[Daltonmez]

2003 highlander limited

My reason for wanting to keep stock headunit is for less of a reason for people to break into my car.. especially at trailheads and such.

So I’ve been searching around for the past few days trying to find information on this topic but I don’t know what to believe. To start I’m not the most knowledgeable with car audio (at all) just started monkeying around with my highlander since I just bought it a few months ago and the stock speakers were blown. So anyways I ordered some infinity kappa 60cxs components for front and kappa ilx for the rears. Wired up the front with 18 gauge wire from local car audio spot and I was getting static, tightened up my grounds and fixed that but I’ve noticed the speakers sound pretty empty/hollow, tinny, just all around not good. I kept passenger side stock and switched between fading from drivers side to passenger to sample the sound... Of course my stock speakers are blown so anything’s an upgrade I guess but damn not really lol the stock sounds way better. I know on other threads people are talking of the head units don’t power aftermarket speakers well enough or this or that, others say everything worked fine.

my questions are can I possibly use these speakers with my stock head unit, should I just send these speakers back and opt for
Something else, is my head unit the problem? If there is a stock system amplifier could that be the problem? Am I making a simple mistake? Any help would be greatly appreciated.. or if you want to just scold me for my ignorance that’s fine too. I’m a noob yes but I’m trying to learn and just surfing the web looking for info has definitely answered many of my questions but this is far more complicated than I originally thought

 

[Camry_wiz]

I totally understand you don't want to attract attention, the HL interior design makes the radio a direct target.

But the issue is the factory headunit, it's not going to power those speakers correctly. Great choice by the way, huge fan of the kappa series.

Do you have just the basic radio or JBL? If it's JBL forget about it, they run on weird ohm values.

My suggestion if you want to keep the stock headunit is to install an aftermarket amp, whether a large one under seat or those "mini" amps like the Alpine KTP-445U. You'll need a way to pull clean signal like a LC2i but once you have that in and wired direct to your speakers, it'll be night and day difference.

But all that work could be better spent on a simple quality single din radio with removable face. You'll get new features too like bluetooth, hands-free calling, USB, and AUX (if your HL didn't have it, mine didn't). Single dins are getting much cheaper, $150 and you can have a sweet one. Just remember to take the face off when you're in areas you don't trust. Or go all the way and do double din with carplay and backup camera.