Issues with Taco Tunes Sub Harness?

[viper2788]

Has anyone achieved successful bass output using the Taco Tunes Add a Subwoofer Harness on their JBL equipped sound system? I'm using the TC harness to obtain the subwoofer signal to AudioControls ACM-1.300 which is essentially identical to the LC2i Pro in terms of Accubass controls. Speaker output wires then powers a Kicker CompRT8 subwoofer that I replaced my oem sub with. No matter how I adjust the threshold/level/gain, it seems to getting mixed bass signals and quite inconsistent. Some songs hit pretty good while others are severely lacking bass. Some songs have inconsistent bass throughout. Some songs dont have much bass until I crank up the volume way higher. It only seems to be playing the lowest frequencies and I'm missing the sharp bump in many cases (more so a rumble), which my underseat alpine sub in my Crosstrek has no porblems with. I tried switching the crossover from 80hz to 120hz in hopes of getting a wider range to no effect. I tried to reverse the polarity with both the input and output wires in all combinations. Its leading me to think perhaps the amp simply isnt receiving the full range of freuqncies needed from the subwoofer output? I'm getting direct power from my battery and my ground is secure, all using 8 Ga wires. While my bass is inconsistent, its consistently inconsistent, as in each song plays the same way and lacks bass in the same parts.

That being said, where should I go from here? Could I perhaps tap into the front speakers for my subwoofer input? The ACM should still have a crossover point to filter out high freuqncies. And if I do so, will I lose some of the lower frequencies? I thought I had it all figured out but now I've got more questions than answers...


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[Island4Runner]

The signal at the front midbasses was full range/unfiltered in my 2022 Highlander Platinum (similar JBL ugraded system). I pulled the bass signal from those and it was more consistent and hit lower than the stock sub. Worked really well.

Not sure if the 4runner premium system is similar, it might be worth a try.

I'm about to embark on this journey myself later this summer.

 

[Vincenzo]

Have you tried different sources? ie, radio, Sirius, mp3? Is your fader centered? It’s really sad how they designed the stereo in their vehicles. I prefer a little more from the rear speakers instead of it all hitting me in the face. When you move the faded just one notch to the rear, you lose a lot of bass

 

[ScoMay]

Somewhere in this forum there is a thread where someone who knows a lot more about audio than I do mentioned something to the effect of the feed coming to the subwoofer is actually from the front speaker feed.

I don’t hear much bass at all no matter how much I adjust the fade in my JBL system to the rear. When I adjust the fade bringing in more of the front speakers that is when I start to hear the bass. Odd, but seems to track with what I mentioned in the first paragraph.

Maybe that will help you.

 

[viper2788]

Have you tried different sources? ie, radio, Sirius, mp3? Is your fader centered? It’s really sad how they designed the stereo in their vehicles. I prefer a little more from the rear speakers instead of it all hitting me in the face. When you move the faded just one notch to the rear, you lose a lot of bass

No, only played via itunes through bluetooth connection.

In any case, I changed the Accubass settings to be a lot more conservative and it seemed to have leveled it out across all songs. Now its like a "better" oem sub... Perhaps I was being greedy but I know I can get a lot more out of my current setup with 300W. Some songs bump really good under certain settings but I cant seem to maintain it. All equalizer settings were at default, but i moved up the bass 2 notches since switching accubass dials to 12 oclock.

 

[horbit]

The Taco Tunes harness says "30 pin harness consisting of the FRONT Left & Right speaker signals – merged via LOC to create subwoofer signal", so be sure not to do any fading on the head unit or it may mess with the bass volume (leave it in the default position).

AudioControl is a quality brand, keep dialing it in!

 

[viper2788]

The Taco Tunes harness says "30 pin harness consisting of the FRONT Left & Right speaker signals – merged via LOC to create subwoofer signal", so be sure not to do any fading on the head unit or it may mess with the bass volume (leave it in the default position).

AudioControl is a quality brand, keep dialing it in!

Youre right, it actually does seem to pick up signal from the front doors. I kept using AI to help me tune the sound (since I dont know any better) and it kept saying to keep the equalizers on the head unit to default and to use accubass/gain knobs to achieve the sound I want. I've had threshold at a very high setting to achieve good bass on certain songs and it threw off a lot of things... basically limiting my sounds to low bass and messing up my mids... essentially there was a huge gap between the two and the bass even seemed to lag a bit sometimes.

In any case, I went back setting both the threshold and level to the 12 oclock position (it locks in, like a default setting) which actually restores plenty of factory bass rolloff. I then went and increased my bass to the max on the headunit equalizer, and increased my gain on the amp until the max light flickers a bit only on certain songs. I'm finally getting the bass I want and it sounds well integrated with my mids (door speakers) and the rest of the sound system. I've been keeping my aftermarket bass knob at the max and only lower it for a few songs where the bass is either too high (maxing out) or simply not needed... just the way I had wanted it. Fade settings have always been at deafualt and centered.

All in all, as much as I'd hate to admit, this was user error. Still room to fine tune it a bit but I'm definately satisfied for now.

 

[horbit]

This is how I would tune the subwoofer by ear. Also verify your sub is wired at 2ohms for max power.

1. Set all head unit equalizers to flat or the middle positions.
2. Set amplifier knobs to default positions. If the remote bass knob is plugged in, max it out.
3. Unplug the subwoofer from the amp.
4. Play a familiar song that has good bass at the highest volume without it sounding like ass, it could be anywhere from 80% to 100%. This is your max volume from the headunit without clipping, remember it.
5. Play a 50hz, -3db test tone at the volume you found to be the cleanest maximum, set it to repeat while you run to the amp.
6. Turn the gain on the amplifier up until the light says maximized.
7. Turn off the test tone.
8. Plug subwoofer back into the amp.
9. Play song again and adjust equalizer at head unit to your liking.

If you find yourself wanting more bass, repeat the steps above with -5db, and then if you still want more then -10db.

This is a pretty safe process since your amp and subwoofer are evenly matched, I personally would do this using an oscilloscope but that amplifier has pretty good clipping indicators.

Let me know how it goes, remember this is a 300watt setup in a sealed enclosure and isn't going to set off car alarms.

 

[viper2788]

This is how I would tune the subwoofer by ear. Also verify your sub is wired at 2ohms for max power.

1. Set all head unit equalizers to flat or the middle positions.
2. Set amplifier knobs to default positions. If the remote bass knob is plugged in, max it out.
3. Unplug the subwoofer from the amp.
4. Play a familiar song that has good bass at the highest volume without it sounding like ass, it could be anywhere from 80% to 100%. This is your max volume from the headunit without clipping, remember it.
5. Play a 50hz, -3db test tone at the volume you found to be the cleanest maximum, set it to repeat while you run to the amp.
6. Turn the gain on the amplifier up until the light says maximized.
7. Turn off the test tone.
8. Plug subwoofer back into the amp.
9. Play song again and adjust equalizer at head unit to your liking.

If you find yourself wanting more bass, repeat the steps above with -5db, and then if you still want more then -10db.

This is a pretty safe process since your amp and subwoofer are evenly matched, I personally would do this using an oscilloscope but that amplifier has pretty good clipping indicators.

Let me know how it goes, remember this is a 300watt setup in a sealed enclosure and isn't going to set off car alarms.

Thanks! I'll def give this a try. I dont often go past 30 on the volume and only sometimes a bit more. Just wanted more relative bass at those volume levels. In any case, is it ok for the max light on the amp to flash on during bass hits or am i supposed to back off?

 

[horbit]

This is what the website says about the light on a similar model.

When the light is blinking or solid, this indicates that the signal is distorting as it exits the unit. It is okay if the light ‘blips’ now and again, depending on hard-hitting transients in the music. However, blinking rapidly or solid should be avoided.

 

[horbit]

You should also disable the ANC (active noise cancellation) feature now that you have aftermarket amplifiers. This could be cancelling out the sound waves from the subwoofer. You can do so with Carista.

 

[viper2788]

You should also disable the ANC (active noise cancellation) feature now that you have aftermarket amplifiers. This could be cancelling out the sound waves from the subwoofer. You can do so with Carista.

Yea, forgot to mention but I had ANC and ESE disabled at the dealership

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