When it comes to the 5th Gen Toyota 4Runner, there are a lot of positives and negatives regarding the vehicle. One of those negatives always seems to be the audio system. Whether stock or JBL, it just doesn’t cut it, and owners are always looking for something better.
Thankfully, OEM Audio Plus has made a direct plug-and-play setup for the 5th Gen 4Runner to boost your audio experience. From speaker-only upgrades and even speaker tweeter upgrades to their full reference 500 system, OEM Audio Plus has quite a few different systems to choose from. Whatever your budget level is, OEM Audio Plus likely has a solution for you. All of their speaker systems are direct plug-and-play kits that are made to be installed by the everyday guy. You don’t need to be an audio engineer to install any of their products. OEM Audio Plus makes the process incredibly simple.
Table Of Contents
Who is OEM Audio Plus?
OEM Audio Plus is an audio-dedicated company based in Southern California that has been specializing in audio since 2007. They not only make dedicated plug-and-play kits for the 5th Gen 4Runner but also for other models.
Why C3 Sound Solution?
With so many options on the market, and do it yourself kits, it’s hard to decide which one is the best option for your 4Runner. For me it was simple. I wanted a clean install that wasn’t complicated and very straight forward. I didn’t want to have to do a bunch of wiring (something I dread), nor cut pieces of plastic up in order to fit specific speakers.
OEM Audio Plus fits all of those categories.
With everything being plug and play I knew all I would have to do would be simple things like removing plastic trim and pieces away to access speakers. Additionally, I knew with an amp that the system would be semi-serious compared to direct speaker replacements.
I also realized I likely didn’t need a subwoofer like the other kits for the 5th Gen 4Runner, and this was a way to note have that. With that said this kit does have the option to add the subwoofer if for some reason down the road you decide you want it.
Personally I just didn’t need the extra bass. While I enjoy bass, I guess I’m at an age now where that isn’t as big of a priority as maybe when I was younger.
Install Overview
Initially, I was a bit intimidated about installing the C3 Sound Solution. Mostly because I have never installed an audio setup before and I didn’t want to mess something up to where I blew a fuse or something else. Always imagine the worst of the worst happening and the vehicle catching on fire. Needless to say that never happened and is literally impossible to have happened with this kit.
Each speaker gets unbolted and replaced with a new speaker that goes in the same exact way with the same OEM bolts. That means you aren’t trying to find the correct bolts, or figure out which was the speaker lines up. It’s a simple pop in and out.
The trickiest part may actually be the door panel itself, as it is required to be removed when installing. I highly recommend lowering the window when doing this part as when you reattach the panel it can be difficult to do with the window up. With it down it takes a matter of a second or two to get it fixed back on, with it up, and I found this out the hard way, it took a good 3-5 minutes.
If you have a friend helping you with the installation, you can easily “cheat” this step by simply unclipping the sides and bottom section of the door panel and going underneath to unbolt the old speaker and bolt in the new one. This may not be an extreme time-saving measure, but it allows you not to have to worry about undoing and redoing the door handle mechanism.
For a complete step-by-step installation of the system, please check out Frank’s OEM Audio Plus install.
Sound Quality
With the C3 Sound Solution, the sound quality is a night-and-day difference. I wasn’t expecting this for such a simple plug-and-play kit, but it is truly a game-changer. You can immediately tell the difference between the base levels, the clarity of the audio, and the tones produced.
One thing I noticed about the original Toyota sound system was that it always seemed like if you went beyond 24 levels of volume, the system was going to break. In fact, while driving on the highway with the windows cracked, I always feared I would damage or blow out a speaker.
With the C3 Sound Solution, I can turn the volume up well into the 40s, and it still has that beautiful sound quality. Nothing sounds like it’s going to explode or cause damage. Obviously, you won’t need to listen to music that loud, but it’s nice to know that if you want it semi-loud for whatever reason, you can now do it.
I sadly used to think how nice it would be to have my music in the 4Runner sound like my Samsung soundbar at home, and now I have that exact quality in a much more confined area.
Audio Settings
OEM Audio Plus recommends leaving all of your settings to stock, as that is what their system is designed to improve; however, because I do like a little bit of extra bass, I decided to bump it up two levels in the EQ system of the 4Runner. I feel this gives enough bass to where you’re happy, but not to where you’ll give yourself a headache.
Of course, if you aren’t as sensitive to sound, or love bass THAT much, by all means, bump it up to what you see fit. Otherwise, I agree with their recommendations for leaving everything dead center.
Give Me More Road Trips
As someone who works out of town a lot, I find myself needing that extra boost of energy on the drives. Because caffeine makes my body get all out of whack, I’ve always depended on music to keep me going, whether I’m tired or just sick of driving.
I typically enjoy playing good music with a nice bass beat. This can range anywhere from hip-hop to electronic music, but I listen to almost everything. Lately, I’ve been on a SICKO MODE by Travis Scott, kick. The song features a little bit of everything, and the C3 Sound Solution handles it all brilliantly.
With the roof rack on my vehicle, I have to deal with more wind noise. While the rack isn’t terribly loud, it is definitely louder than when the vehicle was stock. One thing I immediately noticed with this system was that the volume, when turned up, takes over the wind noise nearly immediately. With the stock system, I had to hit the levels of 24, where I felt the damage was bound to happen.
Negatives
There’s usually something you don’t like about the setup or item you purchase, but I have no complaints about OEM Audio Plus as a whole. The audio is by far superior, and I would install it 10 times over again if I had to; it does make that much of a difference.
However, I encountered two issues when installing and thought I would point them out. These aren’t game changers and may not be an issue for you.
The channel in which the wiring goes above the glove box can be extremely annoying at times. I highly recommend not trying to do this by hand unless you have smaller hands. If you have bigger wrists like mine, use a wire loom! This will save you a lot of time. Once it’s in the channel, it’s easy to get through, but it’s getting it into that channel that is the issue.
This isn’t an issue that OEM Audio Plus causes, but rather the awesome engineers at Toyota. You would think they’d make a simpler way to channel things, but in this case, they didn’t.
The other issue I ran into was running the power wire from the cabin to the battery. This is because I have my ARB air compressor set up above the grommet on the firewall, allowing access to the cabin from the engine bay. If you have this setup (BandiWorld) you will want to remove the upper section of the airbox in order to give yourself enough room to move between the bottom of the air compressor mount and top of the airbox. Doing it without this can probably be done, but it will leave you a nice bruise (don’t ask) and a lot of time wasted.
Again, neither of these is an OEM Audio Plus problem, but if I had to pick anything I don’t like, it’s these two things.
Final Thoughts
If you are in the market for an audio system upgrade, the OEM Audio Plus C3 Sound Solution is an excellent choice. Everything is plug-and-play, so installation couldn’t be easier and can be done from home rather than needing a shop.
It is one of the most cost-effective ways to bring a clear yet powerful sound quality experience to your 5th Gen 4Runner. Whether you go on long trips during camping season or work out of town a lot, this system is guaranteed to make the commutes to said places much more enjoyable.
While we don’t think much about audio for an enjoyable ride experience, I’ve found that my drives are much more enjoyable since installing my C3 Sound Solution. Wind noise from the roof rack seems to disappear, and phone calls are even clearer.
If you’ve thought about upgrading, give the C3 Sound Solution from OEM Audio Plus a good look.
