MGMDesertTaco's audio build

ok, i've got to get it out of my system!

nothing against the brand, component selection, or install, but i can't help but find these nearly pro-level drivers hilarious for personal reasons.

my first/high school car audio install used a similar speaker size. but mine were jensen brand (1980-90's jensen sellout crap, not 1950 jensen quality), salvaged from a budget surround sound setup, that was 'saved' from a garbage can because i didn't have money to buy new nice speakers, with nothing more than some best buy 'bass blockers' on them to keep them from distorting with the bass. they were paired with a set of dirt cheap 5-1/4" '2-way' speakers with fake tweeters. the 5-1/4's were garbage, but the 2" drivers made up for everything!

spent a lot of money chasing the high frequency clarity of that build with better quality gear for many years!

i think you'll be very happy with them, just observing time being circular

 

@soundman98 *Beer budget, Champagne appetite here

 

Small update until later next week.

The included Focal screws were too long and nothing came with the CDT's, so another trip to Lowes this afternoon. I needed some heat shrink for my harness anyway.

I'm using Hillman #6 x 1/2" metal pan Phillips screws for the Focal RCX-165. 5/8" or 3/4" might have been better, but these work. For the CDT 6x9's I was able to use the hardware included with 6 3/4 metra brackets. Basically a 8/32 fine thread screw, washer and lock nut on the back.

Speakers are mounted in their brackets and wire harnesses attached. Just waiting on deadening from Amazon, which will be here Tuesday. However the hand roller will be here Wednesday.

I'm going to start on the harness tonight and might order 20ft section of speed wire to mount the amp behind the rear drivers seat. Crossovers will still go upfront near the kick panels.

 

I love this! CDT Unity drivers (amongst other CDT drivers) are fantastic. When I did the audio in my notchback, I used ALL CDT drivers in it (except for the subwoofer - that is a Memphis). Nice work!

 

I told the CDT owner John that he should market on this forum. Seems he is too busy and a small operation but is looking for someone to represent the brand, if anyone is interested. Im sure their would be some perks.

 

I would thread lock or double nut the bolt. vibrations over time might cause them to loosen up. I'm not an expert, but it makes me feel better. That's what I will be doing.

what is the black board you have the amp mounted to?

 

Yeah I was going to, but upon flipping the 6x9 woofer in the picture above to feed to speaker connector through the metra bracket hole I discovered the lock nuts actually grab the plastic screw hole posts pretty tight. They're opened ended on the back and have "teeth?" that grab the screw threads and keep them from vibrating off the screws.

Board is Metra ABS plastic 12x12 3/16" thick.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-5SJvDci3BBE/p_120ABS316/Metra-ABS316.html

 

Second skin Pro arrived today. I might need a few more sheets. This stuff is thick/heavy.

 

Made some minor progress today and learned a few things. The rear metra bracket wire holes are too small for the positive white wire terminal to fit through, so I had to carve it out some. It's a 102 today, so the black glue holding the plastic weather barrier was pulling up in strands like bubble gum and sticking to everything and about 3-5 retainer clips fell back into the door during assembly. I'm leaving them for now.

I did get the driver's side rear door deadened, new Focal RCX-165 installed and door put back together. 3 sheets was enough to do 95% of the inner door and around the speaker mount. The door has a nice thud to as well when closed. The SecondSkin Pro 2mm is fantastic stuff, very easy to work with, heavy duty, nice quality. I used gloves, but could have done it without. The inner door cutouts themselves were the sharpest and biggest concern. Toyota really could have punched them out cleaner or rolled the edges.

The Focal's sound really f'n good for $105 and only powered off the factory radio (faded all the way to the rear). I probably would have been content with the RSE-165/RCX-165 combo, but whatever. The CDT's should thump more anyway. Starting again tomorrow.

 

I've been kicking around the idea of spending a little more and adding a sub with the Kicker Key 500.1 amp if I can find one in stock. I might do the JL stealthbox or build a box and use Focal's RSB-250 10" auditor sub. The auditor line is very impressive for the price point.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091RSB250/Focal-RSB-250.html
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-AHGIf...MI7czrko_89wIV8hHnCh2bygnQEAAYASAAEgJy-PD_BwE

 

Gotta love these post-twist connectors! Finished up the custom harness for the crossovers. I'll run an extra section of +/- wire from the CDT unity 8.0's down to the crossover.

link here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/hope-this-helps-anyone-installing.749920/#post-27375748

 

very nice- very organized. That's the key. Have you heard of tessa tape?

 

Yep, I'll tape up the spaghetti before installation.

 

My harnesses are almost complete for the amp and crossovers. My soldering skills are not the best, so I grabbed an extra set of

$19 Metra 72-8104 Speaker Wire Adapters for Select Toyota Vehicles - 4 Total Adapters

Metra 72-8104 speaker harnesses and cut off the black terminals to use with an extra set of wire as a plug and play system for the crossovers/unity 8.0's. I should have grabbed 2 sets as the unity 8.0's only accept the smaller negative plugs, but it's hot and I wasn't thinking clearly. I'll get another tomorrow.



As I was laying out my harness for the amp and getting ready to run my positive wire I discovered my battery is leaking acid after 5 years of faithful service. I'll add that to my list tomorrow morning. My garage is currently 105 degrees and I'm done for today.



My plan is to have everything wrapped up by Saturday with some better pictures.

 

I know yours is probably different than mine because its newer. I didnt want to remove or hack anything up in my truck so I build a box to fit the cubby behind the drivers rear seat.

I did have to cut off the child safety hook. I pulled the rear out, layed it down flat and cut pieces of MDF to match the contours in the plastic. Glued and screwed it together then built the sides and top. Its pretty shallow and less than a CF so I used a shallow woofer and stuffed it with polyfill.

This things gets down pretty good. Hell , my new amp is sending 582 watts to it and it handles it well. I think i paid 60 bucks for the sub on ebay and the carpet I had from an install 20 years ago.

 

A few items from WorstBuy and one from Wally World. Got the very last amp and bass knob on the shelf. I really like the Toyota true start batteries, but this one was the same price and I'm tired of dealing with leaking battery acid. This ones got a little more juice too.

 

Well this weekends plan of wrapping everything up is out the window. I managed to break one of the tweeter terminals on the unity's trying to connect the cheap junk metra plugs that I incorporated into my crossover harness. I should have pried them open more, but I was in a rush and it was super hot out and the darn thing just gave way.

Anyway, I've contacted John at CDT and he's going to sell me another single unity 8.0. Likely won't be here until later next week though with Memorial Day weekend. At least I've got some time to plan out a subwoofer.

Pictures of other rear door deadened and Focal RCX-165 installed. These Focal's are amazing for rock. I wonder if I should have gone with Focal Flax in the front like I wanted?

 

Man, I nearly did the same thing with the first speaker. The harness connectors are way too tight.

 

Man that sucks. I used a small flathead to open up the connectors a little bit and slid them on. Then just used a drop of solder so they wouldnt come loose.

 

i think that sub might be a touch optimistic. it's got a 4-5/8" mounting depth. my sub is 2.7" deep, and i had to pull some tricks to make it fit, though i didn't want to remove the plastic seat backing, and built my own box from 5/8" mdf for the front and back walls.
the back wall could be trimmed further, and there can be some clearancing with the seatback as well. but a full 2" more would be really tough.

truck builds are the most challenging because there's never as much space as it first appears!