3rd gen audio build - Joying tacoma headunit

Got my truck a little over a month ago. Stereo has always been just fine with me. But I drove my old rav4 to move it and realized I want to put a nice set of speakers in. The rav didnt have super nice system either. It had the factory jbl system, but I had replaced the tweeters with a pair of JBL gto220 speakers


These speakers are a 2.5 inch woofer with a 1 inch tweeter mounted to them. They are part of a really old jbl 3 way system that had 6.5 woofers and these tweeter/midranges.

I thought about just swapping out the factory tacoma tweeters with these speakers, but these speakers are coming up on 18 years old soon...

So, I started searching. I wanted to go 3 way again as I like the sound of the midrange being right there. I looked at the illusion audio 3 inch (hard to find), I looked at some focals (too expensive) I even looked at parts-expess for individual drivers.

In the end, I found the jbl stadium 6x9 components and the 20m midranges. The system integrates together perfect. Infinity also has a version of it, but they use a gold trim on the tweeter grills, and that would just look bad with the chrome that the truck has. As a plus, the midrange and the tweeters have orange domes that match the inferno color of my truck!

So, I got the 6x9 components the other day. Still waiting on the 2 inch mids, mounting rings and a set of jbl 6.5 rears (just the cheap ones).

So, here are the 6x9 components.




The whole plan is to put the 6x9 in the doors, the 2 inch mids in the dash. Then take the tweeters and put them either in the sail panels (doors, have to run wires through doors) or in the A pillars (no need to run wires into doors) Im leaning more to the A pillars because I dont have to run any extra wires into the doors.

Eventually wanting a sub, but I like my storage bins behind the seats. So I am unsure if a subwoofer is going to be something that happens. I do know a small amp will happen, I just need to find the perfect one. Something small, not too powerful, has line level inputs, and can run on a 10-12 gauge power wires. The rockford fosgate t400x seems to fit this bill, its a 4 channel, but thats fine.


My whole goal on this system is to not cut, not splice, and not have to do any damage to the truck. It will all be factory as possible looking. I think the only place that will need to be cut is where the tweeters mount I will need to drill 1.5 inch holes in the plastic panel. But those panels can be replaced easy.

 

Got my 2 inch midranges yesterday and tested them out in my basement. Wow, they sound nice. When switching the crossover from 2-way to 3-way the 6x9 runs pretty much only bass sounds.

Going to try to get it all installed sometime this weekend or next weekend.

 

Got my 6x9s and 6.5s installed today, only broke 2 plastic things! pretty good considering its like 15 degrees and snowing out. Both broken parts were from the door handle screw covers.

But, I still need to install the mids and tweeters in the dash, but I need my harnesses for those.

Getting the ********* tweeter harness and T harness. Since down the road I will be putting in a amp, I need the T harness. Going to just loop the wires for now.


There is a big increase in bass overall with the better new speakers, but then again the old speakers were amazingly small.

 

Test fit the 3 way system on the driver side today. Highs and mids sound great, but the crossover takes way too much away from the 6x9 to the point where you can hardly hear it.

So, I will be wiring these up a little different than recommended. The woofer and tweeter will run off the crossover set to 2 way. The mid will be wired in as it's own on a separate crossover. I can either wire them into a 4 ohm load with the 2 way system or bi amp them.

 

Got my mids installed along with the tweeters mounted into the sail panels. I just need to remove the door cards again, put in the crossovers and plug in the tweeters
Right now just the mids and woofers are running, and to be honest, it sounds better than the stock system even without the tweeters.


The mids fit really well, though I could only install one bolt. I did have to trim one little tab on the driver side grill where the mids frame was hitting.

 

Here is a better picture of the tweeters installed



The orange of the tweeters are nearly perfect match for the factory inferno color. The chrome trim rings also are a perfect match on the factory vent trim.

 

I just mounted some POI T.2 Tweeters flush in my sail panels too! Love it! Disregard the stuff below the tweeters its double sided tape residue from my previous setup ive since cleaned off...the new setup looks and sojnds soooo much better!

 

@5nahalf what component system did you use?

 

I got the JBL Stadium GTO960C (6x9 components, $270) and the JBL Stadium GTO20M (2 inch midrange, $120)
then I got the JBL club 6520 for the rear (6.5 inch, $45)

 

Finally got my amp today, I had already made a harness for it all with speed wire and metra harnesses.

Going to try to get it in this weekend. It's a audio control acm 4.300. very small amp, should be able to mount it behind the dash for complete stealth.

Going to test and see how it all sounds with the amp, if bass is still too low then I will be picking up the audio control acm 1.300 mono amp and a shallow sub.

 

Got my subwoofer yesterday, JBL shallow mount 10. Its the lower end line (club) and the rest of my speakers are the high end line (stadium) But It will have to do as the stadium 10 doesnt come in a shallow version.

Going to pick up some fiberglass today, pop out the rear panel and start making my box for it. I would like to put it right in the middle in the back, but I may just be putting it on the drivers side to make it easy.

 

Looks good, looking forward to seeing the sub box

 

Ready for fiberglass! Taping this was the biggest pain the ass ever. Going to fiberglass the whole inside of the compartment, then cut out a speaker baffle with a recess in it so the sub is pushed back a little bit.

Once the fiberglass is dry, Im going to use scrap wood to align the baffle, then attach fleece to it and pull it tight. Then pull it all apart and add some more glass layers to the back aswell as glass in some strips of wood for extra structure (think rebar in concrete)

The final grill part is going to be just a mesh grill that is press fit in. I have a old press on grill from a IDQ10 v1.

Im debating on glassing tonight, or waiting till next weekend. I have to do the work in my basement, and the wife will probably complain about the fiberglass smell. She works next weekend, so I can start when she leaves for work, and the smell should be gone by the time she is back 10 hours later.
Although I could make a tarp tent in the garage and stick a heater in there to keep it warm.

 

Got the base of my fiberglass done, need to put the speaker ring in and fiberglass that in.

But, note to self, green painters tape sticks to fiberglass resin, then the heat melts the adhesive causing it to all stick together.... Had to submerge the whole panel in hot water to just get the fiberglass out.

 

Ive used aluminum tape, made for duct work, and waxed it to help resin release and it works pretty well.

 

Gotta love sail panels with tweeters

 

Im heading out to the hardware store later since I need to put this plug back in to finish fiberglassing, going to pick up some of that tape.

Ive been playing with the idea of making tweeter pods for the tacoma. I have a bunch of mold making stuff, was thinking of making some pods out of the stock panels with bondo shaped tweeter pods, then making a 2 part mold of them and then casting new ones. Maybe this summer Ill make something, would love to have the tweeters angled a little bit at the driver.

 

Nice I will be staying tuned

 

Ring mounted, little rough, but that's ok.
Im going to put the fiberglass down next nice day.

Then it's time to sand, sand, sand. Once it's all smooth on the front, I'm going to fiberglass the inside with a few layers. I'm sure as I sand the front i will make a few holes around the speaker baffle.

I need to sand a bit of the backside also, remove some material so I can line the back of the enclosure with felt to prevent any rubbing and vibration.

 

Got my subwoofer amp today along with some new dash mid mounts.
I got new ones that should allow me to use both mounting holes instead of just the single one. The amp I got is a audio control acm 1.300, its their micro mono 300 watt amp. Matches size with the acm 4.300 I have running the rest of the speakers already, and its a perfect match for the JBL subwoofer I have. The jbl lists 200rms 800peak, this amp is 175 @ 4ohms and 300 @ 2ohms.

I have a board made up that will mount under the drivers seat, both amps will bolt to that and then hide under the drivers seat.

Still working on my subwoofer box, but it should also be finished this weekend. I have a bunch of projects I want to complete this weekend, so its going to be busy.
Install subwoofer amp, move 4 channel amp and wiring to under seat with sub amp.
Install new midrange mounts for the dash.
Finish subwoofer box.
Install hood struts
Redo CB radio wiring and wire up CB switch
Mount door crossovers to something (they are just floating around in the door panel making noise right now)
Full detail sunday, interior vacuum and clean, outside wash/wax engine bay clean out (dusty roads by my) also spray out inside body panels (bed sides, behind fender liners, under truck.