Upgraded my dash speakers/ tweeters sound improvement is night and day already. Will be doing all doors soon.
all purchased off Amazon

 

This is how it looks both during and after install. I put the LC2i and Amp behind the 2nd row and underneath the 3rd row when folded down. Our kids are older so we never use the 3rd row at all. I had this same setup in my previous GX and put the amp and LOC underneath the driver seat, and while it was mostly out of sight, it stuck out a bit too much in the 2nd row footwell and people would oftentimes accidentally kick or bump it with their feet. The JL bass control **** is mounted on the dash trim piece just to the left of the steering wheel. Clean and easy to install there.

 

I have these same speakers in our dash as well. They were a nice replacement for the factory ML speakers. Like you, I'll be replacing the doors soon enough.

 

Installed the bass ****. Does look to bad in my opinion

 

The gear

Here's my build spec:

Power:

• 370A alternator (DC Power)
• 2 LTO Lithium Batteries
• XS Power XSP310-313 charge controller, modified by DC Power
• 1/0 positive and negative cables ran from the front battery to the back battery

Speakers (each set receives 75 watts RMS via DSP)

• Hertz Dieci Series DCX-873 3.5" Two-Way Coaxial Speakers (Front and Back)
• Pioneer A-Series MAX TS-A693CH (front door 6x9 components)
• Pioneer A-Series MAX TS-A653CH (rear door 6.5" components)
• All new higher gauge speaker was was ran for every speaker (no OEM speaker wire was cut/used)

Subwoofer (both receive 2,300 watts total)

• 2 Skar DDX-12 2 Ohm Subwoofers connected at 2 Ohms

Amplifiers

• JL Audio VXi 800/8 (price keeps going up, booo!)
  • RC-205 dual remote ****
  • TuN DSP software via USB/Laptop (very non-intuitive GUI!)
• Skar RP-3500.1D

Aftermarket Radio/OEM Controller (DO NOT BUY anything from carlinklife!)

• A carlinklife unit from China
• Connected to the JL Audio VXi amplifier via optical cable
• The unit works, but it does NOT do everything it claims:
  • No steering wheel volume control
  • Disabled remote start from phone and keyfob: can no longer remote start, even with Lexus Enform subscription active
  • Frequently disconnects bluetooth during music playback, and often pauses for a split second during music play back every 10 to 20 seconds, happens on random days
  • Displays temperature in Celsius
  • Support stopped replying to my email requests for the above issues

 

I recommend you don't run the Hertz DCX 87.3 this is an inferior speaker go with 3.5" Skar or JBL Club they sound much better.

 

Here's the model of the sub enclosure assembly, shown under the rear deck/hatch system, which was bolted to the chassis via large rubber isolators. A steel frame was designed to hold a composite deck plate and rear hatch, all of which are rigidly mounted to the chassis, and none of which touch the sub enclosure.


The steel rear deck frame model, isolated from the above CAD assembly:



The double decker amplifier steel mounting rack fabrication, fit check and tweaking, priming and automotive base, glitter, and clear coat:





Amp frame bolted through rubber isolator mounts:

 

3rd row seats and all plastic panels were removed, and the headliner was dropped, in preparation for sound deadening insulation:



Door cards, door panels, and inside door panels were all insulated with butyl paper.

 

Replacing the alternator requires a lot of work:

• Drain engine coolant
• Remove front bumper cover
• Remove radiator (I replaced my plastic-capped OEM radiator with a full aluminum radiator from Mishimoto)
• Remove front PS wheel
• Remove fender liner
• Unbolt PS pump and try to move it out of the way

370A Alternator Installation...what a pain!



I also installed a fuse at the alternator along the 4 gauge cable that I ran back to the front battery, as the OEM positive cable cannot supply the full 370A to the battery. Here's a photo of the LTO battery, showing the power cables, 2 inline fuses, and a 3D printed positive battery terminal cover that mounts via a flexible spring arm:



A photo from the back, showing the many layers of sound insulation:



Here are photos of the subwoofer enclosure being built. It's constructed from (weak ***!) 1/2 MDF, that is CNC router cut, then vacuum bagged with 5 plies of carbon fiber and epoxy on each side. The panels were then trimmed, and glued-and-screwed together to form the sub enclosure:


CNC Routered Parts from 1/2 MDF

Wet layup of carbon fiber and epoxy over the glued up MDF parts

The wet layup being vacuum bagged

A side panel being vacuum bagged

Cured panels before trimming

The panels being fit checked, prior to glue-and-screw

The sub enclosure assembly glued-and-screwed

I chose the Skar DDX-12's because they have the lowest speaker depth of any full size 12" subs. This photo shows how the magnet just clears the "bump" in the bottom of the enclosure, which is there to clear an OAM set bracket:

 

I installed a 12 place sub-fuse block under the shifter, to power:

• Dashcam
• Aftermarket stereo
• XS Power Voltage Controller
• Custom Coffee Warmer

I tapped into the fuseblock for power, and 3D printed a taller cover, with a new fuse label:





Everything in the back was mounted to the body using rivnuts, that were swaged in holes drilled through the floor, that were primered after drilling. I had to watch out for the rear AC lines on the passenger side!


And the sub enclosure is mounted on the rubber isolator:



Here's a photo of the amps mounted, just after installing black carpet over the sound insulation on the rear floor:



Here's the sub enclosure during final assembly:


The rear deck and hatch pieces have been CNC'd, and are set on the enclose for a fit check::



Rear deck after 5 plies/side of carbon fiber, with expanded steel being bonded down (allows heavy things to be set in the back of the truck, while allowing the pressure waves to pass through from the subwoofers). The rear deck and hatch will be mounted to a steel frame that keeps all panels from contacting the sub enclosure, which is floating.




Sub enclosure mounted, showing 2 subs, and 2 Passive Radiators (later removed, as the subs sound better without them). The rear LTO battery is also mounted in its frame. To the right, the AC cooling duct and the blue 3D printed AC multi-outlet cooling manifold can be seen (top missing). The rear AC cools the amplifiers:




Rear deck frame installed over the sub enclosure, with will have a 1/2" to 3/4" gap all around once finalized. Sealed plates are also shown where the PR's were once mounted:

 

The rear deck and hatch were installed, and covered with black carpet. The bass has no problem passing through the carpet. Here are the finished photos of the rear area:


Rear seats up


Rear Seats Down


Rear Hatch Open


The rear hatch is attached via a long piano hinge, and easily lifts up to access the gear in the rear. When this hatch is closed, the rear door just so happens to have enough compression with the plastic cover on the inside of the door, to keep the hatch closed, and to not have excessive pre-load on the closed rear door. I arrived at that perfect arrangement through skill and luck, and by slotting the mounting holes in the rear deck frame!

Here's a photo of the JL Audio TuN DSP. You can see that I have measured the distance from each speaker, to my ears, and entered it in the fields. The DSP then calculates the delay. It sets the furthest speaker to zero, and adds a delay to each subsequent speaker. The closest speaker to my ear (the front door tweater) has the longest dealy. Therefore the sound from all speakers hits my ear at the same time. The before and after is amazing.



Everything works, and I lost nothing, other than the limitations and problems with the Chinese stereo. I am thrilled with the sound, which is far better than the ML system. There are no rattles or buzzes from any panel. The rides is also much quieter, with the 150 lbs of additional sound insulation. The Skar sub amp is patched from the JL Audio amp via RCA cables. Once I got the levels and crossover right, and the subs broken in, they freaking thump! The low end goes down to about 22 Hz, and at 25 Hz, the truck feels like its about to disassemble! I turn the bass down when I drive into neighborhoods, wait at stoplights, and pull into parking lots, as to not be an *******. Nothing on this soccer-mom truck would make anyone suspect it has a 3,000 watt RMS sound system installed!
The aftermarket stereo works, however I am not happy with many of the missing/broken features, occasional skipping during bluetooth music streaming (I listen to Spotify music %100 of the time via Samsung/Android phone, no AM/FM ever), random BT disconnect, and total lack of support from the manufacturer in China, carlinklife. There's is a domestic supplier I'll try next.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I learned al lot from taking the truck apart, and putting it back together.

 

This is amazing! Everything about this is well, Amazing!!! Car Audio is a lost art, I loved messing with Caraudio back when it was huge during my high school days.