I feel stupid radio question

MojaveMadMan

MojaveMadMan

New member
I have a stupid radio question. Purchased a harness adapter to put an aftermarket radio in my rig. Spent 2 hours soldering it up and putting wire loom on everything instead of the whole twisted wire with electric tape deal. Stoked to install I head out to my 4runner, take it all apart, and no dice... I had a two plug harness and my 4runner is a single plug. I have a 1997 limited. Can someone help me figure out the right harness???
 
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You have the factory amplifier it is located below the radio and behind the ashtray. If you follow the single plug it will lead to the amp, the 2 plugs you need are plugged into the amp as well so simply unplug them and plug them into your harness you wired up and bypass the factory amp entirely, or go to a local stereo shop and buy the amplified toyota plug and rewire your harness.
 
Rhoov1 said:
You have the factory amplifier it is located below the radio and behind the ashtray. If you follow the single plug it will lead to the amp, the 2 plugs you need are plugged into the amp as well so simply unplug them and plug them into your harness you wired up and bypass the factory amp entirely, or go to a local stereo shop and buy the amplified toyota plug and rewire your harness.
Click to expand...

Anyone know the factory amp specs.
 
Rhoov1 said:
You have the factory amplifier it is located below the radio and behind the ashtray. If you follow the single plug it will lead to the amp, the 2 plugs you need are plugged into the amp as well so simply unplug them and plug them into your harness you wired up and bypass the factory amp entirely, or go to a local stereo shop and buy the amplified toyota plug and rewire your harness.
Click to expand...

Great info, thanks!!! Went and got the amp plug before I saw this. Now before I shred my harness and re-do, the question is, are the factory amps worth a crap for door speakers? Is it worth it to remove or keep?
 
Rhoov1 said:
You have the factory amplifier it is located below the radio and behind the ashtray. If you follow the single plug it will lead to the amp, the 2 plugs you need are plugged into the amp as well so simply unplug them and plug them into your harness you wired up and bypass the factory amp entirely, or go to a local stereo shop and buy the amplified toyota plug and rewire your harness.
Click to expand...

Ah! The stomach churning moment when the new harness won't plug into your factory harness. The same thing happened to me! I don't know the specs of the factory amp but my new Kenwood sounds way better than the old amp/radio combo and I still have the factory speakers.

This is the amp you need to extract like a rotten tooth. The harness going into it will then match your new harness:

100_2089.jpg~original
 
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MojaveMadMan said:
Great info, thanks!!! Went and got the amp plug before I saw this. Now before I shred my harness and re-do, the question is, are the factory amps worth a crap for door speakers? Is it worth it to remove or keep?
Click to expand...

Are you keeping the stock fronts speakers or did you replace them too? I don't know that the factory specs are but when I installed my system I didn't use the factory amp... but then again I'm running a 5 channel Infinity to power mine.

Since you now have the adapter, why don't you try it both ways and see which sounds the best?
 
Funny analogy about the tooth!!!

I am retaining the stock speakers at the moment. I will upgrade down the line though. Think I am gunna run the stock amp with the stock speakers. Then when I upgrade I will ditch the stock amp for something better. Unless anyone has more insure here...
 
MojaveMadMan said:
Funny analogy about the tooth!!!

I am retaining the stock speakers at the moment. I will upgrade down the line though. Think I am gunna run the stock amp with the stock speakers. Then when I upgrade I will ditch the stock amp for something better. Unless anyone has more insure here...
Click to expand...

All depends on how good a HU you have and what its RMS capability is. It wouldn't take much of an HU for me to decide I was better off without the 16-year old stock amp and letting the HU do it solo. My Alpine HU did a pretty good job solo with the stock speakers (before I upgraded the speakers and added an Alpine amp).
 
Just did this with Alpine CDE 143-BT headunit in 2000 T4R SR5. Got the unit and harness from Crutchfield. Called Tech Support with this very question and was told to bypass the factory amp as the new Alpine unit was far superior . Removed the amp, unplugged the two connectors coming out of the amp and connected the new harness. I am also using factory speakers for the moment. Worked flawlessly - sounds really good.

Buckaroo
 
Damn I wish I would have seen the last 2 posts... I cut away the *****in heat shrink off that I had around the bundle. Oh well, all the wires are still soldered and individually heat shrinked. Looks like I need to black tape it up and put it in.

Ultimately it's a used head unit I got for $80 on still 16 year old speakers, so I'm not expecting micacles here. Just wanted a USB hock up so I can charge my iPhone and listen to pandora at the same time.

When it's time to do everything I already got my eye on a full alpine setup with nav, components, and an amp. It's just lower on the list right now. Trying to get some new meat and Icons all around!!!
 
Ditch the stock amp. It's almost guaranteed that the new HU is more powerful with it's built in amp than the stock. You will not gain anything by using the stock amp, but you will get much better sound out of stock speakers with a new HU.
 
I have no advice for you.
But , I do want to say that I miss driving my 4runner down in ABQ, man.. I miss the 2.80$/Gal price too:)
Man, I miss ABQ.
(We lived there for three years, and were too quick to move up to the north-east )
I even ordered a 12 pack of El-Pinto Red/ Green chilli all the way up here, right from the restaurant, just a few days ago. (they don't sell them here, as far as could look).


MojaveMadMan said:
I have a stupid radio question. Purchased a harness adapter to put an aftermarket radio in my rig. Spent 2 hours soldering it up and putting wire loom on everything instead of the whole twisted wire with electric tape deal. Stoked to install I head out to my 4runner, take it all apart, and no dice... I had a two plug harness and my 4runner is a single plug. I have a 1997 limited. Can someone help me figure out the right harness???
Click to expand...
 
Factory amp is about 18w x4.
Mine went in the dumpster years ago.
Factory speakers should be fine on deck power but when you add amp, replace the speakers.
 
Lug1 said:
I have no advice for you.
But , I do want to say that I miss driving my 4runner down in ABQ, man.. I miss the 2.80$/Gal price too:)
Man, I miss ABQ.
(We lived there for three years, and were too quick to move up to the north-east )
I even ordered a 12 pack of El-Pinto Red/ Green chilli all the way up here, right from the restaurant, just a few days ago. (they don't sell them here, as far as could look).
Click to expand...

I must have missed this. I just got here a week ago so I am still sorting things out. Already had a few doses of green chilies though!!!
 
pioneer trouble

Hey guys, sorry to bump a necro thread. I did a bunch of searching and called Crutchfield and i'm not getting anywhere. I got this stereo from Crutchfield and put it into my 98. They gave me the two wiring harnesses that match the ones on the back of the factory amp, and directions to bypass the amp. I soldered it all up, color to color, double and triple checked. Took the amp out and plugged into the two factory plugs. Everything works, except it's very very quiet. Yes, I checked all the volume settings and tried every source type. I called Crutchfield and they offered to send a wiring harness that matches the single plug from the amp to the factory stereo, which will include the amp but i'll lose illumination on the deck face. otherwise they were clueless.

I've never been very good at electrical, anyone have any ideas?


Thanks
 
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