KickerCS Upgrade with Kicker Key amp Install Assistance

It makes the radio lights dim when you turn on your headlights like normal operation I believe. If it's not wired up your radio will be at full brightness all the time.

 

Yes. The blue wires from the metra harnesses are connected with the blue remote wire coming from the key.

 

O wow, thanks for the explanation! Will definitely be doing that

 

Thanks! Also, if I'm running the 4 door speakers what should the back switches be switched to? Should the fader on or off? Thanks!

 

Hey guys,

I hope Im going crazy but after going thru this thread, between two of the photos uploaded, there seems to be a discrepancy:
It looks like the input for the left front and right front are going to different connectors. Is it me or am I going crazy?

 

The lower picture is incorrect and was fixed before soldering

 

Destin_meeks is correct. I had the wires incorrectly going into the female rather than the male. It pays to triple check your wiring prior to making your final connections. I also printed out the correct picture and continued to re-check as I was soldering.

 

I assumed as much, just wanted to confirm. Thanks guys!

 

Fader should be switched to on if using front and rear speakers.

 

Thanks! Also, what does the fader do?

 

"Fader" is front to rear, so it tells the amp you're using 4 front and rear inputs as opposed to just 2 front inputs

 

Just finished my install of the key and hideaway. Couldnt have done it without this thread. Thanks!

 

Thank you! Put mine to off and I just noticed that the rear speakers were not even ON this whole time. I will change the Fader to ON tomorrow morning which I hope makes it sound better since the las 2 days I had it OFF. Haha. Also, should the compressor be ON or OFF if I have both gains very low? Thanks guys! This thread has helped A LOT!

 

I do the compressor off

 

Hello all,

I have just ordered all of my pieces and parts, thank you for all the posts. One question I have, is that I would like to wire the power straight to the battery (with an inline fuse). How does the harness from post #145 get altered to account for this?

 

The red wires from the Key harness need to go to the battery instead of to the yellow metra wires

 

Thank you very much!

 

Hi all, first post on Tacoma World. Just got my Tacoma a month ago and have been reading and learning about how to upgrade the speakers and get some more bass for the stock stereo. I am seeing folks order the Metra adapters and make a custom harness for the Kicker Amp. I see the

$11 71-1761 87 - 94 Toyota Vehicle Harness

71-1761 and understand what that connect to. No problem there. What is the

$5 70-1761 Radio Wiring Harness For Toyota 87-Up Power 4 Speaker

70-1761 harness for? I can see the Metra 71-1760 will plug into the back of the Entune stock stereo so it is reasonable to think the 70-1761 mates to the harness that will be unplugged from the back of the Enture Stereo. Looking at the pictures of this connect it just does not look like it mates correctly. What am I not understanding with this harness?

ETA: I did some more digging and found much better picture of the 70-1761 harness and see it is actually the mating connector to the 71-1760.

Answered my own question and looking forward to getting more bass out of my stereo. I am taking a slightly different approach and adding 8" Sub first and then going back and adding the other components last. Can't wait to get more lows into the truck.


ETA#2: Another Question: If I were to install the Kicker Key amp under the drivers seat, could I use CAT5 cable to carry the 4 audio channels from the stock 7" Entune deck to the high level input at the amplifier or would I get crosstalk? If I cannot (or should not) use Cat5 for this, what would be the best solution?

 

I would not use cat5 for that application. It is only 24awg wire, and even the wimpy power output of the radio can max around 20 watts.

What you’re looking for is speedwire. 9 conductor, 18awg wiring inside a single sleeve (think cat5 but thicker wire)

A roll will typically be 20 feet. That’s plenty to reach under the seat and back. One length to carry audio from the radio (and the male portion of the t-harness) and one length to carry the higher powered signal back (and into the female portion of the harness)

Here is what your final harness would look like at the radio


Then run power power to the Key and pick a good ground point.

 

Thank you sir, that is exactly what I was looking for. I got the Metra connections on order and just put the Speedwire and some harness wrap in my shopping cart as well. I have not yet ordered the Key Amp or speakers.

I've read all of the posts in the audio forums and have a question that I think you will be able to answer. I see everyone is going for the Kickers, which I am fine with, but would it serve me better to go with individual component instead of 3 way speakers? I read so much pushing one way or the other and I am just not sure which would sound the best.

Ultimately what I want as a final product is to use the existing stock Entune head unit, kicker Key, replace the 4 door speakers and dash tweeters (if I must) and a small 8" powered sub. I am not looking to let everyone hear my music, nor really shake the mirror. I just want a good sounding system with decent bass. (Not like when I was a kid with twin 15's) ;-)

I see a lot of suggestions on here, not saying any are bad or good, just noticing the differences in speaker selection. I lot of folks seem to pick the 6x9 3 ways and some kicker 6.5" component with the nice tweeter replacements. If you wanted to have a clean sound, what is the way to go?