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This project has been a long time coming, I didn't want to be a early adopter, but the Sony unit gets great reviews. There isn't a lot of information about removing the stock amp, so I wanted to post that it doesn't cause problems.
Goals - Backup camera, Carplay, run a mike up to the center console, replace speakers, add sub, stock amp location. Because working with the lexus amp is at best a compromise, I ditched it.
Maybe because I don't have nav, no real issues encountered. Metra 70-8113 for memory and ignition, standard axxes for steering wheel. I didn't lose beeps, the car still even makes noise when the tailgate is raised.
Put a rag or paper towel underneath these screws before unscrewing them, thank me later.
The stock amp, about to be removed
1" tweeter btw, seen conflicting information. 1" worked perfectly
Plenty of room for 4 gauge wire
This was time consuming, needed a way to mount the new amp, used one of the stock mounts
New amp in it's new home. Not pictured, a 80mm fan mounted to the left to keep the unit cool. It's a giant pain to get to, but I like this mounting location. Thermally no different than the under the carpet trunk installs I've seen, just keeps my stock storage.
The left eight wires are speaker outputs. I was lazy and just re-used them. Probably room for improvement if you run new ones, but I only had a weekend.
Zoomed out
Just tapped the reverse light in the tailgate for camera power
This grommet to the tailgate for video
Don't repeat my mistake, when I took this panel off the tailgate, the white clips stayed in the tailgate and made re-install impossible. Take them out of the tailgate, put them on this trim
Looks good, Thanks for the writeup! Someone could use a good vacuum cleaner next Christmas
Ha, I guess I could have shop vac'd it prior to pictures, I waited until I was done and then got the bits of electrical tape, wire insulation, and all of the other mess I made in addition to my daughters goldfish crackers :-)
stock height is about an inch away from the door, front and back. This is the back, I glued/drilled 1/2" mdf together, speaker depth of 2" no problem in the back
Tons of room in the front door, 2.75" depth without cutting anything. Probably room to go another inch toward the door but you'll have to dremel the stock speaker guard
Stock bracket has a hole in the middle of it, used it to screw a mounting plate for the 1" tweeter, perfect fit. You could go bigger.
FYI, a 3.5" speaker will barely fit in the dashboard, I did have to dremel some of the plastic both on the grill and the speaker itself. It's really close.
9 new speakers and 600 watts sounds amazing. I would say bang for the buck is replace the stock tweeters, I happened to bother A-B listening after I replaced one side, and I was amazed at how little the stock tweeters are doing. My drivers doors were also pretty blown, dried out. The back doors seemed fine, and there was no damage to the squacker as you can see above. Given the work dremeling, that was probably the least worth it.
Also, not pictured. There are 2 wires going to the stock amp that are 12v always on. I used a relay and wired that up for the 80mm fan, don't make the same mistake I did and try to wire up the fan with the same 12v line that goes to your amp, it adds noise that I ended up in the speakers.
I did make it, it's sealed. I can't remember exactly but the sub is pretty easy on space, it's like .4 or .5 cubic feet and the packing peanuts said I was good.
That seems encouraging for my current interest in replacing the stock (non-ML) amp with a 4-channel Alpine unit -- and keeping it all fairly simple. I assume those eight wires are positive & negative pairs for FL, FR, RL, and RR speakers? If so, I guess the front door, pillar, and dash speakers are all powered by the same front pair of wires out of the amp. (Jeez, I hope so.)
I semi-successfully got a Pioneer MVH-2400NEX w/CarPlay working in my (non-ML) 2006 RX330 (new Kicker CS-series speakers throughout) using the iDatalink Maestro SW steering wheel control adapter and the Axxess TYTO-01 amp interface module. The latter is the weakest link. I have no Fader control at all, which I find surprisingly annoying. Distortion at high volumes is horrible, and I'm not sure whether this is due to the Axxess adapter or the original amp, which is still in place. The Front L pillar, L dash, and R dash speakers do not work at all with either this head unit or the original, and I suspect the stock amp.
Question: Do the back seats have to be completely removed to get at the stock amp? One can't simply go in through the back gate and under the carpet and panels?
Maybe you could answer a concern I have. I inquired about having blue tooth put in at the local auto electronics shop. They said they could do it for about $240. They said something about “going in” through the CD player and I’m not sure what they meant. And I got concerned about damage to the components on the console. Should I worry or is it a pretty straight forward job?
Maybe you could answer a concern I have. I inquired about having blue tooth put in at the local auto electronics shop. They said they could do it for about $240. They said something about “going in” through the CD player and I’m not sure what they meant. And I got concerned about damage to the components on the console. Should I worry or is it a pretty straight forward job?
"going through the CD player" means that they will be using the CD player to play any sound signal. They should be using a harness (y-cable), if you have existing navigation, so they don't have to cut into the existing wire and you can return it to stock if you decide to. Here is an example using the GTA kit.
That seems encouraging for my current interest in replacing the stock (non-ML) amp with a 4-channel Alpine unit -- and keeping it all fairly simple. I assume those eight wires are positive & negative pairs for FL, FR, RL, and RR speakers? If so, I guess the front door, pillar, and dash speakers are all powered by the same front pair of wires out of the amp. (Jeez, I hope so.)
I semi-successfully got a Pioneer MVH-2400NEX w/CarPlay working in my (non-ML) 2006 RX330 (new Kicker CS-series speakers throughout) using the iDatalink Maestro SW steering wheel control adapter and the Axxess TYTO-01 amp interface module. The latter is the weakest link. I have no Fader control at all, which I find surprisingly annoying. Distortion at high volumes is horrible, and I'm not sure whether this is due to the Axxess adapter or the original amp, which is still in place. The Front L pillar, L dash, and R dash speakers do not work at all with either this head unit or the original, and I suspect the stock amp.
Question: Do the back seats have to be completely removed to get at the stock amp? One can't simply go in through the back gate and under the carpet and panels?
Thanks again for posting this awesome write-up.
I have a 2005 non-ML with the same 2400NEX, I used the Beat-Sonic cause it seemed easier to plug and play and i also retained the stock factory amp. i play it LOUD sometimes and no real issues and all speakers work... i wanted to say that i read somewhere on one of these forum posts that the stock front speakers are 6x9's and they run on 2-ohm, so the stock amp is rated tuned specifically for a 2-ohm load at like 20-30watts, probably more like 20. so if your running 4-ohm speakers at an RMS of around 50-60 you will get diminished quality cause your only putting in to the speaker like 10 -15 watts. my numbers might be off a bit but that's the general idea. i don't know why your having problems with the TYTO cause people sware but them, but if you get the alpine amp installed you wont necessarily need the TYTO, at least for the sound if you run some RCA cables.
i think the component speaker setups with the external crossovers help to keep the -ohm's in check if your wiring front piller tweater and dash and woofer all on one amp channel.
i wanted to say that i read somewhere on one of these forum posts that the stock front speakers are 6x9's and they run on 2-ohm, so the stock amp is rated tuned specifically for a 2-ohm load at like 20-30watts, probably more like 20. so if your running 4-ohm speakers at an RMS of around 50-60 you will get diminished quality cause your only putting in to the speaker like 10 -15 watts. my numbers might be off a bit but that's the general idea. i don't know why your having problems with the TYTO cause people sware but them, but if you get the alpine amp installed you wont necessarily need the TYTO, at least for the sound if you run some RCA cables
That’s a really good point. I didn’t consider that the stock amp would be tuned specifically for 2-ohm speakers. Yep, the original speakers that I pulled out were 2-ohm, and all the new ones are 4-ohm. Okay, the Alpine is looking better and better as a means of solving all of this. The three dead speakers up front I still think are either a stock amp or a wiring problem, but I might as well tackle those all at once.
Sound now is certainly livable, it just falls short of what I expected for this deck and speakers... so, at least I can take my time and get it right.
01-09-17, 08:04 PM
RX330 - carplay, amp, speakers, backup camera
