2015 Radio Harness question

Hi TW! This has been a super helpful forum, but I'm stumped on doing some change to my audio.

Yes, like others on here, I've decided to keep my stock head unit (since I really like all the features it has) but I want to upgrade my audio. I have a non-JBL touchscreen unit.

To that end, I've replaced the stock speakers with JBL's (JBL GTO 938 and GTO 638 - big difference!) and want to add a JL Clean Sweep and Alpine KTP 445-U.

Since I wanted to keep the ability to return the truck to stock audio, I didn't want to rip into the existing radio harness so instead got the Best Kits BHA 1761 and BHO 1761 to do all my wiring.

Problem is, it doesn't appear to me that either one of those wiring harness's fit my 2015 radio.

I thought this was what my radio would have:



But instead, here's what I think is the speaker/power wiring harness from my radio:


and



Does anybody know if I've even identifed the right harness? It's a 28-pin connection.

If I have identified this as the speaker/power wiring harness (and I'm not even sure I did), does anybody know where I can get a wiring harness that will fit it?

I'm new at this so please let me know if I've used the wrong terms for things.

 

I'm guessing you may have the wrong harness. The other harnesses are a bit inconspicuous and aren't next to each other, as I recall. I recently did exactly what you're doing to my 2014, except for the Clean Sweep. I'm really curious to hear how the system sounds with the Clean Sweep - please keep us posted! I found this thread and maybe it will help some...

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/audio-video/184230-installing-speakers-amp-factory-deck.html

 

North222, you ROCK!!! You are exactly right, I had pulled the wrong harness. I did a little more digging in that mess of wires and found the right harnesses... right next to each other. (face palm)

And it was your advice in a previous post that sent me on the JBL GTO and Alpine amp route, so thanks for the THAT advice too!

I haven't heard the Clean Sweep at freeway volumes, but my initial thoughts are that... it does clean up and boost the mids and low-highs, but it lost a little of the bottom end. Not exactly the results I was looking for. (and yes, I did the calibration... twice) But like I said, I'll give it some more listening tomorrow at freeway volumes and see how it holds up. When I hit the EQ Defeat on the Clean Sweep, and was just running through the Alpine, I thought THAT sound was better. I think I'd be better off with the Alpine and an outboard EQ.... (random thoughts)

But I am looking forward to being able to hear my radio at freeway speeds with the windows down!!

 

This might be a noob question but is there really no splicing when using the Best kits? is it just plug and play? I ask this because im trying to do exactly what you are doing sinlimo, just doing a bit more research

 

You use the "kits" to plug into the radio and into the stock harness. The ends of each of the "kits" will have to be hard wired to your new device(s). In other words, once you do it, you can easily unplug your device(s) and plug the stock harness back into the radio. You don't have to cut into the stock harness this way.

 

Yup, what weendoggy said...technically there's no splicing with the harness kits, just connecting a lot of wires. All easily reversible though so you can return the vehicle to stock.

And don't worry about asking noob questions! That's all I ever ask.

 

Hey, congrats on the success and thanks for the compliment! I was hoping the wiring harnesses hadn't changed since 2014. These forums are a great source of information and I'm glad I could help out and I'm very thankful for the help and info I've received here. Much of the info I passed on I merely gleaned from others here.

That's interesting feedback about the Clean Sweep. I've seen great reviews on that product and was curious how it would work in your setup. The little Alpine amp is no slouch and really is impressive in it's own right in terms of the quality of sound that it puts out. I've sure been pleased with mine. The only other thing I would suggest to you is to replace the tweeters with some GTO's. I did mine for the hell of it and was shocked at the sound difference, especially considering the low cost and easy mechanics involved in swapping. The tweets really round out the sound. Hard to beat the GTO's for bang for the buck!

 

Ha ha North222, I already bought those tweeters! I just haven't figured out how to mount them yet. Any tips?

Except for the Clean Sweep, I have almost the same setup you have. I have a Rockville sub I'm going to install but I want to figure out the Clean Sweep.

And I was definitely surprised by the Clean Sweep...I really thought I'd like it more. (shrug)

Maybe my ears are fried from too many years in front of guitar amps.

 

They're pretty straight forward wiring wise, pretty much plug-and-play. Mounting was a little bit tougher, as you have to build adapters for the new speakers. I used 1/4" acrylic sheet gods for mine and just traced the outline of the old speakers and mounting holes. I do remember having to be careful to mount them deep enough to clear the door panels when they're re-installed. I'm pretty sure ********* has or will make adapters for the tweeters if you don't feel like messing with them. Not to bad to install and definitely worth the trouble. The highs really cleared up and blended nicely with the main 6x9's. All the stock speakers are really just junk.

 

Thanks again North222. I was looking at those ********* mounting brackets. I might go that route if I can't come up with something else.

And as a follow up to the Clean Sweep, I think it may have been operator error. (Doh!)

When I ran the calibration using their CD, I forgot to first set all the tone controls to neutral. In fact, I had the bass set really high so the Clean Sweep was actually doing its job by trying to lower what it thought was normal bass level coming from the stock head. I did another calibration today with the tone settings at neutral and very much liked the sound!! Wow, that and those JBLs let me hear things in songs I'd never heard! Glad I figured it out. So yes, I would recommend the Clean Sweep.

 

That's very interesting! Where did you mount your Clean Sweep? That was one nuisance factor that kept me from buying one.

 

ahh yes, the install for the Clean Sweep.

Well, technically I didn't "install" it as much as I placed it in my glove box. My primary focus last weekend was just to hook things up and see if they worked so I didn't worry too much on proper mounting. Also, the wiring harnesses that came with the Clean Sweep aren't very long so mounting options are limited. Right now, the glove box seems to be the most logical choice, but when I go after putting in my sub-box this weekend, I'll see what other placement options i can find.

So right now, both the Alpine and Clean Sweep are residing in the glove box but I'm going to have to do something a little better than that. Both devices combined create a fair amount of heat so I'd like to separate them if I could. (Where did you mount your Alpine amp?)

I can say though, driving into work this morning I was FINALLY listening and enjoying music the way I wanted to! (Loud and not sounding like crap!)

And for anybody else following this post to accomplish the same things we did, I did order the tweeter mounting brackets from *********.com... I'll give a review of them when I get them installed.

Thanks again for all your help (in previous posts)! If you lived closer to LA, you'd be welcome to stop by and hear the Clean Sweep in action to hear the difference. The Clean Sweep does come with an EQ Defeat button so you can hear the difference between it processing and not processing the sound... soo much better with the Clean Sweep.

 

Well dammit,....just when I was feeling pretty content in my little radio world, now you've got me thinking. I mounted my Alpine to a piece of acrylic and velcroed that to the upper side of the glove box. I can still store plenty in the box and that also leaves some room for the CleanSweep. Do you really think the difference is that dramatic?

 

err, sorry about that North222! Wasn't trying to stir the pot up.

Now that I've got the Clean Sweep dialed in (i think) I'll give it some fresh ears on the ride home and let you know what I think the difference is.

 

Ok, after a couple days with the Clean Sweep, my thoughts are...you don't "need" it. It definitely is useful if you have the time and patience and really want to tweak the EQ curve.

I've learned you can tweak the proccessed EQ results by adjusting the CD tone controls before running the calibration. Whether you like the results is pretty much a matter of personal preference. Using the Clean Sweeps' EQ defeat, I kinda liked the EQ the stock head was putting out. I'm still trying different EQ settings on the Clean Sweep though ...

 

I'll take this as good news! I'm really happy with the way my system sounds now, but there's that nagging curiosity about how it would sound with the CleanSweep. I didn't relish the thought of having to tear back in to install the Cleansweep and then adjust it to chase what probably amounts to a minimum of sound differential at this point. I too think the stock eq sound is pretty good and having 3 tone controls helps quite a bit when tweaking to a preference. Thanks for responding and giving some insight! Reply again when you get your tweeters installed - like I said before, I was really surprised that I noticed the sound difference as much as I did when I swapped the tweets.

These radios really are pretty cool and are worth keeping once you "fine tune" them. I like the overall functionality that they offer. I had my first text message come in the other day and the radio read it to me as I was driving. Pretty amazing!

 

oh, I hear you! I'm on the other end of the equation, wondering if it's worth it open it all up again to take the Clean Sweep out and sell it! I don't relish having to re-wire everything, but i wouldn't mind a cleaner/neater glove box.

I think I'll at least leave it in until the tweeter mounts arrive and I can install my JBL tweeters.

And I agree on the radio's functionality - that's the reason I even went this route. I like what the radio does, it just doesn't have enough power.

 

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but when you wired the amp, did you take the power from the harness or did you run the power wire all the way to the battery? I like the idea of using both the BHO 1761 and BHA 1761 so you don't have to cut into the factory harness. In fact doing a search to see if anyone had done that is what brought me to this thread.

I've been thinking about putting in some Infinity Kappas and either the Alpine or maybe Clarion amp. I may just try the speaker's first w/out the amp to see what improvement that gets. On a good day it gets up into the 20s (Fahrenheit) here right now, so we don't listen to music with the windows down much. But come June, it might be nice.

 

Due to the amperage I ran the power straight to the battery. It's actually about the same in terms of effort or maybe even easier.

 

Do you have to wire in a relay to turn the power off when the vehicle is off or is there an ignition line that goes to the amp as well to toggle an internal relay in the amp?