Leroy's 2004 Tacoma stereo build log

Lol, the Utopias were from back when a 6.5 component set was $1500, and the sub was $1000. I wouldn’t buy today’s Utopia for a car unless I was the proud owner of a sole winning powerball ticket. I would still consider the K2. But my use has changed, I no longer want an SQ build that can go completely flat.

I just got the truck so I’m still planning but will just go small and probably Alpine Type R blended with Type S. Want to change the HU too.

 

I was originally a completely flat guy too. Sounded great but was off..

I started reading about target response curves and why they are needed now.

It used to be that audio engineers recorded beautiful clean audio. Now there is so much correction, compression, and compensation that you also have to compensate for how things are recorded.

This is the thread that I was reading.
https://www.diymobileaudio.com/foru...ion/131029-target-curve-comparison.html?amp=1

So now my goal is to dial in the flat, and then adjust to a target response curve or 2.

 

Finally got back in the truck and doing some checks.

Running these has been great.
https://www.audiocheck.net/testtones_sinebursts20-200.php

This thing hits tight and no lingering anything anywhere all the way down to 20hz.
At 75hz there was a slight buzz from behind the side panel in back. Quick percussive maintenance temporarily fixed that.

When listening to the Joss Stone and the Spyro Gyra, I could detect a little something in there and that was it. The bass and drums in that are so clean and well defined. I love it for testing as they go from bass to no bass very fast.

I did notice that the 100hz to 120hz has a significant drop off, which tells me I need to work on my crossover points right there.

 

Completely flat was for competition only, terrible to listen to but impressive for a sound quality competition.

I'll have to read your link on target curves soon.

 

So how's it sound feel with the 2 12's in the back? I thought 1 10 or1 12 . Would be sufficient for how small the cab is.
I know its subjective but what your impression so far.

 

So I spent the weekend, learning about REW and analysis. That is hella deep and I'm just a beginner. The main thing is all my treatments and good install has made the system really good without any attenuation at all. Had the stereo shop guys give it a listen and they were really impressed. Like high fives n shit.

They told me that for cars, doing sweeps is not the way to go. That's more for houses and rooms. RTA all the way and I agree. I have three dialed in configurations:
All - SUB - crossover and biquads cuz that was easy to dial in just perfect. I used it for all three. Its tight but natural and goes all the way down with what I'm going to call easy grace but can also hit hard and fast. Seriously the best bass in a car I've ever heard. It plays everything right. Not clinical, not loose. (Can you tell I'm happy with it?)

1 - sweep - it's good but really sounds like no depth and meh
3 - this is just sub and not processing on the mids and highs. Sounds really good.
2 - RTA - best tuning
Prior to tuning, the 1k and up is flat but about 6db higher than the 500k.
That's where the system is weakest is the 200k to 500k. After talking to the guy at the shop, it's real close though.

Wife and I drove around and up to the hills tonight and just listed to music for like an hour. It's better than the new Harmon Carson system in her 2019 crosstrek ltd. Soooooo happy with this.

To answer your question though, with 1 10 or 12, it would have gotten great bass down to about 60 or 50 hz, but adding the 2 10s gives me more power and oomph to the reall lows. I can literally hit below 20hz and it still sounds good. So that low extension where you feel it is there in spades. Super happy

 

I have gaps around 200 and 500 as well - 500 is especially problematic. I have the same truck too. It's the environment...just a tricky part of the range in our trucks.

 

Final update. Finally got around to getting the analysis redone. Went with the full RTA rather than sweeps. What a DIFFERENCE!

Best sounding car stereo I've ever heard. Wife thinks so too. It was rough getting everything dialed in and learning all the bits. Once I got the 100hz to 600hz fixed and that whole range dialed in to the sound stage, the whole thing just opened up. I set the subs 1ms behind the front stage and time aligned everything. The rears I actually crossed over with a 12db/octave bessel slope starting at 5000hz. That kept the major treble source there in the front speakers while still letting the rears really fill out the sound. So I kinda get the main stereo front stage, but also the surround feel of the mids.

The subs blend in so well and natural. The 1ms delay was something after doing a bunch of listening that just seemed that the bass was always just a little late. So subtle but once you dialed it in, then the rest fell into place.

Now, the next thing is to do a full redo of the suspension, turbo, whatever else. Maybe a paint job in the future.. build out a sleeper thing in the bed.. I dont know. I just love having a truck you can work on. Thanks a ton Rob and Chris et al. It's sure been quite a journey.