familiar with all the car/truck/SUV head units, but early on you should find out what kind, if any, signal processing is contained in the Tundra HU. If it modifies the signal with speed and volume, then you could really use a DSP, like the JL Audio, otherwise it's hard to get good quality sound. If no internal processing then it's straight forward.   

In doing some research the factory HU has bass dampening at higher volumes, which would probably mean other things are getting adjusted as well. It looks like the FiX-86 would compensate as well as be the line converter that would be required. I could come out of that into a speaker amp and a sub amp with level control. The amp will be a challenge to locate, but that is another story.

Thanks for taking the time, greatly appreciate the information.

[Falko]

1 hour ago, robtr8 said:

I recommend AudioFrog drivers from Andy Wehmeyer.  http://www.audiofrog.com/

I put GS's in the Triumph and they sound great.  https://www.crutchfield.com/p_898GS60/Audiofrog-GS60.html?tp=94

I put GB's in the 328 and they are amazing.  https://www.crutchfield.com/p_898GB60/Audiofrog-GB60.html?tp=94

I do prefer Morel tweeters though.  https://www.morelhifi.com/product/mt250-tweeter/  https://www.morelhifi.com/product/mt350-tweeter/  

Thank you for the suggestions. The GS might be obtainable, the GB will never be justifiable. I'm looking at Focal and JL now.

[robtr8]

If you're going the FiX route, plan on doing a Twk too.  Being able to adjust crossover points and slopes and adjusting time alignment make a huge difference.

You may want to look at the new AudioControl DSP amps as well.

And yeah, I get that the GB's are hard to justify.  If it weren't for the fact that I did everything else first in the 3 and then I put the GB40's in the doors.  OMG is an understatement.

[Falko]

There are a lot of choices out there, I don't think I need to go too nuts with control. My last HU had timing control and cross over control, etc. Barely touched the cross overs except of the sub and never did any timing. I don't get that deep into quality. As long as it sounds pretty good. I wouldn't know what to do to time or truly tune the system, probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway.

[Falko]

So the truck has center dash speakers. Replace with good speakers or delete? I am assuming they aren't overly needed for sound quality of you replace the door and dash components with decent units.

[jwl019]

On 10/16/2017 at 10:07 AM, Falko said:

So I've found a place, Tacotunes.com, that has a complete plug and play kit for the Tundra. Not sure about the quality of the speakers in the kit though, something like that is always suspect in my mind. They do have good reviews though.

I have the SQ1 package for my Tundra and I love it.  I had it in my 2010 Crew, then when I traded it in, I removed the system and swapped it over to my 2016.  The only change I had to make was the subs.  I had the ReCurve go bad about 1.5 year mark and they sent me a new one immediately.  Rob was outstanding to work with.

 

http://www.tundratalk.net/forums/tundra-audio-visual-discussion/334370-2010-tss-crewmax-stereo-upgrade.html

 

[robtr8]

Depends on what you listen to, if you care what your passengers hear and what your overall goals are.

If you listen to talk radio or baseball, it's nice to have a center channel for talking voices.  No upgrade to the driver is needed but you need to keep some processing capability so that you're running a tune designed for that application.  If you have passengers and care what they hear, with enough processing, you can set up a decent soundstage for them as well.  It's for these reasons (and others) that I'm running the Dolby Pro Logic II tune in the wife's XC60 R design.  She listens to NPR mostly and when we drive together, we take her car.  Adaptive cruise is awesome for road trips!

If you're old school stereo and drive 99% alone (like me in the XC90) I killed my center channel and all surround processor capabilities a long time ago.  I'm running the latest and greatest Pioneer HU that gives me an active three way crossover so I can set up the best possible stereo imaging.  The newest version of CarPlay doesn't suck, either.

I should have said (IMHHEO).

 

[Bill_AirJunky]

I replaced all the stock speakers in my Avalanche some time ago with MB Quartz & they have done great. And run them on another amp. If I were going to do it again, I'd also look at Polk & JBL.

For subs, I went with a couple of Kicker Hideaways under the back seat. The seat & midgate still fold down unobstructed. And they sound great.

I think their 150 watts each. And the other amp is 400 watts. Not a powerhouse like the boat but does good in the enclosed truck cab.

Edited October 31, 2017 by Bill_AirJunky

[Falko]

4 hours ago, robtr8 said:

Depends on what you listen to, if you care what your passengers hear and what your overall goals are.

If you listen to talk radio or baseball, it's nice to have a center channel for talking voices.  No upgrade to the driver is needed but you need to keep some processing capability so that you're running a tune designed for that application.  If you have passengers and care what they hear, with enough processing, you can set up a decent soundstage for them as well.  It's for these reasons (and others) that I'm running the Dolby Pro Logic II tune in the wife's XC60 R design.  She listens to NPR mostly and when we drive together, we take her car.  Adaptive cruise is awesome for road trips!

If you're old school stereo and drive 99% alone (like me in the XC90) I killed my center channel and all surround processor capabilities a long time ago.  I'm running the latest and greatest Pioneer HU that gives me an active three way crossover so I can set up the best possible stereo imaging.  The newest version of CarPlay doesn't suck, either.

I should have said (IMHHEO).

 

So for music, the center channel isn't really necessary. I can just disconnect that and move on, perfect. I plan to keep the factory HU, I like the interface and the Kenwood that I had in the Avy was awful. I know there are good aftermarket HU out there but that one turned me off a bit. This OEM unit operates seamlessly. But I do not think it offers me much on the sound processing side. I would have to install something intermediate for that. In reality, my hearing suffers. But I do know the system in my truck is terrible right now, paper cup in a tin can effects.

[robtr8]

The older HU’s ran Windows CE.  Nuf said.

[jwl019]

37 minutes ago, Falko said:

So for music, the center channel isn't really necessary. I can just disconnect that and move on, perfect. I plan to keep the factory HU, I like the interface and the Kenwood that I had in the Avy was awful. I know there are good aftermarket HU out there but that one turned me off a bit. This OEM unit operates seamlessly. But I do not think it offers me much on the sound processing side. I would have to install something intermediate for that. In reality, my hearing suffers. But I do know the system in my truck is terrible right now, paper cup in a tin can effects.

The stock Toyota speakers are definitely paper cup speakers lol!  The stock speakers sounded horrible even listening to talk radio.