2021 Non-JBL Wiring Diagram

Howdy yall,

New to this forum and owning a 21' non-JBL Tundra. Been active on other vehicle specific forums in the past, happy to be here.

I'm looking to upgrade the audio system and have a fairly extensive install history. Started by watching Five Star Car Stereo, Provo Beast Audio, and Taco Tunes. Removed most of the system from my F-150 and have some extra equipment lying around.

In short, I'm wanting to expand my current 2-way front stage to 3-way. I haven't found a write-up or videos on going from 2-way to 3-way. I've got the parts numbers for the JBL equipped sail panels for the tweeters in a 3-way set of speakers. I understand using the factory wiring is an option, but I'm also okay with running all new wiring having done so in the past. I know there are various wiring harnesses that can be used to retain factory wiring (although in non-JBL I'm assuming there is no wiring to the sail panels and I'd need to run that new at minimum). Hoping to list the equipment I have sitting around, and seek any suggestions, considerations, road blocks to success etc. Thanks in advance to anyone who has any input!

Amps: JL Audio RD 900.5
JL Audio JD 250.1

Subs: JL Audio 8w7
JL Audio 6w3v3

Speakers: TBD (looking at Focal 3-way components in front (aware of mounting mid-ranges in dash issues), Focal 2-way components in rear)

Processors/Converters: Audio Control LC7i LOC
Dayton Audio DSP-408

Harnesses: TBD (Taco Tunes? Auto Harness House? Metra?)

Speaker Adapters: TBD (Taco Tunes? Metra?)

 

I've drafted 3 potential wiring diagrams, wondering if anyone can give advice on which would be the best route? I've read for '20+ you need a DSP, not sure if that's true, can anyone confirm? 4th option not pictured would be using an LOC with a nicer DSP down the line, read good reviews on JL Audio's DSP's, love my amps and subs from them. The 3 diagrams below use equipment I already own, minus the component speaker sets.

First option using Dayton DSP-408 (accepts speaker level inputs per spec sheet):






Second option using Audio Control LC7i:



Third option using no DSP or LOC, only Speaker Wire RCA Adapters and RCA Y Splitters (both amps accept speaker level inputs):



Thanks to anyone in advance!

 

Couple questions I have.

1. Is your truck a crewmax or double cab? Not that it really matters just want to know about all the space you have available.

2. Does your truck have the center console, or is it a column shifter with the middle seat.

3. Are you wanting to mount the amplifiers behind the rear seats or under the driver/passenger seat?

4. Are you wanting to mount the crossovers inside of the doors, or would you like to mount them near the amplifiers for servicing/ease of installation? I'd recommend mounting everything by the amps in case you want to go active, then you don't have to go hunting for the crossovers in the door. Or if you have the center console there is loads of room for crossovers in there when you pull it apart if you wanted to put them in there.



The way the Non-JBL trucks work is the amplifier is for the 4 door speakers (front 6x9s, rear 6.5s) and the dash speakers are ran off of the radio. The center channel is a mix of the front and right dash speakers, and you will have to remove it otherwise it will cause lots of weird things. No matter what, you'll need to run new wires up into the dash for the dash speakers since the factory ones are being fed by the HU. Running new wires through the front doors isn't too difficult since there isn't a door wire harness plug and instead it's just the rubber grommet. Running new wires through the rear doors is a little trickier because you have to drill holes through the factory door harness since there is a plug but it's manageable. If it were me, I'd run 4 new wires through the front doors (2 for woofer, 2 for tweeter) and just use the factory wiring for the rear. Also, instead of having 2 ways in the rear doors I'd just get some coaxials. Unless you always have people in the back seat all the time, the rear speakers are mostly just filler and having a tweeter up high in the door might mess with imaging in the front if you think you want that. If you really want 2 ways in the rear, I'd still recommend just using the factory wiring and mounting the crossover in the door itself just to save you time on installation since you won't have to drill holes through that factory plug in the door.


When trying to adapt to the factory wiring harness at the amp, I'll just recommend this other forum discussion that I made that has a lot of answers to your other questions:
https://www.tundras.com/threads/amp...go-for-a-different-truck.136208/#post-3466987


Only thing I wouldn't recommend you do that you talked about would be doing the speaker wire to rca adapters and to at least get the LC7I from audiocontrol because of the bass roll off from the factory system that's intended to protect the factory speakers. If you don't, you won't get any bass frequencies for your subs. If you have the extra money, I personally would get the audiocontrol dm608 or dm810. It's got the lc7i built in and lots more tuning goodies to really fine tune your system and get the best signal out to all of your amplifiers for the highest quality sound. Also, if you planned on going active having that dsp to feed everything would make tuning that much better. Only downside is audiocontrol has really been struggling with the demand and have been on backorder for quite a while, but it does seem they have been getting better as they just got some of their dsp amps back in stock on crutchfield. One thing also to consider that if you go with the dsp, you'll have to run the factory wiring for the dash speakers to it so you get the full sound for the front because there is low pass crossovers on the front door speakers from the amp. That's not that big of a deal though because your running wires there anyway.


I know it's a lot to take in and think about, but I'm happy to answer any more questions!

 

I was planning to get the JBL-equipped truck sail panels to keep factory appearance, but after seeing the modifications needed to fit the 3.5" Focal Flax Evo midranges in the dash, I'm wondering if it would be easier to put the midranges in the sail panels and tweeters in the existing dash location? Those tweeter mounts in your other thread look perfect, I just know there's clearance issues in the dash from reading other threads. Not sure if anyone whose gone 3-way and swapped the mid-range and dash tweeter positions, or if the midranges would be too heavy to mount in the sail panels safely. If I did that, I'd just get a spare set of non-JBL sail panels and use a hole saw to cut appropriate size holes. Looking at other threads it looks like someone was able to fit these: Infinity Reference REF-3032cfx Reference Series 3-1/2" 2-way car speakers at Crutchfield
in the dash location, not sure if they had to modify. Comparing the specs to the Focal Flax Evo midranges, it looks like the Focals are even shallower than those Infinities, but I know 5-Star installed a set of Focal Flax Evo 3 ways and did a lot of modification to the dash location to accept them.

The other thread I was reading about what fits in the dash corners is here: Midrange Speakers for front dash corners | Toyota Tundra Forum (tundras.com)

Thank you so much for the input and help I truly appreciate it greatly!

 

I was doing some digging on exactly what should fit in the dash corners without modification, with the hopes that the Focal Flax Evo 3" midranges would fit with no modification. Read on some other posts that Audiofrog GS-25's should fit with no modification, whereas Audiofrog GB-25's would need modification. I also read people had success with

$79 Kenwood KFC-X3C 3.5" Mid Range Car Speaker with Silk Balanced Dome Tweeters for Chrysler/Toyota/Others, 120 Watts Max Power (Pair)

Kenwood KFC-X3C's with no modification. I also read someone say that the distance between the top of the HVAC duct, and the top of the metal clips for the factory speakers, is a span of 1.5" (38.1 mm), and the space between the top of the metal clips for the factory speakers and the bottom of the grill, is 3/8" (9.53mm). The Focal Flax Evo 3" midranges have a listed XMAX of 1 on the spec sheet, not sure what unit of measurement that's in? In any case the Focals have a mounting depth of 33.5mm (1-5/16"), and a surround depth of 4.2mm (11/64"). It appears the limiting factor on the Focals will be the width, but depth should be okay. I'm okay with widening the dash holes slightly to accommodate the Focal midranges, I just don't want to cut into the HVAC ducts. Lo and behold found a 5 Star Car Stereo video that details installing these exact speakers. Pic below with specs of various speaker sizes/fits as confirmed by other users.

 

Apologies for the mix-up but when I said low pass crossover I meant high pass. Most cars, like your CX-5, have high pass crossovers coming from the HU (or amp) at around 80-100 Hz to protect the speakers like I mentioned. I'm not sure exactly where this crossover is applied whether it be at the amp or at the HU, but if I were to guess I would like to assume that since the HU is only powering the dash speakers it has a higher high pass filter (maybe 2.5kHz) and the amp has it's own that it applies to both the 6x9s and 6.5s in the rear (or maybe the HU is crossing over all the speakers itself and the amp is just giving a boost in power to the doors for more midbass). Only way to really know exactly where the filters (crossovers) are set and where they come from is with some form of electrical RTA.


If you are using a DSP, whether it be the Dayton Audio one you currently have or upgrading it to a better one down the road, these crossovers coming from the HU shouldn't be too much of a problem since you could just use the DSP to make the pre eq'd signal flat. I'm not too familiar with the Dayton DSPs but I do know that the audiocontrol DSP has every option you could think of when it comes to taking that factory HU signal with it's pre applied crossover filters and eq and making it the perfect signal to match your music taste.


If you want to use a DSP, you won't need the LC7I since most DSPs have everything the LC7I has and more. Again I could be wrong about the current Dayton Audio DSP you have because I know pretty much nothing about them but I'm just gonna assume you'd like to upgrade it later so I would just plan on not incorporating the LC7I.


If it were me personally, since you already have most of the equipment for a passive system I would just stick to going passive. Obviously a full active system would sound better but your talking about spending a lot of extra money on more amplifiers just to be able to EQ tune and time align each speaker separately. Having any form of dsp feeding a passive system will still sound great! But I'm like you in the sense I want the best, which is why I also am in the process of going from a passive system to now converting it into a full active 3 way in the front lol


When talking about the Focal Flax Evo, I don't believe the midranges would fit in the sail panels. The midranges look to be too deep and would hit the metal part of the door itself. So unless you want to make custom sail panels that push the midranges out a couple inches you'd probably be stuck with modifying the dash locations. Plus you'd have to use non-jbl sail panels and cut holes in them since the jbl panels only have a 1" hole size for the tweeters, so you'd also be looking directly at the midrange cone all the time which if it were in my truck would drive me nuts. One thing also to mention is the focal midranges wouldn't fit in the dash adapter brackets that I recommended in the other forum either because the midranges are bigger than the adapter itself. So no matter what you do, the midrange is gonna cause you some problems and there's just no way around not making custom brackets.


It's going to be a lot of work but the Focals are going to sound amazing if you get them to work!

 

Wow that's crazy we posted at the exact same time lol

 

That is crazy lol! I posted and then thought I somehow got a notification for my own post! The Dayton DSP I have has high level inputs, so I should be able to just use that which is what I was leaning towards. I found a video of 5 Star Car Stereo modifying the dash to accept the Flax midranges, with no cutting into the AC duct. It appears the Focals are probably .5" too wide, hence the need to widen the holes and make custom mounts. I'll more or less mimic what 5 Star did.

On another note, are you familiar with any of the harnesses, either from Taco Tunes (is it taboo to reference them on this forum? I see people referring to them as *********?) or AutoHarnessHouse?. I basically want to remove the factory amp, add a harness, and then speedwire from the harness to behind the rear seats to carry signal into my DSP.

Again thanks for all the input!

 

In another Tundra Install from 5 star car stereo he mentions these two harnesses:

$25 Best Kits BHA1761 Radio Wire Harness

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Kits-BHA1761-Radio-Harness/dp/B0088TN52U
https://www.ebay.com/p/1837687991

One place I'd look for yourself is Pac-audio.com if you plug in your vehicle info they'll show you all the harnesses they make for your truck. These two harnesses that I linked aren't supplied but they do sell this one which is probably the same thing:

https://catalog.pac-audio.com/catalog/amplifier-integration-harness/lphty02

I will say I don't really trust this because it's a little confusing when trying to see if it matches the non jbl trucks with the amp under the passenger seat. You'll save money with just buying the two separate harnesses that I showed you first and I know that those specific ones will work.

 

Here's the video where he mentions the harnesses, and it is in a non-jbl truck like yours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlKDtQtaJCA&t=1710s

Time stamp: 18:37

 

Okay after a little more digging I found some more info.

Turns out, the amp is actually the place that makes the eq curve and messes with the full range output coming from the head unit. This is great news since you are pulling it out, getting the full range signal from the HU will make tuning much easier. So all you'll need to do is unplug the factory amp, plug in your 2 new harnesses into the factory wiring, re-pin like Dean did in his video or just remove the wires your not using, and then run those wires with speedwire back to the amplifiers you're mounting behind the seats.

One problem you might run into with the factory wiring for the dash speakers is I think if you just unplug them the HU might think it's blown the speakers so it might just stop playing sound out of all the speakers altogether (I heard someone else have this problem in another forum). Since you'll be running all new wires for every speaker, you can just unplug all of the factory dash speakers, cut them off and loop the wires so they can still go back to the HU so it sees a load and still plays music, and wrap them up with some tesa tape so they don't rattle and it'll solve your factory tweeters coming from the HU problem.

 

Those look great! The 5 Star video got me on the right track, and then I just found a Provo Beast video on YouTube with this harness in the description:

$18 2010-2019 Toyota Tundra (w/o JBL Audio) AutoHarnessHouse.com Factory Amp Upgrade Harness AHH-4438

Amazon.com: 2010-2019 Toyota Tundra (w/o JBL Audio) AutoHarnessHouse.com Factory Amp Upgrade Harness AHH-4438 : Electronics. or here: Toyota Entune Amp Upgrade for Tundra and Tacoma (autoharnesshouse.com). It looks like I'd just connect my speedwire to the leads on the supply side, and cap or de-pin the return wires since I'll be running all new wire. Also, the other side of this harness has a power wires that might come in handy down the line when I install heated seats, rather than using an add-a-circuit at the panel. Two birds with one stone! Price looks to be about the same as buying them separately. I think this is the winner winner chicken dinner!

 

Yup those are the same harnesses just sold by different people. I'm just gonna add this wiring diagram for the 10 and 12 pin harness here for anyone else who might read this and wants the same harness.

*Wires are numbered going left to right with the harness clip/latch located on top*

10-pin
1: Front Right+ (output) (solid gray)
2: Front Left+ (output) (solid white)
3: Accessory (red)
4: +Battery (12 volt constant) (yellow)
5: Front Right- (output) (gray w/ black stripe)
6: Front Left- (output) (white w/ black stripe)
7: Ground (black)
8: Empty
9: Amplifier turn on (black)
10: Empty


12-pin
1: Front Left+ (input) (solid white)
2: Front Right+ (input) (solid gray)
3: Rear Left+ (input) (solid green)
4: Rear Right+ (output) (solid purple)
5: Rear Left+ (output) (solid green)
6: Front Left- (input) (white w/ black stripe)
7: Front Right- (input) (gray w/ black stripe)
8: Rear Left- (input) (green w/ black stripe)
9: Rear Right+ (input) (solid purple)
10: Rear Right- (input) (purple w/ black stripe)
11: Rear Right- (output) (purple w/ black stripe)
12: Rear Left- (output) (green w/ black stripe)

 

Thank you so much this is super helpful info! It'll be a little bit before I get started on this project but I will update this thread with progress, pictures, roadblocks I encounter etc.

 

Snert

You can pm me if you want I can answer most questions and go over the issues you will run into.

My setup
Jvcz1000w headunit
Sony xm gs100. Mono amp
Sony xm gs4. Amp Mids
Sony xm gs4 amp tweeters and 3.5 inch

Speakers stereo integrity
Mk2 tweeters
M3 carbon 3.5 inch
Tm 65 6.5 mid
Zapco dsp z8
3 way active upfront, no rear fill
No passive crossovers, just using the dsp


All ofc wiring
I like stinger 8000 series RCA cables



I have used the Dayton dsp also

My personal opinion bite the bullet replace the head unit. If you plan on keeping the truck for a while.
To get good sound you need a clean signal.

I do not know if the 2021 factor radio has a flat signal to tie into. Most factory radios have bass rolloff at higher volume.

If it does get a flat signal at all volume levels then yes you can tap into the high level inputs into the Dayton dsp



I ran all new speaker wires. It was not hard to do.

Side note on a dsp. A dsp will not make a stereo sound good. Knowing how to use the dsp is what makes the truck sound good.

Go watch some videos on RTA tuning with REW before you go down the rabbit hole of a 3 way setup
Audiofrog has a good mic system and some videos on it.

 

Thanks for the input! For now I'm going to keep the stock head unit and take a stab at DSP tuning. I've got all the parts for a DIY RTA and a friend who is a bit of an audiophile and experience with tuning DSP's. If DSP tuning leaves a lot to be desired, I'd then spring for an aftermarket head unit as opposed to a higher quality DSP. My hope is that I'll be able to 1) determine how filtered the signal coming out of the head unit is as I haven't found anyone who has real data on this and 2) correct the likely filtered signal back to flat. I'd like to keep the stock head unit if possible, simply for the knobs. If there were a way to retain the stock trim and knobs and swap just the head unit I would totally go that route, but I'm 99% sure that's not possible otherwise others would have done so. For now I'm going to focus on replacing all the speakers, amping them, and running all new wire. I figure worst case scenario it sounds like garbage and I spring for a new head unit which is an easy swap and running RCA's is a simple process.

Did you use a Maestro or similar unit to retain factory chimes, steering wheel controls etc.?

Thanks again!

 

I did the maestro on the first install
Changed up some things and put the crux swrty in the 2nd time. I only need back up camera and steering wheel controls.


I am no means an expert on the factory radio on the tundra on what the limitations are or not.

Most cars will have some type of crossover or Bass-Rolloff to compensate for the cheap speakers they use from the factory. They don't want to be constantly replacing speakers under car warranty.

One option that should show what is going on. Use a voltage meter. Measure the voltage at each speaker playing 40hz. Start turning up the volume. If you get to a volume that you are no longer getting an increase in voltage or start to see a decrease in voltage if volume is going up on the head unit, then you are getting a loss of signal at high volume on that channel.

I would assume this would work also. Playing pink noise at half volume on the head unit, see how everything looks. Then play it at full volume. If you see big drops at the lower frequencies, then you are getting bass Roll-off.

A different work around, if you get a flat signal at 1/2 or even at 3/4 volume on the factory head unit with no frequency loss in signal. Just set the dsp output and amp gains with an O Scope to test for clipping and set the voltage going from the amp to the speakers.

Also on some factory head units they may have bass-roll off on the front channels but not the rear channels. IF that is the case for the dsp you really only need a good left signal and a good right signal. If you can get a clean flat left right signal, I would not even worry with trying to find 4 channels of clean signal.

I forgot the voltage output measurements on the Dayton dsp on when it starts to clip. It would be different for you anyway using the factory head unit going to the high-level inputs to the dayton dsp. I use the LM 2020 oscilloscope to check for distortion. They are less than $100 and work well.

1 check for distortion for max output volume from the head unit My JVS will output over 5 volts on the rca but will start to clip above 5.1 volts
2 check for distortion from the dsp output there will be an output level that will clip.
3 check for distortion from the amps My sony amp is rated for 600 watts but using the O Scope to set gains it will do a little over800 watts at 40HZ with no clipping.

The dayton dsp will not like any signal above 3.2 volts on rca input
and anything above 8v on the speaker level inputs. Assuming a 4 ohm load this calculates to about 15 watts max power from the head unit that the dsp will like.

Side note If you do not get a clean signal going to the dsp tuning will be difficult.

Good Luck.

 

Do you have a source for this? In my continuing research I've read mixed things about the head unit sending out a flat vs processed signal. Some say it's flat coming from the HU, others say the HU is sending out a processed/not flat signal. I've read and everyone seems to agree that the HU is sending out a full range signal to the amp, although it is not flat. I'm suspecting that's why Taco Tunes says their "NTune6" is required for 2020-2021 Tundras.

"*NON JBL ONLY*
The NTUNE6 is REQUIRED for 2020+ Toyota Tundras. Many 2007-2019 Tundra owners that keep their stock head unit (radio) also use the NTUNE6 for increased bass response & cleaner input signal. The NTUNE6 is NOT required for 2007-2019 Toyota Tundras.
The NTUNE6 is designed to keep your stock stereo and add after market amplifiers(s) to your Toyota Tundra. When Toyota added Android Auto & Apple Carplay to your Tundra, the bass and audio signal coming from the stock stereo was significantly reduced. This created many problems with bass output and speaker level output. See the video for a detailed explanation of the NTUNE6’s features designed for your Tundra."

I've been waffling back and forth on ordering the Sony XAV-9000ES head unit and running RCA's to the amps, rather than integrating to factory. The more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards this so as to avoid the need for a higher quality DSP down the line, and the potential of the Dayton DSP-408 I already have inducing noise, as I've read the quality control is sub par on those units and people often have issues with them. I had originally purchased it to install in our CX-5 to correct factory bass roll off but I never got around to it, but I would still happily use it for that if I opted to get an aftermarket HU. TrailGridPro has a pretty decent deal right now compared to Crutchfield.

I've also decided to install the amp (dsp if keeping factory HU), and crossovers under the passenger seat/factory amp location. I found a picture from someone who made their own amp rack which I am more than comfortable doing. I grabbed the size specs for the two amps pictured, traced everything out, and created a digital ruler and laid out my potential gear and it looks like the amp rack should have enough room for the RD 900/5 and 4 crossovers and maybe the DSP-408 as well. I think I'd have no problem fitting the RD 900/5 and 4 crossovers if I were to go aftermarket HU. I'd for sure have to make a second amp rack to go under the driver seat for the JD 250/1. It's unfortunate that the rear seats don't fold down, and that they stuck a big dumb block of foam under the rear seats, rather than having storage space. I know you can get the ESP storage and fit audio gear into them, they're just so expensive and I'd have to install the long box to fit my RD 900/5, and any of those options involve cutting the factory carpet which I'm not too keen on. I was looking the other day at the space under the rear seats and there's a little more clearance towards the back, but it's still limited to maybe 2.5" at the absolute most, and with my amps both being over 2" I'd be concerned about ventilation.

 

Apologies for the silence just forgot to check up on the progress you've made.

Personally, I'd just get a new headunit. One thing I've learned that's really stuck with me in the audio world is to just bite the bullet early because eventually your gonna want it and end up buying it anyway.

Metra.com makes really nice dash kits for the newer and older tundras that matches the factory silver where the knobs and buttons are perfect.

If you still want to try to just get by with the factory headunit still, I'd recommend buying this electrical RTA that Dean and Fernando made from Five Star Car Stereo: https://www.dandftooldrawer.com/irta2/irta2


Yes it's very pricy for such a small tool, but it will show you the exact electrical signal being put out by the HU for each speaker to tell you if it has bass roll off and what type of factory eq the HU puts out.

Back tracking to if it's the HU or amp changing the signal, I'm on the same boat as you reading all over the internet where one person says it's the HU and another says it's the amp.

Best way to get a definite answer is to just test everything on your own and figure it out yourself (sadly)

If you don't want to spend the dough on the iRTA2 (understandable) what I'd do is I'd play a mix of test tones through the stereo at the same volume and then use a multimeter and write down each voltage for each tone.

I'd plug the multimeter at a front door speaker, rear door speaker, dash speaker, and at the input to the amp that's showing the HU output.

You can then graph this out on a piece of paper and make your own electrical RTA graph/chart and see if the signal is flat coming from the HU or not.

I'd test it with multiple volumes (10, 20, 30, etc) to compare them and see if there is some form of bass roll/treble boost or not (while decreasing bass manufactures also like to boost treble which isn't necessarily a bad thing just something to consider)

This will take lots of time if you end up going this route but will show you the same results as the $250 RTA (if done correctly )

Again, buying a new HU solves all of this headache as well as gives you all the new technology goodies (apple carplay, navigation, etc )

I've got a Kenwood Excelon DMX908s in my 07 and absolutely love it.

Kenwood makes some great HUs and almost all of them put out a very good signal (no clipping at max volume) if that's something you'd be interested in.

The TrailGridPro I've heard is also an amazing HU, it's just all about how much money you wanna spend and what you want out of them in terms of features

Hope this helps

 

No worries at all man! It was actually once again super funny timing that you posted as I pulled the trigger on ordering a head unit. I settled on the Sony XAV9000ES from Trail Grid Pro as their price couldn’t be beat for the head unit + Meastro unit. I’m 100% confident in my soldering abilities, matching wires, etc., but it will be a nice perk that the unit comes all soldered/heat shrieked/tesa taped from them and is more or less a drop in plug and play package. The cost was steep, but with 5v pre amps and more or less a built in DSP it should be pretty slick. I’ll update with some pics when it gets delivered. After that will be ordering the speakers and install gear. Having the new head unit will also make wiring everything a breeze and running RCA’s for signal rather than using harnesses and potential for noise to be induced should be cut down drastically. I’m a huge fan of Dean and Fernando and have been eyeing their RTA for a while. I’ve actually got the necessary parts to make a frankenstein rta that connects to an old smart phone I just haven’t gotten around to tinkering with it, but once the weather warms up I plan on doing that and popping the DSP-408 into our car with the hopes of using my frankenstein RTA and DSP to correct the horrendous bass roll off that Mazda has in their systems. I’ve got a sub installed and it’s painful on some songs how much it cuts off around 80 hz and below.

 

Well congrats on the purchase I'm sure you won't regret it.

Another thing I'd recommend instead of soldering to the harness is these bullet connectors: https://www.crutchfield.com/shopsearch/bullet_connector.html


Just as good as soldering and allows you to pull them apart if you ever need to get back into the rear of the HU without cuttings wires and resoldering them again. (I learned this the hard way)

Super cheap and I use them all over in my truck for speaker wires and accessories and such. I'd make sure to always have what every is sending out power/signal to be the female end and have whatever is receiving to use the male just in case they were to get unplugged (which is super hard to do even trying to do by hand) so they don't hit bare metal anywhere and spark/blow a fuse.

Originally I had soldered everything but now that I redid most of all of my speaker wire runs I don't think I soldered anything.

If you ordered your HU through crutchfield you might be able to add these quick before they process it.

 

Fantastic suggestion! I normally use spade marine grade spade connectors so that they're insulated like these, and I've got a bunch of them on hand already. I ordered the head unit from Trail Grid Pro and they handle the wiring of the head unit so it should be more or less plug and play, save for connecting my 3 pairs of RCA's and remote turn on wire which I'll definitely use connectors for. They were actually cheaper than Crutchfield, included the same harnesses/Maestro unit, and do the wiring for you. I've never had a problem wiring head units in the past but it will be a nice time saver and it was cheaper, can't beat that!

Crutchfield has a sale right now on Focal K2 speakers and I'm torn between going Flax 3-way front and Flax 2-way rear, or K2 2-way front and rear. For right now in either case I'll be going semi-passive, using the head unit's built in EQ, time alignment etc., and will consider going active and adding a DSP and additional amp down the line. I've been scouring the internet for a comparison of the 2 lines but there aren't many reviews out there. The 2 main considerations between the 2 are the ohms the speakers pull, and 2-way vs 3 way. I drew up a wiring diagram for each and was thinking I'd be able to bi-amp using the head unit to feed the tweeters and my amp to feed the woofers, but only the 2-ohm K2's are bi-ampable and my head unit only goes down to 4 ohms so that idea went out the window. I wish Focal made a set of bi-ampable 4-ohm K2's but it's just not the case. Pics below of the 2 options I'm debating right now with specs. My amp's RMS ratings match those of the Flax and K2 drivers at 4 and 2 ohms respectively and I can't decide which route to go.

The Flax 3-ways are $999.99 and the Flax 2 ways are $579.99, total cost = $1579.98
The K2 2-ways are on sale for $634.99 x 2, total cost = $1269.98

I'm not sure if the few hundred dollars extra is worth going 3-way in front, or if the on sale 2-way K2's are the way to go. I know the K2's will play louder, and are overall a slightly higher quality speaker and Focal's flagship line, I just can't decide if I'd rather go 3-way bearing in mind that further down the line I will probably go fully active.

 

I have the Focal 165AS3 Access 3-way, and I can say having the third speaker in the dash really makes the sound stage come alive. While I dont have any proof, I feel having more speakers that cover specific ranges is going to produce cleaner sound. As for loud, that is the last thing you need to worry about between the two, either will blow your ears off.

 

Thanks for the input! I think you're definitely correct in that more speakers = cleaner sound in most cases. Really the only reason I am considering the K2's is that going 2 way would be less work, e.g. wouldn't have to modify the dash to accepts the mid-ranges and make custom adapters for them, and the K2's supposedly have better mid-bass and are slightly more sensitive. I'm sure both pairs would be ear bleedingly loud lol. In my previous set up I had JL Audio C2's and those had loads of overhead volume I never used. If the Flax's were on sale too it would be a no brainer, but overall I'm still leaning more towards 3 way just because I've never run a 3 way setup and I like to experiment/delve further into car audio.

 

The mids were a bit of a pain to mount (looks like the flax and access mids are the ~ same size), I flush mounted them in the grill and botched the first one so had to order a new grill, difficult to line up correctly. If under the grill, you need to clearance more and make a mount, not sure which way is easier.

 

There's a Youtube channel called "5 Star Car Stereo" that has a video of their process for mounting the mid-ranges in the dash corner. I'd more or less follow their video as they haven't steered me wrong on past installs. In their video, they route the factory hole wider, create a custom ABS bracket, trim the underside of the grille, and undermount/attach the mid-ranges to the brackets from the underside, and lastly install a foam ring around the driver to direct the sound. I'm definitely comfortable with doing all that/have all the necessary tools, it will just be fairly time consuming, as opposed to installing a 2-way set with the tweeters either in the dash corners or in the JBL-equipped sail panels that I ordered.

 

Realized I wrote the wrong model number for the K2's on here. The 2 ohm bi-ampable ES 165K2's are $749.99, whereas the 4-ohm non-bi-ampable ES165K's are $634.99. Both sets pull 100W rms @ 2 and 4 ohms respectively, and the ES 165K2's can be ran non-bi-amped with a speaker wire jumper to connect the woofer and tweeter inputs together.

 

I watched that one as well, good guidance. I originally had the 165A3s, which are an old model and I got on clearance, but they were like a 4” mid and I couldn’t get to fit, at all. So returned them and got the AS3s, much easier to work with.

You have a great system planned, should sound great!

 

Yeah looking at the mechanical drawings it looks like the Flax and AS3 midranges are nearly identical size wise. I found some Metra Adapters #82-4201 but the maximum cut out is just under 3” and the holes for the mi ranges are just over 3” apart which is annoying but it is what it is. ABS is relatively cheap and I should be able to route a pair that fit the openings nicely, and thankfully the Focal depth is shallow enough that it shouldn’t involve cutting or re-shaping the hvac duct in the dash. I thought about flush mounting through the grills as well, do you have pics of yours by chance? Curious to see what they look like, and how much were the grills? The JBL equipped tweeter sail panels were only like $20 a piece which isn’t too bad imo.