3rd Gen non JBL sound system Upgrade Info

I used 3in Focals as part of a 3-way component set up with 6.5in in the doors and tweeters mounted in the A pillar. No need IMO to have the center dash speaker if you’re upgrading everything else. Just unplug and remove

 

Does anyone know if the full spectrum of sound (20-20KHz) is routed to the front door speakers? I'm thinking about replacing them with a 3-way 6.5" but I'm not sure if there is a low-pass filter going to the door speakers since they seem to be for bass currently. I've got the 9 speaker non-JBL system.

 

I just disconnected mine. A center speaker is meant to receive a summed signal, so it needs left and right signals. The OEM one is also wired that way. It is a monotone midrange speaker, that's why you are supposed to hear vocals through it, to give you the impression of the artist being in the center of the dash. If you replace it, you would need a dual voice coil, or have to find a very small mono amp to properly utilize it. If toy just replace you are going to present a different load (resistance) to your power source (head unit or amp) that could produce undesired results. I left mine out because I have an aftermarket Digital Sound Processor that also has time delay. The time delay basically delays the time that certain frequencies are delivered to a speaker, with the frequencies being delayed, your ears get the impression that there is a speaker in the center of the dash.

 

Yes, the doors get a full signal, all the OEM speakers have capacitors (crossovers) built in that blocks frequencies for each of the speakers. You'd be much better off replacing the speakers with a true component set, midrange and high frequencies are directional so if you put a 2 or 3 way coaxial in the door you'd be bringing down the vocals in your sound stage and shooting midrange and high frequencies directly into your legs. That's why there's a 2 1/2 midrange speaker from the factory in the dash corners. You really want the doors to just play midbass and bass frequencies as they are non directional. Kenwood makes a drop in 2 way component set that has a 6x9 for the door and a 3 inch midrange to go in the dash. The door speakers are tied together with the dash speakers and you can separate them there. There's plenty of space for the small crossover that comes with that set. I bought the OEM a pillars that have the JBL tweeter location in them. I used JBL Stadium Club components, 6x9's with a tweeter and added the 2 1/2" midrange to the set. The nice thing is that you can add the midrange to any stadium club set as it comes with a crossover that plugs into the 2 way component set and bandpassed the midrange speaker so you have a true 3 way component set up.

 

This makes sense. I will probably just delete the center dash then.

 

couldn’t you wire another 3” in the center and connect the left signal wire to your left crossover, and opposite for the right? Also, would you need a separate amp for the 3 dash speakers?

 

The question would be, why? You can get all the staging you need from quality 3 ways and tuning/timing. The additional center channel isn’t adding much. You could utilize a multi-channel amp (5-8channels) and wire everything as to your hearts content.

 

of course you "could" but then you are paralleling 3 speakers that have a resistance of 4 ohms which will then lower the resistance to the power source to 1.3 ohms. The series of capacitors and resistors in a crossover are spec'd to 4 ohms, so now you would be changing the crossover points as well as lowering the resistance to your amplifier or head unit to 1.3 ohms. If you are dead set on having a proper center channel speaker the correct way to do it would be to find the smallest mono power amplifier available and use it to power the 3 inch center dash speaker. Years ago Audiocontrol made the ESP 3 which was a small center channel amplifier and processor. Here's the other thing, the only way to get a true center channel signal is using a source that was recorded that way. Most music is just recorded in stereo so unless you are watching a lot of movies in your truck where the sound is specifically recorded for different speaker locations you are just wasting your efforts.

 

Nearly all music is recorded in stereo, so unless watching a lot of movies (or listening to them) where sound was recorded specifically for a speaker location there's not really a point in having a center channel. Especially when there as DSP's with built in time delay processing that can give you the same effect as having a center channel if you really want to have a center sounding presence.

 

yeah, that’s what I was getting at. Not adding anything and not needed for the additional speaker. The timing can make it seem as though coming from the center.

the second part of the statement is referencing needing additional amplifiers as a stand alone and was stating that one channel on a multi could get it done, but good luck power matching the rest for the sake of one speaker that isn’t needed and only complicates matters

 

So, if all I wanted to do at first is a subwoofer using line level inputs (would have been nice of these OEM radios had a sub out jack), for the audio part couldn't I skip the t-harness and just tap a pair of wires for one of the front speakers, then run those back along the sill to the rear storage compartment? Then of course wire the amp or powered sub from the battery and such as usual. I'd get an amp that has auto on and if that doesn't work then do a remote turn on wire if necessary. It looks like there are several really nice premade and loaded compact subs that should fit, and of course a wide choice of amps. I just had a 10" pioneer compact sub in a compact wedge in my Tacoma with a RF 300 watt amp and that was plenty and just perfect for me. For my Tundra an 8" or 10" in the storage should fit the bill with amp behind the seat.

 

Get this for $20 and tap whichever speaker wires you want. Then just install it inline with your OEM wiring behind the headunit.

https://www.autoharnesshouse.com/82193_info.html

 

You will need 2 pairs of inputs, one left and one right to sum the signal to mono. Buy the harness that @KrissyMattAlpha just posted and tap into that. The white and grey wires are the front speakers, the ones with the black stripes are the negative- front left= white wire +, white wire black stripe - That will be easier than trying dig in the left and right kick panels for the front door speaker wires. The OEM radio is easy to remove, pop out the center tray on top of the dash and there are (4) 10 mm bolts holding it in. Tap the wires into the aftermarket harness and unplug your radio harness plug it in the adaptor and your done.

 

I squeezed two tweeters there and wired one left and one right. May move to a-pillar later, we'll see.

The oem wire there in center dash draws from drivers side dash. I added wire from the passenger side dash to balance (ie feed the second tweeter).

 

The OEM wire in the center dash does NOT just draw from the drivers side, see the wiring diagram in my post 36 above! The wire may look like it's fed from the driver side but it is connected to the passenger side as well, it receives a summed signal from both left and right. This is what a mono signal is. The way your tweeters are wired up, the left one is getting a mono signal and is adding a different load in ohms than the right side one where as the right one is getting a stereo signal.

 

Okay thanks for the heads up. Strange though, if memory serves me well when i originally connected both aftermarket tweeters to the center dash wire only and moved the eq Balance all the way to passenger side there was virtually no output. Evidently there is a dependency on drivers side to produce signal at all from center wire.

Either way, my objective is Stereo on both so I will ditch the center wire and pull from each side. Appreciate the insight.

 

That's because the negative wire is only tied in to the driver side speaker, that's how a summed mono output works. If you want true stereo move the tweeters to the a pillars to get stereo separation. Having them so close together provides little to no stereo separation.

 

I really like your idea of getting a pair of JBL A-pillars and putting the component tweeters there. It'll be a while before I do any of this but may try some new front component speakers with the OEM amp just to see how it works and then decide whether to add an amp. Where are you guys installing the main 4 channel amps on these trucks? The sub amp seems to have a good home behind the rear seat but not sure about the mains.

 

There's space behind the rear seats, you can mount them in the cubby's or mount them to the back of the seats. I mounted mine to the back of the seats, it's easier to make adjustments on the gains and crossovers. If you think you want the tweeters in the A pillars later get a 3 way component set. The nice thing with the JBL Stadium Club series isi that if you buy the 2 way set, you can always add the 2 1/2" midrange later on.

 

That's a clean install

 

So, the mid ranges would go in the dash right and left?

 

Yes, the JBL 22S's that I used required some modification. I took the OEM speaker cut out the surround and snipped off the basket braces. The 22S mounted perfectly and into the old OEM speaker bracket and bolted right in.

 

Yes.

I do too.

Researching. I believe these are the part#'s for the OEM JBL A-Pillar trim panel set. Appears to be a relatively straight-forward to swap the trim. Correct me if wrong.

 

Great thread, guys. I promised myself that this truck would be the first one that I didn't upgrade the stereo. But you are making it tough... and easier at the same time. LOL.

 

Outstanding Thank you Ryan!

 

Thank you. Yes, Gray is the one i have. thanks again!

 

Yes same P/N's I used
Body A-Pillar Trim Panel (Right) With JBL
622100C080B2

Body A-Pillar Trim Panel (Left) With JBL Audio
622200C080B2

It's an exact swap for swap, very easy on the A-pillars. The OEM JBL tweeter is fairly small, my guess is 7/8". The JBL Stadium 962CF's that I ordered came with a 3/4" tweeter that fit almost perfectly minus mounting tabs. I used hot glue to secure the tweeter in the OEM mount in the A Pillar. So whatever components you order try to get a set with 7/8" or less diameter tweeters. I got the JBL Club 64C which also came with a 3/4" tweeter for the back doors and did the same for those tweeters

 

It's a lot easier than you think. Depending on how much you spend, it will probably be the most cost effective bang for your buck upgrade you can do.

 

When I ordered mine, my parts department called to see what color mine were. One side- can't recall which the P/N came back as Black OR Grey. They said something was screwed up in the system so that's why they needed to verify.