I’ve been doing quite a bit of research lately and I notice a lot of threads that have useful info are older and getting harder to find. Since I’m doing an audio upgrade I figured I’d document some of the quirks/tricks/tips and hopefully someone can gain some info from it as well.
The Mediocre Build, because it’s better than some but not an all out top of the line build. Major components include:
Kenwood Excelon DMX907S (stereo)
Kenwood Excelon KFC-XW1221HP (sub)
Skar EVL-8D4 (sub)
Kenwood Excelon X802-5 (amp)
Kenwood KFC-1696PS (6.5” speakers)
Beat Sonic MLA-24L (magic box)

Heres where I’m currently at:




Definitely not for the timid but not overly complicated if youve done any audio in the past.

New head units have USB ports in the rear, usually on 6” or so of lead wire. Even though mine has wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay I still wanted hardwire access for multiple reasons, but wanted it to look stock. I decided to use the cigarette lighter location at the center ashtray.






The new radio also comes with a GPS antenna. These things always say to put it at the top of the car with no obstructions and blah blah blah. I noticed that Toyota placed theirs under the dash right behind the nav screen on a plate that slides right out. It’s placed right in the middle plate, screwed in. I simply redrilled the holes 1/2” over and made room for the new antenna as well.




That’s all for today. It’s late and I’m tired. Tomorrow I’ll take more pics of the actual install and the box I built.

 

Some threads said to run the amp power line through the rubber grommet around 10:00, another said 3. I did it at 9am…that’s a joke, son! But seriously folks, there was a rubber nipple that was capped on the engine side but open on the cabin side. Cut the sealed end off and got the cable in. 8ga would have been no problem, 4ga fits but super tight. Get the lube ready.

 

Found a perfect spot to mount the fuse block. Now the question is do I leave it hidden or cut that rectangle out of the plastic cover to show it? Opinions welcomed.

 

Just in case someone is having trouble getting the glove box out…the wood trim needs to come off and that reveals 3-8mm bolts. Remove the panel at the floor of the glove box and that will give you 2-10mm bolts. There is also one 10mm on the bottom right corner which you will see once you pull out the cover under the knee airbag. Once you remove all the bolts you still have to yank that sucker out. Theyre in there pretty good.


I’m currently in the process of running all the wires to the trunk and putting the dash back together. More pics coming.

 

IMO best system is the one that doesn't show off it simply sounds great.

 

Looking good. I've had my car torn apart for quite some time, but have yet to finish. This is giving me motivation. Curious to see your door install with speakers.

 

What does the beatsonic kit bring to the table if you're replacing all the factory stuff?

 

Copy that. Hide the install, except the sub, just too big.

Thanks! I’m trying to get as much done this weekend as I can. I’ll see if I can get to the doors. Get yours finished up!

As far as I can tell it’s $400 so you don’t get an error message on the nav screen. Yup, that’s about it. Oh, and the plastic radio bezel part.

Well I didn’t get a load done today. Ran the amp wiring as far as it goes (17’ barely made it) and got the inside put back together. Here’s a couple pics, and a teaser of the sub box.

 

I haven’t gotten to the rear doors yet but here’s where I’m at with the front. I started with these adapters:


they obviously didn’t fit the opening on the doors, and the obviously didn’t fit the ML buckets. Simple enough I foolishly figured. Note the pliers pointing to tabs, I thought I’d just break those off and BAM! They’d work great. Well after cutting off the tabs, notching the remaining tabs, sanding the entire edge, and cutting reliefs to fit the fins in the ML buckets (pic, for laughs)…


…I figured it would be better to just cut my own damn adapters from some of the scrap 3/4” mdf I have laying around, since these still don’t work and now they’re so flimsy that they’re useless. I did paint my box and cut a board to mount the amp on so the day wasn’t a total loss.

 

I’m always telling my kids that if something frustrates them to take a break and come back to it. Took my own advice and looked at these door speakers with some rested eyes. They’ll drop right in the Lexus buckets with minimal modification. A little sealing is all they’ll need.


Also finished my box, so once the amp is in (waiting on crimpers for this 4awg wire) I can just drop that in as well.

 

Mounted the amp. I usually just bolt it to the box but I wanted to try something different this time. It’s not professional by any means but it should work. Don’t mind the hanging wires, those will get connected/hidden once I replace the door speakers

 

Yes, this install is really taking this long. I’m a busy guy. So anyway, wrapping it up now by doing the rear door install. Again, the buckets that were sent to me were totally useless but the factory rear are almost identical to the front. My 6.5 fit great but I think 6.75 would have fit more greater. Notice I had to use a couple small washers just to ensure a good bite on the ring. To cover the extra mounting holes in front I used a black rubber sealant. That was probably overkill. On the rear I got some of that heavy duty Gorilla tape. This stuff will seriously last as long as the rubber surround on the speaker cone. Cut a small strip and make sure it’s in the corners good with your plastic trim remover tool, cut off excess with a razor.


As you probably know the tweeter and mid driver are ran in parallel with the signal wire going to the tweeter first. Since I may one day switch this setup to separate components I didn’t want to cut up the wiring. Simple 16ga jumpers will do the trick.


And here’s a pic of the rear door since I never took a front door pic. Super exciting right?!

 

*crickets*
Tough crowd. I guess these are my closing thoughts after adjusting all the levels and cruising with it for a day. Disclaimer, I’m not an audiophile or a professional anything.
Sound: To me the sound quality is nearly as good, if not better than the ML system. It may be because the speakers are 17yrs newer or it may be the extra wattage. Sure the tweeters aren’t at the ideal location but with the extra power behind them the highs still come through super clear. Separate components, at least in the rear doors, would make a substantial difference I’m sure. Bass, how low can you go (Public Enemy reference).
Power: I really was a fan of the ML system but it was obviously made for quality and not pounding the ground. And like most factory systems the higher the volume the worse the sound got. Now it’s got the power to make even the mighty solid LS rattle, and still have quality sound.
Accessibility: Now I have wireless CarPlay/Android/Bluetooth, modern nav, adjustability, USB charge ports, etc. This was my main reason for swapping everything. Of course you can just stop here, but why?
Difficulty: My most involved install to date but still pretty simple and straightforward overall. No major detours or hurdles. I’ve done basic audio on all of my previous vehicles so I was already pretty comfortable but I’d say even someone with no experience could still pull this off with some research, patience, and a helping hand.

I guess that’s it. I’m done unless I decide to change something up later but I’m pretty happy with everything right now. Hope someone somewhere finds something useful here.

 

Updated findings. The original box wasn’t producing quite the sound that I wanted so I made another one. Bigger better louder etc. Super low Hz, super loud Fq, it rattles the trunk like crazy. Unfortunately it all stays in the trunk because these cars are built like tanks so it still lacks inside the cabin. Currently doing more research on ski pass-through vs deck mount. The 12” will probably have to go and either get replaced with a 10” or a couple of 8”s. To be continued…

 

Your setup looks really good so far! I look forward to see what you end up doing with the sub. I ran into that issue with my LS430 and it was like all of the bass was trapped in the trunk.