Kenwood Amp Install

[BobBear]

Hi all, thought I would share my project from last weekend. I installed a Kenwood KAC-M3004 amplifier and Pioneer TSA-1376R speakers in my 2015 Vaquero. I chose the Kenwood because I like their products and the M3004 had features I liked such as the auto sensing turn on and variable adjustable filter. I chose the Pioneers because of their 75 watt RMS rating as well as their bandwidth specs.

From the photos, the inputs are from the front and rear speaker connections that I snipped and spliced into the gold plated RCA plugs from pre-made stereo cable I had laying around. While the colors on the factory speaker wires coincide with the service manual, I still beeped them out with an ohmmeter to double insure. The front speakers came from the factory with a nice little pigtail adapter that can be used for this.
The amp is a 4 channel amp but it is wired for 2 channel bridged mode. Kenwood is a little different from others who only bridge the outputs. The inputs are bridged as well between the front and rear.

The amp is mounted to an old piece of 1/8" aluminum plate that I had in my recycle bin with a small section of angle iron that fastens it to the 2 bolts that hold the factory radio in. I found the nuts from the angle iron mounting to be resting on the factory radio so I used a piece of 1/2" foam rubber with sticky backing about 1.5 inches wide and the length of the radio to protect it from the amp when it vibrates or bounces. The results were a very sturdy mount that is cushioned.

The black cube is a12 volt 40 amp automotive relay that I bought many years ago to put lights under my old Nomad but never got around to doing. It was perfect for this as the amp is rated at 30 amps max. The relay is energized by a tap in to the factory radio power so that if the ignition switch is in "accessory" or "on" position, the amp is on. Power to the relay contacts is directly from the battery thru a 30 amp fuse adapter I purchased from AutoZone. The amp gets it's ground from the ground lug that is under the seat at the bottom of the gas tank. The relay coil only draws miliamps so it doesn't load the power to the radio.

I drilled a bunch of 1/2" holes in the ends of the black plastic speaker tubes to allow the speakers to vent but after some more thought, I think I will drill a 2" hole at the end with a hole saw as you can still feel the speaker laboring to force air out of the holes. This will probably help the bass. Next I'm going to get some sound dreading mat to put inside the fairing. Will use it on the gauges as well because a couple of them are "buzzy" and it's annoying.

This was a 24+ hour project but, I like how it turned out and the sound is much better than factory. The Pioneer speakers are very clean in the mid range and highs. So, I'm thinking where can I put a sub-woofer without cutting into those beautiful fiberglass saddlebags........