I’ve bought new speakers and will be adding sound proofing to the doors and other areas - anything else I’m missing? Crutchfield says not to try and replace the head unit since it is heavily integrated into the cars operation.

Would you mind relaying which speakers you replaced the OEM speakers with and whether you feel they made any improvement or not?

 

Once done, yes, I will.

 

Put a powered sub into the trunk. That changes sound RADICALLY and is very easy to install, as 12V is in the trunk and you drop down audio from a shelf speaker. Modern subs have Auto On sensor, so no blue wire needed.
I did MANY upgrades on various vehicles and simply swapping speakers does nothing, as you need to upgrade head unit, amplifies, etc, and you still have no bass and that's, what gives sound its depth.
Personal recommendation - Basslink passive radiator or its clone Amazon.com. Currently have it in my Infinity. I had THREE Basslinks before. Very nice, but spendy.
There's also downfiring flat Pioneer powered sub, that you can drop down into the trunk and place groceries or whatever on top of it.

 

simply swapping speakers does nothing,

I completely disagree with this. I've done car audio for decades and often, speaker upgrades are enough. It would be foolish to spend more money without evaluating the most economic first step.

 

If you replace head unit, you lose all hybrid data displayed in it. You have just the base unit, no nav, right?

 

Correct, no nav.

 

It's a very good idea to audition speakers in the shop before buying them. Make sure they sound better than what you have. Do not rely on the labels on the box to reveal the real performance.

 

24 xse so just some info ,search my posts

You want speakers with high sensitivity, they play louder

I originally went with hertz x165 in all 4 doors

The jbl system on the xse sends more power to the front doors ,the fronts blew

I replaced them with kicker ,lower sensitivity, but higher rms ,since the backs have lower input but I have higher sensitivity speakers, it fills it out nicely

I installed a jbl basshub pro in wheel well ,you have to use positaps to tap into rear leads in b pillar

Power through steering column plastic trim ,use a coat hanger

Search my posts ,Grey and pink wire if irc,forget which on positivity

Nvx baffles around door speakers as well

 

I upgraded the speakers and installed sound proofing materials on the doors on three cars: a 2013 Camry LE, 2013 Avalon XLE and 2019 Genesis G90. I was surprised by the sound quality difference.