KickerCS Upgrade with Kicker Key amp Install Assistance

That is cool that you can mount coaxial, must you connect and use it? Reading some of the other posts it seems having multiple tweeters is a bad thing and causes cancellation. So, if I only connected the woofer to the crossover any thoughts on that? I think it is fine since this is a reactive 4 ohm load at a particular frequency. At low frequency the tweeter would be high impedance and "not there" for all practical purposes.

 

well people talk about multiple tweeters when referring to the common upgrade in the $250 thread. The typical upgrade is the subaru tweeters in the dash, and then the Kicker CS 6x9's in the doors. The CS 6x9's are 3-way so there are effectively 2 tweeters in each door, plus the tweeter in the dash. Then stacked on top of that, the dash tweeter is a soft dome, and the door tweeters are titanium. This can cause lots of sound confusion for those who's ears will pick it up. You get smooth highs up on the dash then harsh loud highs down by your ankles.

But when replacing the rear doors, you would typically want to still have the tweeter connected. However, if you just want your rear fill to be mostly mid-bass, then go for it! Again, your ears will determine what is best in your truck.
Hook it up one way, test it out, and worst case, take the door panel back off and change it. The second time, taking a door panel off only takes 1-2 minutes each.

I have people in my back seat on occasion so I like having full-range sound back there. If it was just me in my truck, I wouldn't even have rear speakers and would've put all my money in a nicer front stage. 3 way for sure, possibly fully active.

 

Thanks you for all your information Destin. I am grateful for all you are doing to help me and the community here. In the 80's I have the lowered truck with the huge sound system, now I just want nice clean sound with decent bass. I am not at all interested in letting the neighbors and surrounding cars hear my stereo, but I want to feel the bass and hear the clarity. It's been 30 years since I've done this and things have changed a bit.

For the $180/pr for the Kicker KS 6704 sets, I think that is reasonable. Comparing the specs for other comparable priced speakers it seems this is the best bang for you buck. I did see the Hertz, but I think that is their lower grade stuff. Sensitivity was like 87 and I think that is a little high.

That means for under $400 I can get two of the KS 6704, and be set assuming the little 8" Sound Ordinance Sub adds enough base I'll be good to go. If not, I add in the 10" JL Audio and call it good. If that is the case I'll put the 8" on the drivers side rear and the 10" JL Audio on the Passenger side.

 

If you don't specifically need component speakers in the rear (which I think we've agreed that you don't) then just grab the 44KSC6704 coaxial for $80 and save a hundred bucks. That's what I have in the rear. Especially if you're on the fence of even using the tweeter, why spend way more money to use less of the product.

 

Valid point indeed. I suppose if I wanted to dump the tweeter I could just cut the lines to.them.

 

exactly. put that money towards doing the 10" to begin with

 

Crutchfield is saying the KSC6704 does not fit the rear door of a Tacoma, BUT it says the KSS6704 does. Give me a break...
As such, they did not add in the free adapter cable nor the mounting plate:

 

Would call them and they should let you do it. Unfortunately nobody's system is perfect but they're pretty good about taking care of people if its a legit scenario like this.

 

Went on the live chat and talked to a guy there. He said it is 1/10" too tall and the tweeter hits the door panel. Suggested others ay have shaved off some plastic of the panel to make it fit. The reality is it is a plastic panel and there is no way 1/10" will impact anything. Did you have to use a mounting plate or is it directly to the metal?

 

I’m using the metra 82-8148 brackets, and a 2 layers of 1/32” foam (one between the speaker and bracket, one between the bracket and door sheet metal) and they fit fine.
Might be hard to tell but I can push the grill in at least half an inch before making contact
*for some reason it won't let me embed the video any way i try, but you can click Watch On Facebook*

 

Looking at the picture, what is the point of the blue wire to the orange/blk wire? I think that I read this is for the radio dimming.

Same question on the male metra connector (Far left in the picture) with the black and blue wires. According to the wiring pinout of the radio these are Power Antenna Wire 1 & 2. I am suspecting these are being used for the Amp Remote turnon.

I pulled the head unit out and looked at the wire harness and these are not even pinned in the harness.

I decided to put the Key behind the radio in the dash instead of running it to the rear. Makes it cleaner and I do not like the idea of running 12-15 ft of wire to the rear, only to Amplify it and run it back to the dash. Seems very counter productive and adds a risk of picking up more noise.

 

The orange/black on the smaller of the two harnesses is the dimmer control wire (not the illumination circuit, but the actual brightness control tied to the little stick at the gauge cluster)
The blue wire it is spliced to is actually the blue loop wire from the larger female connector. I de-pinned it from the larger connector and re-pinned it in the smaller connector (where the orange/black would be if it came in the female side)

The black wire you see is the main ground wire.
The blue wire next to it would be the factory amp turn-on in the JBL system. It is not wired in the truck, but I built this harness for a member and would rather have it and not need it.

 

Which wire is used for the remote turn on to the key Amp? I see the 3 blue wires are tied together (Metra connectors) and then the blue from the Key Amp.. So that must be the remote turn on, right?

 

Yes.
The blue from the Key needs to go to either of the blues from the MALE side (preferably blue/white, but it could be either one.)

Neither blue wire is needed on the female connector.

 

Perfect! Thanks again for all of your help. I think I have all the info I need to make this project a success.

 

I got the Key Amp installed along with my 8" sub woofer. Even without installing the Kicker KS speakers in the door, this thing sounds awesome now. The 8" sub added the kick I was looking for and I am really happy with it. I do have the Amp turned up higher than it needs to be so I will be going behind the dash once more to lower the gain as it is just t0o loud now. I will run with it like this for a while before I install the Kickers in the doors.

 

Hello all,

Thank you for these great posts, they have been extremely helpful. I have gotten all my stuffs here finally. Installed all the Kicker speakers(including the Subaru Kickers in the dash) with sound deadening in the doors. I went with the KS and love them so far. This weekend I am tackling the Key180.4 and would like some more "eyes on" with what I have so far, and possibly any help answering my questions I have in the picture I have here. I am a novice when it comes to wiring, so anything at all would be very much appreciated.

As a little background, I plan on setting up the Key behind one of the back seats, where I can add another amp for future upgrades if I decide I want a sub. Additionally, I plan on having the power run to the battery and the ground where one of the rear seatbelts bolt into the floor.

 

Black, Red, orange white tied to other metras red, black, yellow white. Blue is the remote turn on. Connect the remaining blue and blue whites together to the blue on the kicker key amp.

 

Thank you very much for your response, it us very much appreciated. Do the other wires look right so far?

 

1 and 3 tie together. However, you’re missing the yellow wire on 3 for some reason. That’s pretty important.

For 2, you can cut the short wire loose.

At 4, the blue in the speed wire needs to go to the blue in the Key harness, and the blue/white wire over at 1