When I switched from my Lexus GS-350 to my current 2020 4Runner TRD ORP everything exceeded my expectations except for one thing, the sound system. I am a little bit of an audiophile to say the least but never thought twice about the sound system in my Lexus, which wasn’t even the upgraded Mark Levinson. It just sounded really nice. I believe when I first purchased the car I bumped the bass up by a notch or two and that was it.

In my 4Runner, I found myself constantly adjusting the EQ with no avail. It just sounded bad.

So I started my journey. I researched all sorts of upgrades and they all brought me back to OEM Audio Plus, but there was no way I was going to pay that kind of money to resolve my sound quality issues. There had to be a better way to do it for less, right?

Anyway…

The first upgrade I did was to swap out my front tweeters for a pair of Kicker tweeters. This made a nice difference in the high end but the mid to mid-bass was still hollow and muddy.

So after a few weeks, I ordered a pair of Focal IS 690TOY component speakers and sold my Kicker tweeters to a friend for a $10 loss. After installing the Focal 6x9s and accompanying tweeters I was much happier with the detail and clarity but the overall sound still wasn’t right.

At this point I knew that an amp and DSP were in my future so when I found a deal on a pair of Focal IC 165TOY 6.5” rear coaxial speakers I jumped on them. The rear speakers actually made a difference by pulling the sound stage back a little but did little else to improve the overall sound quality. To me, the signal coming from the head-unit made the Focal’s midrange sound way too pronounced, almost megaphone like and the tweeters were very harsh. Again, I found myself constantly adjusting the EQ to no avail. The best setting for this setup was flat on the bass, midrange set to two from the bottom and treble down a notch or two from the middle.

So….

I then started researching DSPs and amps. From the Kicker KEY all the way up to AudioControl. While researching I kept running into raving reviews about OEM Audio Plus, so I thought let me call them and see what their DSP actually does. Will it fix the poor quality signal coming out of my head-unit designed for Toyota’s crappy paper speakers with nickel sized magnets and no real tweeters? Will their DSP and amp work properly with my Focal speakers?

After about 30 minutes over 3 different calls to OEM Audio Plus, Daniel answered all of my questions including my last one which was, “If I don’t like it, can I return it for a full refund?” His answer was “Absolutely, as long as you give us a chance to fix any hardware or installation issues.”

A little about their customer service…

I ordered the System 500 with the dedicated sub amp on Wednesday May 27th, when I asked Daniel when it would ship he said that everything should ship in the middle of the next week except for the possibility of the adapter for the new 2020 head unit. On Thursday June 4th, I received an email saying “Great news! Your O+ Sound Solution was shipped”. I sent Daniel an email asking if that meant the adapter shipped as well and he replied after 6:00pm letting me know that the adapter didn’t make it in time but he has it now and will run it to the post office in an attempt to get it to me in time for my weekend installation plans. About halfway thru my installation on Saturday the priority USPS package with the adapter arrived. That is great service in my book.


The install…

Everything went smooth but getting the cables over the top of the glove compartment was a pain in the a$$. Luckily my son who is 6’3” with LONG arms was available to assist.

When the built-in NAV and two of the speakers weren’t working I left a voicemail for support and Daniel called me back in about 5 minutes. He knew it had to be the connectors behind the head-unit and when I started to wiggle the unit back out to check, the speakers came alive. I then pulled it out and properly snapped the connectors into place. I did find an additional connector that I failed to plug back in that resolved the NAV issue. Don’t judge, there are a ton of connectors on the 2020 head-unit.

Sound quality…

Amazing!!! I have the EQ set to flat (middle on all three). They did send me a pair of their tweeters so I put them in to compare them to my Focal tweeters. The OEM Audio tweeters were less bright or harsh and blended better, bringing the vocals up to about windshield height. Beautiful. Speaking of imaging, to say this system is tuned for the driver is an understatement. When you are in the passenger seat you can definitely hear the passenger side speaker more then the driver’s side. When you are in the driver’s seat it is spot on perfect! Mid range is strong but never overpowering, the treble is beautifully clean and clear but never harsh or shrill and the bass is tight and never overly boomy or annoying. As far as what genres of music do I listen too? I enjoy all genres of music, pop, country, jazz, reggie, singer song writer and even some hip hop on occasion.

In case you can’t tell I am very satisfied with my new OEM Audio Plus setup. If my story sounds like what you are currently going thru and you would like to have high quality audio in your 4Runner, just bite the bullet and buy the OEM Audio Plus solution.

Colt

I was relatively pleased with the JBL system that came in my 2020 TRDP, except that the subwoofer was basically useless. Most of the bass came from the speakers, and it just wasn't what I was used to.

So I threw in a JL 12W6 in a custom box with a JL amp. I can't describe how much of a difference that made. Totally different experience.

Hey David05111,

I am sure that my story would have been different as well if my TRD ORP had come with the JBL system. I bet your 12” driver with a custom amp puts out a heck of a lot of bass. Enjoy!

Colt

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I had considered doing ad hoc upgrades to fix the flat / muddy stock stereo in my 2019 4Runner. I just couldn't figure out which pieces needed replacing most, if I needed an audio processor / eq more than anything or what. I was afraid of investing money in a piece here and a piece there and either not fixing the audio fully or causing some other issue with the truck. The OEM Audio kit sorted all my audio quality issues right out, the stock deck's minimal EQ is now more than sufficient to make all my music sound great, it doesn't matter if it's hip hop or metal, it just sounds 10X better than it did stock, and you can't argue with the sleek look of that subwoofer on the wheel well in the back.

Agreed, looks good.

Attached Images

 

I like your style, sir. Focal’s are my favorite car speakers but Dynaudio is a mighty close second. Have used the 165K’s in the past and thinking whatever the modern analog is now.

My little brother has BE Series Electra’s and provided you did the Focal house sound, they are hard to go away from. If I ever go away from electrostatic speakers, they are high in the running along with Wilson Audio.

Planning on doing something similar to my ‘21 Venture probably starting first with addressing the low end. Triage and all.

I recently did the same but with all Alpine X series speakers and 6 channel amp for all the speakers. Problem is the Metra DSP terrible. It does a great job at dropping the power to the amp and has custom equalizer settings adjustable via app, but i get a noisy pop every time i start the 4R.

Very clean install and I bet it sounds amazing.
I went back and forth whether to custom fabricate an enclosure for the subwoofer. Still cannot believe JL Audio does not offer a StealthBox for the 4Runner c/m considering they sold around 150,000 of them.
Focal FLAX Universal 10 Sealed enclosure with 10" shallow-mount subwoofer at Crutchfield

Last week, I purchased a Focal Universal 10 which seemed to be to be a good compromise. Especially considering I was only interested in a sealed box.

The woofer Focal is designed for shallow mount applications and the enclosure is fairly compact. That way, very little is lost in terms of space.

Between the Morel Ultima speaker setup with outboard amplification and the addition of lower frequency reinforcement, listening to music is a joy.

Now time to devote resources to off tarmac performance. That said, out of the box, my Venture has been amazing off road. Granted, living in Orange County, CA, it is not nearly as convenient to hit the trails, but I still got out there.
Humboldt was lousy with amazing places to explore.

Were you able to figure out the issue with this pop? I get one with the taco tubes setup (5ch amp + recurve) and it’s driving me nuts

Yes, it was a combination of the (hidden) Stock amp that was not removed and the power it gave to the Metra DSP. Just not good to do a stereo without replacing the head unit.

So I removed the stock amp and replaced the head unit with a Kenwood DMX. Should have done that from the beginning, such better sound quality and the integration is awesome.