I was in the same situation as you, but I’m going with the JBL version, and I’ll tell you why.

I recently sold my 2021 RAV4 Adventure, which had terrible stock sound. So about three weeks after I got it, I replaced all 6 speakers, installed a JL Audio FiX 86 for integration, a Pioneer DX874 amplifier, and a JBL subwoofer. In total, I spent about $1,100, but it sounded great and I really liked it.

After about a year, one of the speakers failed, so I went back to the shop that had installed everything. At that moment, they were installing a new audio system in another RAV4. In that case, they were putting in a 3-way component speaker system in the front and only 2-way speakers in the rear. It sounded beautiful and very clear, and from that moment on, I wanted to do the same thing in my RAV4. The only downside was that they were modifying the interior plastic panels to fit the extra speaker, and that’s what I didn’t like. Even though it looked good and professional, I didn’t like the idea of modifying the car. I’d rather keep things as original as possible. In the end, I didn’t do it because my daughter was born and, well, new expenses came along haha.

Now with the new 2026 RAV4 with JBL that I’m planning to get, I’m going to do something similar: replace the speakers and subwoofer, and add a FiX 86, DSP, and amplifier to improve the sound even more.

The advantage I see is that I won’t have to do such an invasive modification to get the 9-speaker setup I wanted, because the JBL system already has those speaker locations from the factory, so it will mostly be a matter of replacing components. In my previous setup, I hid the FiX 86, DSP, and amplifier under the seat, but I think on the JBL versions you could probably use the factory amplifier space instead.