My JBL upgrade project

[AKmoney]

I just got around to upgrading the JBL system in my 2004. Here we go:

New head unit (JVC KD-R80BT; it has Bluetooth phone + streaming audio, Pandora, USB, etc.)

Speakers (both front and rear) are Infinity 6030cs. 6.5" 2-way component. The front doors require an adapter (Scosche SAT69)

Various installation goodies include the AXXESS ASWC steering wheel control module, wiring harness for the ASWC specific to the 4Runner and the AXXESS TYTO-01 module, which bridges aftermarket head units to the stock JBL amp.

Here's the head unit sitting in the Scosche TA2042B dashboard adaptor:

The new head unit came with a wired microphone for use with Bluetooth hands-free calling. I installed it up here where the headliner meets the top of the windshield:

Here's a shot of the stock JBL speakers in the driver's door. The tweeter is an absolute joke; it's not even a tweeter. No wonder there were no highs.

And here's the Infinity speakers installed in their place. Note the external crossover network for the Infinitys jammed up in underneath the Infinity tweeter. It just BARELY fit in there and there's no interference with the door panel! If you go this route, make sure to use the aftermarket crossover. The JBL tweeter has an inline capacitor that acts as a crossover but you don't want this with your aftermarket stuff. Also, I bought adapters for the tweeters off eBay from a seller named "mjmautoinnovations". I had to cut out the holes a bit more with a utility knife to get the Infinity tweeters to fit properly but other than that these are a perfect fit.

Finished shot of the head unit, as installed:

I haven't installed the rear speakers as of yet.. I think it may take a little more work in terms of wiring because the tweeters way up by the rear tailgate are actually "surround" speakers with the stock JBL amp and that's not how I want them wired.

First impressions of the sound: Why the heck did I wait so long to do this??? The stock JBL Synthesis system SUCKS. With the aftermarket Infinity speakers installed up front, the sound is now crisp with strong highs unlike before. Furthermore (and I can't explain exactly why), the bottom end sounds a LOT better. I haven't done anything at all to the stock JBL subwoofer but for whatever reason, I can hear it a lot better now. The stock JBL amp seems to be doing a great job now that it's got some decent speakers to push. Hopefully I'll get around to installing the rear speakers next weekend and finishing off the job.

 

[riceandpho]

i think u might want to try the metra kit, to me the metra looks better.

 

[97BlackAckCL]

Nice work, I replaced all my JBL speakers except the sub when I had my 03 Sport, just putting aftermarket speakers powered by the JBL amp made everything sound 100 times better. I highly recommend replacing the center channel speaker as well, although with the 3.5" Infinity that I put in there, I did have to cut/modify the dash a bit

 

[Offroader5]

Chances are the reason you hear the sub more, is that you've replaced the OEM speakers that were 2.6 or 2.9 ohm (don't remember which), with a 4 ohm set. This pulls less power from the amp since there is more resistance. The front speakers are playing a bit softer now because they are not getting quite as much power.

Kinda surprising thought since the Infinitys have a 93db sensitivity. This is a high sensitivity rating and the higher the sensitivity, the more loudly a speaker will play on the same wattage vs. one with a low sensitivity. I'd be surprised if the OEM JBL's were anything above 88db. There would be a difference of 5db on the same power (if the 93db was measured using the 1w/1m testing.

 

[Djrashonal]

Finished shot of the head unit, as installed:

Great Job! I'm about to buy all this gear and do the install myself (though I was going to get the step up JVC Arsenal headunit). Can you snap a couple more photos of the finished product? Any issues with glare on the dot matrix display? Are you happy with the headunit choice?


As far as the gear goes -

• the tyto-01 connects to the stock harness into the back of the head unit
• the metra 70-8114 goes from the stock harness to the aswc
• the 70-8114 plugs to the new head unit

and that should be a wrap, right? Any pointers after doing the install?

 

[AKmoney]

Great Job! I'm about to buy all this gear and do the install myself (though I was going to get the step up JVC Arsenal headunit). Can you snap a couple more photos of the finished product? Any issues with glare on the dot matrix display? Are you happy with the headunit choice?


As far as the gear goes -

• the tyto-01 connects to the stock harness into the back of the head unit
• the metra 70-8114 goes from the stock harness to the aswc
• the 70-8114 plugs to the new head unit

and that should be a wrap, right? Any pointers after doing the install?

I finally got around to installing the Infinity speakers in the rear... The 6.5" woofer mounted into the stock location with just a slight modification of the stock speaker housing and I mounted the tweeters way up in the rear where the existing surround speakers were. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of this process which basically involved modifying the wiring harness at the amplifier (you have to remove the interior panel to get access to the JBL amp and subwoofer; this process is documented in other posts here on this forum).

One thing I've noticed is that it seems like the sound output from the rear speakers is way less compared to the fronts. I'm not exactly certain why. The other thing is that the tweeter adapters I used to mount the tweeters in the surround speaker locations aren't as good of a fit here as they were in the front door panels. The adapters are a bit on the thick side and the Infinity tweeters protrude out too far to allow the stock speakers grills to reattach over them. Eventually I'll get around to fabricating some custom adapters out of much thinner sheetmetal.

As far as the selection of the JVC head unit is concerned I haven't had any problems. The LCD contrast is a little on the low side and unfortunately the "illumination" signal that comes from the wiring harness doesn't seem to work properly (ie, making the radio go dim when you turn the headlights on). Instead it's connected to the dashboard dimmer control. It's not a big deal, though. The audio quality when using the Bluetooth speakerphone function is excellent.

The Metra 70-8114 harness connects the 4Runner's stock wiring to the ASWC without any hacking. The ASWC comes with a female 1/8" plug adapter that then connects to the JVC's steering wheel control input. BTW, the Volume +/- control on the steering wheel now operates much faster than the stock stereo, which IMHO is a nice improvement.

 

[Djrashonal]

The audio quality when using the Bluetooth speakerphone function is excellent.

The Metra 70-8114 harness connects the 4Runner's stock wiring to the ASWC without any hacking. The ASWC comes with a female 1/8" plug adapter that then connects to the JVC's steering wheel control input. BTW, the Volume +/- control on the steering wheel now operates much faster than the stock stereo, which IMHO is a nice improvement.

That's exactly the info I was looking for! I've got the crutchfield master-sheet outlining the install, so hopefully getting to the amp wont be too painful.

My main concerns, which you've addressed, are bluetooth quality and dimming. What I love about the JVC units is you can have 2 phones connected via bluetooth fulltime, but I'm not sure how useful that feature truly is over the pioneer unit I'm looking at, any thoughts? I also love that the steering wheel control is more responsive! your post pushed me over the edge, I'm ordering my stuff soon!

 

[AKmoney]

That's exactly the info I was looking for! I've got the crutchfield master-sheet outlining the install, so hopefully getting to the amp wont be too painful.

My main concerns, which you've addressed, are bluetooth quality and dimming. What I love about the JVC units is you can have 2 phones connected via bluetooth fulltime, but I'm not sure how useful that feature truly is over the pioneer unit I'm looking at, any thoughts? I also love that the steering wheel control is more responsive! your post pushed me over the edge, I'm ordering my stuff soon!

Never tried pairing two phones simultaneously since it's just me... one last thing, you may want to download the service manuals posted in the 4th Gen forum so you can have access to the wiring diagrams back at the amplifier. I needed this to modify the wiring harness (rear speaker and crossover installation).

 

[Djrashonal]

Ended up picking up this same unit from a local shop for $157 otd, I'm scooping up the adaptors today and will tackle the install when they arrive in the mail. Thanks for the help! After having it installed in your rig for a few weeks, do you still like it? any qualms?

 

[AKmoney]

Ended up picking up this same unit from a local shop for $157 otd, I'm scooping up the adaptors today and will tackle the install when they arrive in the mail. Thanks for the help! After having it installed in your rig for a few weeks, do you still like it? any qualms?

A couple quirks... I use a 16GB USB flash stick plugged into one of the two USB connectors (you plug the included Bluetooth dongle into the other one). Every few times I turn it on it fails to recognize the flash stick and coincidentally the Bluetooth doesn't work either. Gotta turn it on and off again. JVC also has an Android remote control app that works via Bluetooth but it's fairly useless. The built in clock also seems to run a little slow...

 

[Djrashonal]

A couple quirks... I use a 16GB USB flash stick plugged into one of the two USB connectors (you plug the included Bluetooth dongle into the other one). Every few times I turn it on it fails to recognize the flash stick and coincidentally the Bluetooth doesn't work either. Gotta turn it on and off again. JVC also has an Android remote control app that works via Bluetooth but it's fairly useless. The built in clock also seems to run a little slow...

so the bluetooth takes up one of the two usb ports, did you split the other one, or just leave it as one usable usb?

 

[Kaner747]

Awesome post. I just installed 8 infinity reference speakers in my 4Runner. Thanks for the post it really helped me decide which speakers to get and where to put the crossovers. I could not stand the rattle from the blown out Kbps any more! Fwiw I went to local car audio shop and got an estimate to install new 6x9s and a center for over 500 bucks. For 300 I got all new reference speakers and a new Rockford fosgate subwoofer that fit into factory locations.

This link told me how to remove the sub enclosure.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/82995-how-access-remove-subwoofer.html

This one shows how to remove the doors

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bFhs9b_SBz8

This one has the wiring diagram

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/engin...ccessories/105293-wiring-diagrams-anyone.html

One piece of advice. Just cut the wires to the tweeters in the front door. Leave the harness in place. Then just use the wiring diagram for the right wire that goes to the woofers as the input into the crossovers in the front.