I've never used the cassette because of having the cd player. At the risk of re-posting, are you aware of the mid-range adjustment on the radios w/cd?. Mine is a 2000 model. If you press the right side round knob, it will normally display 4 settings: Bas, for base, Tre, for treble, Fad, for fade, and Bal, for balance. While the radio is on, press and hold the same knob for approx. 10 sec. untill you hear a loud beep. After hearing the beep, now when you cycle through the adjustments a new display appears,llld is the best I can approximate it here. I figure it's for mid-range. It is factory set at 0. It is adjustable the same way as all the 4 other audio settings are. It's set at 0, so if you turn it up to +5 it makes a noticeable difference in the sound, even though the factory Tacoma stereo is a joke. Just remember to turn of the radio before the ignition. Otherwise you must go through the whole procedure again.