Anyone find any real review on the JBL speaker upgrade on the 2013 TCH vs the base speakers? I've read what they say and looked at the JBL site, but that doesn't tell you much. I can listen to them for a few minutes at the dealer, but I'd like to hear from some people who have been using them for days/months/etc.

I'll be spending at least 2-4 hours/day in the car, so thinking it might be worth it to upgrade.

 

The way they bundle the options in Canada you have to buy the fully loaded Camry to get the JBL audio, including the moonroof, "leather" seats, Navigator, etc..

I would have liked to have the moonroof and leather seats if they were real leather. However, the seats are not. They are a synthetic Ultrasuede with a suede finish. The reason for interest in leather is that we have a dog and real leather seats are almost indestructable. However these Ultrasuede ones look like a cleaning nightmare.

And I have no interest in the Navigator. It seems like nothing but a pain in the butt. Maps are only updated once a year, and some are paying $170 for each update by the dealer... Much prefer a portable Garmin with a lifetime quarterly updates for the map. Also I can move it from vehicle to vehicle.

Short story is that buying a loaded version was never at the top of the list.

The standard XLE sound system sounds fine to me. It has a little too much bass when everything is set to the normal position, but I have never gotten around to balancing it.

While I have about a $5000 stereo in my house, I have never seen the need for anything exotic on the road. There is just way too much road noise to listen to a good stereo system. One thing that I believe the standard sound system lacks is a compression setting, that compresses the dynamic range of CD quality music to boost the quiet stuff enough that you can hear it over the road noise. Not sure if the upgraded version has that feature. Compression is the opposite of what you want for high quality sound, but in a car it can be a necessary evil.

Hope that helps some...

 

Yeah, I am thinking of getting the moonroof package and putting some aftermarket speakers in it.

 

Andrew, I would have commented as I have the JBL's in my car but to be honest about it, all I ever do is listen to talk radio when I'm on the road. I have been shooting for far too many years (without good hearing protection back in my youth) and have a good bit of hearing loss. There are good sides to everything though, I might not be able to hear as well as before but I can shoot a lot better because of it

 

I had (past tense) a TCH with the JBL upgrade and was visibly UNimpressed with them.
I recently purchased another Toyota without the JBL and find little to no difference in sound quality.
I am not one to crank up the audio to ear splitting levels (with the windows open) so the standard speakers are just fine.

 

Of course it depends on your taste, but you could go with the stock stereo and later decide to upgrade the speakers if you can't live with what you have. A month ago I replaced my 2007 TCH (with JBL) for a standard 2013 TCH XLE. I do feel the sound isn't quite as good, but over the month I've been driving it, I'm starting to think I won't even bother replacing the speakers as they're reasonably good enough for me.

 

I have the JBL system in my 2007. It sounds good, with a lot of bass for a factory system, but the rigid plastic door panels, center console, B pillars, etc. will all buzz loud enough that it really diminishes the sound.

That said, those issues would be there regardless of stereo performance.