Upgrading my 2018 Tundra JBL system

MarineAustinTx · Mar 18, 2021

I upgraded my Entune system and used a guy here in Austin, Tx. @ Audio Mobile. We went with a Kicker center speaker for the dash, Polk Db6502 for the front/rear doors, a Rockford Fosgate 12 inch sub in a box, Rockford Fosgate R2-750x5 amplifier, and a LC6i converter. I kept the stock head unit and use a iPod classic for the music source as it has better sound than a smartphone. I am very anal about sound quality and the system sounds amazing.

vindel1986 · Jul 13, 2021

Surfanarchist[OP] said: ↑

Last week I jumped in and started my upgrade. In the rear I did three upgrades; I installed an ESP storage box, matted the rear wall, installed a JL Audio Stealth Box with twin 10"sub woofers and in the center storage box of the ESP I mounted a JL Audio 1000 watt sub amp. I've installed the 1/0 dual amp wiring set (Kicker, best price Wal-Mart on line) and from a block sent two 4 gage wires to the kenwood and the JL respectively. Under the passenger seat I installed a Kenwood Excelon XR600-6DSP iDatalink Maestro AR Amplifier, and a iDatalink HRN-AR-TO3 cable. In the dash I installed two Infinity Kappa 300 3.5" mids. The Kenwood has six channels as well as two RCA line outs so I feed the sub woofer amp through one set of the RCA line outs and channel 1/2 to the front doors, 3/4 to the dash, 5/6 to the rear doors. With the Kenwood built in DSP I can select via my IPhone and Bluetooth the frequencies for each speaker set. So I'm running what Kenwood calls "mid-high" to the dash speakers and "Mid" to the doors, of course "sub woofer" to the subs. I have not yet installed the new door speakers (I have JL component C2 600 for the front and JL C2 525 for the rear) but it sounds awesome even with the stock speakers. I'm going to sound deaden the doors and install the door speakers this week. The Kenwood has a 13 band EQ which I've not attempted to mess with. I'll do some fine tuning once the door components are in. The main thing is getting the proper frequencies to the speakers sets and learning how to use the Kenwood app to get everything configured.

Issues - while Crutchfields says the dash speaker are a fit, it takes a lot to make them fit. I used a dremmal to remove three of four bolt ears and had to trim some of the rim of one speaker. I also had to trim just a little plastic from the dash mounting points. All invisible once the speaker covers are on and the speakers fit so tightly that just having one 10MM bolt on each is more than adequate. I also made no modification that would prevent me from putting the old speakers back if I so choose.

The wiring diagram for the HRN-AR-TO3 cable is correct in showing you what wires go to each speaker set but it is incorrect on showing how to wire to the Kenwood. But once you understand how to use the Bluetooth app to configure the Kenwood it makes no difference. You can make any channel pair on the Kenwood anything you want. You select the position (dash, front, rear, sub woofer) anyway you want and you can send the correct set of frequencies to any pair. The last wrinkle is that center dash speaker. Right now I just have it doubled with the right dash speaker but I'm not sure I'll keep that. I might just disconnect the front center speaker as I'm not sure it gives me anything.

All steering wheel controls work. Voice command works but the volume seems a little lower. You can adjust the hands free phone volume from the HU so I don't see it as a problem.

I learned a lot doing this. I'll update this post when I get the door speakers installed.
Click to expand...

Surfanarchist[OP] said: ↑

Last week I jumped in and started my upgrade. In the rear I did three upgrades; I installed an ESP storage box, matted the rear wall, installed a JL Audio Stealth Box with twin 10"sub woofers and in the center storage box of the ESP I mounted a JL Audio 1000 watt sub amp. I've installed the 1/0 dual amp wiring set (Kicker, best price Wal-Mart on line) and from a block sent two 4 gage wires to the kenwood and the JL respectively. Under the passenger seat I installed a Kenwood Excelon XR600-6DSP iDatalink Maestro AR Amplifier, and a iDatalink HRN-AR-TO3 cable. In the dash I installed two Infinity Kappa 300 3.5" mids. The Kenwood has six channels as well as two RCA line outs so I feed the sub woofer amp through one set of the RCA line outs and channel 1/2 to the front doors, 3/4 to the dash, 5/6 to the rear doors. With the Kenwood built in DSP I can select via my IPhone and Bluetooth the frequencies for each speaker set. So I'm running what Kenwood calls "mid-high" to the dash speakers and "Mid" to the doors, of course "sub woofer" to the subs. I have not yet installed the new door speakers (I have JL component C2 600 for the front and JL C2 525 for the rear) but it sounds awesome even with the stock speakers. I'm going to sound deaden the doors and install the door speakers this week. The Kenwood has a 13 band EQ which I've not attempted to mess with. I'll do some fine tuning once the door components are in. The main thing is getting the proper frequencies to the speakers sets and learning how to use the Kenwood app to get everything configured.

Issues - while Crutchfields says the dash speaker are a fit, it takes a lot to make them fit. I used a dremmal to remove three of four bolt ears and had to trim some of the rim of one speaker. I also had to trim just a little plastic from the dash mounting points. All invisible once the speaker covers are on and the speakers fit so tightly that just having one 10MM bolt on each is more than adequate. I also made no modification that would prevent me from putting the old speakers back if I so choose.

The wiring diagram for the HRN-AR-TO3 cable is correct in showing you what wires go to each speaker set but it is incorrect on showing how to wire to the Kenwood. But once you understand how to use the Bluetooth app to configure the Kenwood it makes no difference. You can make any channel pair on the Kenwood anything you want. You select the position (dash, front, rear, sub woofer) anyway you want and you can send the correct set of frequencies to any pair. The last wrinkle is that center dash speaker. Right now I just have it doubled with the right dash speaker but I'm not sure I'll keep that. I might just disconnect the front center speaker as I'm not sure it gives me anything.

All steering wheel controls work. Voice command works but the volume seems a little lower. You can adjust the hands free phone volume from the HU so I don't see it as a problem.

I learned a lot doing this. I'll update this post when I get the door speakers installed.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing, how did you end up connecting the channels?

Dwolfefire · Oct 7, 2021

BuckWallace said: ↑

Following... I don't know of anyone who has replaced just the JBL amp with a different amp and a Maestro, but it sounds intriguing. If you go through with it and get it working definitely let us know as I know many of us would likely follow suit!
Click to expand...

my truck is currently in the shop getting upgraded.
3- 3 1/2 JBL center speakers
4- 6 1/2 JBL door speakers
2- JBL tweeters
1- 8in power enclosed JBL subwoofer
1- JBL DSP/1000watt amplifier

should be all microphone tuned and sound pretty tomorrow. I will update how it works out. From what they said the factory Amp needs to be bridged with a new amp due to factory systems needing the OEM amp.

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