@TundraTex 2016 CrewMax Audio Build

@4x4_Angel, all you need to do is give me some advanced notice, and I can help you with this. It really is a breeze. Especially now that you have a garage! Let me know.

 

I went ahead and purchased the wiring kit.
I will be adding a Kicker Key 4 channel amp for a set of Alpine SPS-610 Components. I will want to hear the set up before adding a powered Sub.

As far as the out put from amp. Can I just cut and connect the out?

 

Ill be needing your help to install my camera in the cab too! we will talk later... you're awesome! Thanks!

 

OK, I think I have my inputs from radio into the Amp. The amp has a harness from the outs needing to go to the speakers. Which harness would I need?
Please and thank you

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_206KEY1804/Kicker-KEY180-4.html
Here is a link to the wiring that comes with the amp.

 

Tex,
I am new to the forum and have gone through your audio upgrade post looking for any issues with bluetooth. I had an upgrade done on my Tundra and loss the ability to hear my phone through the speakers. Quick run down...Kept the HU and original amp. Added Hertz processor and amps. They unplugged the center speaker (something about not being good enough for the new system) and left the stock amp. The system sounded awesome. When I realized the phone could not be heard I took it back. The guy said its because he pulled the signal from the rear side of the old amp so he needed to switch to the front side. He did it but lost the sound quality and can't get it back. He said I either need to give up the bluetooth phone ability or replace the HU. He said Toyota's system won't allow it to be done. I don't quite understand why he left the original amp and pulled signal from it when we went with a front amp, rear amp and sub amp. Do you have any thoughts on this? I would appreciate any help before I take it to another stereo place a drop more money if infact it can't be corrected.
Thanks in advance.

 

Can I get you to fly down to South Florida to install my upgrade

 

I'm assuming you have the JBL system. Otherwise there would be no reason to leave the factory amp in place. Until recently, with a JBL system you either had to leave both the Amp and HU or replace both. This is because the HU outputs some composite audio to the amp where it is split into the various channels. There are now a few options that allow removal of the JBL amp while keeping the HU and provide the equivalent channelization functions. The DSR1 processor with an amp of your choice will work. 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. There may be others now as well. I haven't kept up with all the latest. The missing phone audio may be due to the way they removed the center speaker and routed the other front channels. It's hard to tell from your write-up exactly how they wired everything but maybe this will give you a little to work with.

 

HA. As tempting as that may be, I'm not sure the day job would keep paying me if I scooted out to do all the installs I'm asked about. I'm sure there are plenty of qualified installers down there. Or with the excellent resources available on this forum, you might be surprised what you could do on your own!

 

Ha ha. You’re correct, there are lots of people down here that could do the job, but it’s the trust factor and cost that I am concerned about. You’re spot with what you do. Experience and expertise go a very long way. Thanks for the vote of confidence

 

Thanks Tex. I actually have the non JBL. Looks just like the JBL hu but doesn't say JBL at the top. I will talk to the installer about your insight and try to get a better detail of the build, including equipment. Thanks again.

 

Well if you don't have the JBL system, then there is no reason to keep the factory amp. Check out this thread or have your installer look at it and they should be able to resolve the issues.

 

Thanks Tex, I have sent this to him and hope he gets it. Thank you very much for your time. I'll let you know what happens.

 

Hey Tex, I tried to follow your install on a 2016 non jbl but i may have missed something.

I installed a lc7i using the j connectors, to a rockford fosgate r400 4 channel amp and back the conntors. replaced the door speakers with alpine type r 6.5 component speakers. I used the stock speaker wires like u did and left the dash speakers for fill.

However i m not sure why but if i play something with sharp bass to loud the sound will distort and it sounds like i may blow my speakers.

I tried lowering the bass and the threshold on the loc all the way down to no affect. The only other things i can think of is
1: something in the settings in the lc7i or the amp.
2: i need to use larger speaker wire because the alpines call for 110 watts per.
3: my +\- may be wrong at the speakers because i had to splice into the wires and for some odd reason the color code changes somewhere between the connector under the seat and the door.

I a bit frustrated, and i havent even added the sub yet.
Any help would be greatly apreciated

 

@robstruck You have a lot going on, so there are a couple of things to check. First, can you determine that the new speakers are distorting or are the dash speakers giving you the problem?

The easy way to be sure is to disconnect the dash speakers and see if the distortion is still there. If it is, then you probably have your gain set incorrectly. A lot of folks just crank the gain and hope for the best. However the are some important fundamental steps to setting gain; as follows.

If you want to keep the dash speakers connected and they were disconnected above, reconnect them now.

1. Find the distortion level in your Head unit: Turn all post Head Unit gains (Amp and LC7i) to low gain settings (about 5-10% of the full range). Then increase the volume on your HU until you hear distortion. Back it off slightly from that point until the audio is clean again and note the volume level. That will be the max non-distortion output from the HU.

2. Set your LC7i Gain: Turn the AMP gains all the way off and disconnect the LC7i from the Amp inputs. This step is done with no sound coming out of the speakers. Adjust your HU volume to 48 (75% of max) or to the max non-distortion level you found in step 1 - Whichever is lower. Slowly increase the Output level dials on the LC7 one at a time until the maximize light flickers. Then back it off until the light stops flickering. You now have a clean signal output levels for the amp.

3. Set your Amp gain: Turn the HU volume down to 16. With the amp gains still set to zero, connect the LC7i outputs to the amp inputs. Now adjust the r400 Amp gain to 3 on the gain controls. Turn up the HU volume slowly until you get to 48 or the max non-distortion level in step 1 - whichever is lower. THere should be no distortion. Determine if the overall volume is loud enough for you. If not, you can slowly adjust the amp gains up. But most of the time you shouldn't need to set the amp channels at higher than 25-30% of max to get the best undistorted performance with plenty of volume.

Try this and let me know how it works out.

 

Thanks tex, alot more detail than i got from the guys at audio control. Im pretty sure its not the dash speakers but I’ll go through the steps to make sure. In regards to the stock speaker wires, do think i need to upgrage?
And by chance do you have the +/- color codes at the doors?

 

Here you go @robstruck...

Front LH Tweeter + Black - Beige
Front LH Door + Pink - Violet
Front RH Tweeter + Green - Red
Front RH Door + Light Green - Blue
Center Dash Gets fed from Left and right Dash Tweeters; Left +/- is Pink/Violet. Right +/- is Light Green/Blue
Rear LH Tweeter + Light Green - Blue
Rear LH Door + Red - White
Rear RH Tweeter + Light Green - Blue
Rear RH Door + Red - White

 

Thanks Tex, i guess i just needed a bit of tweaking and my RR speaker was wired backwards. Sounds soooo much better. Im exited to add a sub now

 

Awesome! Setting system gain is not difficult, but it is very important for good sound. Glad it worked out for you.

 

Ok, I have a 2012 Tundra originally with nav and JBL, but have replaced the head unit with A pioneer AVH w4400 NEX along with the maestro RR and T01. I now have the bug to upgrade the speakers and amp. I have done my own systems in the far past, so I do have some experience. I'm curious as to how the front door mids, seal tweeters and the front dash tweeters are connected and ran currently.

All feed back would be appreciated.

Initial plans include
current HU
5 channel Amp (<= 75W RMS)
6.5 component speakers for front and rear mids and tweeters.
1" silk tweeters for the dash
1 3.5 speaker for the center.
Upgrade the 8" wooker

I would like to use factory speaker wiring if possible, will run componets from HU to AMP.

 

replacing the in-dash tweeters is a huuuuuuuuuuge pain in the ass unless you want to remove your windshield for easier access (I'm joking. or am I?) Replicating what Tex did, with the passive tweeters in the door, will save you a ton of time/hassle. Either integrate existing speakers or bypass them completely.

 

Tex - I wish I would have found this before I did my unstall. I was able to check all my connections using ur post #29. I have upgraded all door speakers and replaced amp with after market one. I did not install a LOC based on what Crutchfield recommended (again wish I saw this post beforehand)

Question/ issue- I understand that rear speakers come from HU even though they are wired through amp, correct? When checking my system, the back speakers are so much quieter than front - this is normal, correct? Would this be fixed if I install LOC?

 

You don't necessarily need an LOC. Sounds like you just need to balance your front/rear Channel gains. It's very similar to the steps in post #137, except you don't have an LOC to adjust.

1. Start by turning your Amp gains down to about 10% of max. Loud enough to hear but not near the max.
2. Make sure your HU fader and balance settings are neutral. Then adjust your head Unit volume to 48 (i.e.75%) and make sure there is no distortion in the sound. If there is distortion back the HU volume down to where the sound is clean again.
3. Once you have adjusted the HU, then increase the rear channel amp gain to about 25-30%.
4. Now adjust the Front channel audio level until it sounds equal and balanced with the rear levels.
5. Once you complete step 4 the audio should be near the optimum levels. If you need more volume, adjust the rear gain slightly, then re-balance the front. Continue this rear/front adjusting until you have the overall non-distorted levels that you want, and your system gains should be balanced.
6. If you have a decent amp, you shouldn't need to adjust the gains much higher than about 35 to 40% max.

Let me know how it works out.

 

awesome thread

 

TundraTex ... I think I have the same amp as you R600X5 and will be installing tomorrow evening, I am not installing a Line Out Converter or Equalizer. I have the Double Cab, non-JBL.

I believe that the outputs at the connectors under the seat (at the factory amp) are High Level (ie: speaker signal) and I will wire these to the Molex connectors and into the High Level Inputs on the amp ... correct?

The RCA Pass Thru jacks would only be used if I was taking the signal off the headunit, which I am not ... correct?

Thanks!

 

Use the same outputs that I ran to my LOC and run them to the High level inputs as you stated. And you are correct, the RCA connectors are for line level inputs.

 

A tip ...

I consider myself pretty good at wiring up this kind of stuff however had to laugh at my duffus mistake when attaching the AutoHarnessHouse.com J144 and 145 plugs to my amp ... I was reading the pinouts (from TundraTex's #26 post) looking into the harness (ie: looking at the pins) ... which I soon found out was backwards ... one has to look at the sequence from the wires side ... then the pin locations (esp the 10 pin) make sense. Luckily I had only hooked up a few before I realized my rookie mistake. So beware ... view the harness with the wires pointing at your face, not the pins.

And huge shout out to TundraTex for this article, super helpful.

 

Sorry for the dumb question. I have searched here and tundra world with no clear answer. I just have a kicker LOC and no equalizer like most have.

Something like the LC6i is not needed for a 5 channel install is it?

I have the non jbl system. I have seen you can’t get signal at factory harness and some that looks like they did. I bought the J144 and J145 harnesses so I did not have to slice into anything factory. I am following the wiring diagrams and just trying to figure out where are you supposed to hook the standard LOC to for a 4-5 channel amp? Which wires? Behind the HU? At the factory amp?

 

@TheNickyy You don't need an EQ. Simply connect the J145 channel outputs to your LOC inputs as indicated in post 26 (use the same signals that I routed to my LCQ-1). Then run the LOC outputs to your amp.

 

I have no equalizer, just an amp running thru the stock harness under the pax seat.

My questions are about the 10 pin J144 connector under the seat ... I have the wires from pins 4, 7 & 9 just terminated and not attached to anything ... everything seems to be working just fine.

But, am I missing something? Should pins 7 & 9 be run to ground? And what about pin 4 ... apparently a constant 12v power supply ... I assume this was for the OEM amp and not needed for anything in this install?

Thanks

 

Thanks so much for all your information! Made installing so much easier!