Toyota/JBL Sound?

[Silent Runner]

Hey, just wondering? I upgraded my 93 LE's sound system from stock to a stock Toyota /JBL(Premium Sound) head unit and amp. (Head unit has a mid '99 production date) It's an AM-FM-Cass-Cd unit. It sounds extremely clean and produces great volume levels, but I can't seem to get good, gutsy bass output out of it at lower and middling volume levels.The old unit couldn't produce the volume levels or clarity this one will, but with the "loudness" button on, it could at least make a good rumbling sound without my ears bleeding. No matter how much I adjust the bass/mid/treb controls it just wont produce solid low bass without high volume levels. Is this a characteristic of the newer system, or it it a mismatch to my original component speaker system? Any experience on this kind of swap?

[camry6]

If you still have the original Camry speakers, you will not get the sound quality out of the JBL without the JBL speakers. As for bass, the JBL system would have a sub in the rear deck behind the rear seat. If you had all of the JBL system, or equal other speakers and sub, you should get the sound you're after.

[Silent Runner]

I thought it might be something like that going on. I was scouting about at the local "Pick-and Pull", and found these components. Never thought to look for any kind of "sub". Never found anything refering to it when I researched how to adapt all the wiring either? But if its a stand alone back there underneath the rear deck, I'll start snooping again.

[molson.david]

I'm not sure if older JBLs had sub under rear deck.Have seen older camry XLE with JBL, but haven't see subs.

your stock speakers are paper cones, not good for bass.not good for anything actually...
I moved this set up from my 2001 camry to wife's 2000 Camry. Kenwood HU at first, now got Pioneer MP3 and pioneer 6.5 3-way front and back, no sub and some B-quiet around them, it sounds better than JBL in my brother's lexus.
clean, crisp, plenty of bass, no vibration.

[LynchburgCSI]

I can say for sure that 92-96 models with premium sound DID NOT have subs.

[iovaykind]

the only sub in rear deck for gen 3/3.5 camry was custom.... asg14 did it.. check cardomain

[camry6]

Originally Posted by camry6

If you still have the original Camry speakers, you will not get the sound quality out of the JBL without the JBL speakers. As for bass, the JBL system would have a sub in the rear deck behind the rear seat. If you had all of the JBL system, or equal other speakers and sub, you should get the sound you're after.

.......NO sub in the Gen 3/3.5......I stand corrected! (sorry)

[Silent Runner]

The head unit and matching JBL amp I installed had a mid '99 production date and had a 20 pin connecter in the back. It must have been from a 2000 Camry or other Toyota model. The wireing pin-outs I reasearched to match it up with my 15 pin connector had no references to sub out put on the head or amp. It simply matched up to my 6 speaker system with factory wiring harnesses. (hmm. the 20 pin plug did have 2 wires labeled "typically unused" ?). My thoughts were that perhaps my original speaker system was just poorly matched in frequency response characteristics. Maybe it was tuned for lower power output mids and highs to make up for the factory amp and head units lesser output in those areas and higher relative output in the bass frequencies. Ida know, I'm not an audio expert.

[ecms171]

man, save your time and money for a low budget aftermarket BRAND NEW set up. your wasting your time with paper cones. Do it and you wont be disappointed...

[Silent Runner]

Originally Posted by ecms171

man, save your time and money for a low budget aftermarket BRAND NEW set up. your wasting your time with paper cones. Do it and you wont be disappointed...

Your right of course. Nearly 20 year old paper speakers are never going to push sound to modern standards, or even as good as they did in the day, they will have to go. In this case though, I like the factory appearance of a stock Toyota installation, the esthetic and even the lettering on it match the characteristics of the rest of the dash, and they don't say "Break in and Steal Me". I'm going to upgrade the speakers first maybe, install a discreet sub, but my musical and volume level requirements really don't require rattling the whole block around me.

[ecms171]

For 1500AUD I got a system installed and levelled that sounds beautiful, i hd to sacrifice some boot space under the rear tray for subs in a ported box, but apart from that and the amps screwed in to the back of the rear seats you can't even tell it's there if you stuck to a factory looking head deck. Ultimately the weakest point in any sound system set up isnt often going to be your Head Unit, so keep the stock one. Invest in a four channel amp to power some good 6'' splits in the front(go high quality as these provide the majority of your good sounds) and some dodgy cheap 6x9's and a one channel amp even with a single 12''. the trick is to have it leveled right, a lot of people forget that bass is just part of music not the whole thing, and it shouldn't change the sound of the bass note to have it turned loud, if it does your doing it wrong. My system sounds majestic at low and medium levels, without the bass overpowering anything, however, if i want to rattle the bolts out of the engine bay its capable of that too. If you pay someone trained to iinstall it properly it will fit inside your stock speaker shrouds and only someone who hears it will be able to tell it isnt stock untell you pop the trunk... Big systems dont nessecarily mean big booms.

I am an audiophile, i have sennheiser headphones for portable music and bose in the lougeroom, but i still cherish the soundstage i have in my car.

the other option is to just axe the whole and and sub and get a pair of midrange 6'' splits and 6x9's and put them in. you will still have a really nice sound you just wont win any awards for loudest system at your local sound comp. Oem speakers are generally terriblle, paper cones cannot produce good qualiy sound and degrade quickly. Do your research, know whats going in there. If you want me to go read what im using i will, but i dont think you care, so i cant be bothered.

I have an aftermarket H/U (I wanted high voltage preouts) but i detach it when i lock up the car....

[islandboy57]

Originally Posted by Silent Runner

Your right of course. Nearly 20 year old paper speakers are never going to push sound to modern standards, or even as good as they did in the day, they will have to go. In this case though, I like the factory appearance of a stock Toyota installation, the esthetic and even the lettering on it match the characteristics of the rest of the dash, and they don't say "Break in and Steal Me". I'm going to upgrade the speakers first maybe, install a discreet sub, but my musical and volume level requirements really don't require rattling the whole block around me.

I like the factory Toyota look too but switching to an aftermarket HU (still got the original speakers) was the best thing I could have done. It is considerably better than the stock HU but not as good as newer factory setups, but the HU was only $115 installed back in '05 so I'm happy. I went for a simple Panasonic HU where the CD loads behind the faceplate so the front screen is a little larger.

I used to take the faceplate off but meh.. The deck is old now. So is the car for that matter! . I don't worry about it luring thieves. The car is beige, has no tint, and is completely stock. I don't think people really notice Camrys anyway. I drive "spiritedly" and the only time I've gotten pulled over was when I accidentally passed an unmarked 4Runner on the freeway. Other than that, I breeze through DUI checkpoints like I'm invisible. Granted - I don't drink, everything is current in both of our cars, and I detail them every week/every other week, so I'm not really worried anyway. It is kinda funny to see the modded and old crappy cars being waved to the side though as I drive by.

[Silent Runner]

Ya, I have a good idea that a good and relatively inexpensive HU would probably help in the sound, but for now I'm going to try to work with what I spent alot of time and not to many $$ finding and installing. I really like a factory original look, its about any other people that might notice the otherwise invisible car, and say: "holy whatever... , I never new you could get that on these cars". So it should look like it could have come with the car new, but I've never seen that before. I'm just reaching for a way to get some rich bass at lower volume levels, buy adding too, or tweeking what I have now.