Another amateur stereo install

[moodytico]

I finally got tired of hearing my blown driver side speaker so I decided to get my self a new stereo system for father's day I completed the install in phases as my car is my daily driver and its hard to drive to work with the dash torn apart and no turn signals. I am not an electrician or audiophile by any stretch of the imagination but I am really pleased with the results and best of all it's all hidden The head unit I decided on was a Soundstream VR-651 B. It was under 200 bucks on Crutchfield and has all the options I wanted including DVD, Bluetooth, USB, built in phone mic, etc. I went with the tried and true Pioneer TS-G1645R in the doors. After installing the speakers with my old Eclispe deck I knew I was going to have to add some oomph if they were going to sound the way I wanted.

 

[moodytico]

I decided to look for an amplifier and I wanted something small that would power the four door speakers that I could hide somewhere. My local stereo store was having a tent sale and I found this little guy for 149.00. It is a Pioneer GM-1004 4 channel amp that is really small. At first my plan was to place it in the factory amp location behind the dash but for wiring ease I decided to try it under the shifter console below the deck.

 

[moodytico]

Last but not least, I went with a Pioneer TS-WH500A self powered underseat subwoofer that I had seen someone here use under the drivers seat. It fits really well and wiring was really easy. Much easier that wiring the deck....I will get into that later.

 

[moodytico]

So it was smooth sailing unto I tried to turn everything on. Crutchfield had sent me a harness adapter that I wired to the deck. The deck has RCA outputs to the amp and a harness output that I wired back to the factory harness. I had removed the factory subwoofer and the front dash speakers as I didn't want to use them. I couldn't get sound to the speakers So after much ado, I discovered the factory amp powered more than just the rear subwoofer. The factory system sent a signal to factory amp which in turn to the speakers. So, I ended up wiring the amp output harness directly to the output factory amp harness. I will include the wiring connections in case anyone wants to do the same thing and doesn't want to spend an hour with Crutchfield tech support.

Pioneer amp harness Toyota amp output harnes
White Pink
White/Black Purple
Solid Grey Light Green
Grey/Black Blue
Solid Green Black
Green/Black Solid Yellow
Solid Purple Solid Red
Purple/Black White

The amp fit perfectly under the shifter console and the sub I ended up mounting lengthwise under the drivers seat. The sound is much better than I anticipated and being able to feel the bass under the seat really wakes up the sound. Overall, I was really happy with it and it is a great improvement over what I started with.

 

[RiFF RaFF]

A powered sub under the driver's seat rocks! I installed an 800 watt Audio Planet 8" sub under mine. Has the remote control so even at low volumes (when wife is on board) I can still feel the bass.

Did you do the resistor install? My wife loves that she can watch a movie while I do the driving.

MicroBypass ALL AVH-X Video In Motion Interface for Select Pioneer Receivers

 

[HAAANK]

So it was smooth sailing unto I tried to turn everything on. Crutchfield had sent me a harness adapter that I wired to the deck. The deck has RCA outputs to the amp and a harness output that I wired back to the factory harness. I had removed the factory subwoofer and the front dash speakers as I didn't want to use them. I couldn't get sound to the speakers So after much ado, I discovered the factory amp powered more than just the rear subwoofer. The factory system sent a signal to factory amp which in turn to the speakers. So, I ended up wiring the amp output harness directly to the output factory amp harness. I will include the wiring connections in case anyone wants to do the same thing and doesn't want to spend an hour with Crutchfield tech support.

Pioneer amp harness Toyota amp output harnes
White Pink
White/Black Purple
Solid Grey Light Green
Grey/Black Blue
Solid Green Black
Green/Black Solid Yellow
Solid Purple Solid Red
Purple/Black White

The amp fit perfectly under the shifter console and the sub I ended up mounting lengthwise under the drivers seat. The sound is much better than I anticipated and being able to feel the bass under the seat really wakes up the sound. Overall, I was really happy with it and it is a great improvement over what I started with.

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View attachment 1286647

thanks for the Intel and congrats on a better stereo! I will be joining the aftermarket ranks soon enough.

One thing on your amp placement, my center console gets super hot, perhaps too hot for an amp to live esp under the shifter console...2¢

 

[moodytico]

HAAANK Thanks for the advice. My console does get hot as well and I will check on it and see how it does in the current location. I don't have it mounted permanently and may still move it over to where the factory amp is if the current position doesn't work out. It wouldn't be a big deal to wire it behind the glove box over to the head unit.

 

[moodytico]

A powered sub under the driver's seat rocks! I installed an 800 watt Audio Planet 8" sub under mine. Has the remote control so even at low volumes (when wife is on board) I can still feel the bass.

Did you do the resistor install? My wife loves that she can watch a movie while I do the driving.

MicroBypass ALL AVH-X Video In Motion Interface for Select Pioneer Receivers

Will this work on a non-Pioneer deck and if where does it wire in to?

 

[RiFF RaFF]

Will this work on a non-Pioneer deck and if where does it wire in to?

Here's a YouTube Video on howto --

You can search for the bypass for your radio if you don't have a Pioneer. If it has DVD, NAV, etc - should work.
NOTE: I take no responsibility for damage to your radio!! Do this at your own risk. Search on YouTube for "How to do an In Dash DVD GPS stereo Parking Brake Bypass".

 

[Geert]

How did you mount the underseat sub? Just some screws in the floor?

 

[moodytico]

I haven't mounted it permanently yet but on opposing corners of the sub are tabs that you can drill a pilot hole and use on screw at each corner.

 

[BltByKrmn]

That little amp is so cool and it looks like Amazon has them for $80

 

[Fj moneypit]

Nice set up. I like the amp and would like to see how you wired in. I have this harness and didn't use because I wired my stereo into other factory harness behind dash. Wondering if I can use this harness to wire into factory amp?