Subwoofer box 3rd gen

I went with Taco Tumes two 12" sub box. It hits really hard, but seat backs had to come off...



 

indeed mine does.

 

That's awesome! Never thought a 13.5" sub could fit back there. Dare I ask how much this ran you? lol

 

I can't give you down to the penny but just some raw numbers. The guy that did the build is well known in the industry. He built the Down4Sound Tahoe a few years ago (now being redone by a team in FL now). The sub is higher now but was something like $750 (it is very advanced, so you pay for that) and the amp is a Memphis Viv65 5 channel (500 watts @2 ohms to the sub) plus 75 watts to each door - $600. There is also an iData DSR1 behind/below the amp that I can access via Bluetooth and make adjustments (EQ and DSP functions). The labor/materials for the area behind the seat was at least $1100 but as you can see, it looks factory. The nice thing is I can take it all out and put the factory stereo back in like it never happened. I think the obvious thing to factor is also is everything costs more due to inflation so that is another factor we didn't have to deal with so much in years past. Materials are harder to get and are much more expensive in most cases.

 

Could be due to the motor for it behind the backseat.

 

Was it High Voltage Car Audio who did yours? If so, I watched his videos on YouTube. He's an amazing artist and wished he was closer to me so he can do my Tacoma because I love all the work he does and if he only charged you approx. $1100 for labor, that's a steal for his quality of work.

 

Yes, it was James @ High Voltage Car Audio. He's a true artist and there are 3 videos on YouTube showing most of the work (Jan 2022). He does like to keep a few secrets but he was the only one willing to listen and build based upon what I wanted. Most wanted to go pre-fab but that wasn't for me. The overall labor was more than$1100 as the doors had some things done (sound deadening and a few other tweaks), tweeter pods/mounts were made and tuning.

I may switch out the tweeters in the dash for some soft domes (have aluminum domes and they are a bit harsh/bright). Memphis has a set but they are discontinued but I located some so that could be something to try and see how much it changes the overall sound but regardless, it does sound amazing. You really can't tell it has been upgraded by looking at it until you fold down the seat.

I would find a way to get your Tacoma here. This is at least his second one and no two are alike when he is finished. One offs all the way........

 

Thanks for sharing! I’m trying to maintain stock appearance. I didn’t know about this until I saw your post. JL owes you a commission!

 

For those of you with a Stealth box, how much better is the bass with that single woofer behind the seat? Do you feel like you can push it harder or that it lacks power?

 

IMG_9077 by Mike M, on Flickr

I need to bracket it in place. I'm using the Kenwood X802.5 amplifier using the stock HU using speaker level inputs via a @daveeasa breakout harness.

The bass is nice, but it's not wake the neighbors / set off car alarms bass I'm used to with dedicated amp / subs. I had a small Polk / RF amp / sub combo in my STi that hit harder with less wattage, but that was a different box setup and an aftermarket HU. I had an

$265 Alpine PWE-S8 120W Compact Powered 8" Car Subwoofer for Under or Behind The Seat

Alpine PWE-S8 powered sub prior to this and the Stealthbox blows it away. The issue I find with this system may be elsewhere in my system than the sub itself. My amp shows a 500W RMS dedicated sub channel and the Stealthbox is a 400W RMS input. You would think the system would thump, but I'm finding that at lower volumes with the remote knob set at 75% the subwoofer can overpower the rest of the audio, but when you crank the volume on the HU you can overpower the sub. My gut says a dedicated aftermarket HU with a dedicated sub output would have a much more positive result than using the stock HU.

It can absolutely rattle the plastics in the truck to the point I bought a bunch of Noico in anticipation to tighten up everything in the back of the truck. I'm rambling, but I'm happy with how it sounds. My 17 year old self might not have been super impressed with it, but my old boring self enjoys the absolute lack of compromise (outside of cost) that the system gives me.

 

I go back and forth in my head all the time on my sub setup. I come from a really bass heavy background doing competitions and big builds, and doing a small behind the seat so just didn't cut it for me. I really want it to work but it's just not enough.

Ended up doing a single 12 in a ported enclosure on 2,500 watts, behind the passenger seat. It's big, super heavy, and takes up a lot of space, but damn does it slam.

 

Thanks for the information. Are you just running the HU signal direct into the amp or does your system utilize a signal processor?

 

Just head unit into speaker level inputs on the amp. The amp has a dedicated sub out channel but it's generated using the speaker level inputs. My understanding (and I saw a bit of this) is that most speaker level inputs (and the infamous TT breakout harness) use the rear speaker inputs to generate their subwoofer signal. On the Tacoma the rear speaker channels are very weak compared to the front, so I don't know if that's hampering my setup.

The quality of sound (outside of panel rattle) is excellent with the subwoofer. I am overall quite pleased and like that I didn't have to lose the plastic bins. I'm still looking for a replacement DS bin since I cut it up to fit the Alpine powered unit. That I wasn't impressed with at all.

 

Great info, thanks.

 

Very well said. I feel the same. Powering mine with a kicker key 500.1. (300w rms at 2 ohms); Stock head unit, Kicker Key 200.4 with Focal RSE-165 and Focal RCX165. The DSP on the sub and speakers makes a huge difference with the factory head unit and after having DSP I wouldn't go without.