Upgrade Your Sound, Do It All.

I’ve been putting a lot of time into making my Tacoma sound the best that it can and I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from other members. I figured I would do a write-up to compile all of the different steps I’ve taken and how the results have turned out.

- First is sound deadening:
I highly recommend Noico products, you can find them on Amazon. I used there butyl matt on the door skins and their butyl matt & foam matt on the floors and back wall. The door skins made the most significant difference for sure and only took about 18 square feet. The floor and the back wall took about 36 square feet. The rollers and tools are not a requirement but they make the job so much better.

Butyl Matt

$166 Noico 80 mil (2 mm) 36 sqft (3.4 sqm) car Sound deadening mat, Butyl Automotive Sound Deadener, Audio Noise Insulation and dampening

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00URUIKAK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Foam Matt

Noico Green 170 mil 36 sqft Сar Waterproof Sound Insulation, Heat and Cool Liner, Self-Adhesive Closed Cell PE Foam Deadening Material (1/6'' Thick Sound Deadener)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FYLM47D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Rollers

$16 Car Sound Deadening Hand Roller Sound Noise Insulation Tool 3PCS For Auto Noise Roller Car Sound Deadener Application Installation Tool Rolling Wheel Interior Accessories Working Area with Wood Handle

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q5RY2GJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Plastic Tools

$20 19Pcs Trim Removal Tool,Car Panel Door Audio Trim Removal Tool Kit, Auto Clip Pliers Fastener Remover Pry Tool Set with Storage Bag

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HRNKY8P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I contemplated doing the roof with the foam to keep the heat out of the cab, but it's a little more involved than what I'd like to get into right now. Still there is a great guide here by TSki that is definitely worth mentioning to those who are interested in that route! > https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/my-silver-gsu-build.460083/page-3#post-15503347

- Second is speakers:
The best time to do this is at the same time as the sound deadening project. There is a good write up here by bshammer0 > https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/premium-audio-upgrade-for-less-than-250.510424/ . This honestly has been the best mod so far, literally a night and day difference. If you order the door speakers through Crutchfield they have all the adapters to make everything plug and play.

Kicker 46CSC6934 6x9
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20646CC693/Kicker-46CSC6934.html
Kicker 46CSC674 6 ¾”
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20646CC674/Kicker-46CSC674.html
H631SFJ101 Tweeter

$107 Subaru Genuine Tweeter Kit Kicker WRX STi Forester Crosstrek Impreza H631SFJ101

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PV6F8I2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The tweeters are great because they are a plug and play unit. Otherwise you have to splice and there is almost 0 space to work crammed up there in the windshield, plus you have to add a frequency filter that is already manufactured into the Subaru tweeter. The kicker speakers are rated for 150watts RMS and according to Subaru’s website those tweeters are also rated for 150watts RMS so if you want to add external amplification down the road you can blow your eardrums out with this set up.

- Third is a sub and amp:
If you ever want to add a sub, this is by far the easiest way. A plug in play harness for behind the head unit with RCA's and Remote Turn On. It’s hard to find a quality power cable kit, but Sky High Card Audio has one that is very favorably rated and really high quality, plus it comes with quality RCA’s.

Harness

$36 Add An Amp Amplifier Adapter Interface to Factory OEM Car Stereo Radio System for Select Vehicles - Add Subwoofer Bass Amp etc.- No Factory Premium Amp- Compatible Vehicles listed below

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CQUL240/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Power Wiring

$45 Oversized 4 Ga CCA AWG Amp Kit Twisted RCA Blue Black Complete Sky High

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017GDLHUU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There are several different box options, but the JL Stealthbox is far too rich for my blood even though I love JL. I purchased this box from SuperCrewSound with upgraded terminals and polyfill and it’s a great fit behind the driver side rear seat after removing the plastic bin. I think SuperCrewSound is the best route because you can tell them what sub you’re planning to get and they can ensure proper sizing of the speaker opening and can make sure the speaker itself will fit.

Box
https://www.supercrewsound.com/05tacomadblsingle.html
Kicker CompRT 43CWRT101.

For an amplifier I had a JL Audio JX500/1D from my last car and added the RBC-1 remote bass knob. The knob is great because it’s an attenuating knob. You set your gain and everything without the knob. Then when you plug it in and have the knob turned up all the way the sound is the same. When you turn the knob down it turns down the volume of the subs instead of other knobs that turn the volume up.

RBC-1 Knob
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_136RBC1/JL-Audio-RBC-1.html
JX500/1D
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_136JX5001D/JL-Audio-JX500-1D.html

Note: Your sub and amp combos may be different. I used the JX500/1D and Kicker CompRT 43CWRT101 combo because the amp is 2ohm and wiring the dual 1ohm voice coils on the subwoofer in series comes out to a 2ohm load.

Cheers,
Robert

 

New member, first post, be gentle haha

 

My only advice is, if you want actual sound "deadening" find some MLV, mass loaded vinyl.

Noico is good for sealing and cutting down vibration, but it wont block sound waves from passing through the material it's just not dense or thick enough.

The harness will be helpful for some though, good find.

 

TBH I think you're right, the vibration is significantly reduced but the car isn't S-Class quiet like what I had envisioned when I was starting this project. I really liked that it was a budget friendly that's stopped me from doing more.

 

Budget and sound quality, its a rabbit hole, find what you like and stop reading about other peoples builds. I spent way more than I had planned, I'm always grinning though, but its a slippery slope.

*edit

Also, Noico works really good and bringing heat in the cab down, so it definitely makes a difference.

 

Nice write up, but no photos?

 

Making this profile was a complete afterthought or I would have had photos galore haha. Hindsight 2020 .

I just remember when I was starting this project and I was digging through thread after thread trying to get a "big picture" of what steps I could take to improve the sound of my truck. This kind of thing would have helped me so I hope it can help someone else with there new toy. That's why I decided to make it.

Future mods will come with photo documentation.

 

If you’re gonna use the MLV, use the heavy duty 3M mounting tape, easy to work with and doesn’t come off when hanging the MLV

 

Good info, I've seen glues recommended but this is a great alternative. I know I wouldn't have wanted to do the glue

 

whats MLV?

 

Mass loaded vinyl

 

why get MLV if they say "Combine MLV with a sound deadener "?

 

There’s 3 main types of sound deadening. There’s noico/dynamat, mass loaded vinyl, and a sort of neoprene foam. It’s best to combine all 3 for their respective purposes. Noico mat is great for absorbing structure borne vibrations such as the body of the truck vibrating. Mass loaded vinyl is great for air borne noises such as road noise, traffic, etc. And the neoprene foam type stuff is good for panels that like to vibrate and make noise when it makes contact with another panel.

 

How much did you spend in total?
Also, do you feel the need of a DSP?

 

I'm coming right up at $950-$1k for the whole deal so far and that's with the stock HU powering the doors and dash speakers. For me it's plenty you just have to turn it up for the sound to come alive.

There is always the opportunity to install an aftermarket head unit unit with a 5-channel amplifier where you run 3 sets of RCA's down to your amp and something like EFX 9-Wire from the amp back up to the headunit. There you can splice your EFX 9-Wire into the factory wiring. That adds another $6-700 in the low end and for me that's too much volume and too much money... at least for now..

As far as the DSP goes I don't think they are really necessary. For adding a subwoofer a decent line output converter or high-level input can work if you adjust your amp well. If you're going to install an amp for your speakers you should just do it right and install a new headunit so you have the best sound signal possible and then you've avoided the DSP again.

The Alpine ILX-107 and

$280 ILX-W650 Digital Multimedia Receiver with CarPlay and Android Auto Compatibility

ILX-W650 are great head units that I'm partial to but there are plenty of other good options.

With the W650 it is so thin that alpine makes a 50watt/channel amplifier called the

$214 KTA-450 4-Channel Power Pack Amplifier with Dynamic Peak Power 45W RMS x 4, at 2 Or 4 Ohms

KTA-450 that mounts directly to the back of the head unit and only occupies the same space as a typical double din unit so it's concealed in your dash. That comes out right around $500 and you can buy it as a package from Crutchfield.

For DSP's the LC7i is a popular choice.

Cheers!

*edit* total does not include the fact that I already had the amplifier for the subwoofer.

 

I like this, I take an interest from an off-road perspective. Mud tires can get loud and rowdy on the highway.

So with that said, should I do the noico butyl Matt with noico foam or mass loaded vinyl?

 

For best results, the mass loaded vinyl is the way to go definitely.

I did the butyl matt and foam because it was affordable and something I was much more comfortable with attempting, but to kill road noise like that the vinyl is the only true sound barrier.

The only reason I was hesitant about using it was that I wasn't super comfortable applying adhesive to panels to make it stick - not that it is hard just that I have never done it and this was my first new vehicle so I didn't want to blow it. The foam and butyl mats have their own adhesive backing and they do well to cut down on vibrations from cables and subwoofer rattles, but the noise reduction isn't what I had hoped for.

If I could go back I would have done the vinyl as a base layer then threw the other mats on top of it.

 

I’ll take cheap and easy lol.
It’s not a huge deal for me, just been wanting a little less noise in the cab. I think the noico stuff would suffice.

What purpose does the foam Matt serve? First time I see that stuff. I also noticed you only used it on the floor, I wonder if it would fit the doors too?

 

The foam matt is more for stopping things from rattling against panels like free hanging cables and plastic on plastic/metal & I think it helps with keeping the truck cooler acting like a thermal insulation which is really why I wanted it.

I would have installed it in the doors but I did the truck in sections with the doors first - and at the time I had no idea they made foam mat like that or else I would have done that .

 

I used the same noico material off Amazon. Easy to apply and I think it helped a bit, though I only did the doors so I didn’t expect total silence either.