Stock HU screen bad.. help me replace HU and new front speakers!

Thats great and the seller replied to me with several questions i had before buying mine to confirm it was the correct RR kit. Definitley saves some money over CFIELD. I remember AI kits back in the day. Im sure its the same now.

 

So I finally got everything delivered!! I scouted the web and got a DMX907S probably as soon as they listed it for sale.

A minor, yet frustrating bump in the road.. they sent the wrong dash kit. They sent one that was gloss black, rather than the metallic granite that I wanted. I decided I had to have the metallic granite to keep everything as stock as possible.

Ordered a new one, but I’m sure it won’t be delivered until next week.

My question is, can I drive without a radio for a few days? I had a babysitter lined up for tomorrow to install everything. I’d still like to take the free time to get all my wires soldered up and have everything hooked up ready to go.

Anything wrong with that?

 

Other than silence in the truck, i dont think it will bother anything. You could use that time to go ahead and do the sound deadening in the doors.

 

Just thought I would chime in here. I called Crutchfield and they talked me into Infinity Reference 9630cx front 6x9’s with the small supplied tweeters and Reference 6532ex for the rear doors. I am very happy with this they are quite powerful and handle bass very effectively as well as decent mids and the tweeter puts out impressive highs once eq’d decently and I cannot believe how cheap in price they are.

I upgraded from a non jbl ‘05 second GEN Tacoma Access cab.

I am however using a completely different Head Unit and amp (

$280 Alpine ilx-W650 7" Double DIN Touchscreen Digital Multimedia Receiver with Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto

Alpine ilx-W650 with a

$210 KTA-450 4-Channel Power Pack Amplifier with Dynamic Peak Power 45W RMS x 4, at 2 Or 4 Ohms

KTA-450 amp) so I am not sure this would be the same decision you may want and not all of us have the same ears. This is just a suggestion.
Have fun with all of it.

 

I do like the HD channels on my Kenwood unit. The HD channels play older music in my area from the 90's - early 2000's which sounds so much better to me than whats out now.

 

Yes the radio quality is very poor…however I never listen to the radio…that is why Crutchfield talked me into this one. I was only posting what head unit and amp I am using just for reference…which also happens to be the same name of the speakers (Infinity Reference) I have with this unit. I made a funny there. Haha.
That is why I was only suggesting Infinity speakers as I saw you were asking about what speakers you may want to try…but there are so many options out there.

 

haha, I can handle the silence for a few days, only a 10 minute drive to work. As long as the truck will get me to work!

That’s cool they recommended you a speaker. Is it a component set with a crossover then? And you’re just running them off the head unit? (EDIT: never mind I see where you mentioned the amp now)

I think I’m going to do it step by step, so for now I’m focused on the head unit, then maybe this Fall I’ll work on speakers. Appreciate the response though, I’ll definitely look into those speakers!

 

Yes the front speakers have a 2 way crossover I’m wired to. I may need to upgrade to a 3 channel crossover if I decide to put a 3.5 midrange speaker where the tweeter is currently mounted…and drill a hole in the side beams (I think that is what it is called) and put the tweeters there.
At first I absolutely hated these tweeters and was going to toss them until a member here suggested I really start messing with the eq and once I starting adjusting the 9 band parametric this head unit comes with they came to life now I love them.

 

So I finally got an afternoon to install my new head unit. Spent way too long hooking up the Maestro, but it’s working now so I’m happy! You wouldn’t think hooking up a few connectors would be so confusing haha.

Anyways.. a few issues I have run into so far. First off, I didn’t realize the antenna would have some weird factory connector. Easy fix.. new part ordered.

Second issue, I bought the adapter for the factory USB and aux port to hook up to the stereo. I tried it out before installing and I’m getting power, but I’m not able to play music or use CarPlay. The radio also keeps popping up showing a USB error.

Any ideas? There were two USB ports on the back of the radio, one black and one gray. I used the gray.. does it matter?

Do I just need to give up and order an aftermarket dual USB port for the factory location? I was trying to keep things as stock as possible, but I just want it to work now.

EDIT: I did finally see some fine print in the head unit manual. It says the gray terminal doesn’t support USB mirroring. But, to me, that still doesn’t explain why I couldn’t play USB audio (not CarPlay).

EDIT 2: Hooked up to the black USB cord and it made no difference.

 

Subd for feedback. I'm also looking at this headunit for future purchase.

 

Still liking the head unit a ton. It really made the stock speakers sound great and I like the UI. I almost bought some aftermarket speakers, but honestly I’ll probably just wait until I blow the factory ones.

 

That's good to know. I'm in the unfortunate position where one rear speaker is blown (barely noticed until now lol) and the drivers front speaker is starting to go. I'm also tired of using the Bluetooth dongle with 1/8" plug aux plug for the OEM Hu. So it's time for an upgrade. I love the idea of wireless Android auto/ screen mirroring on this Kenwood series.