The Scion head should have 3+ years newer technology, and if it has the pioneer name on it then sound quality should be better.

 

Yes the pioneer scion HU will work in the 2nd and 3rd gen as well as the Tacos. I don't have one, or listend to one but I have heard that the sound quality with them is alot better then the stock cd player. Besides, it is a 6 DISK CHANGER, it plays mp3, can get satellite radio, and you can buy an apapter thing to plug your ipod into it if you choose to. Just a great way to upgrade while keepin the stock look. RCA outputs shouldn't be a concern because you are talking about adding that other little adapter thing anyway.

 

There is a guy on customtaco's that can add RCA's to a stock deck.
You still only have a 1bit DAC on the cd player, where a good aftermarket will have a 24 bit....

 

At first I wasnt too impressed since it was from a Scion, but it's sounding like a better and better idea! A 6 CD MP3 player AND satellite radio would be pretty cool!

Maybe Pioneer will put RCA's in next year?

Greg - What's the difference between 1 bit and 24 bit?

Erich

 

I once bought an aftermarket Alpine deck which did not have RCA inputs (this was a looooooong time ago) and I used a RCA to speaker wire converter. It was basically a black box with female RCA inputs going into one side and 8 speaker wires coming out the other side (pos and neg for front right, left rear right etc.). This is one way to get around attaching an amp if you feel like tapping into the stock wiring harness (check out install Dr. for wiring harness info). One thing to keep in mind is that converting from RCA to a lower level signal degrades sound quality. It is something like having a nice DVD player w/ S or composite video and feeding it into a coaxal connection. That being said, I prefer the OEM stereo look and have not seen a double DIN stereo that I like to replace the one in my 4Runner.

 

I have a Factory Radio CD/Tape double tall one from a 2002 SR5.

I replaced the factory speakers and it sounded a million times better.

http://www.sonoransteel.com/polk.html

I have a Panasonic CD Changer running into it with a Blitzsafe adapter and 3 Aux in RCA inputs for iPod, etc from PIM X3.

So why do I have a factory radio? I'm not going to loose a Dana 44 swapped 4Runner so some thief because he wants some after market radio. No one wants factory radios and will leave the thing alone.

The factory radio I have has a little amp behind it and does quite well.

No comparison to the full blown custom setup in my 1990 Mini P/U.

 

My personal opinion is to stay away from any sort of multi disc changer.
Too many moving parts to break. Plus the cd you want to listen to never seems to be in the changer so you gotta use your CD wallet anyways.

MP3 and Sat radio are always a big +

 

I didnt read all the other posts but JL Audio makes a Cleansweep unit you can use to keep your OEM radio.

www.jlaudio.com

 

That's not a bad idea. Anyone on here every used one of these units before? What does something like that cost?

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_p...hp?page_id=134

 

Ebay is a good start. Last time I looked, they were going for around $200.

That may seem like a lot but JL is the best there is (from my opinion).

 

Well I've got the speakers picked out I plan on using. Now I'm working on finding a good amp.

Question is, since I plan on keeping my stock HU (or maybe trying a Scion HU out), will the small factory amp interfer w/ the larger external amp I plan on running? Or need I even worry about that?

 

Take it like this. The head unit is like the brain of the system (metaphorically). you might as well upgrade the HU with better performance and more capabilities. because the stock 4runner speakers aren't that bad, in fact mine are pretty good, so difference won't vary tremendously. If you're going to spend money on all the speakers, a quality deck isn't that much more. you can find a good one for 200 online. but it's your money and good luck with what you decided to go with. what speakers did you decide on? what amp are you thinking of?

 

I'm fully aware of how well aftermarket radios stack up against most factory HUs.... there is no comparison. I've owned half a dozen Alpine, Pioneer and Sony HUs over the years and loved every minute of them. However, to reiterate my original post on this subject, my ultimate goal is based around aesthetics. I have yet to see an aftermarket HU that has a flush and simple looking faceplate that compliments the dash of my 4Runner as well as the OEM HU does. I'm not a big fan of aftermarket face plates that protrude out from the dash and let off enough multicolor lights to light up my entire cabin at night.

Second, a thief will more likely break into a vehicle w/ an aftermarket HU than one w/ an OEM HU. I know, detach the faceplate and take it w/ you, but I can't do that every time. No offense, but I'm not going to be that guy that carries his HU with him every time he steps out of his vehicle. Therefore, for the time being, (and let me say that might very well change and I could be eating every word I just said) I'm going to "try" and keep my factory HU and upgrade around it. But like I said, an aftermarket HU could be in my future...just not now.

I will say the one thing that would persuade me to go aftermarket, is being able to add a CB radio in the empty pocket below. That my fellow friend is a huge plus. Plus I gain all the benefits of having an aftermarket HU to boot!

Anyways, back to the speakers, I'm going w/ Focals all the way around... just kidding. Now that'd be crazy w/ a stock HU. No really, I'm either going w/ Boston Act. or JBLs. Size will be 6.5" in the front doors and 5.25" in the rears. As far as the amp goes, I'm still unsure which route to take. I like both the Kenwood KAC-8403 & the JBL GTO75.4 II. As long as I get between 250-300 total watts, I'll be fine. It must have speaker-level inputs as well, but most of the 4-channel amps I've looked at do.

If anyone has any recommendations on which amp is the best bang for the buck from what I need above, please let me know.

 

For what its worth and i am sure that it has been covered. a lot of my friends have kept the original HU and installed new speakers. There is a great difference in sound. I am planning on doing it as soon as it warms up a little. I want to keep the stock look of the HU but have a little better sound. If that is all you are looking for then a speaker upgrade will work great

 

The main difference, especially in sound quality, is going to come with the tunability of an aftermarket Headunit. The stock headunit has 3 stage EQ where most Headunits not can tune for individual frequencies. I have dont many installs with stock Headunits and aftermarket speakers... I recommend 2 things when doing so:

1. Get a speaker cable to RCA conversion box (20 bucks) and run a small amp to the aftermarket speakers as they will never sound as good without the right amount of power.

2. Do not get components as they will need much more amperage from the preouts even with an amp to sound good. The conversion box will not do as good a job as a real set of pre-amp outputs on an aftermarket deck.

 

Do you mind posting a pic of this box you speak of? It's the first I've heard mention of it. I had already planned to install a 300wt amp w/ speaker level inputs.

Second, are you saying I shouldn't get component speakers even if I get a 300wt amp?

 

I love my JL a4300 amp to death. This thing lets me run components and still has power to give. I would never buy any other amps than JL, the tuneability is top notch.

If you are willing to throw down the money but don't want a aftermarket HU, get the JL Cleansweep... or at least look into it. They are about $250 new on ebay and you can keep your stock HU and still get amazing sound... better than an aftermarket HU.

 

Thanks, I'll look into it. Would I still utilize a seperate amp along with the Cleansweep unit for use with the overall setup?

I've recently been looking at 4Runners w/ CBs mounted in the din below the aftermarket HU and it really makes me want to go that route just for that feature alone. This sucks. I simply don't want an aftermarket HU, but if I want a CB, then I'm going to have to go that route. (I wouldn't want a CB mounted any other place but there.) Guess it comes down to what I want more.

For now I'll simply stick with the OEM HU and upgrade the speakers.

 

Don't know if anyone ever answered your question or not; but yes even with the CleanSweep you still need an amp to get quality sound out of upgraded speakers. The CleanSweep is basically a "line-out converter" it takes the analog signal from the factory radio that goes to the speakers, digitizes it to decode the signal in a 32 bit form, corrects any distortions, then converts the decoded signal back to analog so it can be ran through its 8 volt preouts and transferred to a more powerful amplifier. The $20 converter that was previously mentioned I guarantee won't decode the signal and probably uses something closer to 1.5 volt preouts. But at the end of the day, if you are the kind of guy that can't discern quality from quantity, then it won't really matter as long as you amp the speakers to make them louder.

 

Look at Nakamichi decks, they look stock, but the difference in SQ is amazing.