Please recommend an amp

[jimday1982]

Picking up a 2021 Venture in a couple weeks and based on my wife's "upgraded" JBL audio in her 2020 Limited, I know the factory audio systems are pretty terrible.

That said, I'm no audiophile - I just want decently clear audio at a reasonable volume and reasonable cost. I don't need to shatter windows or anything.

I know less than zero about car audio, so based on what I was able to piece together re: speaker sizes, I'm looking at purchasing the following:

Dash tweeters: Amazon.com: Kenwood Excelon KFC-X2C 2.75" Mid Range for Toyata/Chevrolet/Others 50 RMS Max Power (Pair): Car Electronics

Front doors: Amazon.com: Kenwood KFC-1696PS 6 1/2" 2 Way Car Speakers (Pair) 320 Watts Peak Power KFC1696PS: Musical Instruments

Rear doors: Amazon.com: Kenwood KFC-1396PS 5.25 Inch 320 Peak Watt 2 Way Car Audio Woofer Cone Speakers: Car Electronics

Tailgate:Amazon.com: Kenwood KFC-1396PS 5.25 Inch 320 Peak Watt 2 Way Car Audio Woofer Cone Speakers: Car Electronics

With that, and knowing that I'm keeping the factory head unit, can anyone recommend a suitable amplifier (and which speakers to power with it)? My preferences are low cost, small size, ease of installation, and performance in terms of not overheating / turning off.

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[JH225]

Before you install and amplifier, You’re gonna need a way for the amplifier to get signal from the factory head unit (radio).

Option 1: line out converter (LOC). Currently, your factory head unit is taking an audio signal in from a source (probably you’re phone if I had to guess, but maybe you’re a CD guy) and then amplifies that signal so the speakers can audibly play it. The LOC taps into the speaker output, and converts it down to “line level”, AKA, RCA connections. Then you can just hook up some RCA cables from the LOC to the new amplifier.

Option 2: depending on which amp you choose, a lot of modern amps will accept both RCA inputs and high level (speaker level) inputs. If you get an amp that accepts both, then you won’t need a LOC at all. You’ll do the same thing as for a LOC by tapping into the speaker outputs from the factory head unit. However, you will instead go straight to the amplifier instead of a LOC.


Now let’s talk about speakers.

Most 4 channel setups actually involve 6 speakers. Front tweeters (2), front woofers (2), and rear woofers (2). But, the front tweeters and woofers are wired in parallel with a crossover so they will combine on a single channel. Thus, 6 speakers on 4 channels.

The setup you’re talking about seems complicated due to the extra 5.25” speakers in the rear hatch. Will you run these in parallel with the rear doors? That’s all up to you. Someone may disagree with me here, but in my opinion these are often just for filler noise and are not really needed. If you do speakers in your four doors you should be in good shape.


If you do speakers in your doors only, then you can get away with a four channel amp which makes things easier. If you want to keep using the rear hatch speakers, you’ll need another amp or you’ll need to wire them in parallel with the other speakers.


More info to follow, gonna go find some links.


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[JH225]

You will likely not need much power. 50W RMS will be plenty.


Rockford Fosgate Punch PBR400X4D Compact 4-channel car amplifier — 50 watts RMS x 4 at Crutchfield

I use a pair of these Rockford fosgate amps in my setup. They are TINY because they are meant for use on motorcycles. My only gripe is it’s a little tricky to make a really clean install because it has a wire harness instead of on board terminal to land wires.


Alpine S-A32F S-Series 4-channel car amplifier — 55 watts RMS x 4 at Crutchfield

Here is another great option. This is one that accepts high level or low level inputs.


Hope this all helps!


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[CMTAZ]

.... If you want to keep using the rear hatch speakers, you’ll need another amp or you’ll need to wire them in parallel with the other speakers.

FWIW I've been running a Pioneer GM-D9605 using all 8 of the 4Runners speakers. It is my understanding that the front doors and dash speakers are wired in parallel. In my front doors are powerbass component woofers 6x9. I had the powerbass component tweeters in the dash but they were replaced by JBL 3020 3.5" coaxials with bass blockers. It is also my understanding that the rear doors and hatch speakers are wired in series. (why ??? :doh In my rear doors and hatch are powerbass Toyota drop in 6.5" coaxials. The installer for the amp used the Pioneer speaker level inputs, I've yet to have a problem with this setup. Also, the 5 channel is wired th a 12" Pioneer shallow sub enclosure. More than enough sound in the 4Runner, imho.

My amp is in.

 

[Kenamond]

First of all, I have a 2018 Limited with "premium JBL audio" and honestly think it's pretty nice for a factory sound system. I had a 2016 Limited before, same sound system, equally impressive. But I'm completely replacing it at the moment to a pretty high-end setup, replacing literally everything audio-related.
I'd try going to Crutchfield. For basic to intermediate setups, they'll know what speakers fit your model of car and they'll also know what harnesses are needed to adapt to your car without cutting any factory wiring. They also provide adapter rings between the stock speaker mount points and whatever speakers you choose. They have a pretty wide range of $$$ options for speakers, so you don't have to pay $500/pair (but you can). Although you can pretty much make any speakers fit (with enough fabrication), if you're just wanting to swap speakers, their website will limit you to things that they know will fit your model car and have adapter rings if the bolt patterns or depth of the new speakers aren't the same as the stock ones.
If you're going to keep the factory head unit (the "radio" part in your dash) but run off of a new amplifier, you'd have to go with the line-out converter (LOC) mentioned already. Even then, Crutchfield has all the adapters/harnesses you need to intercept the speaker signals coming out of the stock head unit, redirect to the LOC which converts speaker-level signal to pre-amp level signal for your amp and then take the amp speaker output and send it back into the factory wiring harness.
I'm not sure if you're talking about doing this in a gen5 4runner or something else, but I'm going to assume a 4runner. Anyway, the tweeters and front door speakers are run in parallel (both left in parallel and both right in parallel) and there are consequences when you're running a new amp. If you run speakers in parallel, it drops the "load" (impedance) that that channel of the amplifier "sees" and that channel will get more power than you'd get otherwise when running only one speaker on that amp channel. Unless your amp has sufficient control for all channels, the front speakers will be much louder than the rears and you'd have to fade to the rear to get a better "in your head" sound. One solution is to get "component" speaker pairs that have a tweeter/woofer combo that aren't physically connected. They probably come with a crossover that will limit what frequencies each speaker gets and they're meant to run as a pair in parallel and you can then mount the tweeter in the dash and woofer in the door.
I'm not sure how the rear hatch speakers are wired in. Maybe in parallel with the 2nd row door speakers. I haven't researched it because I'll be replacing them and running them on a devoted channel.
If you're changing the head unit, you don't need the LOC. It will have RCA's (pre-amp level signal) that you run straight to the amp. Then you need more hardware to preserve the functionality that you got with the factory stereo like steering wheel controls, backup camera, etc. But again Crutchfield will know what all you need. I have about 6 bags of harnesses for my upgrade stacked on a pile of boxes of amps, speakers, sound deadening, head unit, cabling, etc.
The short story is to read a lot about this stuff and go from there. I mention Crutchfield, but that's just because they're pretty good about giving you all the bits and pieces you don't realize you need. Maybe there's a better site.