Well I've gotten all my gear and ready to install as soon as the weather allows. JVC Double din, iPod control, Bluetooth, yada, yada, yada..... JL Audio 4" coaxials.
Got a used power antenna from a salvage yard and got that working with the OEM equipment still onboard. Made the mistake of testing it before installing the outer trim and nut. Of course it puked out the shaft and nylon geared line. Had a real fun time getting that back in but now all is well.
Kind of decided to go the lazy man's route for now. Mainly because the winter weather isn't going to give me a lot of time to work with. Come Springtime I can always go back in and go into greater detail if I so choose. Plan on getting one of the Best Buy or Crutchfield harnesses, using the JVC Double Din Pre outs to the OEM amp.
Here's my main question. Has anyone used their OEM amp and then later by-passed it?
If so did the newer head unit sound cleaner when it wasn't going through the old amp?
Well I've gotten all my gear and ready to install as soon as the weather allows. JVC Double din, iPod control, Bluetooth, yada, yada, yada..... JL Audio 4" coaxials.
Got a used power antenna from a salvage yard and got that working with the OEM equipment still onboard. Made the mistake of testing it before installing the outer trim and nut. Of course it puked out the shaft and nylon geared line. Had a real fun time getting that back in but now all is well.
Kind of decided to go the lazy man's route for now. Mainly because the winter weather isn't going to give me a lot of time to work with. Come Springtime I can always go back in and go into greater detail if I so choose. Plan on getting one of the Best Buy or Crutchfield harnesses, using the JVC Double Din Pre outs to the OEM amp.
Here's my main question. Has anyone used their OEM amp and then later by-passed it?
If so did the newer head unit sound cleaner when it wasn't going through the old amp?
Factory amp is garbage, at first when I installed a new headunit on the factory system it sounded ok, that lasted for a very short time. I wouldn't waste your time. I would get any kind of 4 channel amp to power those JLs to their potential and enjoy the clarity and life like vocals. I myself have JL C2 Coaxials and 2 10W0 subs and it seems as if there is a concert in my car.
I appreciate the advice but I don't have the ca$h right now for an amp and subs. I want to hear the JL's by themselves first to decide if I even need a sub. That will be a matter of personal taste.
What I do want however is clean sound. My double din JVC unit is 50w x 4 and rated at 20 RMS so it has a decent amount of power and is right in the sweet spot of power for the JL's.
If I'm correct I can just unplug the output of the amp and use tap into those spepaker lines from the JVC. The amp can be bypassed but needs to stay "in play" since it provides constant 12, accessory 12, chassis ground and illumination signals to the radio.
Not sure if everything will work as it should with the output plug from the amp disconnected though. I may have to cut the speaker feeds and leave the plug connected as it also has two 12v inputs as well as two chassis grounds.
Factory amp is garbage, at first when I installed a new headunit on the factory system it sounded ok, that lasted for a very short time. I wouldn't waste your time. I would get any kind of 4 channel amp to power those JLs to their potential and enjoy the clarity and life like vocals. I myself have JL C2 Coaxials and 2 10W0 subs and it seems as if there is a concert in my car.
Well you were 100% right about this one. I listened to the radio (factory) for a couple of days until I found the time to finish the install. Cut the speaker out lines from the amp and ran them to the head unit wires. Left the amp in place, plugged in so all voltages would still be present.
The JL 4" coaxials really came alive. I am SOOOOOOO glad I did the extra work. Wiring around the amp plug is one tight place to work but the end result is worth twice the effort it took.
I'm SHOCKED at the bass these little speakers put out. My car sounds great and I'm no Noob to good sounding audio!
Here's my head unit installed. It's kind of hard to believe what $172 will get you in car audio today......
This unit has two USB inputs with full iPod/iPhone control. I've got a Nano in the glove box hooked up to the rear USB input. Completely out of sight but charges and plays fine. I'm using the front USB for the provided Bluetooth dongle and paired to my iPhone. I can stream audio from the iPhone and still make/receive calls. This unit also grabs my phone book form the phone, displays missed calls, latest calls...etc and will dial any of them. The microphone is at the top of the picture. Also displays iPhone battery level and signal strength. The little "1" means phone 1 is currently paired. Will pair with two phones and switch phones at the push of a button.
Also has some kind of universal input on the back and you can daisy chain an HD Tuner, XM....etc. You also might notice the 3.5mm aux plug on the front.
Plays CD's, RWCD's, MP3/WMA CD's, VBR MP3 CD's.
The display colors are infinitely adjustable. You can have the display one color and the buttons another. The display panel is also reversible form positive to negative (illuminated words or black words on illuminated background). There are 29 preset colors to select from or you can mix your own using a RGB scale. You can assign daytime and nightime colors and what time you want it to change over. I set it to change over at 7 PM, fed it 2/50ths red and 2/50ths green and it matches the heater/ac buttons below it perfectly at night! Got it set to the color you see for daytime.
Rated at 20w x 4 RMS with 50w x 4 peak and drives the $h17 out of the little JL's.
Man, that is nice. I love the big dial. I actually think the stock system is pretty good but I want to hook up my ipod to it. how hard was installing that deck? does it fit nice? i'll buy one and throw it in if it only takes like 20 minutes.
does it fit nice? i'll buy one and throw it in if it only takes like 20 minutes.
Fits and looks real good........
Install in 20 minutes? Maybe if you were real good, got the harness from Crutchfield or BestBuy and used crimp connectors.
I soldered and heatshrink wrapped everything at the head unit. I also bypassed the factory amp by soldering leads at the head unit and running them to the amp speaker out wires. Cut the leads from the amp and left the amp in place and powered up. This is a must because the power and illumination to the head unit comes form the amp. You could of course get power elsewhere but that's more work.
I tried using the factory amp and the sound wasn't that good. With the head unit powering the JL coaxials I put in the sound is VERY good. Also taking the glovebox side of the dash apart allowed me to cut a hole in the upper left rear of the glovebox to feed the iPod line into the glovebox.
I didn't solder and heatshrink at the amp as there just wasn't enough room to work with. Very tight working space. But I didn't use crimp connectors either. Used the Rat Shack Wire Tap Squeeze Connectors listed below. These actually "cut" into the wires and make a VERY good and dependable connection. Alarm installers use these to "tap" into existing wires. They also work well for my purpose. I HATE crimp connectors.
Total install time: All four door speakers, one day, about 5 ~ 6 hours, ALL speaker connections soldered, slight gaps around speakers sealed with silicone, speakers mounted with self-drilling sheet metal screws, all door water barriers remounted and "repaired" with cellophane shipping tape. Head unit, two days, about 6 ~ 8 hours. Satisfaction level: 10+
I used foam tape instead of silicone in case any of the speakers went bad or I needed to the remove them.
Do you still have the amp turn on wire connected to the headunit?
The JL's have a basket that is slightly smaller then the opening. The Silicone isn't for mounting, it's for acoustic sealing. Also VERY easy to remove later. Pure Silicone caulk will simply "peel off" a painted surface in one piece. Foam tape will be a lot of pieces to remove in the future.
If you don't turn on the amp it won't be feeding the 12v and illumination back to the headunit wires.
I have the turn on wire disconnected and everything is working, maybe yours is different. hmmm
Are those JL's? If so as I'm sure you noticed the size difference between the speakers and factory openings. Foam tape is sticky on one side which I assume you stuck to the door and then mounted the speakers.
I mounted the speakers and them used the Silicone to fill the void and it will adhere to both the speaker basket and door creating a 100% acoustic seal.
Nothing wrong with the tape, I just prefer Silicone. Po-ta-to....Po-tah-to..
As for the 12v for the headunit it might just be "passing through" the amp and not turned on when the amp is turned on. Didn't test for that so I just hooked it up. Also had to pull the green illumination wire at the factory head unit harness (pin 3 I think) and hook it to the head unit orange wire.
The wiring diagram for the amp shows 12v constant, 12v accessory, signal ground and illumination to the headunit. Does your stereo work in accessory mode as well? If so maybe all the headunit wires are simple pass through?
Install in 20 minutes? Maybe if you were real good, got the harness from Crutchfield or BestBuy and used crimp connectors.
I soldered and heatshrink wrapped everything at the head unit. I also bypassed the factory amp by soldering leads at the head unit and running them to the amp speaker out wires. Cut the leads from the amp and left the amp in place and powered up. This is a must because the power and illumination to the head unit comes form the amp. You could of course get power elsewhere but that's more work.
I tried using the factory amp and the sound wasn't that good. With the head unit powering the JL coaxials I put in the sound is VERY good. Also taking the glovebox side of the dash apart allowed me to cut a hole in the upper left rear of the glovebox to feed the iPod line into the glovebox.
I didn't solder and heatshrink at the amp as there just wasn't enough room to work with. Very tight working space. But I didn't use crimp connectors either. Used the Rat Shack Wire Tap Squeeze Connectors listed below. These actually "cut" into the wires and make a VERY good and dependable connection. Alarm installers use these to "tap" into existing wires. They also work well for my purpose. I HATE crimp connectors.
Total install time: All four door speakers, one day, about 5 ~ 6 hours, ALL speaker connections soldered, slight gaps around speakers sealed with silicone, speakers mounted with self-drilling sheet metal screws, all door water barriers remounted and "repaired" with cellophane shipping tape. Head unit, two days, about 6 ~ 8 hours. Satisfaction level: 10+
Thanks. If it includes soldering, it's not something I am gonna do. I'll have a kid around the neighborhood throw it in this summer or something. I was just thinking, take out a few screws, connect wires and just use electrical tape. That's what I did on my old, shit cars. I didn't mount it tight really either. What do I need to make it fit tight? Some kind of bracket or mount? Do you think the head unit alone will give a decent boost to the factory speakers?
Are those JL's? If so as I'm sure you noticed the size difference between the speakers and factory openings. Foam tape is sticky on one side which I assume you stuck to the door and then mounted the speakers.
I mounted the speakers and them used the Silicone to fill the void and it will adhere to both the speaker basket and door creating a 100% acoustic seal.
Nothing wrong with the tape, I just prefer Silicone. Po-ta-to....Po-tah-to..
As for the 12v for the headunit it might just be "passing through" the amp and not turned on when the amp is turned on. Didn't test for that so I just hooked it up. Also had to pull the green illumination wire at the factory head unit harness (pin 3 I think) and hook it to the head unit orange wire.
The wiring diagram for the amp shows 12v constant, 12v accessory, signal ground and illumination to the headunit. Does your stereo work in accessory mode as well? If so maybe all the headunit wires are simple pass through?
Yes, C2-400X. I actually applied it to the speakers so I could still turn them when mounting.
I never hooked up the illumination because I couldn't find it lol. What does it do? Because the headunit lights up on its own and works in ACC.
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1999 Toyota Avalon
Linear Mode
