JL Audio Upgrade

[BIRDMAN]

No, that thingamajig is what the wiring harness runs in. It has a solid plug on the end of it that plugs into the cab.


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i'll look at mine and see if i can concoct a solution. Can you just cut the speaker wires and tap in to them before the harness?

 

[dolfanatic1399]

I suppose that would be an option if all else fails. I would just hate to step down in wire size.
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[dolfanatic1399]

Well here is my delimma. I have ran my speaker wire up to this road block.

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This is the factory wiring harness plugged in.

Here it is unplugged. As you can see there is no way in hell to get new wires through this plug without drilling holes it and I am not gonna take a chance of ******* this plug up. :thumbdown:

Here is a pic of fhe factory speaker wire. In the lower left corner you can see it next to my new speaker wire.

So, should I just splice into the factory wires and call it good. From what I here the wire should be rated for it. Am I really going to noticed that much difference in sound quality in my new speakers that are rated for 60W rms?

Now, if I were installing 150W focals like Boss Hoss did, I might need to think about running 16 gauge all the way to the speakers. But for now I think I will just splice into the factory wires like Bird suggested.

Any one else run into this problem, if so I sure would like to here how they resolved it. I know Boss Hoss said his installers run new wire through the factory boot, but he is not sure how they did it either.

 

[willis68]

The difference in sound is so little that I seriously doudt you will be able to hear it. I have installed a whole bunch of car stereos earlier in life and in all honesty the speaker wires are not worth the headache that you are going through,


Splice them and call it a day, that is what I would do in a heartbeat!

 

[dolfanatic1399]

The difference in sound is so little that I seriously doudt you will be able to hear it. I have installed a whole bunch of car stereos earlier in life and in all honesty the speaker wires are not worth the headache that you are going through,


Splice them and call it a day, that is what I would do in a heartbeat!

I would tend to think you are probably right. The wire size difference is minimal. I will however leave plenty of wire at the splice just in case I need it to run into the door in the future.
I found this link on another forum. It has some options to keep it clean in the event I need to drill new holes to route my wire. http://www.keepitcleanwiring.com/catalog/Wire-Management
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[dolfanatic1399]

Got everything powered up today. Just got to few things left to tidy up. System sounds great, even without running new speaker wire all the way to the front doors. Will need to find tune each amp a little more.
The only con that I have is the volume control from the clean sweep. In order to have the best quality sound you need to use it and have the head unit volume should be set at around 3/4. That means the center speaker and tweets stay on all the time, since they are not run through the clean sweep. I disconnected the center speaker all together. I will probably try to hook up the tweets in parallel with the front doors.
Option 2 would be to use the head unit volume control all the time and sacrafice a bit of quality if you want to really listen to it cranked up.
Will have to find a different fuse to hook up my remote turn on wire. Have it hooked into an spot that is hot when you turn on the key. Thats a big mistake,
Have yet to upgrade my Big 4. I checked voltage on the battery before and after install. As of to right now I have dropped from 14.4 volts down to 14.1 volts. Not to bad really. Can live with that for now and will upgrade soon.
All in all the system rocks and will sound better when I get it tuned in a little more i am sure. Some pics to come when I get everthing wrapped up.

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[dolfanatic1399]

Oh shit, lessoned learned, follow the manufactures instructions. Was do pissed at my self for trying to cut s corner this late in the game.
Do not try to calibrate your sub while your door speakers are hooked up. I was using the calibration disc that came with the clean sweep to tune the input sensitivity on my sub yesterday. Was to lazy to unhook the door speakers. What could it hurt, right? When the right rear speaker started smoking I found out. I guess 50 hz at 3/4 volume for an extended period of time is no good.
So, had to order another pair of speakers today. Went with the C5-570x this time. Got a decent deal through Sonic Electronix. Should be here monday.
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[SwampKing]

I was wanting to upgrade my already upgraded audio system that I ordered from factory, LOL. I had the impression that this sound system was great. By that, I started thinking about the greatness of sound LOUDNESS that I had in my Tundra with the OEM JBL upgraded sound AND WELL, Tundra's loudness is not comparable to our trucks. This is the only downfall by FORD in these trucks. We are paying for high end stuffs, what's the cheaper alternatives to making our stock speakers get feasibly louder without going balls to the wall all out system? I was wanting to get an amp on my stock speakers WITH OEM navi......? Our speakers see like they have a little bit more in them!




12' Race Red Raptor SCAB (Loaded to the max!)
SCABS are faster!!
08' SeaDoo RXP-X Clockin' 80+ GPS

 

[Boss Hoss]

SwampKing---the factory speakers are junk. Put power to them and you will see that they will not last very long or sound worth a flip.

 

[SwampKing]

What's the next best/cheaper alternatives then? I def want crisp and thinking since I had the pro Boston acoustics in my last truck that I would try focals but I'm not too familiar with which direction to go?



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