Really confusing wiring Kicker CSS674 component

I have determined what is positive and what is negative what I cannot determine is where the Hell I wire in my crossover at. Should I wire my red and black stock tweeter positive and negative at the input side of the cross over then wire in my kicker tweeter and mid or what?

 

Basically the wire that is currently going to your tweeter (Assuming your truck is like my 2013 base non JBL where the channel goes into the tweeter then passes through to the mid woofer). You're going to want to take the wires coming from the head unit to the door and connect them to the crossover. Then you will connect the Kicker tweeter to the tweeter output on the crossover and the kicker woofer to the woofer output on the crossover.

 

Interesting. I tried that way exactly as you described and recreated it on both sides to keep everything equal LF and RF and the tweeters as well as the speakers both sounded like absolute garbage! I am thinking that it had to do because apparently the JBL amp is made to run 8 Ohm speakers and the kickers are 4 Ohm speakers?

 

As long as your JBL amp is stable to 4 ohms, then you should be safe. Most probable reason why it sounds like crap is because the amp has a built in crossover for the tweeter. I never dealt with the JBL system, so I can't confirm. But it wouldn't surprise me if it did.

If the woofer output isn't run through a low pass crossover then you should use that instead. It will most likely have more watts on that output channel (vs the tweeter output channel).

 

Very good points. I don't have the JBL system so I'm not sure either on the amp specs. I would assume the JBL amp is 4 ohm stable since 4ohm is very common. You could try connecting your tweeter to where the oem tweeter connected and same with the woofer and try not using your crossover. If this sounds significantly better I would guess your amp has a built in crossover like mentioned above.


Edit: start with very low volume if you do this then slowly work your way up to reduce the risk of speaker damage.

 

Hmm... I'm really hesitant to keep pulling the door panel and continuing to do this. I never tried it without the crossover, I probably should have, but in theory I should be able to use my kicker tweeter with the stock woofer correct?

The thing is that I never saw any kind of stock crossover. I just heard the JBL's were only good to 8 ohms which Is why I cut the experiment short after the endless attempts at the different wiring configurations.

 

Okay, here's my question about that, how would I be able to use the woofer output channel when the tweeter output channel is where the signal input starts from supposedly?

 

I have no experience with mixing oem woofer with aftermarket tweeter. The only thing I imagine could cause problems is that the woofer is 8 ohm and your aftermarket stuff is 4. Also I'm not sure how the stock amp works, but it's possible there is a high / low pass filter that's enabled, also since its an oem unit it may have crossovers built into the amp? At this point I'm just speculating because I've never seen the JBL system.

 

Damn. Looks like I'll have to find out right now.

 

I just have to say that buying the truck with JBL WAS THE worst idea ever. Nothing worked and I attempted to pull apart the backseat and that sucked then I tried to connect back at the amp itself, it sounded okay but I was unable to raise and lower volume for some reason. The plug was unplugged when I tested it as an FYI but I also found out during the process that my passenger rear speaker has been inop for quite some time. I pulled apart the door panel to see if anything happened and sure enough it was whole.

F this system. Flat out.

 

I test drove a TRD OR model that had the JBL system and the salesguy was like "sounds good, huh?" I just gave him the "yeah" and knew in the back of my head I could make it sound a heck of a lot better for cheaper than the JBL option. I recommend the JBL for those that are happy with better than mediocre, but if you're ever planning to upgrade then the JBL is nothing but headaches.

 

I don't recommend JBL to anyone even if you are looking for a factory "upgrade" point blank period. It is a total waste that has been my absolute displeasure to experience. Nothing but issues!

 

Assuming I am following this route, does the stock setup have a crossover somewhere?

I haven't removed anything yet. Just planning to do this December. Hopefully I can tell which wire is negative/positive. I can always make note and test the polarity (using the battery method on the speaker).