Any fixes for levelling the JBL center channel yet?

[Josh256]

Take it out.. I removed mine the day I drove the truck home

+1 .. So far this is the better sounding option IMHO..

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[Vidman]

You can’t get stereo separation with a center speaker in a truck

 

[MERAKIAUTOWORKS]

Anyone want to sell their JBL center speaker?

-Josh

 

[TacoFreak]

I adjusted fade to rear a bit. Also on sound settings I turned down “midrange” a bit and that helps.

I just tried lowering the midrange some today, and I agree that helps too.

I have the Beat Sonic and have pushed the fade toward the rear and rebalanced the sound as much as this system allows, and it is better. Probably as good as it will get without upgrading the whole thing IMO.

 

[inlandsmog]

Well, I installed the Beat Sonic yesterday and other than being noticeably louder, unfortunately it did not do anything for the center speaker. Looks like the only way to take care of it is just to disable it. Also when I installed the amp I did not put it behind the radio, I wound up putting it behind the glove box and it fits very well there.

 

[Josh256]

Well, I installed the Beat Sonic yesterday and other than being noticeably louder, unfortunately it did not do anything for the center speaker. Looks like the only way to take care of it is just to disable it. Also when I installed the amp I did not put it behind the radio, I wound up putting it behind the glove box and it fits very well there.

Do you have any pics by chance? I didn't want to put it in the glove box but would love an accessible location!

I was looking at the JBL center yesterday [since it's not in the truck!] and noticed it has 5 contact pads for the dock's 5 contact pins.. I think there's 3 scenarios:
1) Custom interface/protocol for power and audio
2) USB interface [should be 4 wire vs. 5... possibly an additional constant +5-12V to the USB's ACC]
3) Power [2 wire] + Stereo Audio [standard stereo 3 wire: left+, right+, left/right-]

On the off chance it's scenario 3 a simple 3 or 4-wire volume knob would do the trick.. I'll get the multimeter out this weekend and see which pins/contacts supply constant voltage and report back.

EDIT: Posted results in follow up message

 

[wire4money]

Turning the mid range way down helped for me. It is very dependent upon the music source and individual songs as to how the center speaker sounds. After putting it back in for a bit, i noticed the system directs main vocals to it, but background vocals to the other speakers.

 

[inlandsmog]

Do you have any pics by chance? I didn't want to put it in the glove box but would love an accessible location!

I was looking at the JBL center yesterday [since it's not in the truck!] and noticed it has 5 contact pads for the dock's 5 contact pins.. I think there's 3 scenarios:
1) Custom interface/protocol for power and audio
2) USB interface [should be 4 wire vs. 5... possibly an additional constant +5-12V to the USB's ACC]
3) Power [2 wire] + Stereo Audio [standard stereo 3 wire: left+, right+, left/right-]

On the off chance it's scenario 3 a simple 3 or 4-wire volume knob would do the trick.. I'll get the multimeter out this weekend and see which pins/contacts supply constant voltage and report back.

I will get some as soon as I am able.

 

[Josh256]

I didn't realize the FRONT leveller on my Beat Sonic 2T3 was for all speakers and the REAR for car alerts/voice-overs/etc.. what are you folks setting rear to if front is at 3 o'clock? I think I cranked mine all the way to 6 o'clock.. removed my seat belt at a carwash and nearly hung my self with the strap when the chime went into stage 2 / panic mode

 

[TacoFreak]

I didn't realize the FRONT leveller on my Beat Sonic 2T3 was for all speakers and the REAR for car alerts/voice-overs/etc.. what are you folks setting rear to if front is at 3 o'clock? I think I cranked mine all the way to 6 o'clock.. removed my seat belt at a carwash and nearly hung my self with the strap when the chime went into stage 2 / panic mode

I set the rear to 12 o'clock, which was Beat Sonics recommendation. I probably should have turned it down further to mute my truck's whining. lol

 

[Josh256]

Update:
There's a good chance we have an analogue single channel 2-wire pair to the dock. Should have speaker, wire and time to confirm tomorrow.

Details:
I took the JBL dock apart today.. Although it is 5-pin/contact the dock itself is fed 4 wires: Batt +/- and what I assume to be center +/-

Batt is constant, verified at >14V with ignition and >12V without. Assumed center channel would be high/amped or low/line and will confirm tomorrow using an old speaker and some speaker wire - I also expect I can trace the center channel wires back to the head unit. All four wires are connected to a very small circuit board bolted to the side of the dock with a single IC/chip that is converting the 4-wire [toyota] input into the 5-pin [JBL] dock output: +8v/+8v/unknown/negative-ground/unknown..

 

[Josh256]

As suspected, we have an amped center channel.. using a passive speaker it sounds much better than the JBL!

Details:
We have a Toyota head unit [and likely JBL amped] high level center + constant battery supply
connected to the dock which in turn converts voltage and audio into to the removable JBL's 5 contact connector. I suspect the dock conversion IC is also performing high-to-low levelling on the Toyota's high center. Using a center channel speaker from a small home theatre kit I am getting much better quality audio and perfect balance to the L/R..

For those planning on keeping the JBL center: IMHO the best option would be is a high level speaker volume adjuster on the Toyota harness to the dock. This would allow you to lower the volume pre-JBL dock conversion and quite likely improve the audio fidelity as well.

I've recorded the center both with a passive speaker and the JBL.. apologies for the minor, "god D" profanity... I'll blame the brutal wireless CarPlay latency there :

 

[TacoFreak]

Great video and thanks for the detective work. A fairly easy fix might be to roll our own replacement passive center speaker that fits in the JBL speaker dock. Or maybe someone will make a speaker that just replaces the dock with a much better sounding passive speaker.

It is always hard to tell from a video, but it definitely sounded better with your fix.

 

[Josh256]

Great video and thanks for the detective work. A fairly easy fix might be to roll our own replacement passive center speaker that fits in the JBL speaker dock. Or maybe someone will make a speaker that just replaces the dock with a much better sounding passive speaker.

It is always hard to tell from a video, but it definitely sounded better with your fix.

Roger.. For those wishing to lower the JBL centre volume: I don't know much about lowering a high level channel [amped] - Everything I've found is a high/low converter or a low/line level control. Adding resistance/impedance before the dock is likely what's needed.. This is or was a common requirement for in-ceiling speakers generally in older homes before the Sonos era.. EG: "70V Mono 25W in-Wall Volume Control Unique Thru-Put Easy Daisy Chain Install (White, Almond, Bone) MVC25" which takes a high level input between the amp and the speaker.

Jealous you got the Terra, dude -- I had originally ordered a 2024 in Terra but missed the cutoff and had to update the order to black, graphite, mud or white on the 2025:(

 

[TacoFreak]

Jealous you got the Terra, dude -- I had originally ordered a 2024 in Terra but missed the cutoff and had to update the order to black, graphite, mud or white on the 2025:(

All the colors would have worked for me, but once I saw Terra I fell in love. It was pure luck that my dealer got a 2024 Pro allocation and incredible luck that it was Terra.

What color is your Pro? Encased in ice it is hard to tell. lol

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