GR Yaris How I upgraded it: Aftermarket speakers, sub and amps on JBL system.

[Reyanth]

Helloes,
I recently swapped my JBL speakers and amp to aftermarket 2.1 system and I thought I'd share the info I gathered.
Sorry for advance that I'm not too techsavy and my native language isn't English so, try to bare with me.

I ended up removing all 8 JBL speakers, replacing them with woofers and tweeters in front and subwoofer at the back.
Also put a lot of noise insulation stuff to the doors, side walls and boot.

What I replaced the JBL's with:
Front speakers: JL Audio C2-650 6,5" 2-way + 40mm spacers.
Front amp: Audison AP 4.9 Bit 4-channels -> bridged to 2.
Sub: JL Audio CP108LG-W3v3
Sub amp: AutoStudio REF100.2 MKII 2-channels -> bridged to 1.
Addon: Audison DRC MP (remote controller)

First I was silly enough to try to take signals from "output" side of JBL amp, but the signal was totally shithe. The JBL amp gives out 4 channels. Front Hi, -Mid, -Low and Rear, so I thought it would be "ok" to connect Hi and Low channels to the amp. (As far as I know, you can only bring 2 channels in with Audison AP4.9) but it ended up over saturating the lows and highs. It was un-correctable and the mids were none exsistant.

Lucky me, I managed to get wiring diagrams from local Toyota dealer and consulted a local audio shop (Autostudio.fi) about the wiring. So I ended up taking the signal for the front amp from "input" plug wires (The high channels?). First I used the same trick as Jonny did (the fella with blue GR in youtube), using the "Abiko fork connectors" to just test the signal. The holes on the connector were a tight to shove the forks into the connector so I eventually just tapped the wires.


1. Wiring the front, Audison amplifier:
R+: red - pin 5 --> connected to audison input: FR+ grey
R-: black - pin 4 --> connected to audison input: FR- grey/black (or more like light greyish blue)
L+: white - pin 3 --> connected to audison input: FL+ white
L- : green - pin 2 --> connected to audison input: FL- white/black
ACC 12v: black - pin 12 --> connected to audison: REM IN, blue

While installing, tuning, testing and messing with the wires I noticed, while you tap the signal from "input" side, you lose your control over volume/balance/fader cause all this is handled at JBL amplifier. Also, the "input" and "output" plugs have to be connected to JBL amp, or you lose all audio signals from "input" side. (picture 4 above: "input"(left) and "output"(right) plugs connected to JBL amp. The middle on is for ANC (noise cancellation and you'd wanna have that disabled anyway I guess.).).

This meant I had to figure out a way to go around this issue. So I went with Audison's addon DRC (remote controller) which lets you to control the volume/balance/fader/subvolume thru' the Audison amp. (it has some other neat features too but, you can read more from audison's site)


2. Audison Configuration Wizard and setting up the inputs/outputs:
picture 1: As I went with 2.1 -route, I only needed L/R inputs the amp figuring out the signal for sub. 6th preset with F + AUX seemed to fit the purpose.

picture 2: On audison wizard you play a test song for the amp so it figures the input signals, this part can be somewhat confusing but, the audio guys at the shop recommended to run both "Input level setup" and "de-equalization" on 70%-ish volume (despite the audison manual tells you to go with 100% for some reason.) Anyway, the 70% (around 40 on the stereo) seemed to work perfect! (WINK! CD comes with the amp, songs in a folder: You can copy these to usb-stick or play them thru' phone BT too)

picture 3/4: On speaker connection setup, I simply checked the speakers I had installed, paired the front speakers up (they're behind same crossover) and told the amp to also bridge the front speakers to get 260W @4Ohm on 2-channels. Audison would give the signals out from: OUT1+ / 2- for left, OUT3+ /4- for RIGHT.

Subwoofers amplifier would be taking the audio signal from Audison AMP, connected with RCA cable to "SUB OUT" RCA connector, and also wake up power from "REM OUT" (blue/white)

3. Tidying things up with front amp.
Having two amps and bunch of wires can be a bit of a rats nest under as seat but, here are couple pictures how I managed it all. I also made a custom bracket for both of the amps to get them were I want, off the floor mat and not touching each other for better cooling and possible signal interference.

4. Sub and amp at the boot.
For now, I have the subwoofer just simply tied to the rear strut bar at the boot. I'll have to deal with it later.
The amplifier I ended up installing under the boot cover. Some of the boot styrofoam had to be cut to able fit the amp.

to be continued...

 

[Reyanth]

5. EQ Tune time!
After all the manual labour stuff, have been spending couple days to just finding a decent tune to the EQ. With Audison amp you it's easy to set distances etc. cause you can do that with a laptop on the fly. (Some other brands prolly have similar softwares too, and no, Im not working for Audison ).

6. The Audison DRC (remote controller).
I currently have the DRC wedged under the main display, still a bit of work to do with it. Need to fabricate a bracket of sorts.. and figure out a spot.

7. To sum it all up?
- The sound now is un-comparable to the JBL's not to mention the none-JBL's.
- I really recommend doing upgrades to your audio-system if you like listening tunes while cruising.
- The overall cost for the setup I went with is around 1300-1400€-ish, but guess you could spend less or more depending your needs.
- Took me around a week to get it all working and installed. (the signal search and figuring it all out was a pain the arse!)

In any case, hope this post can be any help to anyone doing upgrades or planning to do such.

In case you have questions about or need help to figure out the audio stuff, I'm happy to help with what I can!

Cheers.

 

[foxspeed]

impressive

 

[Duke]

Nice work, some useful information there for anyone who might attempt audio upgrades in future, including me! Without the fake engine noise it’s tolerable, but little more than that.

Shame the “JBL” system doesn’t seem much better than the standard package.

 

[Reyanth]

Nice work, some useful information there for anyone who might attempt audio upgrades in future, including me! Without the fake engine noise it’s tolerable, but little more than that.

Shame the “JBL” system doesn’t seem much better than the standard package.

JBL is improvement over the normal one, but I just wanted more. I installed these same speakers and sub to my 86 couple years ago and.... it's so hard to go back to OEM's after.

 

[Reyanth]

8. Subwoofer bracket
Summer vacation is here, had time to fiddle up the bracket for sub. Some aluminium bar 30x4mm and couple bots, nuts, washers and screws. I wanted the boot to be practical so I can access the bottom part if needed etc. Now the sub is off the way, and the rear seat also flips down with it in case it's needed.

I took the wider backseat backrest piece apart, all you need to do is unzip the zippers from side and undo the plastic thingy at the bottom. After getting the fabric out of the way, I separated a plastic cover plate from the seat and drilled 3 holes to the chassis pipe. I locked the bolts with nuts to the pipes, pushed them thru' the backrest's backside and attached the sub brackets to the bolt-ends.

With that the whole installation is almost complete, excluding some small tidying up here and there.
Also the EQ still needs another pass with a tune. But this was expected since I tend to tune it up with small changes with time.


9. Summary #2
Still happy with the setup, and would not want to go back to the OEM's. Beet a lot of work thou' now that I think of it but. Worth it!


Cheers!

 

[YarisAUSRallye]

Hi Zoo owners!
I wanted to thank everyone for their previous posts and information. Great pics and detail, it all helped me with doing my install.
I had some old gear laying around that I thought instead of just taking up space in the spare room, I should put it to some good use.
Then it was holiday season and I found myself with some time on my hands, so away I went.
The first issue for me was that I wanted to be able to remove it all pretty easily when I attend a track day. So as mush as I love my music and BASS I needed to be able to revert the car back to a "weight conscious" vehicle, rather than an SPL monster!

The wiring side of things is pretty easy to setup for a quick connect install. And if you haven't already seen the Youtube videos for Mark at Car Audio Fabrication (https://www.youtube.com/@CarAudioFabrication) you are missing out. This guy is awesome! Great tips and tricks for the home DIY.
The physical installation side of things was where I had to put my mind into "creative" mode. I didnt want to cut / drill / hack anything in the car. I wanted to be able to remove the sub and amp in one hit, and then take the car racing.

Initially I thought I would just bolt the amp to the back of the sub box. But when measuring this out, it wasn't going to work without it looking terrible and having wires poking out everywhere. So that was a non event.
Then I went for mounting the amp somewhere under the rear wheel cover, in with the battery. But I was then worried about ventilation, the amp would run pretty hot when getting smashed, and then it would go into protect mode and potentially cut out. The other issue was I would have needed to make some custom brackets (easy enough) and find some factory mounting holes with thread. There were a few factory holes in there that I could have used. However, my mate came up with the idea of making an old style AMP board and mounting the amp to the back of the seats. Again, I didn't want to screw anything into the factory seats. So we cam up with the idea of squeezing the amp board between the back seats when they are locked into position.
So I got some 16mm MDF board and started mocking up an AMP board with some slots cut out to slide over the factory seat locking tabs.

Now all I have to do when I want to take it out, is disconnect the two wires for the sub. Pull the Sub out. Push the two back seats down. That allows me to slide the AMP board off the seat locators. Then I just unplug the power and earth quick connects, and put it all in the garage.
No factory parts were harmed in the making of this stereo install. * apart from the rear wing that vibrates like a MOFO now. hehehe


I hope this helps the next person with their install. I will admit....this sub and amp combo is WAAAAY too much for this car. The gain on the amp is on half and the in cabin controller never goes past half way. But its great to know it can be done and it does squeeze your head if you want to.
OR
Just keep it on low and just enjoy it.

 

[Reyanth]

Little update on the Audison DRC MP installation.. Got my hands on a 3d printer lately and decided to make a bracket for the DRC.

Installed it on the middle-left air vent under the stereo, pretty much without making any nasty holes on the dash. (on hole inside the vent behind the carbon plate..). Much better now than before as it was just jammed between the space on the "phone .....place"