My Stereo Setup

JayAre · Sep 15, 2009

So I just traded in my 1st gen 4Runner a month ago for an 05 Tacoma. I swapped the stereo system I had in it, so I thought I would share with you all. It's all mainly all old equipment, but it still sounds good and hits hard...

Panasonic CQ-C7403U with Metra dash kit. I didn't like the plastic clips of the dash kit for the single din head unit, so I used the stock metal mounts like it was a double din...it doesn't line up quite right, so I have to fix that at another time.

Sirius Unit specifically for the deck mounted under the seat. Wires right into the back of the deck and is controlled by it as well. It kind of looks like it sticks out, but it is well under the seat. You can't see it.

I mounted the antenna in the corner of the dash for now because I didn't want to take off my head liner and go through my brake light. The reception is fine.

The deck has an auxiliary input in the form of RCA jacks. I have an RCA to headphone cable which hooks up to my mp3 player. I put this in the glove box, but I may re-route it to my center console. I don't really use it that much though.

I have a set of kenwood 6x9s in the front doors, and a pair of clarion 6.5s in the rear doors. Sorry, I don't have pics of those. I did them at a different time. I made my own baffles for them out of 1/2" mdf in rear, 3/4" in front. They are mounted to the deck for now because my 4 channel amp is too big to fit under the seat, but they are plenty loud and sound great. The deck has a 7 band eq and crossover built in.

Now moving on to the good stuff...The Bass...

A pair of JL 12w3's wired in series at 4ohms in a custom sealed box made from 3/4" mdf. I actually made this box back in 2000 for my 86 Toyota Hilux Extracab. The grilles are made by Phoenix Gold.

I don't remember where I got this terminal, but it is freakin burly...it measures 4"x6" and those terminals are bigger than a quarter around.

I have 4 gauge wired to the amp, and 12 gauge wired to the sirius unit. Both fused close to the battery like they should be. I originally bought a new positive terminal, but it didn't work out, so I just used the stock one.

The silver 4 gauge is power wire for the amp, the blue wire is the remote wire.

I wired my remote wire to a switch so that I can cut the sub amp off at any time. Two reasons for this: if I see a cop, and, more importantly, my subs are easily removable if I need the back seats, I need to be able to cut power to the amp if I take out the subs.

Here is my JL 500/1 amp wired up. I cut a slit in the carpet to route my +, -, and remote wires. The amp is grounded to the floor board. I had to remove half of my heat sinks due to the seat position sensor for the airbags. No over heating yet, and I don't expect to have any. The speaker wires are on the right...you'll see how those are routed next.

I routed by sub wire under the carpet and down the back of the cab. They then come out in between the seat belts. I use banana plugs so that I can easily plug and unplug my subs.

Here are the subs installed. I use a ratcheting tie down so they don't tip forward since it's a shallow box. Hopefully it will also hold in the event of an accident, so my subs don't kill me

Driver's seat is set where I keep it btw.