Replaced JBL Sub/Added Amp: Install Pics/Info

[noshortcuts]

It worked!

Okay, I finished hooking up the new mono amp and subwoofer and the whole system sounds so much better - it really rocks!

Here are the sound mods I've done and the order I did them:
1. Unplugged front center speaker. These harm good musical (stereo) sound.
2. Pioneer deh-80prs replaced JBL Synthesis HU. The Pioneer amplifier is turned off with the signal feeding the stock JBL amp and speakers.
3. Alpine MRV-M500 Mono subwoofer amplifier. - 500 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms with (Alpine RUX-KNOB Remote Bass Level Control Knob)
**JL Audio 8W1V2-4 - 8"Subwoofer
**Sound deadening material and Ensolite IOU. I applied these where I could reach doing the subwoofer mods. I put about 50% coverage (or less) of the deadening and Ensolite where it made sense.

The greatest increase to sound quality and volume was with #3) (subwoofer/sound-materials mods). The stock JBL amp now makes WAY more volume while maintaining improved sound quality. There may be a bit of volume gain from the sound treatments but most of this must be because the JBL amp is no longer pushing the subwoofer. Thus more power for the other speakers. Plus the new woofer/amp are doing a MUCH better job filling in the low end (now thumping and filling the cabin with distinct bass notes).

Thanks for the thread ARK and for reassuring me I could run the RCA's from the new headunit to the new mono amp.

 

[zopperman]

Wow my hatin is at 50% and 60ish frequency and no bass boost and mine hits nice and clean on all songs. Rap, country and rock. Usually my experience is higher the boost the worse the sound.

no, your hatin' is around 100% right now
I know, something in my system is wonky...

 

[V8.]

For anyone interested I just installed Pioneers shallow mount 8" Sub.

The model is TS-SW841D. It fits directly into the factory sub enclosure with no modification required at all. Simply plug and play. You will need a drill as the stock sub screw holes do not line up to the pioneers subs drill holes. Install couldn't have been easier.

I used an Alpine Mono MRP-m500 amp which I got for $50 used. Amp is overkill for this sized sub, but I have the gain turned right down and it does just fine.

Before this I had a Sub-Ordnance 8PT self powered sub installed under the passenger seat. Always wanting more, it was time for an upgrade. Extremely happy with how low the sub goes and the sound quality. What I am not happy with are all the rattles coming from the back. Next job will be to take apart the back panel again and install Dynamat through out. I hope that helps.

Here is a pic of the sub installed in the factory enclosure:

 

[V8.]

I pulled it all apart today and went over it with a fine tooth comb looking for rattles. I pretty much dynamatted the whole area. I found the best improvement was from totally covering the sub box in the sound dampening material. The sound now is MUCH better. If you want more bass I highly recommend spending an afternoon sound deadening the sub area. I covered the inside panel, wheel well, sub enclosure.



And I figured since I was this deep I may as well sound deaden the cargo area. Someone said once it was good bang for your buck to reduce noise:


It made a real big difference deadening the sub box:



So I found the worst rattle is the seat belt wheel in the back cargo panel. I put deadening all over this and the area but it still rattled lots. I figured out if you keep the seat belt locked and plugged in to the latch it keeps everything in the wheel tight so you don't get rattles.

Final verdict is that it sounds AWESOME. Bye bye rattles. Hello deep bass. Very happy.

 

[97BlackAckCL]

Right there with you, I bought 4 big sheets of dynamat to do the exact same thing. My rattles are also pretty bad. Been putting off doing this for a while, definitely can't wait to get rid of the rattles, nice writeup

 

[V8.]

Thanks. I suggest once you take it all apart you play your stereo (bass rich songs) and push your hands in to suspect areas. If you find that when you press down firmly on an area if it improves the sound, deaden that area. Once its all taken apart you can find the rattles pretty easily. I used B-Quiet Ultimate for sound deadening. It was $125 for 50 ft^2. I got lots left over to do both front doors.

Don't forget to check the seatbelt wheels for rattles.

 

[TheOx]

Does anyone happen to know the dimensions of the stock JBL amp that is attached to the stock sub box?

I assume every speaker in the JBL speaker setup is amped off of the this amp, And all of the necessary wires are in the harness that attaches to the stock jbl amp?

My idea is to simply remove the stock JBL amp and replace it with a similar sized, higher power 5 channel amp with speaker level inputs and it should be pretty plug and play...?

:guitar3:

 

[V8.]

Does anyone happen to know the dimensions of the stock JBL amp that is attached to the stock sub box?

I assume every speaker in the JBL speaker setup is amped off of the this amp, And all of the necessary wires are in the harness that attaches to the stock jbl amp?

My idea is to simply remove the stock JBL amp and replace it with a similar sized, higher power 5 channel amp with speaker level inputs and it should be pretty plug and play...?

:guitar3:

If only it was that easy my friend. I think every one of us at one time thought that same thing : )

You see the JBL amp receives a propriety data signal not a standard inputs from your JBL head unit. The JBL amp isnt just an amp it also works as a digital sound processor. Its weird.
You can get an adapterfor your JBL head unit which converts the signal to standard signals you can feed in to an aftermarket amp. But if you are going to do that you may as well get a new deck and replace your JBL deck and avoid the adapter all together.

Alternatively what you can do is route all the high level JBL amp outputs to an after market 5 channel amp under your passenger seat, then route more wires from that aftermarket amp output to your speakers. Lots of wires to run.

You can see why some people just completely rip out all JBL speakers, amps, head unit and start again. I have heard a few people say that they got good sound quality improvement just replacing the head unit .

Spend a good 5 hours googling the JBL sound system and upgrades people have done. There's no easy solutions.

I just replace the stock sub and added a mono amp fed from high levels JBL amp outputs. Straight replacement of 6x9s with aftermarkets in the front door. Not the perfect sound system, but does the job just fine and is a very nice improvement over stock.

 

[JB40]

If only it was that easy my friend. I think every one of us at one time thought that same thing : )

You can get an adapterfor your JBL head unit which converts the signal to standard signals you can feed in to an aftermarket amp. But if you are going to do that you may as well get a new deck and replace your JBL deck and avoid the adapter all together.

You can see why some people just completely rip out all JBL speakers, amps, head unit and start again. I have heard a few people say that they got good sound quality improvement just replacing the head unit .

Spend a good 5 hours googling the JBL sound system and upgrades people have done. There's no easy solutions.
.

QFT.

And once you figure out that you'll need $80 in harnesses just to get an aftermarket HU to work with the factory wiring, you'll be one step closer to a total rip out + replace.

Bottom line, a two way plus sub will blow away the factory JBL imo. Good luck with your search and solution.

 

[noshortcuts]

5/2014 Update

I continue to love the sound from these changes. Especially as the subwoofer broke in, it's been a joy of good clean bass (thumping and filling the cabin with distinct bass notes) while the deh-80prs has worked flawlessly playing my iPod and making/answering phone calls. Meanwhile, the JBL amp makes big clean power (surprise!) to the JBL speakers that sound so much better properly equalized and powered now. (TIPS: Use Metra not PAC for steering wheel and other connections; replace the HU with one that can work as a pre-amp (amp disabled) so you don't overpower the signal to the JBL amp; use this helpful thread as a guide in replacing the subwoofer!)

My sound mods:
1. Unplugged front center speaker. These harm good musical (stereo) sound.
2. Pioneer deh-80prs replaced JBL Synthesis HU. The Pioneer amplifier is turned off with the signal feeding the stock JBL amp and speakers.
3. Alpine MRV-M500 Mono subwoofer amplifier. - 500 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms with (Alpine RUX-KNOB Remote Bass Level Control Knob)
**JL Audio 8W1V2-4 - 8"Subwoofer
**Sound deadening material and Ensolite IOU. I applied these where I could reach doing the subwoofer mods. I put about 50% coverage (or less) of the deadening and Ensolite where it made sense.

The greatest increase to sound quality and volume was with #3) (subwoofer/sound-materials mods). The stock JBL amp now makes WAY more volume while maintaining improved sound quality. There may be a bit of volume gain from the sound treatments but most of this must be because the JBL amp is no longer pushing the subwoofer. Thus more power for the other speakers. Plus the new woofer/amp are doing a MUCH better job filling in the low end.

 

[97BlackAckCL]

Does anyone happen to know the dimensions of the stock JBL amp that is attached to the stock sub box?

I assume every speaker in the JBL speaker setup is amped off of the this amp, And all of the necessary wires are in the harness that attaches to the stock jbl amp?

My idea is to simply remove the stock JBL amp and replace it with a similar sized, higher power 5 channel amp with speaker level inputs and it should be pretty plug and play...?

:guitar3:

I put a similar sized (larger) amp in the stock location for the sub, I had to trim the steel body panel in order to get it to fit, but that sucker isn't moving. I cut to the top of the red sharpie lines

Fits like a glove now though

 

[V8.]

I put a similar sized (larger) amp in the stock location for the sub, I had to trim the steel body panel in order to get it to fit, but that sucker isn't moving. I cut to the top of the red sharpie lines

Fits like a glove now though
QUOTE]

I remember you said in some post once upon a time that it was a tough job getting it in there right?

So did you run your speakers straight off your head unit? Or you have another 4 channel amp?

 

[97BlackAckCL]

I put a similar sized (larger) amp in the stock location for the sub, I had to trim the steel body panel in order to get it to fit, but that sucker isn't moving. I cut to the top of the red sharpie lines

Fits like a glove now though

I remember you said in some post once upon a time that it was a tough job getting it in there right?

So did you run your speakers straight off your head unit? Or you have another 4 channel amp?

It wasn't terrible, just had to trim the metal to get it to fit. I currently am running the speakers off the head unit, I have a 4 channel amp that I'm planning to put in the stock navi unit location, I just haven't run the speaker wires through the door yet, all the rca's and power wires are already run

 

[rcdeppen]

Thanks for the inspiration of the JL sub by the OP. It took awhile but I found the exact same JL sub he used. We're going to be doing a full synthesis removal on Monday and replacing it with a Pioneer app radio 3, mb quart speakers front and rear powered by the new Alpine PDX v-9 digital 5 channel amp and a back up camera. Can't wait to have a modern Bluetooth system in my ride.

 

[4runnerasian]

firewall cable install question

when hooking up the red cable to the battery... what firewall were you able to put the cable through to hook to the amp??

ark_swamp_rider

 

[Rocket61]

when hooking up the red cable to the battery... what firewall were you able to put the cable through to hook to the amp??

ark_swamp_rider

I ran my 1/0 cable through the grommet on the drivers side.

 

[rcdeppen]

The JL shallow mount in the stock enclosure sounds great but I have WAY to much power for it even with the gain turned way down. My door speakers are super loud and the little guy can't keep up. I just ordered this to compliment the rest of the screaming system I now have.

HO110RG-W3v3 - Car Audio - Subwoofer Systems - H.O. Wedge? - JL Audio

It's gonna thunder in there when I get this installed.

 

[JukeRedlin]

Hey guys, noob on site, but been lurking a while. I've read THE ENTIRE THREAD. So I know that people have done stock sub replacements only, leaving the amp in place from factory. I've also read through the sections where there is some pretty severe rattle going on after the installs. With all that in mind, My questions is somewhat similar, but I hope that I get an end all answer to this situation.

My stock sub is blown and I simply want to replace it with something that doesn't sound so pitiful. Even with the bass turned to zero, it still has some songs rattle it to death, it's just sad. All I want is to replace it.

I remember OP had approximately three inches without grinding to work with, and this, well, it's about perfect. However I'm fearful. I do not have any audio experience, so my questions are likely simple. I appreciate the time taken to look over them, even if they've been answered before.

Will this work?

Will that 3/8" of wiggle room cause terrible rattle? If so, how can I fix it on the cheap?

Will not changing the stock amp hurt this sub in anyway, other than under powering it? (Or will that in fact hurt it?)

Will the wires (from what I understand Toyota used rca type plug ins) simply strip and slip, so I can simply slice and splice directly in?

Will I need to do anything with power, or should the amp take care of me?

Finally, will the wires need specific placement? I realize they're color coded, but I guess I'm more referring to this dual double voice coil business @ 2ohm. I just don't get it, even after a wiki trip. If someone just wants to say yes or no, that's fine. But, I am all for getting an education in all things, so if you care to expound, please, feel free. I understand ohm is resistance from being a geek, but when you switch to audio, it's like a dialect of physics language and I don't get it.

 

[Stono-see-um]

Just replaced my blown stock sub with a Rockford Fosgate PS3SD2-8. No mods needed. Just trimmed the old wire connectors off and inserted into the RF sub. Easy and sounds sooo much better.

Now to find why my carpet is all soaked back there...

 

[LTDSC]

Anyone tried to pinch a 10" in there? My brother has slim P3 10" RF subs and i was looking to snag one if itll fit. By judging pics it looks like it might be tight with trimming the ring.

Might have to do a test this week and see.