MGMDesertTaco's audio build

I'm sure my 108 garage temp, the CDT's being underpowered and pulling power and ground from the head unit are contributing to the scorching amp temps. The Focal's I ordered should be a better match for the key.

 

That is some high temps in AZ. There are plans for building another reservoir here north of the city, a bigger one. I thought about building a wood ski boat eventually. I need a project.

 

Chimney Hollow?

Temps are unusually high for this early in the summer. Two years ago we had the hottest summer on record with the most consecutive days above 110. There's so much pavement and infrastructure the city just soaks it up and holds onto it like an oven. I like AZ a lot (stores, shopping, things to do) but I'd be happier spending my summers at a lake house with a boat dock. I've been looking at NC a lot lately, but I've never been.

 

Yeah chimney hollow is under construction. The one yet to be built is Glade reservoir north of Fort Collins and will be bigger. They have to reroute part of a HWY 287 which blows my mind.

 

NC is pretty nice, I’ve been all over west NC. We lived in Atlanta for a number of years, and I grew up in east TN. Nice lakes, all uber expensive living right on the lake these days though. I don’t miss the ticks and fleas, but the trees and lake water is great.

 

@MGMDesertTaco I agree with @soundman98 on the possibility of a ground or short somewhere and some of his troubleshooting advice with the amp. Also, a HPF won't affect the Unity's at all... I'm pretty sure that no matter what settings you have for the U-500 crossover, they will cut out the bass/mid-bass freqs for the Unitys, and would maybe make a minor difference on the 6x9s. Since I recall you saying the Focals sound just fine, have you tried switching the front & rear input/outputs? Switch them one at a time, first inputs - front to rear, rear to front (whites & greens, and greys & purples), then switch the outputs. If the Focals sound worse after swapping the inputs, you've got a bad signal going to the amp (aka HU wiring... or possibly the HU itself somehow). If they sound worse after the output swap, you've got a bad amp.

You're likely gonna have to check every wire you ran, and pull off every panel/speaker to inspect the wiring... you'd be surprised how easy it is to short the wiring you added. Also, test the speakers without the U-500 crossover in line and see how much difference that makes, and run temp wires just to make sure that you're using wiring that most likely isn't shorted out.

If you're not using power wires from the battery directly, at least run temporary wiring for that too (suggest using min 8awg wire... if that amp kit you bought doesn't have that, DM me). If you're having issues locating a proper ground, lemme know where you're putting the amp and if I need to, I'll go tear my interior apart and help you find one. And no, the seat bolts aren't a proper ground... can't tell you how many times I had to fix someone else's mistake (at the expense of my own install commissions/paid jobs) in the almost 10 yrs I spent installing stereos. Find a factory ground point, grind away any paint until you see bare metal, run a ground wire same size as your power wire to that point, and don't let anyone tell you that the ground needs to be as short as possible... you could literally run a ground wire back to the battery with the power wire and as long as the ground isn't any longer than the power wire, you won't hurt anything. Remember electricity follows path of least resistance, and your power wire length is going to determine the minimum.

If doing all this doesn't help the situation, then I'd reach out to CDT and inquire about warranty, and I'd send that amp back to Crutchfield for a real amp... if it's having issues with heat in that thing, the only way you're gonna get rid of heat is by increasing the surface area of the amp's heatsink. Here, this one is probably $130 or so more than the 200.4, about 30% more power output for the speakers, and it has a sub output (you're not gonna find a decent sub amp for that little anyhow). It's even got vertical mounting brackets for some reason

If after all that you still can't figure it out... pack your shit up, drive up to Oregon, and I'll help you... my neighbors will get a kick out of seeing three Tacomas in my driveway all being worked on at once

 

@TurboGT

Update:

It's finally cooled down to below 90 and I've spent the last half hour in the driveway messing with settings. I'm making quite a bit of progress. I pushed the gains a bit on the CDT's (left compression on) and we're thumping! Houston we have bass!

Factory head unit slightly faded to the front and is about 3-4 on bass and mids and treble on about 3 in addition to the keys autotune, which I need to recalibrate again anyway. The time delay is better left off on the key.

It's still entry level sounding and the 6x9 CDT's obviously want more, but we're working with what we've got for now. Also, with the ac on the amp is doing just fine and not overheating. I think the hot weather here is not playing well with the amp, but as long as it's got airflow it seems to be okay.

Separate power and ground is a must and will be done soon.

@hyper15125 Can you share what crossover settings you're working with? I'm still playing around with those.

Way too many combinations with the keys auto tuning, dip switches, factory head unit settings, and crossovers. Also, as soon as you change sources FM/HD radio to XM to CD, ect everything gets thrown off and needs to be recalibrated. I need to find the sweet spot for each.

I've still got the RSE-165's coming, but I don't know if I'll use them. Both the CDT's and Focal's have some nice sounds, but not the greatest match using them together. The CDT's really should be BI-AMP'd with the key and I'd recommend all Focal or all CDT.

For the subwoofer if I'm using the tacot**nes box and the 500.1 I'm looking at these:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_13692080/JL-Audio-10W1v3-2.html?tp=111
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091RSB250/Focal-RSB-250.html


I've also thought about returning the 500.1 and going with a powered JL box or a non powered JL box with the 500.1. The Tacoma stealthbox for $1000 just seems like a rip for what it is.

 

Excuse my poor recording skills trying to balance the amp and radio on the shifter. This was on CD. Tune still needs work, but it gives you an idea. Hopefully YouTube lets me post these as progress is made despite them claiming copyright. No copyright infringement intended.

https://youtu.be/bSLueNz3p3Q

 

I can pull a panel and take a photograph. The settings made no difference in the volume. I tried different combinations with the dip switches until the woofer no longer had what I call muddy bass.

I have crossover on my headunit and also have it cut at 80 there.

If your not Running power straight from the battery And dont have A sufficient ground that could be a major issue.

Like someone else said, turn all that DSP stuff off until you get the gains set. Your head unit needs to push enough signal so the amp pushes out enough power.

Definitely start with a proper power supply wire and ground.

 

I'm gonna re-suggest a different amp one more time and then drop it. If you're having overheating issues, a "regular" size amp will have a higher threshold for temps just by virtue of having more mass to distribute & dissipate the heat, not to mention a more simplified install process. Plus, if following my previous suggestion for an amp, you're paying about $540 for two Kicker Key amps with 50x4 & 500x1 power outputs where you're underpowering your front speakers (& maybe your rears too) but possibly overpowering your sub (based on your links) depending on how you wire it up, whereas for $405 you would get 65x4 & 300x1 (again, about 30% more power for the CDT's). Yeah, you lose the DSP & all those fancy features... but do you really need them? I know I never did

gonna get off that soapbox now

I hope you mean "soon" as in the very next thing you do on this install.

Those are some awful deep subs, assuming you're sticking them behind the rear seat backs and not on the seats themselves...

 

Hey OP, one thing that I’d mention, just FYI, if you go the HU replacement route, I was able to sell
my old OEM HU to a place in Florida that deals with them. I have the NEX 6600 that many folks are getting. But they seem to be out of stock these days and the price is inflated. Maybe it’s a good idea to wait a while…

 

I ran 8 gauge from B+ back to my Key Amps under the seat. For the ground I ran 8g under the door sill up to the kick panel beside the drivers foot. If you pop that off there is a funky ground junction with a whole bunch of factory shit going to it. Not far from that towards the rear, there is an empty thru hole that goes thru the sheetmetal. I figured if that area was good enough for the other stuff it would be good enough for me. Scraped off the paint and ran a 6mm bolt thru the backside out and tossed a star washer on before I put the ground lug on and added a nut. Works fine. Seat bolt seemed like a bad option so thats what I came up with if you want to go that route. Plenty of room for wires and well hidden, just dont use a hole that you need for the clips that hold that panel on lol

BTW I had a wake boat (hence the screen name), you're stereo problems don't get any cheaper lol. 10 speakers, 2 amps and a 12" sub in my Air Nautique lol

 

yea, i missed that you're attempting to power everything off the head unit power. i assumed you had already ran a new power/ground wire, just temped the other parts in.

that will definitely cause overheating issues as well!


i'm a really bad example of over/underpowering things. i've ran 100w rms into 10w rms speakers for almost 6 years until boredom set in...

 

The CDT 6x9's measured 2.6-3.4 (3 ohms) with the multimeter. I've removed them in anticipation of the Focal RSE-165's that are supposed to be here this afternoon via UPS.

Haven't decided on upgrading the key 200.4 for a bigger amp or downgrading the speakers and keeping the key DSP with the factory radio.

The kicker amp that was linked was still underpowered for the CDT's.

 

I vote bigger amp! Need more W’s for those Focal’s.

 

I'm leaning that way.

 

Hmm...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/stinger-heigh10.768506/#post-27436480

 

I mean, I’m not gonna stop ya! I love to spend money vicariously through others! I’m thinking I might upgrade, so I’m interested in the SQ factor of the Heigh10.

 

I mean if you're going for bigger, why not the Joying 11.6?

 

personally, i tend to shy away from android units.. android seems to be setup specifically to only last a few years until the newest version comes out. then no one makes anything for the older version, and the older version starts running slower