My ride, now with improved sound
- Thread starter flashbolt
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CJ3Flyr
Super Moderator
:bigok: Looks great! That color looks so good all cleaned up and shiny
I know nothing about aftermarket radios. I've often wondered about retaining the steering wheel controls. Do most allow for that or is that a real feature that you need to seek as you shop for a unit?
:cheers:
I know nothing about aftermarket radios. I've often wondered about retaining the steering wheel controls. Do most allow for that or is that a real feature that you need to seek as you shop for a unit?
:cheers:
Conspearasea
New member
I guess you had to order a steering control adapter to keep the controls? I remember seeing something like that on crutchfield for my pathfinder.....
My question is, how about the aux input jack....did you get to keep the same input in the center console?
Also are you still running the stock speakers? I wondered if they could be used w/ an aftermarket stereo, because I was told w/ my nissan pfinder that each speaker had it's own amp and I would have to replace the entire system basically.......It's got the Bose system so I'm sure that's different
Really interested in upgrading my stereo in my SR5 w/ my Kenwood sitting around.
Nice job, it looks good! I'm sure it sounds good too.
My question is, how about the aux input jack....did you get to keep the same input in the center console?
Also are you still running the stock speakers? I wondered if they could be used w/ an aftermarket stereo, because I was told w/ my nissan pfinder that each speaker had it's own amp and I would have to replace the entire system basically.......It's got the Bose system so I'm sure that's different
Really interested in upgrading my stereo in my SR5 w/ my Kenwood sitting around.
Nice job, it looks good! I'm sure it sounds good too.
Conspearasea said:
That's not entirely true about replacing all the speakers. There is a single, multi-channel amplifier that powers each speaker. The head unit sends a stereo signal (in the case of the JBL Synthesis on 4Runners, a pure digital signal) to that amplifier and then it does its thing and sends power to the speakers. To keep the stock speakers they would need to rewire them all since the speaker wires come from the amplifier and not the head unit.
A speaker is a speaker is a speaker, there are none out there (at the moment) that have an onboard amplifier so any sound signal they get from a source will be played, whether its a stock amplifier or an aftermarket amplifier
Sorry for the late reply but my wife hogged the computer last night.
I had to get an adaptor to keep my steering wheel controls. It translates the toyota signal into something the Alpine can understand. This is what it looks like:
http://www.amazon.com/PAC-SWI-JACK-Steering-control-interface/dp/B0015G6LPQ
I don't have access to the aux input anymore, but I have iPOD connection (sound and power) and a usb port that you can plug any memory stick or USB harddrive into, and Sirius.
I'm still running the stock speakers, probably until the summer when I can save up for some replacements, but it sounds so much better now, I'm really happy with how it turned out.
I had to get an adaptor to keep my steering wheel controls. It translates the toyota signal into something the Alpine can understand. This is what it looks like:
http://www.amazon.com/PAC-SWI-JACK-Steering-control-interface/dp/B0015G6LPQ
I don't have access to the aux input anymore, but I have iPOD connection (sound and power) and a usb port that you can plug any memory stick or USB harddrive into, and Sirius.
I'm still running the stock speakers, probably until the summer when I can save up for some replacements, but it sounds so much better now, I'm really happy with how it turned out.
flashbolt said:Here's my baby:
She looks shiny:
Go State!:
OLD POS factory radio:
New Alpine CDA-9886 with Sirius and Steering wheel control kit:
This baby sounds about 1000 times better then the factory radio, and my steering wheel controls still work!
Ok. So how many speakers are you running off the deck? I have the JBL but want louder better quality and dont know how I can retain 6-10 speakers with aftermarket deck and without spending $1000. Any suggestions? If i go aftermarket, how can I utilize all 10 speakers? Im guessing I can run 4 speakers off my deck and power the others with a 6 channel amp???
Re: Re: My ride, now with improved sound
I'm gonna start this off by saying that it will take a lot of rewiring, but is entirely do-able
4 of the speakers are actually tweeters, the 2 in the rear pillars and the 2 in front of the door handles on the front doors. These work like a 2-way speaker in conjunction with the woofers in the lower door panels in front and back. The way to utilize these 8 speakers is to wire the woofer to the headunit and then wire the tweeters in parallel to the woofer with a high-pass filter in between them (a high pass filter can be constructed for a few dollars with a resistor and capacitor, or purchased for a few dollars more from a stereo supply store, making sure to by a high-pass and not a low-pass, any instructions for these can be found with google searches). Its really rather simple, but very complex because of the speaker locations. All speaker wiring would have to be redone because of the JBL system- The headunit sends a pure digital signal to the amplifier in back and then the amp sends power to the individual systems from back there. The new wiring would need to go from the new headunit to the speakers.
Then take out the JBL amplifier and install a monoblock amp to power the subwoofer back there and BAM, you have 9 of the 10 speakers going (center channel in the dash is dead).
One last option is to get the Alpine 5.1 channel surround sound amp and put it in place of the JBL amp and use the existing wiring for the 4 door woofers and the subwoofer and the center channel, and then do the high-pass wiring and on the tweeters. This will run all 10 speakers.
Running 4 speakers off the headunit and 6 off a 6 channel amp would lead to blow-outs on the tweeters and high frequency signals to the subwoofer, not good.
Shoot me a PM if you want to do this and I will offer any assistance I can
RHINO-99 said:
I'm gonna start this off by saying that it will take a lot of rewiring, but is entirely do-able
4 of the speakers are actually tweeters, the 2 in the rear pillars and the 2 in front of the door handles on the front doors. These work like a 2-way speaker in conjunction with the woofers in the lower door panels in front and back. The way to utilize these 8 speakers is to wire the woofer to the headunit and then wire the tweeters in parallel to the woofer with a high-pass filter in between them (a high pass filter can be constructed for a few dollars with a resistor and capacitor, or purchased for a few dollars more from a stereo supply store, making sure to by a high-pass and not a low-pass, any instructions for these can be found with google searches). Its really rather simple, but very complex because of the speaker locations. All speaker wiring would have to be redone because of the JBL system- The headunit sends a pure digital signal to the amplifier in back and then the amp sends power to the individual systems from back there. The new wiring would need to go from the new headunit to the speakers.
Then take out the JBL amplifier and install a monoblock amp to power the subwoofer back there and BAM, you have 9 of the 10 speakers going (center channel in the dash is dead).
One last option is to get the Alpine 5.1 channel surround sound amp and put it in place of the JBL amp and use the existing wiring for the 4 door woofers and the subwoofer and the center channel, and then do the high-pass wiring and on the tweeters. This will run all 10 speakers.
Running 4 speakers off the headunit and 6 off a 6 channel amp would lead to blow-outs on the tweeters and high frequency signals to the subwoofer, not good.
Shoot me a PM if you want to do this and I will offer any assistance I can
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Oh, I just remembered that you can also get a wiring harness that makes all this info above worthless. It will send the signal from the new headunit to the JBL system, but you really only get the benefits of the new headunits functions (like nav or bluetooth), sound quality would stay the same but no rewiring outside the headunit is needed.
Will816 said:
Thanks for the info. One other question: What if one of my JBL speakers blow? Isnt there a better quality speaker I can replace the stock speakers with to increase quality? Must I replace with a factory speaker? What are my options? Also, what kind of bass are you getting out of that sub? I dont like ghetto base but nice rich crisp base. I had a nice Alpine 10" in the rear of my Jeep that was perfect.
RHINO-99 said:
I think the woofers are standard sizes that you could buy at Best Buy, and the tweeters are probably standard sizes, too, but they are usually only available as a set of component speakers with woofers as well. These set-ups usually include the high-pass filter I mentioned. I think the stock speakers would be hard to beat, but audiophiles may disagree with me. The bass is good from the sub until about 75% volume, at which point the speakers have plenty of performance left to keep going up but the sub is maxed out. There is no distortion at maximum volume though, and this is why I'm inclined to say they could not be improved with aftermarket speakers.
I've thought about hijacking the speaker wire for the sub and running it into a monoblock amp and putting an alpine sub in and see how that works, but I'm saving as much money as I can with the economy the way it is so this idea will have to wait
Alpine should be oem
i don't get why Toyota does not put an alpine head unit as a factory option, yeah jbl does good but it does not get better than alpine. i am in the process of upgrading the audio system in my 03 4r, so far i have put in a touch screen/nav system in the dash, ran all required wiring and set up a single channel alpine digital amp to a sub, and a 4 channel alpine analog amp to all 4 doors (speakers) the next step is to replace all 4 door speakers with component sets as well as to ad noise dampening materials (dyno mat) i am simply leaving the factory audio wiring in place, the alpine unit has rca outputs for all channels (those go from the head unit to the 2 amps) then i have run Rockford fosgate wire to each location from the amps. behind the dash i used a simple wiring harness so the factory wiring is still receiving the music from the radio until i switch over to the new amps. i installed a swc jack (steering wheel control jack) that lets me use the buttons on the wheel however i did loose the next track on cd's function also for the in dash screen i added a safety bypass parking signal (this sends a signal to the tv telling it the 4runner is in park so that it will display dvd's and motion picture when i am driving (for passengers viewing) only an idiot would watch a movie as they attempt to drive (and probably talk on the phone, eat, and finish reading a book too; going 70mph)
this setup is not to make more noise than anyone els but to increase the sound quality of the music i love (audiophile) this is also why i have added xm/serious and a direct input for my mp3 player... i love the diy"do it yourself" approach so if anyone has any questions shoot me a letter i hope to put up some pics asap
i don't get why Toyota does not put an alpine head unit as a factory option, yeah jbl does good but it does not get better than alpine. i am in the process of upgrading the audio system in my 03 4r, so far i have put in a touch screen/nav system in the dash, ran all required wiring and set up a single channel alpine digital amp to a sub, and a 4 channel alpine analog amp to all 4 doors (speakers) the next step is to replace all 4 door speakers with component sets as well as to ad noise dampening materials (dyno mat) i am simply leaving the factory audio wiring in place, the alpine unit has rca outputs for all channels (those go from the head unit to the 2 amps) then i have run Rockford fosgate wire to each location from the amps. behind the dash i used a simple wiring harness so the factory wiring is still receiving the music from the radio until i switch over to the new amps. i installed a swc jack (steering wheel control jack) that lets me use the buttons on the wheel however i did loose the next track on cd's function also for the in dash screen i added a safety bypass parking signal (this sends a signal to the tv telling it the 4runner is in park so that it will display dvd's and motion picture when i am driving (for passengers viewing) only an idiot would watch a movie as they attempt to drive (and probably talk on the phone, eat, and finish reading a book too; going 70mph)
this setup is not to make more noise than anyone els but to increase the sound quality of the music i love (audiophile) this is also why i have added xm/serious and a direct input for my mp3 player... i love the diy"do it yourself" approach so if anyone has any questions shoot me a letter i hope to put up some pics asap
Re: Alpine should be oem
It doesn't sound like your set-up is the JBL system. I agree, alpine units are great, but the bass response is the only that could be improved with the JBL Synthesis system. When you turn it all the way up it hurts your ears but the sound is CRYSTAL clear. I don't know how an alpine could improve on that. I installed an alpine head unit and alpine type s speakers on a 4 channel amp and a type r sub off a mono amp and it didn't sound better than my jbl synthesis, just had better bass
artecs said:
It doesn't sound like your set-up is the JBL system. I agree, alpine units are great, but the bass response is the only that could be improved with the JBL Synthesis system. When you turn it all the way up it hurts your ears but the sound is CRYSTAL clear. I don't know how an alpine could improve on that. I installed an alpine head unit and alpine type s speakers on a 4 channel amp and a type r sub off a mono amp and it didn't sound better than my jbl synthesis, just had better bass
SAC-CA-Runner
New member
Re: Re: Alpine should be oem
See...mine was just the opposite. I put a Kenwood 8120 with an Alpine 4ch and Hertz speakers front and rear. Then put a Fosgate 2ch amp and put a Pioneer shallow mount in the factory sub box. There definately doesn't seem to be as much bass, but it is WAY MORE clear and you can turn it up much louder. I could turn the JBL up all the way and it wasn't even that loud.
I really need to do a write up on my install. I took pics of it all...why not. I think I may build a box for my 12" Soundstream that I've had sitting around for like 10 years. Bridge the Fosgate and let it rip! HAHA
Will816 said:
See...mine was just the opposite. I put a Kenwood 8120 with an Alpine 4ch and Hertz speakers front and rear. Then put a Fosgate 2ch amp and put a Pioneer shallow mount in the factory sub box. There definately doesn't seem to be as much bass, but it is WAY MORE clear and you can turn it up much louder. I could turn the JBL up all the way and it wasn't even that loud.
I really need to do a write up on my install. I took pics of it all...why not. I think I may build a box for my 12" Soundstream that I've had sitting around for like 10 years. Bridge the Fosgate and let it rip! HAHA
Re: Re: Re: Alpine should be oem
i was wondering how those factory boxes in the rear panel held up, my sr5 came without but i have heard people refer to them and thought about getting one instead of a bigger box.
as far as why i think radios like alpine should be standard or at least an optional feature is that whale the jbl might sound OK or even good turned up all the way it only offers a select range of frequency and pour so it can only play so much of the music and so loud. head units like alpine decks can play a larger range of frequency so more music, clearer and with more power; also they offer adaptability such as alpines ai-net it makes it simple to add a cd changer, audio processor, aux in and soo much more. not to mention rca outputs and inputs for each channel and much more control than just fade and balance.... options like time correction which slows the music down so you hear each speaker at the same time without sitting directly in the middle of the car, just a few thoughts im sure there are many opinions out there though.
SAC-CA-Runner said:
i was wondering how those factory boxes in the rear panel held up, my sr5 came without but i have heard people refer to them and thought about getting one instead of a bigger box.
as far as why i think radios like alpine should be standard or at least an optional feature is that whale the jbl might sound OK or even good turned up all the way it only offers a select range of frequency and pour so it can only play so much of the music and so loud. head units like alpine decks can play a larger range of frequency so more music, clearer and with more power; also they offer adaptability such as alpines ai-net it makes it simple to add a cd changer, audio processor, aux in and soo much more. not to mention rca outputs and inputs for each channel and much more control than just fade and balance.... options like time correction which slows the music down so you hear each speaker at the same time without sitting directly in the middle of the car, just a few thoughts im sure there are many opinions out there though.
