Installing an amp and subs in a stock 90 4runner

[spdman411]

Hey everybody, i was planning on installing an amplifier and dual 12" subwoofers into my 1990 4runner. The speakers and head unit are stock. i have never done this before. does anybody have any suggestions? has anybody done this and have any tips for me? thanks

 

[004Gunner]

Not with a stock head unit. I'm pretty sure there is no way of getting around this without the preamp outputs of an aftermarket head unit. If there is a way then you would seriously sacrifice quality. There are some nice aftermarket double dins for decent money and I know for a fact the whole factory setup in that is garbage. I put 3 10"s and a 4 channel amp in my old '90 with infinitys throughout and the acoustics were beautiful.

 

[Blurr]

Here's a quick write-up of an amp+speaker install I did while using the factory radio in my 93 4runner. Sound quality is great.

http://www.yotatech.com/f96/my-2nd-gen-4runner-system-upgrade-stock-hu-amp-speakers-139730/

 

[004Gunner]

I checked out that in-line converter at crutchfield and you could probably find it cheaper than $20. But doesn't that require you to tie up all your speaker wires, meaning that you would have to run your speakers off the amp? How did you wire your setup?

 

[Blurr]

I checked out that in-line converter at crutchfield and you could probably find it cheaper than $20. But doesn't that require you to tie up all your speaker wires, meaning that you would have to run your speakers off the amp? How did you wire your setup?

I've seen many LOCs out there but none with individual gain settings. This Scoche LOC was worth every penny.

Wiring goes like this:
-Isolate the 4 speaker wire pairs coming off the factory radio harness, cut them then run them into their respective connectors on the LOC.
-connect RCA cables from the output RCA jacks on the LOC to the input jacks on the amp.
-12guage speaker wires from amp to speakers.

 

[wolfgang]

If you are still running the 18 year old stock speakers upgrade them before doing any add on. The stock paper speakers are surely long gone. Replace them with 2 or 3 way speakers. - Crutchfield has a good fitment chart of what will fit and what won't. The front dash speakers are like 4T - a rather odd size. Assume you also have the rear speakers - on some of the upscale OEM radios the rear did have small amplifiers build into the casing.

 

[004Gunner]

Assume you also have the rear speakers - on some of the upscale OEM radios the rear did have small amplifiers build into the casing.

The nice thing about those small amps built in is that they leave plenty of room to work with if you remove them. You could probably drop 8s in if you wanted.

 

[tarheeltp17]

whoa whoa whoa... some of you guys are making this waaaaay tooo complicated.

A LOC (line output converter) basically takes a high level output... and converts it to low level. RCA pre-outs are generally 1.5-8 volts depending on how high end the aftermarket stereo is. Speaker level, such as signal after the amplifier, or coming off the back of the radio, is considered high level.

LOCs don't tie all your speakers together or even tie the wires together especially not when adding a subwoofer. A typical 2-channel LOC has 5 wires coming from it, (white, white/black, gray, gray/black, and black). These corresepond with front left +/- and front right +/- speaker wires. This does not mean that you have to hook to the front left and right channels of your radio. Generally when adding a sub I connect to the rear channels.

Take a scotch lock and tap onto the speaker wires you intend to use, and then crimp a male spade connector onto each speaker wire coming from the LOC. You can then plug in each speaker wire coming from the LOC into the scotch lock that corresponds with the wire coming from the LOC. There should be no cutting of any kind. As I said earlier, an LOC is only getting signal, not adding a load onto the factory.

 

[spdman411]

thanks a lot guys, i have decided to buy some speakers for the front dash, and also my buddy is going to give me a pretty decent after market radio for $10. Hopefully this should give me a great improvement over the crap factory sound system.