@TundraTex 2016 CrewMax Audio Build

So I finished my install and went to calibrate everything. the front infinity component speakers sound great BUT the existing 2 dash speakers and center spear are causing too much high end sound. I made my calbrations and its still just stoo much. I am running a Rockford 10" shallow sub behind my rear back seat on drivers side and it is not keeping up with my demands, so back to drawing board. I am also very disappointed with the audio control 7i. The 3 channel line converter worked fine (nothing to rave about) but the accubass did not work at all. I followed the instructions and tried different things to get it to work but it did not affect my sound at all at higher volumes. So I returned it and will be using the Rockford line converter buildt into the amp. I used the RF line converter in my Tacoma and it worked pretty good.

thanks again for the help tex, made wiring real easy, have good holiday everyone!

 

Battaglia, I have experienced some of the treble issues with the factory tweets as well. I will probably be disconnecting them this weekend. I think the center speaker should be fine, but we'll see how the EQ goes with the tweets gone. As for accubass, I couldn't really hear the point at which the HU cut out the bass, so I just set the accubass threshold to minimum and adjusted everything from there.

Good luck with your new approach.

 

TundraTex,

Got a question on your install. Not sure if u explained it or not. Apologize if you have. Did you run new speaker wires to your woofer and tweeters or did u utilize the output speaker wires at the wire harnesses. I was thinking about using them but boy are they so THIN! Maybe 22 gauge wires. I'm concerned with using them since my JL output 100RMS was on each channel. What did u do? Thx

 

Wow really nice setup!

 

I used 16 ga speaker wire that I had on hand from the new amp under the drivers seat over to the Factory harnesses under the passenger seat. I kept the factory wiring for the runs from the harnesses out to the doors and used 18ga to wire from the door harnesses to the crossovers and to the speakers. I'm only running 50 W RMS to the door locations, so the factory wiring can handle that. If you go much higher than that, you are probably on the right track by replacing the factory speaker wiring. My setup has way more volume than I will ever need. Even driving at 70 down the highway with all the windows open, I can hear the tunes just fine. With my setup there was no need to replace the factory harnesses, and that made the job a lot easier.

 

TundraTex what an awesome write up n great mod job!!! U shud start your own audio biz!!! N u reatain stock HU? I wana update doors I bought my truck used n it came with a sealed box with 2 10" Rockfords R2 with a massive audio amp nano2 not even sure of its power out put but rest of truck is stock I know nothing bout audio mods so would I need additional amp for doors? N I like to retain stock HU

 

Thanks! Looks like the factory speaker wires at the speakers are thicker than the ones at the wire harnesses going into factory amp.

 

This is great Tex! thanks for the detailed write up
is there anything you would've done differently now that you have had it for a while?

 

Thanks, Dawkman. I'm very glad I kept the Entune HU. I Maintained All the factory options and I have no noise issues with my setup. I spent a good amount of time thinking it through at the beginning and I'm very happy with the results. That said, I would've liked easier access to the EQ and Amp controls. As it is, I had to tilt the seats a couple times to get everything adjusted the way I wanted it. That was a bit of a pain, but there is really no better place for the amp and EQ. And now that they are set, there's no reason to do much more adjusting. So, I can't think of anything I'd do differently.

 

Definitely nice work here. I think it sucks with those factory amps since it creates a lot of extra unneeded work.

 

The one nice thing about the factory amps is that you have a central location under the seat to access all the factory audio to and from the head unit.

 

Attempted my whole system upgrade today and your wiring diagram was very helpful!!! Thank you! Learned I needed that extra j145 harness from apps2car like you stated. Was able to install all 4 door speakers with factory amp and plan to add my aftermarket amp once I receive the 12 pin wire harness from Amazon. My first time doing an audio upgrade while keeping the stock HU and it makes thing much more interesting. Again thank you for your input and I will share my results as I'm going about the same route.

 

Glad it's working out for you. Post some pics!

 

Resurrecting a somewhat older thread but still very contemporary. @TundraTex why did you choose that amplifier? I didn't see the model number in your shopping list but I'm guessing it's the R600X5 5-Channel amplifier and you chose it specifically for the number of channels? Also where did you do most of your EQ, was it on the Amplifier or on the LCQ-1? I'm just trying to determine if I could get away with a less expensive amp, with less features and EQ it using the LCQ-1. If your answer is "because that is the gear I like" is an okay answer too.

 

@stripperclip you're correct on the amp part number and on the reason I picked it. It is a 50Wx4 + 200Wx1 five channel amp which was the power level I was looking for. Loud enough and not too powerful for factory speaker wiring that I kept in place. The price was also right as I got it on a killer special sale price $100 less than normal retail.

I believe EQs should equalize and Amps should amplify. So I did all my EQ in the LCQ-1. 6 EQ bands on the Mains and 5 bands on the Sub channel was plenty for a truck. The Amp really doesn't have an EQ capability. It has set points for internal crossovers (which I set to All Pass) and the Bass Punch threshold frequency.

You can definitely get away with a cheaper solution, but at some level you get what you pay for. Everybody's ears are different. So determine what you want your system to do, then spec out the components that will provide that performance and search for the best sale prices you can find. If you order from Crutchfield they have a 60-day return policy. If you don't like what you buy, you can return it and get the next item on the list. They can also help you spec out a system to your liking if you call them. Very knowledgeable folks.

 

TundraTex, that is for sharing all this info. I am starting to improve my stock audio. I was looking at audiofrog speakers. Do you know if they are worth the extra money?

 

Well, I've heard of them, but i've never listened to a set. In general though, for me personally, I wouldn't put "audiophile"-quality components in a pickup truck. If you're remodeling the theater room or the man-cave for awesome audio\video capability, then higher end might make sense. The cab of a truck is a pretty confined space, so it really doesn't take a lot of power to get great sound. 50 Watts to the door speakers and 100-200 to a sub is way plenty in my opinion.

All of that said, if you want the top end, then by all means you should spend the money to get what makes you happy.

 

Thanks for your input. I have been reading about them and people who use them seem to be really impressed. I might stop into a car audio shop to listen to them. Back in the day when I spent all my money on car audio, I used JL subs and MB quartz Q series component speaks with a PPI amp. The ringing in my ears still reminds haha

 

Ha. I know the feeling. Between mega-Amps powering my awesome 8-Track audio and all the concerts... I'll always think of the 70's fondly.

 

Hey Tex, after reading this thread a couple of times, I think I'm understanding the setup; however, I cannot figure out the order the signal is traveling. In other words, is it coming in to the amp or the LCQ-1 first? It looks like it's coming in via the 10-pin connector then, to the amp, back to the LCQ-1 and then out to speakers via the 12-pin... ? I see that the amp and the LCQ1 are connected via RCA cables and that the sub is getting it's signal direct from the amp....? Sorry for the elementary wiring questions but, I appreciate the assist.

 

Don't think of the connectors as either/or. Both of the connectors have inputs and outputs. The Head Unit speaker channel outputs go in to the LCQ-1. The LCQ1 conditions and equalizes the audio and then outputs EQ'd audio to the Amplifier inputs. The Amp boosts the EQ'd audio and sends it to the speakers and the Sub.

The RCA cables go from the LCQ-1 outputs to the Amp inputs. The Amp feeds the Sub directly (as you said) because there was no factory wiring for a Sub in my truck. The rest of the Amp outputs go back over to the connectors and tie into the Four pairs of factory speaker wires.

 

Got it. I think. The signal comes into the LCQ via the 10-pin connector, to the Amp via the RCAs and then back to the 12-pin connector and out to the 4-pairs of speakers. Maybe a dumb question, but just to clarify, your input signal to the LCQ is just the signal from the front doors, correct? That signal is then split to go to rear doors as well when it comes out of the LCQ.

Did you ultimately disconnect the center speaker and dash tweeters? If so, have you experienced any issues with losing any "stage" effect?

Lastly, the RF amp pushes 50w RMS per channel. Any issues with running the 90w RMS Infinity components? Is there any kind of lost efficiency if the speaker isn't getting enough power?

Sorry for the elementary questions. I'm genuinely curious and want to do this myself this go round vs. buying a pre-fab system (********* or OEM Audio +).

Mike

 

Not so much...

As I said earlier, both the 10-pin connector and the 12-pin connector each have various ins and outs. Don't look at them as if one is input and the other is output. The signals are mixed between the two connectors.

If you'll look at the tables in post #29, the column marked "Factory signal" is where the factory harnesses are wired to in the truck. So for example, in the first table, J144 Pin 1 is a light green wire on the truck harness side that goes to the positive (+) terminal of the right front door speaker. So on the adapter harness for J144 Pin 1, you want to hook that wire up to the wire coming from the Amp Right Front + Output. Which is what is identified in the "Connects To" column for J144, pin 1.

The only LCQ-1 connections on the 10-pin connector (J144) are the LCQ-1 Power (+12V pin 3), the LCQ-1 Ground (Pin 7), and the HU remote turn-on (Pin 9).
All audio input signals to the LCQ-1 come from the HU speaker outputs via the 12-pin connector (J145) on pins 1,2,3,6,7,8,9,10. The door speakers don't send a signal anywhere, the speakers are the final destination of the signal (from the HU, to the LCQ-1, to the Amp, to the Speaker).

Another way to look at it is that the column marked "Factory Signal" is the source or the "from", and the column marked "Connects to" is the destination or the "to".

It might help you out if you draw a diagram with the HU, LCQ-1, Amp, and speakers and then draw and label each line to and from as shown in the tables. When you're finished, you'll have a nice wiring diagram that may help you visualize it a little better.

 

Thanks for the explanation. It didn't click for me that each connector had ins/outs. I got it now.

Thanks again.

 

No problem. It can get confusing. Just follow the information in the tables and you should be good to go.

 

Forgot to answer your other questions. I ended up leaving the dash Tweets and center speaker hooked up. I was able to adjust my crossovers and EQ to get it sounding the way I like.

As for your speakers, you should have no problems using 90W speakers with a 50W amp channel. Just make sure the amp and speaker impedance values are matched (2 ohms, 3 ohms, 4 ohms, etc). Speakers with a lower impedance can strain the amp power supply if the amp isn't designed to handle a low impedance. Impedance mismatch is more of a problem than a lower power amp. Impedance varies with frequency and can cause the speakers to respond poorly if not balanced.

 

Wow very nice detail on the installation! Keep up the wealth of information you are sharing with everyone!

 

Thanks. It's tough sometimes to find and filter information on-line. I like to try to be accurate and thorough.

 

For anyone else following this thread, I found the mating connectors for the J144/145 factory ends. $12 for both connectors.

http://autoharnesshouse.com/41112.html

 

So 14 hours with my son, working in the truck, we did this modification. Thanks Tex! Great time with my son and awesome upgrade! Stereo sounds great ! ! Rockford Fosgate 5 channel amp,