Hi all,

I have an '09 xB. It came with the premium Pioneer system. I have to turn the volume up to about "78" to properly hear any good songs. :-) I'm presuming I need an amp to get more sound.

If that's what's need what's a good but inexpensive unit I can buy that'll pump up the sound but won't blow the factory speakers if I crank it. I don't need to entertain the neighborhood but I like to crank zz once in a while. Also, do these Pioneer systems come with an actual subwoofer?

Thanks!

 

no subs on the factory sound system. are you playing the music off your ipod or off a cd?

 

If you have to turn it up so much, theres something wrong. Like the previous post, what is your source? iPod, CD, or something else plugged into AUX?

As far as an amp, I'd recommend replacing the factory speakers at the same time. They likely wont handle what an amp can give them, and probably wont sound very good. Let us know what route you decide to take and we can help you out. The stock system gets quite though, so maybe something is wrong.

 

Currently just using the radio & CDs (Ipod connector which was missing is in the mail). On the drive home from work today I could turn it all the way to 60 (max) and it wasn't real loud. Loud on my other car would be at 20-22 (Kenwood) and this would be about a 14-15 on that.

 

It makes sense that something is wrong. What could it be though?? Everything seems to work fine with the Pioneer unit except for the volume.

 

Take it to the dealer. Something is wrong with the stereo probably.

 

That's funny. I've owned maybe thirty cars in my lifetime but none with a warranty (until now). If you hadn't mentioned the dealer I might not have thought of that.

 

I agree with Buickid; have the dealer check it out. My stock Pioneer got to a good volume before it started to distort. Granted, the electronic volume controls tend to get to a high number before your volume gets decent. Biggest improvement was getting better speakers in the front.

Okay, I admit that I got a new HU, amp and sub for the box, but let's not quibble with that little detail.

Buickid, what did you do on Tsunami Tsaturday? I wanted to go to Costco and Home Depot that day, but heard that Costco was jammed!

 

I'm actually in Colorado for school right now

 

Did you try changing the car mode or whatever? Not sure if it has it. But I know you can change it from tC, xB, or xD. Sometimes that helps and it will sound better to you on a different car possibly. But sounds like the head unit itself is messed up. That or your hard at hearing. Don't think that though. Take it to the dealer first. What I did was just replace the head unit with one I bought after market. At walmart actually. A sony. Puts out 52 watts per speaker I think. Which is better. And it sounds much much better in my tC. I am sure it would help in your case. But dealer first like mentioned above. And replacing the speakers would help but that gets costly and I think the stock speakers are very good. With my new HU they get a good bit louder then the stock head unit ever did. And all around better sound quality.

 

The stock HU and speakers are designed to work together. When I installed my aftermarket HU, I noticed reduced bass. The stock HU has a built in EQ to compensate for deficiencies in the stock speakers. When you change one or the other, you mess up that relationship. If you replace your HU, I would suggest replacing your speakers at the same time. A nice set of component speakers can be had for <$250. As far as HU's, I wouldn't bother replacing it with anything that costs <$150.

The stock HU is actually quite decent. Anything less than $150 probably won't have more features (we already have iPod and AUX functionality) or better sound quality. Also, get a HU with RCA pre-outs in case you ever add amps. Look for something with 3 sets of RCA pre-outs. Most HUs are limited to 22x4 RMS watts. HUs advertise 55Wx4, but thats peak watts.

 

I actually liked my stock HU: nice large display, (mostly) easy controls, steering wheel control (although by habit I just reached for the HU). What I didn't like was the lack of fast forward/reverse controls and no pause feature; only track up/down or off. Sometimes I'd like to go back over a song or skip a part or pause it in the drive thru. That and the two USB thumb drives I broke while they were in the port in the storage console while trying to get something in that tiny coin well.

Hmm, Buickid, we got tsunami, you got tsnow!

 

Yep haha. The xB stereo takes USB drives? Is this for the new stereo? Mine only had AUX and iPod.

 

My salesman didn't know about that so much for knowledgabe sales staff). I figured that an iPod used the USB port and all it sends is data, so I just decided to try it, and it worked fine. Eventually I did get a Sony HU. It was the least messed up control routine I coulf find at the !70 price point. For some reason, the engineers put things like loudness, local/distant (for FM) and even tone/eq controls buried under layers of other stuff (that rarely are used, but look good).

 

Well my Sony HU was more then $150 for sure. It also has the Ipod AUX input, RCAs in the rear, and many settings that are far better then any of the stock Scion Radios. Even with the 52w per speaker being peak power its still more then the stock Scion radios can put out. Which leads to better sound quality. When set up right...which took me awhile....this Sony HU sounds amazing. Its gets a decent bit louder with out distortion, has more bass, and over all a ton better sound quality. It has sub settings and everything. There is a ton this little HU can do to make it sound exactly the way you want. Maybe its the music I listen to....but I am an all around music kind of guy. So everything sounds better....even my wifes country sounds better. But again this is all my opinion. Buying new speakers and an amp for them on top of a new HU is a bit pricey at the moment. So the HU alone was good for me. Got better sound and a lot more customization for any type of music. It even lets you change the dB for your Ipod or mp3 player you have plugged in. In case it sounds really low you can change that too. I wouldnt go as far as buying a whole new HU, then speakers with an amp. I would try to get Toyota to replace or fix your current HU if there is something wrong. But if you like its controls and ease of use then keep it and put new speakers in with an amp. I would say you will deff like the out come if you did.

 

So, it turns out that it was a CD I was playing that must have been recorded at a lower volume. The HU seems to be ok. It'll go fairly loud but you do have to go up pretty high, like "50" or so. I think I'll just wait until I blow a speaker or something and then I'll start replacing.

If I were to replace the HU though, would a new one still be able to work with the steering wheel controls and the IPOD dock?

Also, a car store here has a Pioneer amp on sale for about 1/2 price. I'm sure this would give it a boost. What are the factory speakers rated for wattage wise? Would an amp blow the stock speakers?

 

You can make the factory controls work with an aftermarket HU. You need an adapter from PAC, Pacific Accessory Corporation.
http://pac-audio.com/Products.aspx?CategoryId=29
Most aftermarket HUs with iPod integration will have their own iPod connection. To keep a clean look, you can run the jack into the glovebox and pop out the stock iPod jack, replacing it with a blank plate from Toyota, which are cheap.

As far as the stock speakers, I probably wouldn't try to run an amp to them. They're likely not rated for much over what the factory HU puts out. I'd give an estimate of 25W RMS tops. A set of Alpine Type-R components are pretty cheap and you'll likely hear a big difference in sound quality when paired with a quality amp. Keep in mind that unless you have the Premium Scion HU, it doesn't have RCA pre-outs to connect an amp to. Yes you can use a Line-Out Convertor, but you're not getting an unadulterated signal from the HU. Its still applying its proprietary equalization curve to match the speakers. If you're gonna change stuff, change it all at once, or don't expect an increase in SQ. I know my speakers sounded worse when I installed an aftermarket HU, but I needed the RCA pre-outs for my sub amp. With an 18" on 3000W though, the stock speakers were no longer audible anyway.