Most cost-efficient way to round out sound (with an aftermarket HU)

I think this is a general enough question that a lot of people who are new to car audio will benefit from...what is the best way to round out the sound in a 2nd gen taco after you've already installed an aftermarket receiver? I put in a Kenwood eXcelon X-995 today and although the sound quality is much improved (and HD radio is cool), I'm still lacking something in terms of sound quality, especially on the low end.

I'm not good enough with opening up the panels in the truck and wiring electronics to be confident in putting in an amplifier, but I don't listen to music SUPER loud anyway...I had a 10" sub in my old car (sedan) and had it turned down a good bit just to add a little definition and liked it a LOT, but I'm obviously not going to fit a ported box with a 10" into an AC truck without losing pretty much half the room of the cab.

I've been looking at Kicker KS600s for the rear and KS693s for the front...spoke to a guy at the local car audio shop just to get a "professional" opinion on how to best upgrade...he said that most aftermarket speakers aren't going to be show any real gains in sound quality over the stock speakers, ESPECIALLY in the bass department and especially without an amp. He recommended putting in a 6" Bazookatube with either a dedicated amp or a 4-channel that he'd run to the stock speakers as well (which would run $400, which is about $100 over what I'm really willing to spend).

I'm a little bit skeptical over a 6" sub, especially with the room it would take up, and I don't really need the amplification going to the stock speakers; they're plenty loud and the HU I have puts out plenty of power for me...but I'd still like to upgrade. What should I do? Try out the Kickers and hope for the best or wait and save up (for a year or so until I really feel like dropping another $400 on my system) and get the B-Tube with an amp?

 

If you want something simple that will make a nice well rounded setup I would go ahead and put the KS693s up front and when the shop installs them tell them you would like them to apply some sound deading as well. My local shop quoted me $125 to apply Stinger Roadkill to my doors and install a set of new speakers (not counting cost of speakers) then stick with your stock speakers in the back.

See how that sounds to you and if you want more bass I would get the Bazooka tube and you'll be set. Just do it in steps.....doesn't hurt the wallet near as bad that way plus it's more fun seeing what each addition does instead of everything all at once.

 

This might sound stupid but I never thought of upgrading the fronts without doing the backs. That's a good idea though -- I work a lot and don't have a bunch of free time so when I start little projects like this I tend to do them all at once and very intensely which sometimes doesn't necessarily work out...I've actually heard the ones in the back are pretty decent (confirm/deny?) so maybe I will just upgrade the fronts. I was planning on doing the work myself (cheaper and also I like doing my own work on my truck) - I don't know anything about sound deadening - what kind of difference would the sound deadening make?

 

night and day. less road noise, less vibrations, more "full' sounding stereo. some crazy people put over 220lbs of sound deadening in their trucks!

 

This! If you're going to do it yourself then just do the front door when you install your speakers. It will lessen the road noise plus make your speakers sound much better than they would if you just bolt them in the door.

Read through some of this post:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/au...uble-cab-complete-audio-install-tutorial.html

Very good article with pics and it has helped me a lot!