4Runner Audio Build
This is one from the archives. This was a project I completed before I started blogging, but I found some photo documentation that I wanted to share. In 2021 I purchased a 4th generation 4Runner and the audio system was one the very first components I upgraded on the truck.
Since this is my daily driver, it was important to me that I made modifications that would improve the commute. By making the sound system more enjoyable, I also modernize this 20 year old vehicle with an addition of a Pioneer 1700NEX. Nothing does that better then adding Android Auto/Apple CarPlay. That being said, this was intended to be a “budget” audio build.
I am also a true believer that adding an amplifier to a sound system will drastically improve the sound quality regardless of whatever speakers you end up choosing. I’ve installed many sound systems before - both with high end components and low-end components. Unless you’re a true audiophile, it’s quite difficult to hear the difference between an inexpensive speaker and an expensive speaker once amplified and tuned. Of course, you’re going to be able to have better performance out of high-end parts, but that only really means how hard you can drive a speaker continuously, i.e. how loud those speakers can play before sound distortion. Maybe I’m inexperienced, but this is only my two cents.
Anyhow, here are the parts I used for this audio build;
- Pioneer DMH-1700NEX (have since upgraded to a DMH-2700NEX).
- Hertz HCP 5D 1500W 5 channel amp.
- Hertz 8” ES200 subwoofer.
- a set of Hertz 6.5” DSK 160 component (have since updated to Hertz Mille MP 165 Pro).
- 3x Hertz C26 tweeters. Two of which went into the D pillars and one into the centre dashboard.
I opted for 6.5” in the front rather than the factory 6×9 size only due to costs. The alternative option would have been the Hertz CPK 690 6×9. They would have sounded better as it has better acoustic specs, but a moot point as I have upgraded to Hertz’s Mille speakers since.
Hertz is what we carry at one of the shops I work at, hence why I went with a full Hertz set up - wholesale pricing couldn’t be beat. If money wasn’t a large deciding factor here, I would have loved to go full JL Audio. Not that Hertz is inferior in any regard, but my first subwoofer was a 10” JL W3v3 which just sounded so good and that turned me instantly into a fan of the brand. The W3 actually travelled with me through a few cars that I’ve owned in the past, but eventually I let it go with one of the cars I ended up selling with it installed. A small part of me regrets that - but it’s still something that can be purchased new.
The JL Audio stuff just has such a musical sound profile out of the box. Not heavily tuned on the low end so it really could fill out the entire low to mid range and blended nicely with any component speakers to round out the full audio range. I find a lot of subs in the same power range to be very bass heavy. You get a lot of that low-end bass that you can feel, but I prefer a sub that can blend into the mids a bit more.
However, with an audio set-up the system can just be tuned together through the amplifier and head unit to achieve a desired sound profile. We could further refine this with a DSP or digital sound processor, but I don’t think my ears or system are good enough to really make a big enough difference to warrant that.
Front door with the factory JBL 6×9 components.
Even sold as a “premium” sound upgrade, the factory JBL speaker cones are still made out of paper. Not surprising, though.
The Hertz 6.5” mounted using a custom mounting bracket that was cut out of MDF and dynamat applied on top. Also retained the factory speaker connector.
The factory tweeter bracket was also utilized in order to keep the aftermarket tweeter in the same location.
This was the front doors, but the rear doors only came factory with coaxial speakers meaning a factory tweeter mount/location was non-existent. I cut out a hole on the rear doors for tweeter. I didn’t get a photo of that though.
One thing I found more recently were these fuse breakers, which I thought was super cool versus the traditional inline ANL/AGU fuse holders you typically see come with an amp wiring kit. You can simply flip the breaker back on, rather than needing to change out the fuse (which can be difficult to find if you don’t have a spare) if the system ever gets overloaded. I mounted this onto the engine fuse box cover.
Fuse holders/breakers are designed to accept bare wire without requiring any connector on them. If you’ve ever done this, you know how difficult it is to get all of the stranded wire neatly tucked into that hole without at least a few strands poking out the sides. I found a nice and clean solution to this by using a wire ferrule. This is a thin piece of tinned copper that simply slips over the exposed strand wire and then just gets clamped down by the fuse holder/amp. I used a bit of red heat shrink to; keep the wire ferrule in place, provide coverage between the wire and insulation jacket and also to quickly ID that it’s a live end.
Both ends terminated and installed in the breaker. Here you can see the breaker flipped while I finish running all of the wiring.
To terminate the ends going to the battery and chassis ground, I used this crimp tool that I got off Amazon. Does an amazing job and makes for clean work.
Added some heatshrink afterwards and it’s done.
Joe helping me here with installing the new subwoofer. I ended up going with an 8” as that is the factory size and I wanted to be able to reuse the factory enclosure and place it into the same location. I also did not want to make any modifications to the factory panels.
I’m not sure if a 10” would fit behind the factory panel in the same location. I also did not want to build a new enclosure either. Maybe a shallow mount 10”, but that felt like a compromise that I didn’t think would perform any better (very possibly worse) than a standard sized 8” sub.
I did not take the time or effort to calculate the volume of the factory sub enclosure as there wouldn’t really be much I could do if it was incorrectly matched anyways. It sounds fine to me. Joe also used a bit of dynamat scraps to help create a tighter seal between the subwoofer and enclosure.
I ran the speaker wires from the Hertz amplifier back here. The factory JBL amplifier also sits back here so I knew the wires connected to the speakers would be here. I decided to make my connections here rather than running new speaker wire. This sound system is not outputting enough power to really warrant the work to run all new or higher gauge speaker wire. This will suffice.
Pictured here is the factory JBL harness that plugs into the JBL amp. The female side I actually cut out of the JBL amp, I tinned each pin here as preparation so that I could solder my speaker wires directly onto the pins to make a connector. It would have been better to cut the connector off completely and solder the wires together directly, but this just felt like a cleaner solution. Unnecessary work and probably not the best connection either, but I can remove it when I need to (I’ve never needed to).
I placed the amp on the floor underneath the passenger side seat. This is so I can still have relatively easy access to it for whenever I need/want to make any tuning changes. I placed a sheet of MDF under the carpet so that I could have a base to fasten the amp down.
All of the speaker wiring pulled out to the amp. Looks like a mess, but it’ll be quick work to clean it up.
I also got this wire ferrule kit so that I could neatly terminate the speaker wire ends going into the amp. I love this tool. It makes nice squared ends and is so easy to use. A perfect solution.
Speaker wire ends terminated. Clean if you ask me.
Not claiming this to be the cleanest install by any means, but I kept it simple and tidy as best I could.
All wired up and ready to bump tunes.
I also took the time to add a backup camera. Joe actually ended up choosing this spot on the spoiler for me. I originally wanted to place it above the license plate by the hatch release, but this ended up being quite sleek and incognito. Happy with how this turned out too. The viewing angle is a bit higher up, which actually turns out to be quite useful when I have bikes on a hitch mounted rack.
I didn’t end up taking any photos of the interior put back together as that isn’t anything too special. A good installation should look like it could be all OEM, as if you were never in there - I think, anyways.
Something I also did was take care of the blown out seat cover. Very common for a vehicle with high usage.
Such an eye-sore.
On the left is the new seat cover with the one on the right being the original cover. The contrast between the two really highlights how much ass sweat and ArmorAll has built up over the years on the original cover…
I ordered the new seat cover from AliExpress. The feel of the material was hard to compare due to the age difference between the two, but the colour is slightly off. Overall it’s a pretty good quality seat cover replacement. The fit isn’t perfect, but I would say it’s about a 90% fit. I did find it to be slightly larger over the factory cover. There is some extra material along the bottom edge, so the edge doesn’t quite match up, but this wasn’t an issue once installed.
Removing the old bottom seat cover off.
The heating element did need to be transferred over from the OEM cover over onto the aftermarket. A few hog rings held the heating pad onto the cover.
Another comparison side by side. I know you can tell how slick and greasy that factory cover was just by looking at the photo and comparing it to the AliExpress one…
Installed and I can barely notice that it’s a replacement cover. Some of the foam from the seat base was missing so this side of the leg bolster is a bit lower, but it’ll do just fine…
The audio system still remains to be one of my favourite changes to the truck since ownership. I haven’t done a ton more since then, but it’s still something I enjoy every time I get in for a drive. I have contemplated upgrading the subwoofer a few times, but I haven’t pulled the trigger on that one yet. I would love to eventually get another 10” JL W3v3, but that’d be a large undertaking needing a custom enclosure which I’m not sure is worth the tackle while there is still more I want to get done on the truck.
