Audio questions

[tamuman]

I have a buddy that is trying to unload some subs, an amp, etc. Where is the amp located that comes with the JBL system? I looked on my local dealer's part page and their drawings really suck.

Also, is it possible to simply swap out the amps? Can you put subs under the rear seats? I really want to avoid putting anything in the trunk as it is so small already. That's my biggest complaint about the Solara. I can barely get my golf clubs in there, but hey if I wanted to be hauling stuff I should have got the Tundra.

Any horror stories, tips, etc you guys have about doing stereo work would be great. Thanks.

TAMUman
'04 Solara SLE Convertible (Lunar/Black)
CP-e MAFci, TRD RSB and FTSB

[theprodigy79]

The JBL amp is located behind the glove box, and is pretty easy to get to. Changing amps and keeping the factory headunit would require using a line level adapter, which loses a lot of efficiency and quality... If you plan to get a new headunit, it would take care of these issues.

Our seats are large enough and tall enough to fit moderately sized amplifiers under, so yes you are able to do that. I would not get an amplifier that runs hot, though, as it won't have a large area for cooling above it.

The biggest pain in the ass about doing stereo work in the Gen 2 is removing the rear deck tray to access the rear speakers... Other than that, it's no different really than any other car.

If you want to add subs and still conserve space, find subwoofer models that utilize small sealed boxes, or that you can run infinity baffle (essentially using your trunk as a large box).

Good luck,

-James

[Mr. Slippery]

Remember though that the volume controls and fading are controlled through the factory JBL amp. If you bypass that amp, you'll lose all of that. If you're using a line converter, your best bet is to tap in after the factory amp and just leave it in place. I learned this the hard way.

[Down2TheC]

The biggest pain in the donkey about doing stereo work in the Gen 2 is removing the rear deck tray to access the rear speakers... Other than that, it's no different really than any other car.
Good luck,

-James

Not a problem with his ragtop. Seats pop out with a couple screws for the seatbelt thingies. Astro's done it and posted pics of what's back there. That's where your 8" sub is right now. Right side, behind the back seat.

Sounds odd but search for "headrest" or "rollbar" to find the pic.

[PXLpainter]

Yeah - I've had the back panels off to install the windscreen - not too bad.

So what good quality after-market head units will still work with the Steering Wheel controls? How about the Nav combo units?

[theprodigy79]

My bad, I didn't notice he had a vert. In that case, you're scott free on any install, it's a cinch.

[swindler]

Remember though that the volume controls and fading are controlled through the factory JBL amp. If you bypass that amp, you'll lose all of that. If you're using a line converter, your best bet is to tap in after the factory amp and just leave it in place. I learned this the hard way.

I've swapped out everything, speakers, sub, speaker wiring, amps, power kit, etc, BUT still have the H/U. I would prefer to keep the stock look and controls if the sound isn't too bad. The idea of a guy cutting into my ragtop to steal an Eclipse Nav unit is keeping me from getting one just yet.

But to do that, I used the speaker level outs from the factory amp. It's not quite as bad as you might think. Part of what makes an amp distort is trying to drive a speaker at high power levels. When the amp is feeding a high impedance input, like a line out converter, it can keep the signal pretty linear and without distortion, since there's no appreciable drive current.

And FYI, my two JL Audio amps have speaker level inputs, so I didn't use an external line out converter - the JL amps handle it direct.

Eventually, I will probably swap the H/U, but my system is many orders of magnitude better than it was before. I'm okay with it for now.

Someday soon I'm going to post something on how I retrofit my subwoofer, which has worked out great, but I doubt I will have any followers. It was a long haul to get there.

[tamuman]

Ok, I bought the amp and subs from my buddy...Kenwood KAC-7201 and 2 Rockford Fosgate 8"...

So we got together today to install everything. I am a newbie to the whole car audio thing, so you know I am going to have issues. We got the amp laid out in the trunk and ran the power cable down the left side of the car, then ran RCAs and the remote start cable down the right. Got the power through the firewall, all the cables nice and hidden...was feeling pretty good. Then we pulled the HU and found there are no RCA hookups.

D'OH!!

So I put the dash back together and am reaching out to you guys for the next step because I have no idea what I need to do.

Do I need additional parts? Do I need to remove or splice something? Do I need to say hey, it was a good try but nevermind?

I appreciate any help you can give.

Thanks.

TAMUman
'04 Solara SLE Convertible (Lunar/Black)
CP-e MAFci, TRD RSB and FTSB

[cklinh]

My installer (friend) tapped into the speaker wires.. then used a line-level converter to get the RCA-jacks...

[swindler]

The Kenwood KAC-7201 supports either low level or high level inputs. High level inputs are speaker level inputs.

Consequently, you don't need a line output converter. What you DO need is to figure out how to feed the high level inputs (e.g., for my amp it was RCA inputs with a switch selected to HIGH). And then, as cklinh said, you need to need to tap into the speaker wires that correspond to the speakers you're replacing and cap them off with whatever termination is needed to fit your amp (e.g, RCA jacks).

There are several threads on this forum that can help you identify the wiring output of your H/U - which is what I did to find the correct outputs to tap.

[tamuman]

New thought, can I unhook the stock sub and use the wires fed into it to connect to my amp and or new subwoofers?

I am totally new to this so please dumb it down as much as you can.

Thanks so much for the help guys.


TAMUman
'04 Solara SLE Convertible (Lunar/Black)
CP-e MAFci, TRD RSB and FTSB

[FLUXEMAG]

I have a buddy that is trying to unload some subs, an amp, etc. Where is the amp located that comes with the JBL system? I looked on my local dealer's part page and their drawings really suck.

Also, is it possible to simply swap out the amps? Can you put subs under the rear seats? I really want to avoid putting anything in the trunk as it is so small already. That's my biggest complaint about the Solara. I can barely get my golf clubs in there, but hey if I wanted to be hauling stuff I should have got the Tundra.

Any horror stories, tips, etc you guys have about doing stereo work would be great. Thanks.

TAMUman
'04 Solara SLE Convertible (Lunar/Black)
CP-e MAFci, TRD RSB and FTSB

The Solara trunk is the biggest I've ever seen, I can fit 4 bags of clubs without issue. I have 2 10's in a big box and I can fit 2 sets of clubs still.

[FLUXEMAG]

My installer (friend) tapped into the speaker wires.. then used a line-level converter to get the RCA-jacks...

Yes, you just use the 6x9 speaker wires and splice in a line level RCA adapter. Cheap, sounds good, I didn't even crack open my dash (JL has an automatic remote turn on feature so you don't have to run that one either). Any installer should have one, very very easy to install compared to running RCA lines to the dash.