Kicker hideaway- final upgrade to the $250(+) 3rd gen premium upgrade (+Kicker Key 180.4 amp)

No just the 10”sub. It fills in well. I have a LOC with a volume knob so I can turn it up but Its not gonna win me any bass offs in the Walmart parking lot. I’m not 17 anymore I just want a nice sounding system which is what I ended up with. My only regret is maybe I should have gone for the ds series kickers instead. I’m guessing I could have gotten a little more volume out of them, again I’m just guessing.

 

Will be adding the Kicker Key amp at some point. Can someone confirm that these are the only two parts needed?

$12 Metra 71-1761 87 - 94 Toyota Vehicle Harness

Metra 71-1761

$7 Metra 70-1761 Radio Wiring Harness For Toyota 87-Up Power 4 Speaker

Metra 70-1761

 

These are what I bought to make the harness. These were the cheapest on Amazon with free shipping at the time I ordered them.

Stereo Wire Harness Toyota Tacoma... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00683W092?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

Metra 71-1761 87 - 94 Toyota...

$12 Metra 71-1761 87 - 94 Toyota Vehicle Harness

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00029X1KA?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

 

Yep!

 

I plan on adding a sub later so I'll need to tap the front speakers leads.

Should I tap on the input or output side of the key amp?

 

Input side

The output side will have crossovers and EQ’s set for the door speakers, and you don’t want that for the sub. The input side will still have the full, normal signal.

 

Cool. That's what I thought too, it's the least "processed" signal available. Cheers.

 

The blue wire (pin 8 in the middle of the 10-pin harness) is absolutely remote turn on (or more specifically, power antenna from the male harness, and the female harness has a jumper to the remote turn on side. However, this is definitely a 12v output from the radio when its turned on.
Orange or orange/white (pin 10 in the 10-pin harness) is illumination.

 

You are correct. Forgot I moved the blue wire to other harness that was not metra brand and was missing the illumination wire. Post deleted.

 

Glad I searched because I came to ask this exact question.

 

Thanks for an awesome thread! I'm convinced and will be adding the Kicker Key to my $250 upgrade - which I love. The only thing I'm unsure of is if I can T into the metra wire harness for power (both + and -)? I'm thinking of tapping into +12V ignition wire (pink I think) and ground (black) for power and using blue/white from metra for remote turn on. Will this work? And what gauge wire should I use to tap into the metra harness for power/ground?

 

FYI: Just took out and returned my Kicker Key amp today (see other thread I started) - tl;dr It had a pretty annoying high pitch noise coming out of it, no matter what the power source was w/ no inputs connected. Could just be a bad unit, not trying to scare you off. It did sound awesome other than that once I got it set up... so I was pretty sad to take it out and order a different amp.

* I would run a fresh wire for power from the battery. It's not that much work.
* On the Metra harness, you'll have two harnesses... You'll have an extra pin on the big one, easy to spot, it's a blue loop of wire. You will want to de-pin that and move it to the metra small (rear speaker) harness - This is the dimmer wire. If you don't do this the lights on the radio buttons will be off (instead of dim) when your headlights are on.

It will make sense once you're looking at it, just something to be aware of going into it.

 

That amp alone won’t sound as good as the key. You need a dsp or aftermarket head unit. I had an amp left over from a previous vehicle in it before I got the key sounded worse than stock. You probably got a bad one mine has no whine just the pink noise/hiss from the head unit.

 

This should help.

 

Will get an aftermarket head unit soon.

 

Now you got me worried. I have been going back and forth between the Key and the Alpine power pack. You are the first to mention de-pinning the solid blue wire. The last picture in the first post shows the blue wire loop intact - so I'm confused. Are there any downsides to tapping power and ground from the HU?

 

Don't be scared, just understand what you're getting yourself into. Others have been happy with the Key amp. I may have had a bad one.

I didn't have the key amp long enough to see what the power draw is. Sure, you can tap into the factory power feed. If you end up blowing fuses you need to run a fresh line from the battery. I always just start with a 4GA welding cable to power my accessories. I know I'll end up with other stuff attached. An inverter, sub amp, etc etc.

 

Get the key. I’m using power from the head unit and the amp barely gets warm. There’s good info on making the harness in this thread.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2016-bbp-audio-build.430252/

 

You can definitely get your power and ground at the radio.
I would recommend NOT getting it from any other source other than the radio OR straight to the battery. I’ve learned to never mess with the ECU or any other important wires in the truck. As others have stated, power from the radio works fine, or spend an extra 30 minutes running a 10awg wire to the battery with a 20 amp fuse. Nothing crazy.

 

What was the purpose of this blue looped wire?

I haven’t seen anything in this post about having to move that wire, where exactly did it move to?