Best Cost Effective Way to Improve 3rd Gen Entune Premium

mrproduxn

mrproduxn

Well-Known Member
For those with the entune premium and are not satisfied with the sound from the factory head unit there is an inexpensive way to greatly improve the sound in the $200 price range. The factory speakers are sub par. I like the features of the system but was extremely disappointed with the quality of the sound output. I have an access cab and really did not want to add a sub in an already space limited truck. There were rave reviews about the Subaru Kicker tweeters that many had installed in the dash. They are plug and play and are less than a 30 minute install for a beginner. That alone would be a good improvement in clarity but still does not address the poor and muddy bass output of the factory door speakers. After reading through hundreds of speaker reviews I started shopping for Kicker CS series 6 x 9 (3 way) front and 6.5 (coaxial) rear door speakers. I purchased all 6 speakers, door mount adapters and wire adapters needed for the doors and the Subi tweeters. I installed the door speakers back in April and tweeters in July. I am still amazed at the improved clear and crisp sound that these speakers produce. I was fortunate and found my door speakers on clearance at bestbuy. I also had a $47 credit in ebay bucks for the tweeters. I can say that my system is so great now that there is no need for an amp or sub. The installation was less than 1.5 hours for all 6 speakers. I now have crystal clear highs and knee knocking bass that really brought the head unit to life. There is a complete speaker installation guide video at oemaudio.com that is good for any brand of speakers. I did not require any sound deadening material. Recently crutchfield has been offering buy one pair of Kickers and get the 2nd pair 1/2 price and they give you the door mount adapters and wiring adapters for free. If you make this change you will see that the head unit has great output and you will be shocked at how cheap the stock speakers are. There is no way you could ever get this quality sound with the stock speakers. My new speakers have 450 watts peak for the 6 x 9 and 300 watts peak for the 6.5 and they have 100 to 150 watts rms. This is hands down the best sound I ever had in over 40 vehicles considering I have no amp or sub. That includes a Bose stock system in my work commuter.
 
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You will be very impressed. I have made this recommendation on TW as well and there are pages of others making this change. I think people are getting the door speakers and all the required accessories in the $135 price range. The tweeters are around $85 but well worth it. It really compliments the premium head unit. Also be aware that your local Subaru dealer stocks the tweeters and will usually price match ebay. Regarding the door installation you can skip the oemaudio.com step of disconnecting the door linkages. Simply hang the door panels with a bungee and ball up a rag to force an opening to swap the speakers. On access cabs the rear door panel needs to be fully removed thus you need to remove the seat belt bolt from the lower door. Easy as pie.
 
Yes it is very simple. Remove the srs filler piece with a plastic pry tool and remove 1 bolt on driver side and remove 2 little covers on passenger grab handle and remove the 2 bolts . There are a couple of clips that pop out easy when you pull the pillar cover up and away from the dash and pillar. Then use pry tool to lift speaker grills. Then you have access to speaker bolts. Everything is 10 mm socket or wrench. Just make sure clips are in pillar cover before you snap them back in place. You do not need to remove the rubber weatherstrip. Simply slide pillar covers out from the rubber/groove. This is a 15-20 minute process from start to finish. Most of the time is spent removing speaker bolts that are in a tight spot near windshield. Those that did not remove pillar covers scratched up the trim.
 
Mrproduxon you couldn't have posted a better topic. I have an access cab as well that has a "premium" sound. I have found that if the bass is turned up, the sound gets distorted very easily. I'm interested in an upgrade to the stock sound system and it seems like you found the answer. (This is my first post on any forum ever)
 
Dude. It rocks like a $800 upgrade. I am religious about this setup. Well at least I am preaching its beyond our world value or something to that effect. After several months I still smile ear to ear when I crank up a good door banging tune. Cannot believe the power with no sub or amp. Just keep in mind it is only complete with the Subaru Kicker tweeters and door speakers with the high wattage rms and peak power. I can only qualify the sound of my combination. Any other assortment may be equal, greater or less spectacular. No matter what the combo be assured our entune premium head unit has the power to push good speakers which is a great thing to know. I can also say that my evaluation is based on cd and usb music. The xm puts out decent over the air sound but nowhere near the other options. Many people boast enhanced performance with cell phone music on good equalizer apps as well. You will literally laugh when you remove and see the stock speakers. It proves that the head units are great in order to give somewhat good sound from the extremely poor quality stock speakers.
 
I've found that the quality varies. Spotify is my main steaming music service. I find the quality better than XM. That being said, a speaker upgrade is what this truck needs. Are you keen on the kicker speakers? Or do you think that any major speaker manufacturer (Sony, JBL, pioneer, etc...) would take care of the poor sound quality problem?
 
I am no auto sound expert. Just a 59 year old that has upgraded over 40 personal vehicles in life. I bought Kickers for 2 reasons. 95% of reviews were 5 stars with emphasis on quality bass output and I watched bestbuy daily for either deals of the day or clearance prices on Kickers. Found my door speakers on clearance. Did not want to overspend on a questionable head unit (what a pleasant surprise). They are as good as any brand I ever purchased including Sony, Rockfords, Pioneers, Alpines, JBL, BOSS, Kenwoods and JVC. You can see I never bought extremely expensive car speakers but had a few on amps. Also had a few Infinity and Bose stock systems that were no better than my current setup. I spend the real money on my home audio with Omega speakers and a Klipsch sub on my 600 watt surround system. That is in my man cave garage. That is where my real ground/wall/toolbox shaker bass resides. I can honestly say I never had this Kicker quality bass from any other manufacturer.
 
Fantastic. I will be looking for a set in the near future. I've had kicker subs in the past and they were great! Bazooka as well. All the above with the door speakers (found pioneers to be the best sound). Glad to hear it's as simple as installing new speakers to get the full potential out of the factory head end unit.
 
I promise you, as long as you stick to the wattage. and range specifics, that I used, you will be amazed. You will be cranking this up to high 40's volume routinely and your friends and neighbors will think you just spent a ton of money on your sound system. Just do you homework, read tons of reviews and shop for the best prices. The Kicker tweeters can be bought on ebay. Just remember your local Subaru dealer stocks them and, in most cases, the dealers will price match the best online prices. They are generally $89 a pair but are plug and play speakers that I believe are the best dash tweeters for the 2016-2018 Tacoma. Take your time and get what you want. I am not saying this is the best for you. It is great and it is the best for me.
 
Do you think that these head units have the same potential for everything in the JBL package minus the sub and the JBL badge on the dash?
mrproduxn said:
I promise you, as long as you stick to the wattage. and range specifics, that I used, you will be amazed. You will be cranking this up to high 40's volume routinely and your friends and neighbors will think you just spent a ton of money on your sound system. Just do you homework, read tons of reviews and shop for the best prices. The Kicker tweeters can be bought on ebay. Just remember your local Subaru dealer stocks them and, in most cases, the dealers will price match the best online prices. They are generally $89 a pair but are plug and play speakers that I believe are the best dash tweeters for the 2016-2018 Tacoma. Take your time and get what you want. I am not saying this is the best for you. It is great and it is the best for me.
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Based on the wording in the ads for Tacoma it is an entune premium with JBL speakers and amp. I am not sure if the head unit itself is any different. I do know a guy that ordered his 2017 without JBL and is doing this speaker upgrade with a sub. He had a 2016 with the $700 JBL option and did not see the $700 value after hearing the premium with this speaker upgrade. You can add a hidden Kicker sub for around $100 to this upgrade so the savings are quite large if you get the same or better sound. I have seen JBL owners on other forums already upgrading speakers. You would have to listen to the 2 systems to compare. I can only speak for my non JBL which is very satisfactory now to me without a sub.
If you are wondering how I can spend all night on this forum I must tell you I had my gall bladder removed yesterday and this is all I can do. Be a few days before I can drive my Tacoma so I have a ton of Vicodin enhanced free time to kill. And the pain and meds are not giving me any quality sleep time. I did fall asleep and woke up with a leaking ice pack and a soaking wet shirt. SWEET.
 
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mrproduxn said:
Based on the wording in the ads for Tacoma it is an entune premium with JBL speakers and amp. I am not sure if the head unit itself is any different. I do know a guy that ordered his 2017 without JBL and is doing this speaker upgrade with a sub. He had a 2016 with the $700 JBL option and did not see the $700 value after hearing the premium with this speaker upgrade. You can add a hidden Kicker sub for around $100 to this upgrade so the savings are quite large if you get the same or better sound. I have seen JBL owners on other forums already upgrading speakers. You would have to listen to the 2 systems to compare. I can only speak for my non JBL which is very satisfactory now to me without a sub.
If you are wondering how I can spend all night on this forum I must tell you I had my gall bladder removed yesterday and this is all I can do. Be a few days before I can drive my Tacoma so I have a ton of Vicodin enhanced free time to kill. And the pain and meds are not giving me any quality sleep time. I did fall asleep and woke up with a leaking ice pack and a soaking wet shirt. SWEET.
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That’s a bummer. Number one surgery in the US. They like to yank it out with any sign of stones. Sorry to hear that. At least it’s done arthroscopic or keyhole now and you should only have 3 small scars. Hope you get better quickly. Fatty foods will be fun from now on. :confused::eek::(
 
Had so many stones that could not crush the fats for nutrients. Usually a 3 incision required 4 incisions. Feels really wonderful after all the anasthesia wore off. Pain meds not much help. Hopefully better in a couple of days. Appreciate the good wishes. Wish I could climb up in truck to listen to my jams but got couple of weeks off to do that. I think the speaker thump would go straight to my incisions anyway LOL. Maybe, in hindsight, the Kickers cranked loud enough could have crushed the stones.
 
mrproduxn said:
Had so many stones that could not crush the fats for nutrients. Usually a 3 incision required 4 incisions. Feels really wonderful after all the anasthesia wore off. Pain meds not much help. Hopefully better in a couple of days. Appreciate the good wishes. Wish I could climb up in truck to listen to my jams but got couple of weeks off to do that. I think the speaker thump would go straight to my incisions anyway LOL. Maybe, in hindsight, the Kickers cranked loud enough could have crushed the stones.
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Could be the new noninvasive cure for gall stones.
 
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