Sound System Upgrade

MaherSupra

Active Member
First Name
Maher
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Threads
2
Messages
38
Reaction score
20
Location
Arlington, VA
Car(s)
Toyota Supra
Vehicle Showcase
1
Hello, I am simply not impressed with the stock sound system. It sound bland and lack referenced sound stage. I booked an appointment with an aftermarket Sound System Shop to see what he can do for my Supra. Seriously the JBL is a joke. What do you guys think? are you happy with your current sound system ?

Maher

CL5A0177.jpg
Sponsored

 

larrymz3

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2019
Threads
14
Messages
295
Reaction score
143
Location
Arkansas
Car(s)
2020 Supra
Once you turn off the active sound (fake engine noise crap) the stock stereo sounds just fine. I'm not an audiophile but certainly love clean, loud music with no distortion, and once I performed that mod, the stereo truly came alive.
 
OP
OP
MaherSupra

MaherSupra

Active Member
First Name
Maher
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Threads
2
Messages
38
Reaction score
20
Location
Arlington, VA
Car(s)
Toyota Supra
Vehicle Showcase
1
Once you turn off the active sound (fake engine noise crap) the stock stereo sounds just fine. I'm not an audiophile but certainly love clean, loud music with no distortion, and once I performed that mod, the stereo truly came alive.
Thank you for the tip! I will look into that. It does really make the annoying resonate from the subwoofer.
 

tadda

Well-Known Member
First Name
Tom
Joined
Dec 14, 2019
Threads
24
Messages
1,251
Reaction score
2,157
Location
Arizona
Car(s)
2023 C8 Corvette Z51 2LT Coupe
Vehicle Showcase
1
My biggest complaint with the audio system had more to do with vibrational noise that the subs create rather than the sound quality of the system itself...

After eliminating most of the low freq vibrational problem areas by adding sound deadening material and playing with the audio EQ settings, the system sounds fairly decent....

In addition, removing the low freq faux engine noise (with Bimmercode) greatly improved sound quality as well...

Much of this type of discussion (improving OE sound quality) can be found in the link to the thread I posted below....

https://www.supramkv.com/threads/audio-upgrade-options.2297/
 

JasonO

Well-Known Member
First Name
Jason
Joined
Oct 30, 2019
Threads
4
Messages
453
Reaction score
559
Location
Lake Charles, LA
Car(s)
Supra LE
Thank you for the tip! I will look into that. It does really make the annoying resonate from the subwoofer.
Disabling active sound helps. The next step is kinda up in the air. I went with replacing the subs with an aftermarket sub and amp. This helped my mids and highs play cleaner by taking the power draw on the factory amp down. I may put more money into the system, but it does sound fairly good now.

Other option is to go with Bavsound or wait for OEMaudioplus. Focal, Helix, PE, and Rockford all have drop in speakers, you just need to know what mounts to get. All aftermarket speaker will lose some volume as getting better low end takes heavier materials so efficiency goes down.

I really think sound dampening or deadening would pay off immensely, just it is so much work that I canā€™t bring myself to pull the trigger on it.
 
OP
OP
MaherSupra

MaherSupra

Active Member
First Name
Maher
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Threads
2
Messages
38
Reaction score
20
Location
Arlington, VA
Car(s)
Toyota Supra
Vehicle Showcase
1
My biggest complaint with the audio system had more to do with vibrational noise that the subs create rather than the sound quality of the system itself...

After eliminating most of the low freq vibrational problem areas by adding sound deadening material and playing with the audio EQ settings, the system sounds fairly decent....

In addition, removing the low freq faux engine noise (with Bimmercode) greatly improved sound quality as well...

Much of this type of discussion (improving OE sound quality) can be found in the link to the thread I posted below....

https://www.supramkv.com/threads/audio-upgrade-options.2297/
OMG donā€™t get me started on that!!! I took my car to the dealership to fix the "rattling" with they did to a certain level, but now its back again even from the front doors. Its driving me insane. How can they let this pass and sell it with rattles and vibrations. So I am definitely going to ask the Sound system guy to add extra sound dentin everywhere he can to fix this horrible quality issue with the Supra.
 

JasonO

Well-Known Member
First Name
Jason
Joined
Oct 30, 2019
Threads
4
Messages
453
Reaction score
559
Location
Lake Charles, LA
Car(s)
Supra LE
OMG donā€™t get me started on that!!! I took my car to the dealership to fix the "rattling" with they did to a certain level, but now its back again even from the front doors. Its driving me insane. How can they let this pass and sell it with rattles and vibrations. So I am definitely going to ask the Sound system guy to add extra sound dentin everywhere he can to fix this horrible quality issue with the Supra.
You need to have them pull panels and TESA tape and CCF tape contact points. The plastic panels from the trunk to the door frame all need to be pulled and taped. Some panels did not have all screw points used, so have some 3/4ā€ trim screws on hand as well. The bottom doorsill trim should be pulled and the wiring harnesses need to be taped down. They break easy, so tell them to be careful there.

Iā€™ve killed all my rattles doing that and Iā€™m running 600 watts into a 10ā€ and two 6.5ā€ drivers in place of the factory subs. Resonance on the other hand. . .
 
OP
OP
MaherSupra

MaherSupra

Active Member
First Name
Maher
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Threads
2
Messages
38
Reaction score
20
Location
Arlington, VA
Car(s)
Toyota Supra
Vehicle Showcase
1
You need to have them pull panels and TESA tape and CCF tape contact points. The plastic panels from the trunk to the door frame all need to be pulled and taped. Some panels did not have all screw points used, so have some 3/4ā€ trim screws on hand as well. The bottom doorsill trim should be pulled and the wiring harnesses need to be taped down. They break easy, so tell them to be careful there.

Iā€™ve killed all my rattles doing that and Iā€™m running 600 watts into a 10ā€ and two 6.5ā€ drivers in place of the factory subs. Resonance on the other hand. . .
Wow! Thatā€™s a lot of work I hope Iā€™m not going to get charged a lot! Do you think the dealership would agree to do that? Since they claim initially that they fixed the issue.
 

JasonO

Well-Known Member
First Name
Jason
Joined
Oct 30, 2019
Threads
4
Messages
453
Reaction score
559
Location
Lake Charles, LA
Car(s)
Supra LE
Wow! Thatā€™s a lot of work I hope Iā€™m not going to get charged a lot! Do you think the dealership would agree to do that? Since they claim initially that they fixed the issue.
They will not go that far I would imagine. Iā€™d expect the dealer to get 50% of the rattles at best. A great dealer may do a bit more but that isnā€™t what they specialize in so they will never get it perfect. The panel work can be done yourself. I would say order a three pack of tesa tape, some ccf tape, and a trim tool kit from amazon, but you may be waiting awhile.

Sound deadening and proofing if done right is one of the most expensive items an audio shop offers. Labor and material cost are tremendous. They can chase rattles for much cheaper, but Iā€™d still budget 4-6 hours of shop time depending on where your rattles are coming from.

If the shop does your audio install, fixing rattles will only be trivially more as the panels are off already.
 
OP
OP
MaherSupra

MaherSupra

Active Member
First Name
Maher
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Threads
2
Messages
38
Reaction score
20
Location
Arlington, VA
Car(s)
Toyota Supra
Vehicle Showcase
1
They will not go that far I would imagine. Iā€™d expect the dealer to get 50% of the rattles at best. A great dealer may do a bit more but that isnā€™t what they specialize in so they will never get it perfect. The panel work can be done yourself. I would say order a three pack of tesa tape, some ccf tape, and a trim tool kit from amazon, but you may be waiting awhile.

Sound deadening and proofing if done right is one of the most expensive items an audio shop offers. Labor and material cost are tremendous. They can chase rattles for much cheaper, but Iā€™d still budget 4-6 hours of shop time depending on where your rattles are coming from.

If the shop does your audio install, fixing rattles will only be trivially more as the panels are off already.
Yes you are making a valid point since they are taking the panels off anyway they should be installing the required materials I will be getting a quote from them soon and I think I will discuss that with them
 
OP
OP
MaherSupra

MaherSupra

Active Member
First Name
Maher
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Threads
2
Messages
38
Reaction score
20
Location
Arlington, VA
Car(s)
Toyota Supra
Vehicle Showcase
1
Ok guys here is the quotes from the sound shop! He showed me pictures of the stocks a mover and I looked awful and you wonder why It sound terrible. So itā€™s going to be a custom enclosure for two 10 inch subwoofer the back And thereā€™s more details in the attached document

new doc 2020-04-01 17.53.56_1.jpg
 
OP
OP
MaherSupra

MaherSupra

Active Member
First Name
Maher
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Threads
2
Messages
38
Reaction score
20
Location
Arlington, VA
Car(s)
Toyota Supra
Vehicle Showcase
1
Wow, that's a ton of money to spend! Hopefully, it's worth it!
I know! I havenā€™t decided to do it yet, but Iā€™m all for just the sound treatment to reduce any road noise
 
OP
OP
MaherSupra

MaherSupra

Active Member
First Name
Maher
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Threads
2
Messages
38
Reaction score
20
Location
Arlington, VA
Car(s)
Toyota Supra
Vehicle Showcase
1
I would suggest changing your sound system to something like this and driving with the windows down. :D

5AFAE1BD-9878-42C2-B37E-5538C24A62FE.jpeg
Wow!! Haha I love it, what you have done to your car? Do you have that installed?
Sponsored

 
 




Top