Tech12volts 14 to 21 TUNDRA NON JBL ONLY CENTER CHANNEL

This plug and play center channel replacement speaker has me interested. It's actually two tweeters in a custom-made center bracket with crossovers, although I believe it's replacing a single "midrange" speaker.

Has anybody tried this in their truck? I would like to hear any feedback either from experience listening or opinions on the replacement of the midrange center with two tweeters.

Any feedback greatly appreciated!

 

Most it seems get these and then sell them. if you get a dsp and upgrade a few pieces you don't need anything in the center. And frankly to get a nice center channel you really need at least a 5 1/4 with a tweet. but they are a pain to get right.
forgo the center tweets and get other equipment. Just a few thoughts.

 

I might have one I took out - I’ll look for it.

Love what James Taylor offers but if you’ve upgraded to components in the doors/sail panels you don’t really need anything out of the dash.

 

Couple years back, James was running a deal for those center channels and the left and right dash speakers.

All plug and play. Still have them installed and sounds pretty good with my factory stereo and LOC with Kenwood 5 channel amp.

pic for reference - thanks Danimal86

 

Yep....Had one of the kits.

Ultimately it was too much tweeter for my liking....sold it on marketplace

 

Thanks everyone!

@purplenova and @Danimal86 sounds like you guys are well educated on the Tundra system, maybe you could answer a couple questions for me.

My system is the stock 2020 premium audio (not JBL). I believe the door speakers are 2ohm, do you know if the dash tweeters are the same or 4ohm? Some things I've read lead me to believe there 4ohm.

 

Sorry, I never checked....I just replaced everything so I never looked at what factory was.

Not sure about 2018+ but 2014-2017 the dash speakers are powered off the head unit. Best off disconnecting them and running components in the door.

 

I honestly dont know what mine are. Its been a couple years since i replaced mine, would need to look. I would pop off the cover and take one out and flip it over see what is stamped on the backside.

Here is a pic for reference - Thanks 1lowlife
Look at post #12

 

I have James whole JL Audio kit in my truck and decided against the center dash speakers. The components front and back are perfect.

 

I just did a full system overhaul in my system and have all the speakers in a box. Danimal86 is correct in that in non JBL gen 2.5's, the center speaker and dash corner speakers are powered off of the head unit, while the door woofers in front and the door woofers and tweeters in the rear are powered off on external amp located under the passenger seat.

Interestingly enough, the dash corner speakers appear to be 6 ohm and 13w (presumably RMS):




The dash center speaker on the other hand appears to be a dual 8 ohm voice coil wired in parallel (10w + 10w or 20w RMS), which would present a 4 ohm load to the head unit.

 

@Snert
Thanks for the info!
Can you verify the front and rear door speaker ohm rating?
I'm unsure what audio upgrades I may do, but after receiving the tech12 volt center and living with it for a while I expect to make some decisions.
Hopefully I will like the tech 12 center, I will post my thoughts then.

 

The front door speakers are roughly a ~6x9" speaker that run at 2-ohms and 35 watts:


The rear door speakers are a ~6.5", also 2-ohm and 35 watts:

 

@Eaganite if/when you decide to upgrade, feel free to start a thread, tags me here, or send me a PM and i can help with options for replacement gear, price points, etc. and making sure everything meshes well.

 

Nice! I did the same a couple months ago in my 2019 non-JBL.

Just a heads up. the tweeters in the rear doors are also powered from the HU rather than the amplifier.

 

Ahh yeah you’re right. I remembered the bit about the dash center and corners coming off the head unit, but then I was mistakenly looking at the JBL diagram in which it looks like the rear door woofer and tweeter are wired in parallel.

 

What did you end up running with in your overhaul!?

 

For head unit I went Sony XAV-9000, added an Amazon front cam, resonix cld on all the doors, made abs block off plates attached via rivnuts, ran all new wiring, for front speakers the “new” Focal KX2E’s with the Frak tweeters in custom sail panels, rear doors got a set of K2’s with the smaller tweeter, just finished a custom sub box that acts almost like a center console extension house a JL8w7 while I save for new subs, and cld on the rear window panel along with an abs amp rack attached via rivnuts that holds a JL RD900/5 and crossovers while I save for a new dsp amp to go fully active. Got my eyes set on a Helix V12, adding back in dash corners, either Focal with dash modification or Audiofrog drop ins and possibly center, a new subwoofer amp, and a pair of JL 10TW3’s. It’s a mouthful lmao.

 

Awww yes, I remember seeing your work. Very nice man. Those sail panels turned out awesome. Great info and pics you provided in your write up here. Thanks for taking the time to share.

Have the JL 10TW3’s gone up in price recently? I have not been watching them or priced individually but know that the SB-T-TCMAX/10TW3 Stealthbox has increased by $200 .. just within the past week. Luckily I pulled the trigger on one prior. Have yet to receive it though. $1699 to $1899

 

Thanks man much appreciated!

Oof yeah I think they have as well, I could have sworn they were $450 individually and it looks like they are now $500. I guess that explains half of the $200 price hike on the stealthbox, I had been considering one as well :,( . When you get it installed would you mind letting me/us know how it fits/sounds etc.? I have the tools/ability to build a basic box that would be cheaper, but probably wouldn't sound nearly as good lol.

 

You bet.. I thought the same about building my own box. Just wasn't confident it would sound as well as I expect this Stealthbox to . Had one in my 2006 Double Cab and loved what it provided. I think I will be pleased with this one as well.

Once it arrives I'll take pics of the install / fitment. No shipping notification yet - as it comes direct from JL. Whenever that may be.

 

I’ve always wanted one but never had a vehicle I was confident I’d have long enough to justify it. Finally got my dream truck and I’m pulling out all the stops. Hopefully they send you that fricken thing soon, for your sake, but also I wouldn’t mind seeing some dimensions etc. for planning

 

You guys are amazing! I'm glad that I can't hear the sound of your truck systems.

I am a bit of an audiophile, but for the most part I leave that to my home system, certainly have enough $ in that.
When I first bought my truck I considered upgrading the audio system, even talked with an installer who gave me a couple upgrade options. Decided it wasn't worth it to me and left it at that.

Now after four years of listening to the lousy stock system, I'm working to improve it some, and starting with the dash tweeters. One of the things I don't understand is the relationship between the dash corners and the center speakers ohm correlation.

@Snert You wrote in post #10:
The dash center speaker on the other hand appears to be a dual 8-ohm voice coil wired in parallel (10w + 10w or 20w RMS), which would present a 4 ohm load to the head unit.

A couple of questions:

1: In the factory configuration, what does the amplifier see as the ohm rating? (per channel)

2: After removing the factory center and replacing with the tech 12 center (I believe 2 4-ohm tweeters) what ohm rating does the amplifier see? (again per channel)

 

I'm not sure what ohm rating the Tech 12 volt center speakers are currently, but on past group buys it looks like they used JL Audio C1 tweeters. I'm guessing they'd have to be wired in series so that they are presenting an 8 ohm load to the head unit, as I doubt the stock head unit is 2-ohm stable if they were wired in parallel. That said, here are all of the speakers in a non-JBL crew max:

Dash corners, ~3", 6 ohm, 13w RMS, with a capacitor to block bass:


Dash center, ~3", 8 ohm + 8 ohm wired in parallel so 4 -ohm load to head unit, 10w +10w or 20w RMS, again with capacitors to block bass:



Front doors, ~6x9", 2 ohm, 35w RMS:



Rear doors, ~6.5", 2 ohm, 35w RMS:



Rear door tweeters, ~1", 4 ohm, 20w RMS:




The wiring diagrams for JBL and non-JBL have been posted on the forums before. I mistakenly told someone the other day that the rear tweeters are wired with the rear door woofers. A kind member corrected me as I was looking at a JBL wiring diagram by mistake. In non-JBL crewmax Tundras, the wiring for each speaker is:

Dash corners: powered off of head unit

Dash center: powered off of head unit

Front door woofers: powered off of amp under passenger seat

Rear door woofers: powered off of amp under passenger seat

Rear door tweeters: powered off of head unit

This makes things a little tricky if you're looking to replace the speakers with component sets and reuse the factory wiring. You can replace the dash corners with a few ~3" varieties that are drop in, while others require dash modification. If you decide to go with a component set in the front, you can get brackets and mount your new tweeters in the factory dash corner locations and run new tweeter wire to them so that they're wired off of your crossovers. You can also get the sail panels from a JBL truck that have tweeter grills and mounting brackets. Just have to be mindful of the tweeter size and maybe work a little fitment magic. For the rear doors, if you want to replace with components, you could reuse the factory wiring, the only thing is you'd again have to run new wiring, or you could mount the crossovers inside the door panels so that you wouldn't have to pull new wiring through door grommets, just within the door itself which is much easier. Replacing throughout with coaxial speakers, and the dash corners presents the easiest/cheapest option, as you can use the factory wiring and not have to run any new wiring.

I think the most important thing to note, is that since the factory amp is ~35 watts RMS @ 2-ohms, that means at 4 ohms the amp is maybe pumping out ~20 watts RMS. I would not recommend replacing any of the door woofers without replacing the factory amp. On the one hand, if you replace just the door woofers, you will almost certainly be buying a 4-ohm set that is around ~50 watts RMS. The factory amp will be drastically underpowering them and you will lose output. On the other hand, if you replace the factory amp and not the door woofers, you will likely be overpowering the factory speakers. Most 4 channel amps will be around ~50 watts RMS @ 4 ohms, and 75 watts RMS @ 2 ohms. If you replace the amp but keep the stock speakers, you will likely be overpowering them a good bit and risk blowing them.

These are kind of general statements but they highlight what I think is the biggest consideration when looking at upgrading the factory system in a non-JBL truck.

This is a basic illustration of how the non-JBL factory wiring goes. As you think about the options for upgrading, I can provide illustrations of how different systems would look, i.e. coaxial vs component, tweeter and crossover mounting options/wiring, etc.

 

So being the very impulsive guy that I am, and after reading a lot of positive feedback on the Kicker KSC270, KS Series 2.75" Midrange/Tweeter 4-ohm speakers. I bought a pair from Crutchfield.

Being 4-ohm vs the factory 6-ohm I'm not sure they would be compatible with either the factory or the tech 12 center speakers. But I would expect they would be ok if used without any center, my truck is currently running with stock dash corners and no center. I would think if I just replaced the factory corners with the Kicker 4-ohm corners (no center) it would play fine just maybe slightly louder?

I also thought that possibly maybe a 2-ohm resistor could be installed in line before the 4-ohm Kickers making them 6-ohm load?

Edit: The Kickers are 50W RMS

 

The center and corner speakers are mutually exclusive of one another. No need to worry about how they will affect one another. They will be compatible with both the factory and Tech12volt. Since we know the center speaker is 20 watts RMS @ 4 ohms, it's safe to assume that the head unit's built in amplifier puts out 20 watts RMS @ 4 ohms to the dash corners as well. The Kicker speakers you bought are rated for up to 50 watts RMS @ 4 ohms, with an 85 dB sensitivity rating. Hard to say how loud/quiet they will be vs stock. 85 dB is not particularly sensitive so I wouldn't be surprised if they're not any louder, and maybe quieter than stock. From a risk stand point, there should be no harm in running them off the stock head unit.

The stock dash corners are getting 13 watts @ 6 ohms, but those speakers are also designed to be 13 watts @ 6 ohms, so they are receiving adequately matched power.

Installing a resistor in line with the speakers to make them a 6 ohm load isn't recommended for various reasons. Primary ones being that it will affect the speakers response, and half the power from your amp will be turned into heat in the resistor which could be potentially dangerous unless you got a large resistor.

 

The center dash speaker isn't directly connected to the HU.
It is fed from the corner dash speaker connectors..
The center will not get a full signal unless the dash speakers are connected, unless you run a jumper in those connectors.
I ran a jumper experimenting with the twin tweeter in the OP.
I ultimately disconnected all 3 dash speakers and sold the twin tweeter.
For whatever that may or may not be worth..

 

I too have the Kicker KSC270 in dash corners but powered from aftermarket amp. I can tell you they are very capable of playing loud in that location in my setup. Unfortunately, I never tried with the OEM HU. I also ran components in the doors, tweeter in sail panels.
My thought was I could always disconnect the mids (if they became two much) and run 2-way rather than 3-way. That being said, the mids "were" too much, for me.. that is until I adjusted the EQ and toned them down some them. Love'm now!

 

I didn't realize the dash corners fed to the center speaker like that but the diagrams don't lie lol. So looking at this diagram and from what you said @1lowlife, it looks like the dash corners are wired in parallel to each of the center speakers voice coils independently, or 1/6 + 1/8 = ~3.43 ohms? and then with each voice coil being ~10 watts RMS, and each corner speaker being 13 watts RMS, you effectively have 23 watts RMS @ 3.43 ohms, or maybe like 20 watts RMS @ 4 ohms which is pretty standard for built in head unit amplifier? Which then makes me question what I said about the rear tweeters and how they're wired as well, but based on looking at one and it being 20 watts RMS @ 4 ohms I guess the math above would track for the left/right dash corner and "left/right sides" of the center speaker.

 

Here's an overall view I put together when I was doing my overhaul this spring. Needed a visual as I was back feeding the corner dash speakers from the harness under the passenger seat.

 

That is awesome.
I hope you don't mind if I stole it to post in the future if someone needs it..