How to replace the JBL system while keeping OEM headunit.

[sweeneyp]

Well there are plenty of ways to replace the JBL system in our HL and most of them mean replacing the JBL headunit and amp. Personally I did not want to replace the OEM headunit given I have the rear dvd player (that ties directly into the headunit) and it just looks better than a double din adapter (it just looks awkward without the knobs, in my opinion). Well there is a solution for this, but you have to keep the JBL ampflier as the JBL amp and headunit are non-interchangable and there are no adapters made to suppliment the amp's job of handling volume control, equilizer, fading, etc...

The front seats have 2 channels of sound, the 2.5" and 6x9 speakers. And unfortunately most amps (if not all) need 1 channel input for the front row, so those 2 signals needed to be combined. So a channel summing device has to be used. I used the JL Audio CL-SSI (This)

Be forewarned doing this version of replacing the JBL system has a LOT of rewiring compared to just replacing the whole unit so if your not a very DIY kind of person, watch out. As shown below, its gets messy at times


I will link to the wire diagram for the JBL system for an 08 at the end of this post.
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Well for starters the passenger seat has to go as you have to have room to work.
It is held in with 4 14mm bolts. Then remove the 3 connectors for the electronics under it. The yellow one is the seat airbag. This is REALLY IMPORTANT... pull the negative terminal off your battery and have it sit for at least 2 min. THEN unplug the airbag plug. Otherwise it will go off and you have to replace the seat (according to Toyota docs)

The JBL amp cover is held in with push pins so just pull it straight up. (The amp itself is TINY, its smaller than a single DIN radio (without the heatsink bolted on it)

Now for the next part, it would help to explain what I am installing. I am installing Pioneer D-Series 6x9's in the front doors powered off a 2 channel amp (Pioneer GM-3400T). Then I'm installing Pioneer D-Series 6.75" speakers powered off a 2 channel amp (Dual XPE2700). Then I have 8" JL Sub powered off a bridged 2 channel amp. And keeping the OEM 2.5" speakers and 8" sub.

Now for a wiring diagram to give you an idea on how to wire it up. (ignore my horrible microsoft paint skills )

-Each line indicates + and - for a single side. So for example for the 2.5" speaker lines, I just indicated the left and right wires. Each "wire" is really 2 in real life (the + and the -)
-Each circle means 4 connectors at that point. Except for the subwoofer circle which only uses 2 as its only for the + lines (explain more later).
-The JBL amp has 3 connectors on it, 1 has all the inputs from the headunit, 1 has the rear speakers and 2.5" speakers wires, and 1 has the 6x9 and sub speaker wires. (plus other wires)

How to wire Front speakers
-Well if you can tell from the picture (total garbage I know, I have about ZERO ability to draw ) above the front row is the most difficult to wire (not that its hard, its just tedious).
-Basically you want to feed the 2.5" and 6x9 speaker wires into the SSI.
-So you "intercept" the wires going from the amp to the speakers, before it goes into the body of the car.
-I wanted to keep the 2.5" speakers working off the JBL amp so I used wire taps for the + and - lines on both the L and R channels. But, for the 6x9's I just connected the lines straight into the SSI.
-You have to set the inputs to speaker level inputs and use the 2-way setting.
-You connect the 2.5" speaker lines to the A input and the 6x9's to the C input (its considered a subwoofer to the SSI).
-You will calibrate it once you get everything wired up and working as the calibration LED's are just about worthless (completly in my case).
-The SSI was designed to work with JL Cleansweep DSP and because of that its output is a wireharness designed to plug straight into the Cleansweep. But if you look at the specs, it is basically a line level input. So I cut the wireharness in half and wired it into 2 rca jacks (You only use 4 of the 8 wires as you only use the front channel lines) that I plugged directly into the line level input on my Pioneer Amp.
-Connect the speaker outs on the amp to the OEM speaker wires that you cut earlier. This way you use the OEM wires from the amp to the speaker (no need to run new wires to the speakers themselves).
-So now that the sound is getting to the speakers, I set the level trim to half on both A and C on the SSI.
-Now as i said earlier the calibration LED's never really work (can't get them to stay in the "green" mode) so I did it by ear. When you set the A and C basically equal (Mine has C a little higher than A) it is pretty close to correct.
-So now the aftermarket amp is getting a full range signal that it is sending to the door 6x9's. Plus the dash 2.5" are still working off the JBL amp.

How to wire the Rear Speakers
-For those replacing the speaker an aftermarket 6.75" speaker will fit directly in without modification.
-These are a LOT easier than the front speakers. Just wire the speaker wires (after the JBL amp) into the hi-level input (speaker level) of an aftermarket amplifier. Then feed the speaker outs back into the OEM wires like you did with the front speakers.
-OR you can leave them and keep the OEM 6.5" speakers running off the stock JBL amp.
-OR if you are using a 4 channel amp and not 2 2channel amps, you need to send the speaker wires to a line level converter. So that you get RCA's out that contain the rear full range sound. And feed that into the rear channel of the 4 channel amp.

How to wire an additional sub
-Well I'm adding an aftermarket 8" JL sub to my system WHILE keeping my OEM 8" sub.
-The OEM sub has a left and right channel so you can just taped into the + lines of the L & R channel and feed that into the hi-level input of an amp (2 channel in my case).
-Then hooked up the sub (I bridged my 2 channel amp) so it runs the same signal as the OEM sub.

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So if you do everything this way, you have running:
-factory 2.5" speakers on JBL amp
-aftermarket 6x9's getting full range sound off aftermarket amp in front doors
-aftermarket 6.75" spakers in rear doors running off aftermarket amp
-factory 8" subwoofer
-aftermarket 8" subwoofer running off aftermarket amp running from signal of OEM sub

Luckily you can get the 2 2channel amps, JBL amp, and SSI under the passenger seat (BARELY, just enough room to fit and have enough air space to cool properly) and out of sight, so there are no amps just in view in the car. Though my sub amp is behind the driver 2nd row seat (below the 3rd row headrest when the seat is folded flat, in the 3rd row foot area).

Here is the JBL wiring diagram (with pin and wire colors) for a 08 highlander. For other years the colors might change, but I can't imagine the pins changing.
http://www.mediafire.com/?wunogwhnfkrwmw3
Front Speaker No. 1 are the 6x9 speakers
Front Speaker No. 2 are the 2.5" speakers
The Stereo Component Speaker Assembly is the OEM sub

Total time to do this:
12-15 hours.
But I was doing more than just this install:
-Had to install the 4 new door speakers
-ran a new alternator power line to the + terminal of the battery (4 gauge wire)
-ran a new engine ground (basically alternator negative) to the negative terminal of the battery (4 gauge wire)
-(the added alternator wires made a big difference, engine running voltage increase a little over 1/2 a volt, so now it stays around 13.6'ish volts while idling, as opposed to high 12's before)
-ran a new chassis ground to the negative terminal of the battery (4 gauge wire)
-ran a new power line to the interior of the car to a distribution block for amp power lines(4 gauge wire)
-ran the 3 aftermarket amps power lines (8 gauge) to the distribution block (plus all the wiring that goes with installing amplifiers (ground, ign wire, etc...))
-then all the work on rewiring...

Good Luck if anyone attempts this

Also, I'm typing this fairly late so if I made a typo or something makes no sense let me know and I'll fix it



Disclaimer: Do at your own risk. I will not be held responsible for any damage to vehicle or bodily harm when performing these modifications, or any voidage of certain parts of your warranty.

[aziphonerepair]

You are a genius this is the best review I have found thank you so much!

attempted my whole install (all new door speakers, tweeters, amps, wires, and sub) only to find out that nothing works!!!

I am in the process of finishing wiring everything and am stuck tho...
currently have line level converters and my 07 tundra DC + JBL is not liking them....
I get full sound range when connecting to HU output but for ONLY 1 speaker, when all 4 door speakers are connected I lose bass and mid tones. I tried wiring line outputs to JBL amp outputs and quality LESSENED! I was stuck with raspy and crackly sound with NO bass or midtones and then treble just hurts the ears even with the sub on.

I guess my question is, do you think the SSI will solve all my problems?

[sweeneyp]

Ok well you had me confused for a second, I think I understand what you did. For starters your Tundra's JBL system acts like the Highlander's in that it has a constant volume L+/- and R+/- signal wire from the headunit to the amp. So you can't tap after the headunit, it won't work, only after the amp. I have been looking at the Tundra JBL wire diagram (do you have that? it will make install 10x easier), and I think I understand how the system works. It looks like your amp outputs 8 channels which are:
-Front L+/- Signal for 6x9's (low frequencies only only, you can confirm this by seeing if only bass comes out of the speaker in the door)
-Front R+/- Signal for 6x9's (low frequencies only only, you can confirm this by seeing if only bass comes out of the speaker in the door)
-Front L+/- Signal for the 3" speaker (the tweeter is wired into this speaker so it acts like a component setup.) (this signal caries mid's and high's)
-Front R+/- Signal for the 3" speaker (the tweeter is wired into this speaker so it acts like a component setup.) (this signal caries mid's and high's)
-Front C+/- Signal for the 3" center channel speaker (same as above, mids and high's)
-Rear L+/- Signal for the 6.5" in the door (they appear to be full range)
-Rear R+/- Signal for the 6.5" in the door (they appear to be full range)
-Sub +/- bass only for the subwoofer
Anyway what frequencies the speakers get are only based of my experience with the highlander's system and the way the tundra's system is wired up from the diagram, so you would probably need to confirm this yourself by listening to what each speaker actually does. On the wire diagram the 3" speaker is the "front side speaker" and the 6x9 is the "front door speaker", just an fyi.
Front:
If you installed the front door speaker and got the signal from the 3" line you would only get some mids and mostly high's going to that speaker, and if you taped the 6x9 signal you would only get the low frequencies. To get a full range signal you would probably have to do the same thing I did with the SSI. You would need to wire the 3" signal wire into the A terminal of the SSI and the 6x9's into the C terminal. It will combine the signal and output it. Then you would need to fit RCA terminals to those wires it outputs (it would only be the Front wires on the SSI) and feed that into the low level input on an amp. That should give you a full range signal for the front door speakers. Now since your replacing your door speaker i would feed the 6x9's wires straight into the SSI, but for the 3" (depending on if you want to keep it running or not) you can either wire tap the signal wires (to keep the speaker working after your install (its what I did)) or feed it straight into the SSI (to not keep the speaker working after the install).
Rear:
You should be able to just feed the signal wires into a speaker lvl input of an amp (or speaker level to low level converter) and get a full range signal straight out. That is what I did, I have drastically changed my system since my original post, but I feed the rear signal into a converter then fed the rca's out of the converter into my rear channel of my 4channel amp:
Center:
either leave it working or unplug the speaker your choice there.
Sub:
Same as the rear you can feed it straight into a speaker level input of an amp or low level converter. The highlander's sub is a DVC sub (2 separate channels to power it) so I had 2 +/- signals, but I just fed the 2 + signals into a speaker level input on my sub amp and it gets the bass signal the OEM sub should have got. The tundra's sub is a SVC so you only have 1 signal you need to worry about.
also, to TN!

Good luck and hope this helps. Let me know if anything doesn't make sense/have any more Q's

[aziphonerepair]

Thanks for that information! I have the correct wiring diagram (I believe) and it is a little confusing. I am still a little confused as to how you got everything working in your vehicle and I am starting to believe my stock JBL amp is bad.

I will give you the whole rundown of what is exactly happening...

My setup is that I replaced all the speakers, except for the 2 door tweeters, with Infinity Kappa series.
1) The 3 tweeters with crossovers are wired to the stock JBL amp in the dash but sound very muffled and the treble is really unclear. I can't figure out why but is it because the JBL amp adjusts the signals to crossover frequency and then I am basically double-crossover-ing? Would tapping into the front door speaker lines solve this? Since I no longer use the front door speakers factory wiring.
2) I have 2 aftermarket amplifiers that are currently line level converted into the HU outputs low level wires. The 4-channel amp powers the 4 door speakers but with no volume control, fade, etc. and they have also lost all their base and mids. However, when just one of the door speakers is hooked up to the HU's output lines it sounds great. If I tap into the JBL output wires with line level converter I get full volume control, fade, etc but absolutely NO base or mids and they just don't sound clear at all. I have tried tapping line level converter into the front speakers and the rear speakers output with the same results, because I too thought that the front 6x9 were responsible for mids and lows only while the rear were full.

Thanks for all your help, I am new to car audio and this is the 1st setup I've done, and not being able to figure this thing out has been very frustrating. I have read good things about the JL CL-SSI as it is the cheapest one out of whats available, but I am skeptical as to if it will fix my problem or not (skeptical because whether I hook the line level to the front or rear speakers the sound quality doesn't change and is still bad).

I will try to draw up a diagram of what I have going on so that it can be a little more clear for you.
Thanks!

[sweeneyp]

ok now I'm really confused haha

I think you have just tapped the sources incorrectly, it has to be wiring. It sounds like you are taping behind the radio? you can NOT do that. You can use an aftermarket head-unit with the JBL amplifier, but not an aftermarket amplifier with the JBL head-unit. The 2 are not separable in that manner, don't touch any wires between the jbl headunit and jbl amplifier, nothing works in between.

What are the exact speakers you got (component or coxial, and size) and for where. You are saying you got 3 tweeters (are usually less than 1" and only ultra high frequencies) to replace the 3 3" dash speakers? I'm kinda confused by that as well. But your right the JBL amp does use built-in crossovers.

I'm now just totally lost as to how you have everything wired. That diagram will probably help, knowing what speakers you have and where they are connected will help a ton in correcting everything.

first install's can be tricky, but once you work through them everything after is easy.

[aziphonerepair]

I have 3 infinity kappa 3.5" with crossovers in the front dash. (wired to stock amp)
2 6x9 infinity kappa component in front doors (wired to 4 channel xtant amp)
2 6.5 infinity kappa component in rear doors (wired to 4 channel xtant amp)
2 stock tweeters that hangout in the front doors (wired to stock amp I believe)

Here's the link to the diagram I drew up.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9697928/Diagram.jpg

I know I can't connect anything between the HU and stock JBL amp, as I've tried with bad results.
When I hookup my RCA line level converters after the stock JBL amp everything that comes from the xtant 4-channel amp sounds bad, no bass or mids.

[sweeneyp]

Ok, i modified the picture some. It should work in theory like this. this is the same way I did it and works (generally, I don't have the exact same speaker setup.).
Just for clarity's sake, so nothing gets confused, this is what everything is refered to on the wire diagram:
3" Left is called FL+/-
3" right is called FR+/-
6x9 Left is called WFL+/-
6x9 Right is called WFR+/-
6.5" Left is called RL+/-
6.5" Right is called RR+/-
Sub is called WF1+/-
Center is called CTR+/-

3" Left, Center, Right
Now there is the OEM tweeter connected to the R and L 3" lines in the doors, you need to disconnect that tweeter, as its no longer needed, that way the only signal on those lines will go straight to the new kappa speakers. If the center, L and R 3.5" kappy still sound muddy hooked up this way, put the old speaker back in and see if it still sounds that way. You can also temporarily hook up the speaker to the 4 channel amp and see if it comes through clean that way. Those speakers might not be gettting enough power form the JBL amplifier. (OEM speakers are usually very efficient, aftermarket isn't usually. My highlander's OEM 2.5" dashboard speakers only got around 12 watts, those 3 probably won't get much more. Thats not a lot of power for a 3.5" speaker.

Rear 6.5"
You should be able to feed the amp's output straight into the high lvl converter and get a clean signal. If you do this and it sounds muddy, try hooking up the kappa's directly to the JBL output (without x-tant amp). That way you can rule out if the converter or amp is distorting the signal or if the speakers are messed up.

Sub
Use the sub's output for the amp, not the rear 6.5" signal.

6x9
You are probably going to need the SSI. You need to combine the 6x9's and 3" signal together to get the full range signal. Feed teh 6x9 directly into the SSI, and TAP the 3" lines so they still work. That should give you a full range signal coming out of the SSI. But you have to put RCA's on those output wires and feed it into the low lvl input on the amp.

again... in theory that should work, its how I did mine. It shouldn't sound muddy or not clear (unless the 3.5" speakers aren't getting enough power). But see if this helps, it would be easy to test the rear and dash speakers before you even start working on the 6x9's.

[aziphonerepair]

Alright, I will start re-wiring tonight and then get the rear sub hooked back in first. I'll use the rear lines I've already tapped for the sub and instead use them for the X-tant rear 6.5's and see how that sounds.
I also left the door tweeters hooked in but that makes sense as to why they 3.5 weren't getting enough power so I'll see how that changes things. again, thanks so much for your expertise and help I hope to have a reply later tonight as to how everything goes!

thanks for the awesome diagram too, much appreciated!

[aziphonerepair]

So the front dash speakers distort badly when high tones are received like in songs where vowel sounds are sung loudly I noticed, if that makes any sense, as well as cymbal hits, they seem to crackle. I disconnected the front door speaker stock tweeters and the 3.5's appeared to get a little louder but no clearer, they may be underpowered but I don't see how that explains the crackle as even when connecting stocks they crackle as well. possible my headunit or JBL amp is bad?

I tied the rear speakers from xtant amo directly into the rear outputs of the JBL amp and now they sound much more decent, but.... the stock speakers seemed to have more low tones, I can turn the volume up high and the rears still sound good so I am sort of happy with those.

I tied the sub into the JBL sub out line like in the diagram and that is sounding MUCH better than being tied into the rear lines like before.

I am trying to temporarily hookup my front speakers but when I cut my wiring harness the 4 seperate wires I believed to be for the front turned out to control all 3 dash speakers. Do you know if the left and right speaker are tied into a single line? also, what is your opinion on the front speakers? just keep them the way they are or get a powered amp to boost amplitude? I am seriously regretting trying to keep the nice looking stock headunit in my Tundra as it has proven to be a headache for me, so I hope someone else who considers doing this in the future reads these posts so they know what they are up against, as this is not an easy install.

Thanks for all your help again and let me know what you think and if you do have the wiring diagram which wires are for the fronts? I believe it will be the pink/purple and light blue/black on my plug that has the base line attached to it.

[sweeneyp]

Yea I would have liked to replace the headunit on my highlander, but the headunit is so big and awkwardly shaped with big knobs, a double din would look out of place with the adapter. Plus everything ties into it (rear dvd is dependent on it, and a few other things) so I was stuck working with it. Your lucky your tundra's headunit is slightly smaller so it doesn't look so out of place if you were to replace it.

when you mentioned amping the front speakers, you talking about the dash speakers? I would wait till everything is running. if they are substantially quieter than the rest of the system (the door speakers) I would. But I am running 75 watts RMS into my door speakers and the 12 watt OEM 2.5" dash speaker keeps right up in volume and clarity, so I bet it won't be a problem.

So for the dash speakers, did all 3 distort (L,R, and center)? and you put the stock ones in and they crackled too....did they do that before you started this upgrade? You can confirm the 3.5" speakers aren't broken by hooking them up temporarily to the rear channel of the 4 channel amp to make sure they sound clean when playing. Well here are some possibilities:
1) (if stocks don't distort, and kappa's sound clean when tested) they are under-powered and need an amp
2) headunit isn't the problem, it only outputs a L and R signal so all the speakers would be distorting.
3) It could be an amp problem, but first make sure every connection is solid (behind headunit, connectors in doors, the 3rd socket on the amplifier which has all the inputs from the headunit, and all wires connected (butt connections, wire taps etc...), and make sure your amp power lines are right not on top of signal wires)
4) there should be a 4 pin socket at each L and R 3" speaker, make sure you connected to the right 2 wires of those 4 wires.

for the rears, mine were that way. I got Pioneer TS-D1702R running at around 60 watts RMS with a HPF set at 60-70hz (I think, distorts at full volume otherwise) and they have less bass than the OEM 6.5's. Granted with the sub, I don't want low bass from those speakers, just low-mids, mids and high's.

for the sub, make sure you set the amp LPF is high enough so it doesn't cut into the signal. The JBL amp has a low pass filter built in, so make sure the amp's LPF doesn't interfere so it plays everything its suppose too.



As for which wires to tap for the front speakers:




Center 3"
+ K17 pin 4 white
- K17 pin 10 black
Left 3"
+ K16 pin 8 pink
- K16 pin 7 violet
Right 3"
+ K16 pin 2 light green
- K16 pin 6 light blue
Left 6x9
+ K17 pin 2 pink
- K17 pin 1 violet
Right 6x9
+ K17 pin 9 light green
- K17 pin 3 light blue

Does your wire diagram look like this/is this what you are taping?

[nannahill]

Curse you sweeneyp! I've been following your car stereo posts for a while now and now I'm going to have to pull the trigger on yanking every speaker out (minus those silly 2.5" ones - haven't figured out what to do with them yet) and put in my gear (splits, coaxials, amps and 12" sub) from a prior vehicle. Your car stereo posts have been nothing short of greatness. Thanks.

[sweeneyp]

haha thanks, glad they were helpful (just to make it clear, most of the above is for a 07+ tundra jbl system, not the HL. Only the first post concerns the HL's JBL system).

I'm kinda in the same place you are right now. I'm redoing my entire setup, all new power lines/system, new 4 channel amp, new sub amp, new Rockford Fosgate 10" p3 sub, and finally removing the OEM sub. One thing I am kinda excited about is I'm adding 2x 4" speakers to the OEM sub location running off their own amp. I tailgate a lot in my HL, and having speakers back there is helpful. I'm trying to emulate the "party mode" on the new 4runner's (or drop down speakers on Jeep Compass's) with a few extra little features (they will play with the OEM radio normally, but with a flip of a switch they play from a aux-in port in the trunk. Also they can be switched on at anytime (even with the car completely off) using a rocker-switch also in the trunk.)