Kenwood head unit. Thoughts on this one?

I dont really know what the typical cost of installs, but the price of the equipment is a pretty nice deal. Well, tge amp is definitely a good deal. The headunit seems like it will be but i cant say with confidence that it is a proven quality product.

As for the center channel, i wouldnt use it at this point. Center channels in car audio are really hard to implement. The oem amp may have been specifically designed for a center channel but that wont be the same situation with aftermarket gear.

Theres alot to think about there. If i can think of anything helpful later ill post back.

 

Picked the stuff up today. He can install maybe next weekend for $50 more.

I'd like to keep the center channel since I just got those JL audio dual c1 tweeters from James @tech12volts. Maybe I will have him run those off the headunit / toyota adapter.

I'm going to get the maestro with toyota adapter harness, do I also need a adapter harness for the toyota plug to the kenwood? Or does the maestro handle that? If I have him wire some speakers from the head unit?
Also I will be getting an antenna adapter, maybe a Usb adapter to retain OEM usb but the head unit had a usb to plug phone to.
I'm gonna get one of those 9 conductor wires to run from the amp back up to the factory speaker wires for ease of install, that also carries the remote amp turn on wire in it. And a dash kit. Anything else you can think of?

 

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_249TY61N/Crux-SWRTY-61N-Wiring-Interface.html

That's the harness kit that I bought with my Pioneer. You won't need this one, exactly, since you're going with the Maestro. You can take a look at the owner's manual that is linked on the product page and that may help you with the adapters you'll need. The kit came with the harness to retain the factory USB and aux-in (needed this RCA Y adapter for that, too: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_979YRA154/Hosa-Stereo-Mini-Breakout-Adapter.html), and the harnesses to tap into factory power, rearview camera, speakers, etc. You'll also want to look at the iDataLink STO2 if you want to use the factory GPS and XM antennas.

 

Anyone know how my backup camera will work with the new headunit? I have a reverse and ground wire coming off the headunit but do I need some kinda harness or adapter for using my OEM backup cam? Does the maestro handle this? Or do I need a kenwood to Toyota wiring harness separate from the maestro unit and harness?

 

Thank you. I assume I wanna use the factory GPS antenna right? Or do I not need one since my "new" head unit doent have navigation?
I really wanna keep my factory backup cam, do I need something for this or does the maestro handle that?

 

Power and ground wire. 4 gauge would be more than enough, but could probable be just fine with 6 guage.

Not sure if the maestro incorporates the normal harness. I wouldnt think it does though. The guy your getting it from should have one if he just upgraded.

As for the camera, im actually curious about that too. Im gonna look that up.

 

Thanks man. The guy actually doesnt have a maestro . Hes running a cheap steering wheel control adapter that he recommends for like $25 but I wanna try the maestro out.
Let me know what you find out about the backupcam, I'm searching now too,

 

Check out the diagram for the kit I linked earlier - it talks about the yellow RCA to retain OE camera and reverse trigger wire. These are both built in to one of the factory harnesses, but I can't remember which one(s) at the moment.

https://pdf.crutchfieldonline.com/ImageBank/v20190210222900/Manuals/249/249TY61N.PDF

 

@Twinky @TRDFerguson
Do you guys think that just adding the kenwood using maestro to my OEM JBL amp, will improve the sound over the factory JBL headunit? I ask because I'm starting to think that will be enough and I wont need to spend an extra $4-500 on the amp and everything needed to install it. The tech12volts speakers and sub already made a huge difference, I'm wondering if the headunit and maestro will be enough to get me to where I wanna be without doing a new amp.

 

Oh, you got the door speakers too. What are they? Just curious.

I think you would notice an improvement. Maybe not at first but after you do a basic tune you should. You will probably find yourself reading the manual often so keep a copy handy. Lol

 

I got the hertz k170 components in the doors. They sound pretty good compared to the stock JBL.

Just not sure if I should install the JL amp or just save my money and do the headunit. I'm sure I'll regret going cheap, but would love to save some cash

 

I noticed a decent improvement in sound quality with my Pioneer, but I had the non-JBL configuration and still have the stock speakers. It just seems like there is way more punch at all volume levels now, and the bass and mids stay in when I turn it up. I always felt like the factory setup died out once it got a little loud.

I did add a sub to my setup prior to swapping head units, which helped round out the system as a whole. The JBL has a stock sub, right?

 

Nice ones. Hertz are always impressive.

The amp is a good buy from what i can find to compare it against. There are other quality amps that will be available down the road, though.

If you're on the fence about it then tell him its just more than you wanted to spend. Maybe he will knock a health chunck off. If not, then no biggie. Just piece it together when stuff is on sale. Your system will sound good until then anyhow.

 

I have the stock JBL system but have replaced all the speakers thru tech12volts including the sub, I have a 10" JBL in a custom ported box now.
I just wonder if the kenwood headunit will push the system to where I want it without changing out the amp for a JL amp

 

Any tips on wiring everything up?
I will put the amp under the front passenger seat and got a harness to plug into output plugs off the stock JBL amp. So it should be easy to wire the door speakers to the amp. I will be wiring all dash speakers to the kenwood head unit speaker outs.
Where should I pull the remote turn on wire from? There must be a wire down under the seat I can use instead of running one from the head unit.
Any other little tips are welcome. I have the kenwood, maestro rr with Toyota harness, and JL amp. The maestro to kenwood connections already have me overwhelmed. There are so many plugs and wires.

 

I would check your amp for an auto sense turn on function first. Since its a JL amp it might have that feature. If it does, it can sense the headunit when it powers on from the rca wires, or something like that.

But if not, i would run it under the drivers side dash towards the drivers kick panel area. Thats the removable plastic trim by your left foot/brake pedal. That will also be right under the spot where your power wire will pass through the fire wall (up and left of the brake pedal.

Then run them both into that kick panel. Then under the panel that the door closes on top of.

Right under your drivers seat is where the front carpet overlaps the back carpet. You can work your power/remote wires from that door area panel and out from the carpet right there.

Nice and clean. No cutting of carpet involved.

 

The wiring under the passenger seat should have a turn on lead in it, and the Maestro install guide should tell you which wire in the dash harness to use. The pin diagram for under the seat has been posted on here and should be easy enough to find, but let me know if you need it as I have a copy somewhere too.

As far as your game plan to wire the dash speakers direct and use the amp for the doors, double check that your head unit willalow that. Sometimes the internal amp will turn off if there's signal on the pre-amp outputs.

For the wiring in general, just take your time and double check, then triple check as you go. Test EVERYTHING before you button it back up, including fade, balance, volume levels, etc. Otherwise you'll end up like me and pull the dash apart 3 times.

If you're installing the handsfree mic, it works really well in the stock location in the overhead console. That drops down with 4 star screws and you can either fish the wire through the cavity above the headliner to the pillar or jam it along the front of the headliner. Just take the stock mic out.

 

Everything in and sounding great so far. I need to figure out how to tune the amp and what settings I should be using. I'm clueless as to what to sets the gains and frequency filters at.

 

My 2 channel JL has instructions for tuning the amp using a voltmeter with the speaker disconnected... I don't think I did it right, but that's where I'd start for the input sensitivity and such. I'm gonna go back and redo mine soon as I have a lot of noise that I just noticed today.

Did the Maestro give you back the nav and music panels in your dash cluster?

 

I'll have to read up on how to tune a jl amp, sounds like a science.
As far as dash cluster stuff, my truck is a 15 so I didnt have any music data in my center cluster, I did have turn by turn nav in that cluster and I assume I have lost that but o havent checked. I only used the factory nav twice and it sucked. I'm very excited to have google maps and Waze to choose from now.
Thanks for the help