Kicker CXA660.5 Amplifier and 46TL7T82 Loaded Subwoofer

Kicker CXA660.5 Amplifier 4x65W (4 ohm) and subwoofer 300W (2 ohm)



Kicker 46TL7T82 loaded subwoofer contains 8" LT7 Solo-Baric 350 Watt RMS subwoofer has dual 4 ohm voice coils wired at 2 ohms. Frequency range is 30 -100Hz with 700 watts peak power.



Shortly after buying my 2020 I upgraded the door and dash speakers. I bought Kicker 46CSC6934 for the front doors and

$72 Kicker 46CSC674 CS-Series CSC67 6.75" (165mm) Coaxial Speakers, 4-Ohm (Pair)

Kicker 46CSC674 for the rear doors.



I also upgraded the dash tweeters with Kicker's "

$106 Subaru H631SFJ101 Subaru Genuine Tweeter Kit Kicker WRX STi Forester Crosstrek Impreza H631SFJ101

Subaru H631SFJ101 tweeters"



I thought about buying a 4 Channel Kicker Key Amp but considered buying a subwoofer for a while. 3 years later I decided to buy a subwoofer that fit behind the seat. That is where the Kicker 46TL7T82 loaded subwoofer came in. There is an optional Kicker grill

$20 08GL78 Square 8" 200mm Cast Grille

08GL78 that you can buy for this 350 watt LT7 Solo-Baric 8" square subwoofer.



To install the loaded sub, there is a small thin fin on the bottom of the bin that needs to be trimmed away so the box sits flat. You will also need to make a small hole in the base of the bin for the 12 gauge speaker wire.

I purchased the

$81 Kicker 46CK4 K-Series Complete 4-AWG Amplifier Connection Kit W/ 2-Channel RCA Interconnects

Kicker 46CK4 amplifier install kit which included the 17' 4 gauge power wire, 4' 4 gauge ground wire, Kicker FHS fuse holder, 12' 12 gauge speaker wire. I did not use the 17' RCA's or 17' amp turn on wire.





The plan was to buy the factory harness adapter and cut it in half so no modification to the Toyota 2020 head unit wiring is needed. This adapter is available on Amazon and ebay.



The Kicker CXA660.5 amplifier has "HI" and "LOW" level inputs, I used the "HI" level input to connect the Toyota head unit's speaker outputs to the Kicker amp RCA audio inputs. I also turned the fader "ON" to use both front and rear audio from the head unit. Stinger sells 20' of 9 conductor speedwire that uses EIA standard colors the same as the harness adapter cable above.



I cut the Stinger cable into 2 pieces to make 2 harnesses. The first harness has the female side of the harness adapter that plugs into the Toyota head unit and will have RCA's donated from an old Acoustic Research patch cable. I used this patch cable because I could unscrew the back shell and solder the Stinger wire to it. WHITE is front left, GREY is front right, GREEN is rear left, VIOLET is rear right and a BLUE used for amp turn on. The BLUE wire was not used because the Kicker amp can sense audio from the head unit and turn itself on.



The second harness has a male connector which connects the amp's audio output to the Toyota speaker harness. Again the adapter harness and Stinger wire are the same color code. For the Kicker fuse holder I used a piece of rigid ABS plastic and heated and bent it into shape to make a fuse holder mount. This sits on top of the threaded rod of the battery clamp assembly, I added some holes to tie wrap the power wire to the mount. The positive battery terminal has a bolt that is easily removed to connect the wire to the clamp. Remove the fuse from the Kicker fuse holder before connecting the wire. There is a silver label on the power wire showing where to cut the power wire for the fuse holder.



With the extra piece of 4 gauge power wire I was able to add an additional ground wire to the body. The square head bolt in the ground battery clap was replaced with a slightly longer hex head bolt. The crimped stakon on the ground cable was first installed tightly on the longer bolt with a nut then installed into the clamp and the existing nut used to tighten the clamp. This ground wire is in parallel to the factory ground wire which is crimped to the original negative post clamp. The final part of the install was adding the ground wire after the amplifier was installed. The added ground wire is blue and has 2 yellow stakons connecting the body to the negative battery terminal. Make sure you install the fuse holder with the fuse REMOVED.



The Kicker CXA660.5 amplifier requires an 80 amp AFS fuse. The Kicker install kit includes an 100 amp fuse. I was able to buy a pack of ten AFS 80 amp fuses from Amazon for $6.99 CDN.



The most time consuming part was running the power wire through the fire wall and along the door frames to the back seat area where the amplifier would be installed. I thought I could install under the front passenger's seat but the amplifier is too long and too high. The overall length is 14 5/8" inches including the black speaker output connector. It would not slide under the seat or would it allow movement of the seat due to the bar at the back underside of the seat. The driver seat is powered and probably has less room and you still need room for wires to connect to the amp and access to setup the amp controls.







Everything was ordered and the last item I received was the Kicker Amplifier. I needed to find a location to install it into or return it for 2 smaller amps that would fit under the front seats. There was no room next to the loaded sub and it was too large for the smaller bin on the drivers side. The storage compartment had the jack in it so the last place was the rear driver side storage.



I can make it work! It will sit 2" off the bottom and still clear the cover latch with room to spare. What's under the carpet? Metal support framing with some holes. Going to have to drill some holes in the storage bin for power at the door sill area and near the center consul for the 2 wire harnesses and Kicker remote bass control wire. Recommend using a flat wood bit when drilling large holes in the plastic bin. Also a small pilot hole is needed. Beware a large round solid bit can tear the plastic verses the 3 pointed flat wood bit. I used 1-1/4" and 7/8" bit.


When removing the bins the red clips on the back side of the storage bins will break and this is hard to avoid and kinda expensive from Toyota, like $3 each! They are also used in the overhead consul near the windshield incase you plan to adventure in there.



To install the Kicker amplifier into the storage bin area I had to remove the storage bins and rear seats to route the wiring into the bin area. I also removed the 2 storage bins behind the rear seats. The amplifier could sit on something approximately 2 inches thick in the bin. I decided to use 2 metal brackets and 4 large rubber grommets to support the amplifier. I ended up drilling three 3/8" holes in a row to make an oval opening and insert the round rubber grommet. The metal bracket would push snugly inside the grommet on each side of the bin. I tested the fitment on a spare piece of plastic. You can trim the excess points after drilling 3 holes with a knife to make the oval shape.



My plan was to have 2 cross bars but I drilled a 1-1/4" hole for the wiring where the bracket need to go. Not a problem as I did not cut the final length of the bracket yet. I had to make due with one bracket mounted on an angle and only one screw attached.



As you can see top bracket will install at an angle and the lower bracket will be straight. The lower bracket is also going through on the left where the bin is angled. There is more space at the rear of the bin vs the front edge. Once installed I marked where the amplifier would be mounted so I could drill and tap the steel brackets. The brackets ended up around 7 3/4" and 7 1/2"in length.



Wired in and mounted to the brackets with 2 inches of open space under the amplifier for the sub and speaker output wires to reach the rear connectors.



The SUB input is set to AMP2 which is the rear speaker amplifier and the black remote bass control cable is plugged in. AMP1, AMP2 and the SUB each have a gain control and cross over. (I later swapped the front and rear audio inputs, as the front channel audio levels are higher. This alowed a lower sub gain which provides more power to the subwoofer.)



The remote bass control is run through the center console area to the switch panel left of the steering wheel. I removed the bass control from the mounting bracket and drilled a mounting hole in the switch panel.




There is a WARNING with the remote bass control. The cable has a 3.5mm headphone style connector at both ends of the cable. It is important not to plug the cable into the amplifier when powered on without the other end plugged into the remote bass control. The open connection can cause the amp to output maximum power and possibly cause damage to your speakers or amplifier.




The certified power of my 660 watt amp is 776 watts RMS. The Kicker 46CSC693-4ohm front door speakers can handle 150 watts and the 46CSC67-4ohm rear can handle 100 watts. The Kicker 46TL7T8-2ohm Loaded Subwoofer can handle 350 watts. Here are the specifications of the Kicker CXA660.5 amplifier.

• 5-channel car amplifier
  • 65 watts RMS x 4 + 150 watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohms
  • 90 watts RMS x 4 + 300 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms
  • 180 watts RMS x 2 bridged at 4 ohms + 300 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms
• CTA-2006 compliant
• front and rear channels:
  • Class AB amp technology
  • frequency response: 20-20,000 Hz
  • variable high-pass filter (10-200 Hz, 12 dB/octave)
• subwoofer channel:
  • Class D amp technology
  • frequency response: 25-200 Hz
  • variable low-pass filter (50-200 Hz, 12 dB/octave)
  • fixed subsonic filter (25 Hz, 24 dB/octave)
  • variable bass boost (0-6 dB at 40 Hz)

Other Features:

• preamp and speaker-level inputs
  • speaker-level inputs require speaker wire to RCA adapters
• optional remote bass level controller available for sub channel
• 3-second delay for turn-on and turn-off
• includes hardware for vertical mounting
• wiring, fuse, and hardware not included with amplifier
  • 4-gauge power and ground leads and an 80-amp fuse recommended
• dimensions: 14-5/8"W x 2-3/8"H x 6-3/4"D

 

nice install.

i've been using these instead of the wood bits like that-- i've had the wood bits spontaneously break plastic at different times as well.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-SHOCKWAVE-Thin-Wall-Hole-Saw-Kit-3-Piece-49-22-4800/204994424

 

Nice setup OP! How do you like the subwoofer? and what head unit do you have? I am considering getting the same sub like yours or the one with passive radiator.

 

I am very happy with the new Kicker 8" solo-baric sub and fitment is perfectly snug in the rear pasenger bin. I had to make one small hole in the passenger side bin for the 12 awg speaker wire. Definitely enjoying the added bass which was completely missing from the stock system. I have the 2020 non JBL head unit. No CD but Android Auto / Apple Car Play, with the 4 speakers (8 wires) on a 10 pin connector. I set the crossover just above 100 Hz as the frequency response of the sub is 30 to 100 Hz and the amp sub output is 25 to 200 Hz. Power wise the 350 watt sub is perfect for the 300 watt RMS amp. The Kicker 8" loaded sub is sealed and functions without any issues. Don't expect to flip coins on the roof with the bass but instead enjoy good bass in the Tacoma.

 

Clean install! Looks great!

I’d like to voice an opinion you didn’t ask for lol

Consider swapping the front and rear channels on the amp since you are sending the rear channel signal to the sub.
The rear speakers in our trucks sadly have almost ALL bass stripped from them inside the head unit. Swapping your front signal to use channel 2 will get you significantly improved bass performance and sound quality

 

I appreciate the suggestion and will try that to see if there is a difference. I did consider connecting the fronts to Amp B where the sub is picking off audio for the for the sub amp. I thought the stock rear speakers should be receiving full audio bandwidth.

 

Not even close to full bandwidth unfortunately

 

Are you running the tweeters on the dash off of the kicker amp as well or are they powered by the headunit?

 

Yes I have the Kicker (Subaru) tweeters in the dash. In my setup the kicker amp output goes to the 8 wire speaker harness which was unplugged from the head unit. Each tweeter is wired in parallel with the front door speaker. Each front channel (left and right) has 2 speaker wires (+ and -) from the head unit which go to the tweeter and 2 other wires that go to the front door speaker. The Kicker tweeters are plug and play with a 4 wire connector and have a built in crossover to only receive high frequency audio.

 

I swapped the front channel audio inputs from AMP 1 to AMP 2 on the Kicker amplifier. The audio level is much lower on the rear channels, about 20% based on the gain settings. The front channel gain is set to 30% and rear channel gain is set 50%. This was also the case before swapping the front and rear channels. In the new configuration I set both amp crossovers to off. Since the sub audio is picked off AMP 2 I had to adjust the gain of the sub input. I did this change outside yesterday, it was -5 C or 23 F but sunny.

 

Curious to know if you noticed a difference in the sub after making the switch, or if that theory has just been conceptual in my head

 

Rear proof would be with a spectrum analyzer to determine the presence of audio in the 20 to 200 hz range and compare both front and rear channels. The 2020 factory head unit may output different frequency ranges on front and rear channels. Maybe Toyota has limited the audio range to suit the factory speakers. I can say for sure the audio level is different and bass is available on both channels for the sub. On the 2020 factory head unit there is more power driving the tweeters and front door speakers. Using my ears I heard a similar amount of bass and tried a few different music tracks which all sounded as good if not better. Still difficult to hear if I was missing some of the audio in the sub range. A person could make some audio files at 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 Hz and confirm playback on the front and rear channels with the sub disconnected.

 

After a few days of listening I definitely have more bass from the front speakers and with the new gain adjustments cleaner bass from the subwoofer.

The day I opted to swap front and rear channels between AMP 1 and AMP 2 was cold and I had issues when setting the sub gain and crossover. For some strange reason I could not adjust the sub gain beyond 22.03v to the 24.49v setting. I tried swapping the front and rears but had the same issue. The sub crossover was set to 50 Hz and by adjusting it to the midpoint 125 Hz I was able to set the gain to 24.49v. The original installation had no issues and was straight forward. I may have had the sub crossover set to 200 Hz when setting the sub gain and later adjusting the sub crossover near 100 Hz. I also was using a different USB drive with the 1000 Hz and 50 Hz test tones. The issue with the sub gain bothered me and I remembered the Amp Fader switch was off and I must of pressed it by mistake. When off it uses one stereo channel input to drive all speakers. Another thing crossed my mind was the fact that the temperature was cold that day and the truck had been sitting for the weekend. Perhaps the battery voltage was effecting my amp. I did not run the truck when turning on the head unit. I did remember the head lights were on while adjusting the amp and turned them off. Since I questioned the battery voltage, low gain maxing out, crossover voltage effect, different USB drive with .wav and .mp3 test tones. I needed to verify the cold day installation was setup properly, so here we go.

After disconnecting all the door speakers and sub I started up the truck. I made sure that the head unit was set flat, 0 Fade, 0 Balance, 0 Treble, 0 Mid, 0 Bass and no equalization of audio level. Remote Bass control set fully clock-wise. Play back 1000 Hz 0db MP3 test tone adjust volume on head unit to 45. I measured the amp output of the front and rear door speakers and found it high at 17.3v. The front and rear channels were set to 16.12v from the Kicker Power Chart. I shut off the vehicle and set front, rear and sub gains to minimum. Amp 1 and Amp 2 crossovers set to off and sub crossover set to 50 Hz. I checked the resistance of the subwoofer and found 2 ohms as expected. The door speakers were all 4 ohms as expected. First test was setting 16.12v on front and rear channels with the vehicle running this time. I measured the front and rear channels again with the vehicle engine off and accessory power on. The amp output voltage was within 0.01v of the vehicle running and I had just drove from work within the hour. I also played the 1000 Hz 0db .MP3 and WAV files and measured the front and rear channels and found the same output voltage for each file type. I swapped the USB dive to the one I used on my first install and found the test tones generated the same output voltage. Good to move on, rear speakers on Amp 1 and front speakers on Amp 2. Amp 1 Gain set about 55-60% and Amp 2 Gain about 35-40%. Rear channels definitely have a lower audio level. Next is to set the Sub Amp Gain with the 50 Hz 0db test tone with volume at 45. The sub crossover adjustment affects the Sub Amp output voltage. The Sub output voltage was adjusted to 24.49v with the sub crossover set at 50 Hz. Adjusting the sub crossover to 200 Hz caused the voltage to rise to 31.4v. This suggests that the sub crossover should be set near where you want it before adjusting the gain. 80 Hz is the suggested starting point and I set mine near 100 Hz as the frequency range of the sub is 30 - 100 Hz. My last adjustment was setting the Sub Gain back to 24.49v near 40%. My original setup had rear channels on Amp 2 and the Sub Gain was near 65% due to the lower rear audio level compared to the front.

Time to turn the head unit volume down and turn off the vehicle so I can connect all the speakers. Like I said at the start of this post there is more bass coming from the front door speakers and probably more power from the sub from the lower sub gain setting. As suggested by Destin Meeks it is better to feed the sub from the front speaker channels vs the rear.

Lastly I downloaded a subwoofer test app to inject some frequency tones below 50 Hz. This will determine if the 2020 Toyota head unit is capable of playing back audio below 50 Hz. The rear speaker frequency response starts at 40 Hz and front speakers start at 30 Hz. My phone speakers bearly play a 60 Hz frequency but when connected to the head unit there is audio. I did not disconnect the sub and used the head unit fader options to play 40 Hz in the front and rear areas of the vehicle. The 40 Hz audio was much louder in the front than the rear. 30 Hz is barely heard in the rear door speakers compared to the front speakers as expected. This was a simple test to see if the head unit would receive and playback audio below 50 Hz, can't say if it is distorted or attenuated.

Below are some Kicker 46CXA660.5 setup instructions from the downloadable manual...







The amp outputs 65 Watts x4 @ 4 ohms and 300 Watts x1 @ 2 ohms

 

I appreciate you taking the time to test and verify all of this! Will be super helpful for people to see your opinion and get their systems installed for best results!

Im glad you’re getting better results after making the switch!

 

Your very welcome! Sharing the experience will help others. I believe on my first install I set the sub crossover to 200 Hz and then set the sub gain. Later, when setting the sub crossover back near 100 Hz I may have lowered the voltage of the sub gain. The Kicker install instructions say that a lower gain provides more power. This may be the case when the front channels are connected to Amp 2 for sub audio. As noticed the sub gain is lower with the front channels due to the higher input level of audio. The problem with not being able to adjust the sub voltage to 24.49v I attribute to the Fader switch being in the OFF position. In the off position all the speakers are driven off one set of inputs. Having both sets of inputs connected may have caused the sub gain to max out at 20.03v. I thought I had a problem with the amp when I swapped channels and the sub gain maxed out at the same 20.03v. A low audio test tone was the main reason I questioned the USB drive and made sure the remote bass knob is fully CW. If the remote bass knob is fully CCW the sub gain output voltage will max out around 3.5v. Lastly, I would recommend using the test test tones on USB drive vs using your cell phone via Bluetooth or direct connect it. The phone volume level and audio equalization or level may be unknowingly affected.

Overall the Kicker amp and speakers are an easy recommendation. It was worth the cost and I would definitely do it again if I had the choice.