KickerCS Upgrade with Kicker Key amp Install Assistance

The speaker doesn’t change what the radio is sending it. It just does what it’s told.

fade your radio all the way to the rear and you’ll hear just how useless the rear channels are from the factory radio

 

i hacksawed the middle plastic piece to have better access to the key.

 

I did mine pretty much like exactly like this. I plan on either installing under the passenger seat or behind the rear seats. I extended the power and ground from the large metra harness to reach the yellow and black wires. Any issues with extending the power and ground wires? Thanks!!

 

If you’re putting the amp anywhere other than behind the radio, you’ll want a dedicated power wire to the battery. A basic 10awg power kit will be fine

 

Is running the power and ground with the t harness not advisable, if were mounting under the seat? And why? Trying to avoid future electrical issues. Thanks!

 

It is not advisable to pull power and ground from the factory wiring / Metra t-harness when placing the amp somewhere else.

distance = resistance
Resistance + thin wire = bad

We’re already on the cusp of being able to use the factory power for the OEM radio in the first place, but the minute we start making wires even longer, that extra length is technically making the Key pull even more power (because there is power lost through resistance in the wire, so it pulls more power to make up for that.)

10awg power kits are cheap, and you don’t want to be blowing fuses or risk a fire over something trivial like that.

 

@destin_meeks . There are two different kicker key units. One is a 180w and the other is 200w for just a $50 price difference . Confirm if both work for the tacoma and work just fine? As well as the better buy between the two? As in, is the 200 w version worth the $50 dollar price differance?

 

The 200w is the new one. I’m pretty sure they are discontinuing the 180w (but I don’t work there so don’t quote me on that)

 

Back with another question. Got the key installed, sounds great. I can not get this darn auto eq working for the life of me.

- put the mic on top of the driver headrest
- set the amp to min gain. Set the HU flat
- turn on the pink noise tone downloaded from the kicker site. Streaming via bluetooth.
- activate the key microphone
- wait until I get the happy/sad tones

I keep getting the auto eq failed error, 4 beeps.

Any suggestions? Not sure whybmy simple mind cant get this thing to work. Thanks!

 

Ideally, don’t use Bluetooth. Use aux or usb.

make sure the radio volume is up relatively loud. I always did it a bit louder than they recommend. In the 45-50 range on the factory radio

 

I saw a video that recommended not streaming the pink noise wirelessly, but FML I don't have a computer to put it on a flash drive and I thought I had a bunch of those darn 3.5 cables somewhere. That's the only thing I can think of that I'm doing wrong.

Thanks as always!!

 

Just plug your phone in through usb

 

Oh shit! Duh. Not even sure why I didn't think of that. Haha.

 

And that is what the forum is for

 

IIRC, the auto setup says to run at 3/4 volume, on my stock HU Max was 62 and I set it to 47 and ran the test. I downloaded the .wav file from the site. Rolled up the windows, told everybody to be vewy vewy qwiet. Got the happy beeps, I think its Shave and a Haircut tune, but the way it sounds with the beeps, it reminded me of the old Galaga challenge stage theme.

 

Yeah outside noise is super important as well. If you can do it in a silent closed garage, that’s the best way. I’ve had people say they had to wait till late at night after cars weren’t driving by to do it. It’s VERY sensitive to external noise

 

Destin Meeks strikes again. Sure as shit. I found an old USB stick and a shitty ass laptop. Loaded the pink noise on the usb fired up the auto eq and first try got the happy tones.

Streaming pink noise really is a no no to the kicker key.

 

The Bluetooth quality on those radios is shockingly bad. You don’t notice it if it’s al you listen to, but the minute you stream something through Bluetooth and then play it through usb, it changes everything.

my guess (and I have no idea if this is correct) is that the Bluetooth bitrate is so bad that the amp isn’t actually playing true pink noise, so the mic isn’t hearing everything it’s supposed to, so it can’t tune itself.

 

Would you include the 2018 Entune in this statement? The bluetooth seems pretty good to me, and I never had any issue running the autoEQ through it. I don't use the USB much because of the inconvenience, but maybe I should give it another try,

 

The 2018 was the same as the 2017 wasnt it? So yeah I’d include it lol. I will say, I only almost used Bluetooth back when I had my stock radio. The hassle of a cord just didn’t matter enough to me. I say try a cord for 2-3 days, and you’ll know if there’s enough difference for you to care. I mostly listen to podcasts and audiobooks so the quality difference didn’t matter. Try both and see what works best for you