21 TRD Pro JBL Upgrade

Hi, Your about probably close too 2 hours away from me. Not sure if you get up this way where the Cabelas store is in Hamburg pa. I’m close to that. I don’t usually get down that way to York. My whole system is arc audio but still using the JBL headunit. The reason I have not pulled the trigger on aftermarket headunit because my system does sound very good . Also too many glitches about the Kenwood headunit why I don’t want to spend the big money yet for one.

 

I thought the same thing but when my hu died and I got a kenwood dnr1007xr I wish I had done this 2 years ago. James said people were switching back to the stock head unit and using dsr1 so I just went with it. It did sound great but I was never completely happy. Installed the kenwood and took the dsr1 out and everything woke to a new level. I’m an sq guy but now the bottom end is way better. I didn’t change anything with the tune on my minidsp but the sound stage is better, midbass is better and low end doesn’t roll off.
I sold my dsr1 to offset some of the cost of the hu.

I resisted changing the hu but the 1007xr is way better in every way to the stock hu. Nav, CarPlay and camera is better.

 

I totally agree aftermarket headunit. I have had so many aftermarket systems but always changed the headunit. This is the first time. Yes I’m not completely happy with the JBL headunit sound. Because of having awesome systems over the years you need the aftermarket headunit to complete the perfect sound.

 

Looking at pictures, there are a lot of wires from one amp to the other amp and it looks like a pile of spaghetti.
Has anyone cleaned this up and made them shorter? I know they are hidden under the seat, but it does not look very professional.
Any tips to make it look cleaner? Is there enough room to put a spacer under the amp rack and put the wires under the amps?

 

when your doing it like he is doing it by keeping the stock amplifier there isn’t a whole lot you can do away with. He could have tied each strand up and then twisted them together perse but it still doesn’t go away. The other option is to tuck them under the carpet but considering how many wires are needed and all the connections necessary it’s not really that bad. He could have wrapped all the wire bundles in black tape but again it’s not that bad considering. The only way to clean it up is to put a new headunit in and bypass the stock amp then you only have about 2 sets of rca and power ground and remote.

 

How much was it

 

I recently bought the beat sonic micro amp for $300. It added roughly 25% more volume and bass. It’s still not enough for my. I have the jbl system. Wondering if this will beat that

 

Resurrecting an old thread for 2 questions:

1. For the guys that have the JBL DSP4086 from James and replaced the factory door speakers, what did you use? There aren't many 2 ohm choices.
2. For those of you that added more midbass to the setup, how do you save it to the amp when connected to the laptop/app? Do you use the "Write" button?

 

You happen to have a screenshot of the new tune you did on the JBL? I want to play around with it myself, but definitely a tad overwhelming for a newb!

 

It would be hard to provide screen shots since each channel has it's own settings. I can try to send you the settings file to load into your amp but won't be able to do it until sometime this weekend.

 

Omg that would be amazing! No rush at all. I'll PM you my email address. These EQ settings are going way over my head

 

Did you ever figure this out? I still have factory door speakers, and have yet to really play around with the EQ settings.

 

You may want to read through the COC in the Marketplace Buy/Sell threads so you don't get booted off the island....

 

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I believe in the past guys were using AudioFrog for the doors...

 

I haven't done anything with the door speakers yet, but did mess around with the EQ settings using the JBL app on a laptop.

 

I keep procrastinating and still have not ordered this amp.
Is everyone still satisfied with the add on amp?
Anyone have any issues?

 

Yes...

No...

 

Did you end up leaving this amp in or continued to upgrade your system?

 

It's still in...

My next audio upgrade will be doors and center channel, but I've got other things that I'd prefer to do first.

 

Did you get a settings file for this, and did it work? I’m now interested in the same thing. I bought the infinity version of this amp but it doesn’t come pre-wired or pre-tuned, which based on the pictures of how complex the wiring is going to be might have been a mistake

 

While I'm in the business of asking lots of questions about how this works...I see 6 RCA inputs for these amps in the pictures, but am expecting 8 channel outputs from the OEM amp. Can any of these very satisfied owners comment on how the JBL amp accepts the OEM signals? Know which of the 8 outputs to connect?

Cross posting from here: https://www.tundras.com/threads/plu...-2015-1794-stereo-system.144017/#post-3723885

 

Posted in the linked thread but answering here as well for anyone else curious. In short, amps don't always need a 1:1 input/output ratio and can often times "copy" the input signal from 1 input channel to multiple output channels.

When using a higher channel non-DSP amp, the amp will often have a physical input selection switch. A lot of amps will have 1:1 input/outputs, but some may only have 3:4 inputs/outputs. Some amps will also have RCA pre-amp outputs to send signal to another amp, a mono sub amp for example.
Here's a Focal 6-channel amp as an example:





or this Sony 8-Channel with additional explanation of how the pre-outs work:



On the JBL DSP4086, rather than via a physical switch, this is all handled digitally in the software for the amp. Some non-DSP amps will also have signal summing, i.e. that ability to combine multiple signal inputs into one signal output. DSP's/DSP amps can do this as well so that you can have a full range output signal.

 

Snert, you’re the man. Thank you so much for this explanation.

 

Happy to help! I know if ordering from Tech12Volts he'll do all the wire matching in the harnesses so they're plug and play and then also do all the DSP leg work to assign the inputs/outputs, signal summing etc. so that it's as plug and play as it gets.

 

Alright I have an update, and a set of questions. Hoping @Snert is still around and interested in solving everyone else's audio problems

I chickened out on trying to program the DSP myself and do all of the right input/output signal summing. I bought one from James and it arrived last weekend. I ran power, hooked it up, and am not getting any sound on the Subwoofer. All the other speakers work, they are much louder.

The tricky bit here is that I also have a separate mono AMP that was powering the sub before, connected via LOC. I've attached a picture for reference, all the orange components are aftermarket and the blue ones are OEM. When the whole setup is connected as it's laid out in the picture, the mono amp does not turn on and there is no sound coming out of the subwoofer.

When I eliminate the DSP and associated harness and just go Headunit -> OEM amp -> speakers, the Mono Amp turns on and powers the Sub. To me, that indicates the issue is that the remote wire for the Mono Amp isn't getting any signal when it's hooked up to the DSP outputs.

Me and James (over the phone) connected a laptop to the amp and the tune that he put on it looks to be normal.

Any ideas about why an amp like this would not output any signal on one specific channel? There is a 'bass remote' this amp comes with that I have plugged in and turned all the way up...but otherwise James and I are at a loss as to what's happening. He's sending me another AMP (the legacy of fabulous customer service for Tech12Volts continues) but I'd rather just fix this one if I can.

 

Still here lol. What LOC and mono amp do you have? Few different things at play to consider. It sounds like you're on the right track that there's somehow now a remote wire issue. With the DSP amp now feeding the mono amp, you probably actually don't need/don't want the LOC depending on what your mono amp is. If your mono amp accepts high level inputs, you could get a set of speaker wire to RCA adapters, connect those to the Sub channel outputs on the JBL DSP amp, and have those feed directly into your mono amp. You can test the the mono amp in this setup by using a small length of speaker wire as a jumper from your JBL DSP Amp's (+) power terminal, over to your mono amps remote input. Just make sure as always to disconnect your battery negative cable before doing any power wiring testing. Your mono amp should then power on (and stay on all the time so you don't want to leave it wired like this) but you could then test and see if the signal is coming out of your JBL DSP amp or not. I'd be surprised if it's not and I think it's more likely there's either a small power issue or signal wiring issue that's causing the lack of signal. Wires on the harness might be wired incorrectly or there might be a setting on the DSP Amp or on the LOC.

How do you have your LOC powerin gon, dedicated remote wire or some form signal sensing/auto turn on?

 

I have the Kicker 46CXA400.1, which does accept high level inputs.

I also have Kickers 46KISLOC2 LOC, and I'm using the blue remote wire off of that to turn the amp on.

I am following your idea to jump power from amp to amp to force remote turn on...but I'm hung up on how to feed the DSP's channel 7 (Subwoofer) to the mono amp without cutting into the harness (which I'd like to avoid until I'm sure it solves the problem). In theory I could grab this from the ends of the factory subwoofer harness behind the passenger seat, but the existing set of conditions make me think that there won't be signal there (or the LOC would already be working as intended).

As I type this I realize I can probably use wire taps on channel 7 right next to the amp...are there any possible long term consequences for those?

 

I forgot from looking at this amp before that it actually comes with speaker wire to RCA adapter plugs so you should already be in luck! The little grey dots below should be set screws so that you can attach the black RCA plugs to the ends of your colored speaker output wires.


You can look at the harness how it orients/plugs into the amp to see which colors are which channel, but from the manual it looks like Ch 7 and Ch 8 are red and yellow respectively:


I think from another person who bought the JBL DSP amp from Tech12Volts I remember that person did not have a an additional sub amp, and the way Tech12Volts wires it up is so that the factory amp is retained to use the factory amps sub channel, because the JBL DSP amp's sub channels are the same power rating as the rest of the speaker channels, i.e. 40w @ 4 ohms, 60w @ 2 ohms, and since it is not bridgeable, that wouldn't be enough juice for a sub, so Tech12Volts uses the DSP function of the JBL amp to clean up and make the signal better before sending it to the factory amp to up the power. In your case, I'm wondering if it's set up like that and the reason you're not getting signal to your mono amp is that the signal is being routed to the factory amp instead.

If all the other speakers are working correctly, and you can get the mono amp to turn on, then connecting the RCA adapters to your red and yellow wires on the JBL DSP amp, and then using those newly created RCA ends to plug into your Kicker mono amp should work, and you'll then have the the "good" clean/tuned/DSP'd signal for the sub channel coming off the JBL amp to feed your Kicker amp.

Let me know if that makes sense and if not I can draw up a little wiring diagram to illustrate.