REVIEW: Taco Tunes 2018 Tacoma Pro system upgrade

Ok, I need to start this review with a disclaimer. I have known Rob at Taco Tunes for years, and I would definitely call us friends. However, I feel like I can still do an unbiased review here, because (1) he did not ask me to post this, (2) I am not receiving anything for posting this, and most importantly (3) I know you jokers will call me out and beat me to a pulp if I don't give an honest review.

In 2015 my Taco got blasted in a hail storm, so I ended up trading it in. Up until recently, I have been tooling around in a 4 Runner with the JBL system, which was fine for the time. Well, a month or so ago I finally took delivery on a 2018 Tacoma Pro, and the first call I made was to Rob at Taco Tunes. A few days later and the trucks sound system was in the process of being overhauled.

The stock head unit stayed. While there are some great aftermarket options, I decided that the stock Entune unit met my needs just fine. So, I basically went with Taco Tunes System 1 package (https://*********.com/shop/toyota-t...e-cab-image-dynamics-packaged-audio-system-1/), a mid-priced upgrade that isn't at their high end for sound quality, but is a massive upgrade to stock. I did make a couple of substitutions which I will note below.

This Taco Tunes system as configured consist of the following:

Amps:

1 - TXD3204 – 4 Channel Amplifier (Full Class D) 80 watts x 4 (RMS) to drive the front and rear speakers

1 - TXD6001 – Mono Subwoofer Amplifier (Full Class D) 300/600 watts (RMS) to drive the subwoofer. (Note: I opted for the more powerful TXD10001 1000 watt (Full Class D) mono amp)

Speakers:

1 set - Image Dynamics (ID) CTX65CS 6.75″ Component Speakers, Tweeters & Crossovers for the front

1 set - Image Dynamics CTX65 Coaxial Speakers for the rear

Sub:

1 - Image Dynamics ID12V4D4 Dual 4 Ohm 12″ Subwoofer (Note: I opted for the Image Dynamics IDQ10 D4 10" subwoofer. This was because I wanted to keep some behind the seat storage, the child seat tethers on one side, and because of my own listening preferences)

And of course, they include every wire, mount, adaptor, bracket and pretty much everything else you would need to install the system.

Once it was installed, I spent a few minutes tweaking things to my liking and a couple of weeks letting everything break in. It's important to note to anyone who hasn't upgraded to a higher end system like this, that speakers need some hours at a moderately high volume to "break in" and sound their best. Everything seems to mellow out after a week or so of playing. It's true for both home and car speakers, and in my experience its true regardless of brand or price.

So here are my impressions after a couple weeks... it sounds fantastic. The ID tweeters are crisp and bright, at default settings, almost too bright. After break in and some tweaking of settings, they are now dialed in and sound great. Same can be said of the woofers and components in the rear, they have a very good mid range presence and you will literally hear things in songs that you've likely never noticed before. Some good examples I have noticed are the singers taking a breath between lyrics, drumsticks accidentally hitting the rim of the drum, footsteps in the recording studio, etc. If you start listening for things, it can actually get distracting, so don't get all OCD over it. Just enjoy the nice clear sound and appreciate how well these things reproduce whats actually on the recording. Final note on both the front and rear speakers, they both fit in the stock locations with the regular door and dash grills, so to look in the truck, there is no indication at all that they are in there.

The amps are small, very small if you last did a stereo upgrade in the 90's. It's hard to imagine that these things can put out the power that they do, but that's thanks to the great Class D circuitry. Both of the amps in this system are built for Taco Tunes specifically for their systems. The are well constructed, look nice and have every feature you're likely to ever need. Most importantly they put out a nice clean signal and plenty of power for the ID speakers and sub. I have not heard any hiss, pop, buzz or noticeable distortion AND they stay really nice and cool even under heavy use. Many years ago I had a competition class Rockford system and the amps would get so hot that I ended up having to rig up a dedicated cooling system just for them. These Taco Tunes amps are incredibly cool, even after several hours of a very loud Tool and Deftones jam-a-thon. Best of all, they both fit under the drivers seat on a purpose made mount that bolts to the floor of the truck. Unless your 4' tall and need to put the seat all the way forward, no one will ever see these things, they are very discrete.

Then the sub. Well, the package comes with a 12" ID sub in a ported box that is custom made for our Tacomas. It's very well built and fits perfect, but note that it does take up the space behind both back seats. If you're cool with that, then the 12 is probably the way to go. For me, I opted for the single 10" sub which takes up the space only behind the drivers side rear seat. I also find the 10" sub to be a little tighter bass, which as a metal head fits my listening preference better. That said, I have heard both, they both sound great, and both Taco Tunes boxes are well built and nice quality. Like the speakers and amps, the sub boxes fit nicely behind the back seat(s), and you cannot tell they are there just by looking.

Know that you're going to have to experiment with settings based on the type of music you listen to, the source of that music, and your own listening preference. Taco Tunes will recommend that you keep your head unit settings flat and use the settings on the Amps to tune everything in, and in general I think this is good advice. However, the settings on the amps are universal across all sources and styles of music, and getting under the seat to tweak those settings each time you change sources or go from Rock to Jazz isn't realistic. In my case I listen primarily to XM radio or my iPod Touch, but the sound difference between those two sources is significant. So, I tuned the amps to the best sound for XM. I use EQ settings on the iPod to tweak the sound for songs on it, and I use the head unit settings to tweak for HD radio, regular radio, and talk radio. I should also note that the sub does have a remote knob which controls its output, so once you have it dialed in to your liking on the AMP, you can control output from the know beyond that.

To sum it up, I think this is a really nice systems. It sounds great, the quality is excellent and I love that its so discrete that you cant even tell its in there unless you hear it or someone tells you. Could you do the same on your own, sure you could. But by the time you bought all the things you get here, you would probably spend more and it would be far less convenient. In the end, I will give it the ole two thumbs up.

Note that the little Taco Tunes plate on the head unit is an add on, if you really want to go stealth, leave it off.

 

I recently purchased my 2018 Access Cab and am looking at a similar setup from Taco Tunes. The only problem is they don't have a sub option for the Access Cab, so I messaged them to see if they would sell the System 1 package minus the sub itself. Hopefully we can work things out. Thanks for the write-up.

 

Really appreciate the review on something I've been looking at for my 2016 DC. I previously had a 2015 AC and dropped a LOT of money in an aftermarket stereo system: Memphis door speakers, JL Audio stealthbox, JVC head unit and the sound was incredible. The ********* just seems weird because I am more familiar with the brand name products. Did you also install the ReCurve EQ since you kept the stock head unit? My concern is the poor sound quality from the head unit, if I'm going to go through the work of an aftermarket setup, I want it to be as flawless as possible. Thanks!