Premium Audio Upgrade for less than $250

For anyone who is looking at the Kicker Key amp that has been discussed, one of my favorite shops made a video about it.

This video is installing one in a Ford something, but the amp discussion and settings apply across all vehicles.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=RwFVW_ehMq0

 

Addicted to his vids lol, he does the cleanest work I've seen anywhere.

 

Yeah as an installer myself, I have learned a lot watching them. Lots of creative and clean ideas, and tips on nearly every vehicle you could ever work in. I’m amazed that I’ve done so many of the kicker Key’s before they ever did one

 

Well, I ended up having to answer and invent my own answer to:

"How do you get the three bolt covers out of the back seat cab panel in a 2017 Access Cab without marking the plastic".

For one thing they are stuck in there very well. Here are two photos to show what I came up with. It works perfect, pulls them right out without a mark. Items you need, Gorilla black duct tape, 2 X 2 inch square. Large zip tie anchor self sticking. Medium zip tie. Set things up like in the photo. Give it a smart pull straight back and out comes the plug. Note that the plugs are indexed and are not the same.

 

Anyone used this set up on a 13 Second Gen? This is exactly what I’m looking for. Thanks in advance

 

Should all work the same

 

I’ll do my research and might pull the trigger on it. Thanks

 

Toyota doesn’t change much through the years luckily. Double check that you have 6x9’s in your front doors, and all else will be the same

 

The door speakers will work, the tweeters won’t on the 2nd Gen. There’s more info on the first page.

 

Here's what I'm looking at for my second gen setup

 

I knew joining this forum was going to be expensive.

I was really surprised at the muddy sound quality in my new truck. I figured with all the electronic gadgets and doodads, they would at least put in a decent sound system. Guess not.

I ordered the Subaru tweeters from Amazon and the front and rear Kickers from Crutchfield. Fortunately, I still have Noico matting left over from carpeting the Jeep that I traded in on my Tacoma. I'm going to hold off on an amp, for now at least. I don't think I'll need it. I like music loud and clear but I'm hardly what you'd call an audiophile. Thanks for posting this thread and everyone who contributed. Looking forward to this upgrade.

 

Well sorry to hurt your wallet, but “loud” and “clear” and “no amp” absolutely do not go together

Factory radio MIGHT put out 5w per channel

 

Huge upgrade without an amp! Enjoy

 

Just installed the subaru kicker tweeters in my second gen. They sound great!

 

Bshammer, thank you! Just installed all 6 speakers and took a long drive. Sounds soo much better. Little pist at crutchfield as some stuff didn't line up to exact and some of the connectors had to be spread as they didn't fit but nothing a basic idiot couldn't handle. Thanks again!

 

Put everything in this morning in 2 hours. The difference is considerable and a great improvement over the factory speakers. Thanks to @bshammer0 for the original write up and to everyone who added value to the thread, it made this upgrade very easy.

 

Hello all! New to the forum, but already have benefited from a search even before I joined....

I have performed the Kicker/ Subaru speaker upgrade and it definitely made a difference, but I want to go a step further. I have purchased a

$349 Alpine KTP-445U Universal Power Pack

Alpine KTP-445U, and a ********* plug and play amp harness, with the intent of mounting the amp under the front seat. I thought that I would have no issues, as I used to do this kind of stuff in my younger days, but I’m not sure how to wire this up. There are no instructions with the harness ( which is ridiculous considering what you pay for it and the color codes listed on the web site don’t match my harness )and I’m just not sure how to do it. I was wondering if I can tap into the harness power and ground for the amp, but with a under seat location, I will have to extended the power, ground, and remote turn on wires. Or should i run separate power and ground from the battery? Not quite sure how this harness is plug and play....
Anyway, any body have some advice before I take this to a shop and let them install it?

 

The first thing I would do is get in contact with ********* to see what they have to say.

 

Judging by this message on the page for this product, I would probably disagree with @Rodchester about contacting them. Normally contacting is the way to go, but probably not this time.



Going down the list

Alpine powerpack is tiny. Plenty small enough to fit in the dash below the radio or behind the glove box. No need to go under the seat

Yes you can tap power, ground, and remote turn on from the radio’s harness. In this scenario, the yellow/red/black in the ********* harness. The alpine doesn’t draw enough power to require direct wiring to the battery. That makes it very popular.

The wires coming from the MALE plug (radio side) will go to the amp inputs.
The wires coming from the FEMALE side (factory wiring harness side) will go to the amp outputs.

The wire colors for speakers should match up with the alpine wiring

 

Destin...Thanks. That’s what I thought, but I have a blue with white stripe on both sides of the power pack. I know Power (yellow) to power, black (ground) to ground, blue with white stripe to red(switched), but where does the other blue w/ white stripe connect?

I am guessing you have done this before. I’m gonna take your word that it will fit below the radio, but didn’t seem like there was a lot of room there. I also have no idea on where to set my gain dials. To be honest, I really never messed with amplifiers before. Most of the stuff I have done was speaker changes, installing subs with amps already installed (bazooka tube) etc. I really don’t want to screw this up....