2006 Access Cab sound system project

What's up guys.
Let me start off by saying what a fantastic forum this is. There are lots of people that know their business and offer tremendous advice! I've been lurking here for a bit, learning loads of useful stuff, and finally decided to join in to ask some more direct questions pertaining to my upgrade project.

A little background.
I have a 2006 Access Cab. About a year ago I replaced the stock HU with the Alpine CDA-9886, and I've been VERY happy with the new deck. Made the stock speakers sound a great deal better, but now i'm ready to get the speakers swapped out for some quality components.

My budget is about $200-250 for the front door speakers, and the same for an amp (should I decide i need one). I came across ********* and their Image Dynamics bundles, which seemed like a pretty easy setup for a noob like myself.

Let me jump right in, and ask a few quick questions that came up. I have a bunch more, but don't want to shove them all into my first post.

- Are the ID CTX65CS decent quality speakers to pair up with my Alpine HU? I definitely don't want to limit my options, so I'm not set on those speakers.

- The Alpine puts out 18x4 RMS. Would that be enough power to get those IDs moving, or should I be looking at getting an amp to get the most out of this upgrade? If you feel I absolutely need an amp, i'd rather get it right a way rather than later, because I want to try and only do all the installation and wiring once.

- I've read that replacing the rear speakers isn't really as important, and you can leave them stock, and fade the signal mostly to the front. Is that a fair assumption, or should I be looking at replacing the rears as well?

I would really appreciate any advice you guys can give. This is my first speaker upgrade project, and I'm a little apprehensive about tearing into the door panels of my car.
Cheers!

 

welcome to the forum that will soon take over all your free time!!

I have the 6-1/2" ID mids and tweeters from ********* (along with the spacers). I Am powering these directly off my aftermarket H/U which pumps upto 20watts RMS into them. I like the sound of it. Have not been able to crank it more than half way.
I am using the stock rears, powered waaay down. And have a 12" sub powered by an amp.
Really enjoy the set up. Cost me under $500 and looks like it came that way from the factory A basic upgrade like this will not win an competitions, but if all you are looking to do is get some better sound in your truck, it does the trick pretty well.

 

Welcome comrade, let me start by directing you away from Taco Tunes. A lot of people have had bad experiences with them! You can get speaker mounts for your truck from MrMarv through this forum. He will be able to give you some good advice on quality speakers for your upgrade with your budget.

My 2 cents on upgrading the audio is to replace ALL of the factory speakers with three way speakers. That will give you mid-range, highs, and a little bass. You should be able to power those just fine with your head unit and it makes for an easier install than adding an amp for door speakers. With the rest of your budget buy a class D mono amp (this type of amp is for subs only, if you are powering anything else get a stereo amp) and add one 10" sub. You can't do justice to your music without at least one sub in the truck, but again this is just my 2 cents.

I have to reiterate again, this is fact not opinion, stay away from Taco Tunes. Shipments have been delayed for months if even shipped at all. They have been banned from this forum as well as others.

 

3 way speakers might not be the best way to go... unless they are bi-amped or you're using some type of equalizer such as an audio control or audison bit-one, three way components are often tricky to get the right sound out of. with a good install and combination of quality speakers/amp in the front, the factory rear speakers will be sufficient untill you are ready to upgrade them.

like the arkitec said, eventually, a subwoofer would greatly enhance your system.

if you are working with a $500 total budget on front speakers/amp you might want to look at this combination. the speakers are very efficient, have great punch, and sound very clear, the amp is small, reliable, and powerful.

speakers:
http://www.hertzaudiovideo.com/Doc/pdf_dsk165.pdf

amp:
http://www.shopatron.com/products/productdetail/part_number=98260/1451.0

 

Thanks a lot for the advice fellas!

Seems like you're right about *********. I emailed them with a few questions, and have been waiting for a reply for quite some time. Doesn't look like they want my business, so I'll take it elsewhere. Sounds like a lot of guys here have been very happy with MrMarv, so I'll be contacting him next.

Shaneckc - I'll definitely put these components on my list! Thanks for the links.

Cheers guys, I'll post updates when this project gets moving.

 

the ball is officially rolling.

thanks for pointing me in Marv's direction guys, I finally got in touch with him yesterday, and had a long discussion about my project. What a tremendously helpful guy! Full of great knowledge, and generous with good advice.

I did some research and based on one of Marv's recommendations, i just pulled the trigger on a Pioneer GM-9500F amp.
In the next couple of days I'll be picking up some Hybrid Audio Imagine 6x9s for the front doors, and 6 1/2s for the rear doors.

I'll try to document the process as best as I can, and will post pics as this project develops further.

Cheers!

 

well.. it took a while to assemble all the bits and pieces for this install, but I finally jumped into it this past Saturday morning.

Specs:
head unit - Alpine CDA-9886
amp - Pioneer GM-9500F
speakers - Hybrid Audio Imagine 6x9 fronts, 6.5 rears
wiring - RockfordFosgate 8-guage amp kit, Monster 16-guage speaker wire
deadening - Raammat and Ensolite sandwich!

I was fairly short on time during this install, so I didn't document every step of the process, but i did take pictures of the final result right before i reassembled the interior, last night at 2am
Please excuse the poor quality of these cellphone pics.



















Everything fired up and worked on the first try, thank god, 'cause i was getting pretty tired and wasn't ready to deal with any "surprises" at 2 in the morning. My hands are totally destroyed and my body is sore, but it was well worth the effort. I've only had about 20 minutes of listen time on the system, and daaamn it sounds good. The stock speakers really are a freakin joke.

Huge thanks goes out to Marv for steering me in the right direction, and to Rick at Raamaudio for making a great affordable product and for being a chill stand-up dude!
And of course, this would never have been possible without TacomaWorld.com, so thanks to all of you out there that documented your installs in great detail!!

 

Awesome set up! I ended up going the same route as recommended by Marv. It sounds awesome!

 

Thanks man.
I can't wait to get these speakers broken in properly, and get some tuning done on the system to get optimal sound.
Out of the box though, it sounds amazing. Can't believe i waited this long to get this done.