How to add a new Amp to your 3rd Gen Tundra JBL Entune system

A member started a thread discussing how he had an audio shop add an amplifier to his 2018 Tundra JBL Entune system.

A lot of folks seemed interested in understanding how this was done. There seems to be some urban lore that no aftermarket amps can be added to a JBL system. This isn't exactly correct. It is true that you can't replace the Amp or the HU alone. If you replace one, you have to replace the other and if you keep one you have to keep the other. However, you can add an amp, processor, EQ etc, downstream of the JBL amp and improve your overall system sound while maintaining your OEM Head Unit. Your aftermarket amp will need to be able to handle high level audio inputs unless you also add an LOC or processor in-line.

I went to the Toyota wiring diagrams and collected the information needed to add an amp. The information is in the original thread, but is spread across multiple posts. I thought I would combine the information here and title the thread more descriptively.

Here's the information...


DISCLAIMER!!!! I pulled this data from the Toyota drawings, but I have not verified it with an actual JBL system since I don't have one. Use at your own risk! Please let me know if anyone can confirm wire colors.


EDIT: The original table left out the front R/L dash speakers and the rear door speakers. They are fed in parallel from the JBL with their associated tweeter feeds. The table has been updated.



J142 is a 10-pin connector and J143 is a 12-pin connector. You can get an adapter set from this site: https://www.autoharnesshouse.com/41112.html. These are the same connectors I used to do my non-JBL Audio Mod.

To prepare your adapter harnesses see wiring diagram below: With the exception of wire 1 and wire 5 of the 10-pin harness (J142), cut each wire in each adapter harnesses in the middle of the wire. AGAIN... DO NOT CUT Wire 1 and Wire 5 of J142. These wires are fed by 30 Amps (15 Amps each) of 12 VDC to power the OEM JBL Amplifier.

The result will be two sets of half-harnesses that can be wired, plug-n-play, to your after-market audio chain without damaging your OEM harnesses.




Here are a couple options for converting those cut harness wires into RCA plugs...

Better Option



Cheaper Option





DISCLAIMER!!!! I pulled this data from the Toyota drawings, but I have not verified it with an actual JBL system since I don't have one. Use at your own risk! Please let me know if anyone can confirm wire colors.

 

Anytime. Hope it helps somebody.

 

I'll be taking this info to my audio guy. Thanks so much for the info. The sound system is my only disapointment in going from my '13 to my '18

 

I hope you can help me understand this. You have a ten pin and a 12 pin harness. For the ten pin I would need a

$8 Metra 70-1761 Radio Wiring Harness For Toyota 87-Up Power 4 Speaker

Metra 70-1761 and a

$12 Metra 71-1761 87 - 94 Toyota Vehicle Harness

Metra 71-1761. That takes care of both sides of the 10 pin harness (inputs and outputs). Then I need one CAS-TLC, cut off one of the Y'd connectors, and then cut all the wires in between the male and female remaining connector with the exception on 1 and 5 (power connectors). Is that about it?

Thanks,

Wayne

 

@TundraTex there is now a way to remove the JBL amp while keeping the stock headunit. About 4 weeks ago I installed a Rockford Fostgate DSR1 with a idatalink TO3 cable. I had to do all the software and firmware updates to the DSR1, but it now supports certain toyotas, including the Tundra JBL model. The TO3 cable was plug and play between the factory harness connectors and the DSR1.

Factory Head unit --> DSR1 --> JL amps --> speakers

I still have voice command, turn by turn navigation, volume knob works, bluetooth works. The only thing that I have noticed that I lost is the front to back and left to right balancing in the head unit and treble/bass gain, but I can set speaker distances and control gain for each speaker thru the DSR1. The DSR1 can be controlled from my phone or tablet.

Before the DSR1 I did have the factory app that feed to a JL Fix86 then to my JL amps.

 

This needs to be a sticky

@T-Rex266 Can you make it happen?

 

Wayne, Pins 1 and 5 in the 10-Pin (Metra adapter) are the ones you want to leave intact. The 12-pin (CAS-TLC) is cut in half on every wire. (pins 6,7,8, and 11 on the 12-pin are not used after this).

Keep in mind that this will give you 7 audio channels as follows: (TWL, TWR, CTR, WFL, WFR, RL, RR). Personally, I would use a 4-channel amp and leave the CTR intact (i.e. don't cut Pins 4 and 10 of the 12-pin). Then use crossovers to Drive the combined WFL/TWL with the Amp's Front Left channel, combined WFR/TWR with the Front Right Channel, RL with the Amp Rear Left, and RR with the Amp Rear Right.

 

I was just reading about this last week! I have found two options so far. The DSR1 with an amp of your choice will work, like you used. Or you can get the Kenwood Excelon XR600-6DSP which is a 6-channel amp with built-in DSP. Add an iDatalink Maestro AR Module and T03-cable, and you're all set! I've heard there are also some Audison amps that are also iDatalink compatible.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I had the adapters backwards. So you are saying drive all the front speakers, door and in the dash, on one left and one right front channel. Would it hurt to just get a six channel amp and keep them all separate?

Finally, what Metra adaptor are you using? I don't see one anywhere that has the J142 and P142 ends but I did find two separate wire harnesses, A Metra 71-1761

$12 Metra 71-1761 87 - 94 Toyota Vehicle Harness

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00029X1KA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1, and a Metra 70-1761

$8 Metra 70-1761 Radio Wiring Harness For Toyota 87-Up Power 4 Speaker

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002BEQJ8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. This gives me both ends but I'll need to solder the 1 and 5 wires.

If you know of a single harness that has both the J and P ends I'd love to know about it.

Thanks,

Wayne

 

Wayne,

You’re absolutely right. You need both those Metra harnesses for the JBL mod. With non JBL you just need the

$8 70-1761 Radio Wiring Harness For Toyota 87-Up Power 4 Speaker

70-1761 Harness.

I’m not aware of anyone who sells the end to end Harness.

And yes, you could use a six channel amp and leave the Center speaker connected to the JBL.

 

TundraTex... from What I understand you only need to convert the sub wires to rca and no need for a LOC to plug straight into a sub amp?

 

That's true for all the JBL Amp output channels. If you dont want to add an aftermarket amp, simply add the connector of choice for the speaker of choice and press on.

 

If I were to use the subwoofer +\- wires from the factory JBL DSP/amp to create an RCA out to plug into a new JL Audio amp powering a new JL Audio Stealthbox, replacing the factory JBL 8” subwoofer/amp combo unit, does anyone know the frequency range of the signal coming through the +\- wires from the factory JBL DSP/amp to the factory JBL sub/amp combo unit?

 

Most Sub-woofers are designed for roughly 20 – 200 Hz frequency response. I don’t know the specific range of the Toyota sub, but it’s probably in that range. Your replacement approach seems like it would work electrically.

The concern I would have is that if you just replace the sub, you’ll have way more low bass performance than mid and high freq performance (from the factory speakers/amp) and it may reduce the overall sound quality by making it too muddy sounding.

 

Thanks Lou. I think I may eventually get the Phoenix Android Head Unit, or a similar Android HU with the Maestro, for it looks like people are reporting better sound with their JBL systems by getting enhanced EQ control in a new HU. For now though, I think I'll get the JL Audio Stealth Box and a JL Audio 1K watt amp, and tinker with the gain on the amp and the remote bass control, so the bass isn't too overwhelming. I mostly listen to tunes from my iPhone, and I've been running all of my mp3's through Audacity's amplification, which has actually made the highs an mids sound a helluva lot better with the JBL system. Now I'll add some bass with the subs and the amp.

 

I think I'm going to try the DSR1 and an aftermarket 5ch amp to start. Has anyone else done this yet. I stopped at a local audio shop and I knew what they would say before I went in, but still. They said I would destroy the stock speakers. He then went on to quote me $3,000 worth of equipment! My point is I'll try this first and if I destroy the stockers then I'll replace them.

 

There is an age old-paranoia about amps that are rated for more wattage that a speaker's rating. The truth is, an underpowered amp will kill speakers much, much faster than a clean(low harmonic distortion) amplifier that is rated at a higher output than the speakers. Having said that, being non-judicious with your volume knob with a real powerful amp rated much higher than the speaker will also do ugly things if you are too carefree of the speaker's limitations...

 

But there's a problem with keeping the JBL HU, it's not quality output before the JBL amp under the passenger seat.
After some research, I believe the signal is, again, manipulated at the amp. Looking for some help with this...
https://www.tundras.com/threads/jbl-head-unit-question.35343/

 

You CAN get a very clean signal prior to the JBL amp AMPRO4, works great and you even get an optical out for your processor

 

shelbie67, is the optical out on the ty12 box or is it an add on? thx

 

add-on, but worth it if you have a processor

https://pac-audio.com/catalog/amppro-amplifier-interfaces/ap4-ty12

 

It’s an add-on to the ty-12 box, Incase I wasn’t clear before

 

Just going to add to this about something I ran into this weekend. Seems like you cannot use speaker harness adapters for the rear speakers without having the door tweeter plugged in. On my 2019 the wires from the amp goes to the rear door tweets first then gets split off to the doors speakers. I originally left the tweets disconnected and incorrectly assumed that it would work. Once I plugged in the rear tweets I had rear speakers again. The rear tweet also doesn’t have to actually be there because I accidentally dropped the panel on one door and the connector broke off the tweeter but it still worked! Probably going to go back and splice main speaker right into the harness vice using the tweeter.

 

phogallen. I was thinking of starting with only the dsr1 and an amp on mine and then maybe doing more later. Which amp do you recommend?

 

New to this forum, just signed up to be able to post on this thread. First and foremost thanks to the person who posted the wiring pinouts. I have the JBL Entune Premium in my 2018 with the 8 channel amp. Also, JBL should be ashamed to have their logo stamped on this turd of a system. While imaging of the audio sounds good, the volume is shameful. At Max volume, you can hold a conversation without yelling. So like much of you I want to replace the OEM system. I'm curious on Kurruptors install of installing everything downstream of the JBL AMP. Did it allow you to push the factory speakers harder, and what was your experience on that? I'm in the same boat as to I could care less if I smoke the factory speakers. I just wonder how good they could really sound with some power being pushed to them.

 

I just performed the stereo upgrade on my ‘18 Limited CM this weekend and used this chart for reference. I am keeping the stock rear speakers running off the JBl amp as I usually turn them down and didn’t feel like replacing them. I had run new wires up to the dash and into the doors for the 6.5s, but I wanted to use the factory wiring for the tweeters in the door.

Since the dash speakers and tweeters are running off the same output on the JBL amp, I figured I could run a pair of wires from my crossovers to the JBL and just splice then with the stock dash/tweeter wires, but I’m not getting any output. I’m wondering if the dash wires have to stay connected to the stock speakers in order for the signal to continue over to the tweeters, but that doesn’t make a ton of sense.

The wires at the tweeter in the passenger side are light blue and tan, and I can see where they come out of the door into the lock panel, and from there they switch over to a white with pink and white with purple wire. No idea where that goes.

I ran out of time so I’m stuck with just mid bass in the doors and midrange in the dash for now, but I’m wondering if I can get signal at the factory dash speaker connector, in which case I could just connect up there and run straight down and splice in at the kick panel. Kick in the balls to have put so many hours into it this weekend and I still don’t have any treble.

 

Nice. I replaced the radio last year and just started the rest last weekend. I got the sub and amp rack installed and everything else pre-wired, then I concentrated on the sound treatment of the front doors and installation of the Hybrid Audio 3-ways this weekend. Once I figure out a solution for the front tweeters, I can get it all tuned up and I’ll have to install the treatment on the back doors as well. I may eventually replace those speakers too, but I figured the stockies are good enough for now.

 

So I was able to get the tweeters working. I found that the dash speakers and tweeters are paralleled AFTER the connector in the dash, so if you disconnect the dash speaker, you now have an open loop at the tweeter - No way to utilize the stock wiring by jumping on at the JBL amp. I was able to jumper the wires at the stock connector in the dash to get them running for now, but will end up having to run a new line from the crossovers to the kick panels to minimize splice points.