2013 DCSB Sub-less Build

Just finished up my audio install this past weekend and I took some pics along the way so I figured I'd post em up.

First off - would like to give a big thank you to Mr. Marv. He's been awesome along the way and always has time to answer my questions. This was my first ever amp and component install, I've only done head unit swaps and plug and play speaker replacements prior to this... but I think it came out pretty nice.

I decided I didn't want to go with a sub because I didn't want to give up any rear seat storage and I wanted to keep everything as easy as possible on myself. So I came up with the following system:

ARC Audio XDi 450.4 Amplifier
Hybrid Audio Unity 6x9 Component Set for the Fronts P/N U69-2x2
Hybrid Audio Imagine 6.5 Coaxials for the Rears P/N I61-2v2c
Mr. Marv Speaker Baffles
Mr. Marv Wiring Kit
RAAMmat BXT II Sound Deadening Mat

Sticking with the OEM Entune H/U for now... I see an Android Auto unit somewhere in my future.

On to the pictures...

Got all my goodies in!



Soldered up my harness to the Speedwire provided by Marv... notice that in order to use the amp turn-on wire, the two red wires from the harness have to be connected to the blue wire from the Speedwire. I've never used Speedwire before - it's a pretty awesome product.



Decided I wanted to place the amp under the passenger seat... so here's how I got the power wire to the amp... I ran it along the firewall and into a grommet that was there from the factory with nothing going through it. I cut a small hole in it and ran the wire through there.



Here's the amp placement... just behind the vents under the seat. Per Marv's suggestion I used a 1/2" thick piece of plywood and hot-glued it to the metal under the carpet. Then I used 4 1/2" tall spacers under the amplifier to allow a little airflow from the vents to go under it. I tried 1" tall spacers, but then the amp would hit the seat, so I went back to the 1/2" ones (92825A112 on McMaster).

I also followed this thread to flip the stabilizer bar under the seat: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/extra-room-under-your-passenger-seat-its-easy.278325/

After that I just screwed the amp into the plywood through the spacers. Ran the ground wire to the bar under the seat... used a Dremel to sand off the paint and expose the bare metal, then used a self-tapping screw w/a terminal lug.



Interior ripped out:



lol @ stock speakers:



Comparison between the stock 6x9 and the Unity:



Came up with a neat trick to run the wire through the door boots. I cut a straw off a bottle of Great Stuff I had laying around... then I inserted the speaker wire into the end of the straw... it was a perfect fit and allowed me to use the straw as a pull-wire. Saved me a ton of time trying to get the speaker wire through the boots... was starting to get pretty frustrated with it until I came up with this... then it was a piece of cake.



Final wiring under the passenger seat... I may go back later and throw some wire loom around everything to clean it up a little more - not terrible though.



Driver side Crossover under seat... just used Velcro to secure the Crossovers to the carpet.



Threw some RAAMmat on the inner door skins... didn't go crazy but I made an effort.



RAAMmat on the outer skin. I cut up some foam board and used that to bridge the large holes and to give some backing to the mat... worked out pretty well. Again, didn't go nuts with the sound deadener but I sealed up all the major holes.





Overall I'm super happy with how everything turned out and I haven't even tuned it yet... sounds awesome and has enough bass for me. Gonna get with Mr. Marv next weekend and get the tuning sorted out... Oh, and I've vacuumed the carpet since I took these pics

Between the harness prep and prepping the baffles and the actual install i think I have about 20-24 hours of labor into the build.

 

I have the same speakers in my truck. Ive contacted hybrid-audio multiple times....

The tweeters only need about 10-15w RMS and the crossover set at 5200hz, the U69s need about 75w and set the from 80hz - 5200hz.

The rear speakers honestly are designed to run off factory power. Hybrid said they designed them to be swapped out for stock speakers.... You can run an amp to them but im just letting you know what hybrid told me. I am running my rear set off the factory headunit.

Now the front speakers are set up to be powered, i went with a front stage set up and its the best sounding system i have had.

Either way its a nice set up!

 

Nice job Greg and give me a holler when you are ready to tune it up!

 

Thanks for the write up. Just purchased the exact same setup from Marv and I will be installing it on my own. Marv is great! I have asked a ton of questions and he always responds so quick and with great detail. Any reason as to why you installed the amp under the passenger side as opposed to the driver side?

Also did you have to pick up longer screws because you used spacers to mount the amp to the floor?

 

I picked the passenger side because the truck is a manual so my driver's seat is scooted up a little closer for pushing the clutch and you would've been able to see the amp. Passenger seat is always further back so you can't see anything.

I used #8x1" screws to mount the amp with the spacers. I think I used #8x1" again for the rear speakers and #10x1" for the fronts.

 

Thanks dude!

 

Great thread

 

oh also... just thought of one more tip... on the rear sail panels (and probably the front ones too to be safe)... take the clips OUT of the door and install them on the sail panels themselves BEFORE putting the panels back onto the car.

i didn't do this originally and when I went to put the sail panel back on, the clip popped out of the door and fell down into the door cavity, and i had to rip off all my sound deadener to get it. that really sucked.

 

Thanks for the reminder. I saw someone mention this in a video I was watching for another speaker install.

 

the oemaudioplus install video is great for seeing how the panels etc come off.

 

Did you ever get this all tuned up by Marv? How is the final product?

 

yep... Marv and I walked through the tuning process... took about 1-2 hours if I recall.

I'm very happy with the final product... sound quality is excellent, I feel like the stock system and other systems die out as the volume is increased, mine just keep sounding better as the volume increases.

 

Your so lucky to be near him.

 

We actually did that tuning by phone Rob!

 

Oh OK