Party Mode on all the time, with all 4 rear speakers in use

[IAmTodd]

This would also explain why I don't see much of a difference with an aftermarket deck. The rear door speakers turn off but there isn't much noticeable difference beyond that. I'll just leave it off.

 

[_SP_]

ok where the hell is "party mode" :guitar3: i dont see a soft or hard button or option on my 2014 SR5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDbpzjbXUZI&feature=kp

<iframe width="1280" height="750" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/bDbpzjbXUZI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[FERAL 4R]

ok where the hell is "party mode" :guitar3: i dont see a soft or hard button or option on my 2014 SR5

No more party mode for 2014

 

[_SP_]

thank god, I dont think I can handle it

 

[Auntie Soshul]

OK, I'm falling on the knife. Turns out, all those who basically called me an idiot in earlier posts were right. I had earlier read in at least two posts on this forum that only 2 rear speakers were engaged at any one time, party mode or not, and I didn't bother to check it out. I now know that isn't correct. I'm shocked to know that everything on the internet or this forum can't be taken as fact.

Everyone can now go back to discussing their LEDs, lift kits, Bilsteins and Duratracs, and I'll go back to sleep.

 

[kdcold]

I just did this mod last night, to my 2011 SR5 with basic (two-knob, non-nav) unit and 8 speakers (2 front tweeters, 2 front door, 2 rear side door, 2 rear hatch).

As advertised, it sounds like it merely sets the head unit's EQ to the Party Mode setting all the time. My rear side door speakers switched on and off with the Party Mode switch. The rear hatch speakers stay on all the time regardless on mine, before and after the mod.

One thing I did notice, though, is that even after the mod, when the Party Mode button is engaged/depressed and the rear side door speakers are turned off, the rear hatch speakers are boosted louder than when the Party Mode button is not engaged. YMMV depending on the system you have.

 

[rigtec]

Hi team,

I just saw this thread and couldn't resist... a lot of mis communication here, as well as misunderstanding of the party mode design. The link to the thread posted by the OP (HOW-TO: Always on Party Mode EQ); though excluding a few technical details, I feel is very good and accurate regarding it's basic function; kudos to it's author. The 8 speaker system does implement all 8 speakers when party mode is off (not operating).

However... when the party mode system is turned off, the 'high fidelity' EQ circuit that's built-in to the head unit will be disabled (defeated) as well, so you will lose that higher quality audio (for lack of a better term) filtering circuitry also; no amount of EQing (on-board or external) will or can eradicate the poor fidelity of this very 'narrow band' (audio range lacking dynamics) sound card. Rather than going into a theoretical explanation (rant) of how the party mode system works, here's a thread that will do that for me: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/171794-party-mode-tweak-non-jbl.html Hope this helps!

rigtec, cheers

 

[rigtec]

"I just did this mod last night, to my 2011 SR5... One thing I did notice, though, is that even after the mod, when the Party Mode button is engaged/depressed and the rear side door speakers are turned off, the rear hatch speakers are boosted louder than when the Party Mode button is not engaged..."

Hi kdcold'

So glad to learn that you've implemented [MENTION=49162]Ryan_S[/MENTION]'s 'party mode' modification; it's not just a system upgrade, but (should be) a requirement! A while back I could no longer tolerate the poor sound quality of my 2012 4R limited's audio system so I analyzed Toyota's party mode function to understand how it worked so that I could fix it. Everything that Ryan says in his thread is 100% accurate; let there be no mistake about that.

When I modified my (non JBL) entune system, I went one step further though, to maintain the functionality of the rear passenger door speakers whether in party mode or not. In your post above you mentioned that your rear door speakers will still turn off w/party mode engaged. You also explained that your tailgate speakers would get louder when in party mode; let me attempt to explain why this happens.

When you're NOT in party mode (normal mode), all of your rear speakers are wired together 'in series' (8 ohms) with each other, so power distribution becomes equal to all of the driver components. When the party mode system is ON, the wiring configuration is completely changed. The rear door speakers are disabled, forcing all of the amplifier's power towards the much lower impedance (4 ohm) tailgate speakers; so they become much louder than the 8 ohm combined circuit.

In order to fully exploit this system impedance principle using the rear door speakers 'instead' of the tailgate, you can disconnect the tailgate speakers by pulling the harness connectors off of the speaker terminal blocks, and then add a jumper to both the L & R tailgate speaker wires.

CAUTION! Before doing this, I had already disabled the party mode's "Speaker selection relays", controlled by the pm button. When I did my 'party mode tweak', I did almost the same thing that Ryan did regarding the white wire (pin #1) that he cut on the back panel of the HU, but there is one more thing that I needed to do. I cut the white wire at the party mode switch. EDIT: This wire provides a 'Ground' (when the pm button is pushed in) to the 'speaker selection relays' mentioned above, and to the HU's EQ circuit. But now we don't want this button to activate the "S.S. Relays" anymore, we only want it to activate the 'High fidelity' eq circuit in the HU, so we cut that white wire from the pm button and joined it (via small jumper) to the white wire (pin #1) on the HU.

By doing this, the pm button will still initiate the hu's eq circuit when pressed in, but will no longer have the ability to select which speakers are on. So now you can have all four rear speakers on at the same time (in series) but if you choose to, you can disconnect the tailgate speakers, add a jumper to their wiring harnesses, and really boost up the output of the backdoor speakers; as was once done w/the tailgate speakers.

NOTE: You must NEVER jumper over speakers while wired in parallel or you will cause damage to the HU/amplifier! This is why I disabled the pm relays first, so there would be no chance of this happening. Hope this helps to clarify some things about this system and offers you more configuring options for your particular listening taste, chow!

 

[Tleahcim]

• JBL Premium 15-speaker* audio – EQ tweak & bass boost—all speakers remain powered

Would someone with the JBL Premium system mind sharing the EQ settings if it's possible to read them off the settings screen? I've got a 2014 LE and wouldn't mind giving manual Party Mode a try during tailgate season!

 

[kdcold]

Thanks Greg. I mentioned my own observation that Toyota had wired those speakers in series over in Ryan's thread (mis-located, threadwise), but I didn't think this thread had the technical depth for such detail. Hawaiian4runner also mentioned series in this thread.

I certainly didn't dig into the wiring or manuals like you did, though. Thanks for posting your 'The "Party mode" tweak! (non JBL)' thread...don't know how I missed that, but certainly confirms what I had surmised.

I especially liked your idea of making the rear door speakers the low-resistance path (louder speakers) as opposed to the back hatch speakers. I won't be jumpering my back hatch speakers, and I like the hi-fi EQ on all the time like Ryan's mod, but might look into switching which rear speakers get left on when I press the Ryan-inspired happy hour button.

Thanks for your inspiration, @rigtec!

 

[rigtec]

Hi [MENTION=110300]kdcold[/MENTION],

Thanks for your comments. I really enjoy hearing the way others would configure their car audio systems if they could cuz there's really no right or wrong way to do that (all things being equal). I really needed to move the stock audio system output (rear door spkr's) closer 'up front' where I could hear it because the bass is pretty much covered...

:noidea: "Who needs tailgate speakers??"

cheers!