Tacoma audio upgrade (8" mids!)

whats up guys, thought id share the little audio build im doing to my long travel tacoma.. when i bought my truck back from the dude i sold it to it came back with some JL audio 6x9 and some JL 6.5 in the rear as well some JL audio tweeters... (he took the amps and subs out) anyway.. it was having a bunch of issues he messed up the radio wiring harness ect.. so i cut the wiring out and put new wires and plugs and got rid of the stock head unit for a kenwood setup.. my brother in law built a competition sub setup so he gave me his 2 12" kicker RT and box so i took advantage of Skar audios sale and got all new door speakers and tweeters that handle higher rms. 1000w 4 channel and a 1500 mono block for the subs..

i took out the kicker 6x9s i bought and built a mount to hold a 6.5" speaker in the front.. speaker is only upside down because the stock wires wernt long enough lol.. but all that is getting ripped out anyway... i have a bunch of 14G for speakers and 4g and 1/0 coming for the amps and power, big 3 ect.. anyway enough talking here are some pix of the parts and the bracket i made



tomorrow ill be making the new bracket for the 8" rear mids and new tweeter mount.. hopefully all my wires come in soon so i can hook up the subs and amps

 

Looks like you're going to have to sound deadened the Shiet out of that door!

 

I would make sure the window clears and the door panel doesn't hit the speakers.
I was almost convinced to throw 8's in the door, but i didn't want to cut the panel and make custom grills.
Decided to just stick with some good ol' 6.5's!

 

ya thats coming to.. gotta do the back side of the truck to.

 

ya its good to go once the mount is there.. it will fit without cutting anything, but ill prolly take off 1/2 if anything.. im going to use the stock speaker mount holes like i did for the front.. its shallow mount so its not a huge magnet on them.. looks like it will clear from my eye ball measurements lol..

 

You might have already put this in a different thread but what upgrades have you done to your electrical system?

 

i cut out all the wires the dude i bought it back from did.. and got it all back to stock behind the dash.. once all my new big gauge wire gets here ill be pulling all the stock speaker wires on all doors out of the truck.. 14g will get run to all doors.. 4g is going to the amps, power and ground.. 1/0 wire is going for the big 3 alt, ground, pwr.. eventually ill buy some 1/0 to 4g adapter and run 1/0 to amps and power... ill more then likely buy a new battery when i get everything installed.. pretty sure the one thats in there is the same one that came with the truck when i bought it in 2014.. so im sure that will go quick.. im thinking a yellow top optima will be good.. my brother in law got some crazy 500$ lithium battery.. and i wanna do my best to not have to buy that lol

 

got the 8" speakers mounted, they clear the window perfectly.. was a lil scared at first not gonna lie lol.. tried to keep the mount as compact as possible using the stock mounting holes.. just had to counter sink them for the speaker to sit over top them.. didnt have to cut any metal on the door either.. heres some pix of making the mount, and confusing myself with to many lines

and this is where it gets tricky... wish i had a spare door panel to try some stuff with but will see how it goes... at least if i mess it up its in the back and i dont gotta see it lol.. but i cant get the lower corner to snap back on the door.. i think the excess wood on the mount is hitting right above the speaker hole and the cubbie to the left.. would be nice to be able to see in there and know where its hitting.. so its either trim the mount and see if that helps or... and this is the more sketchy one but i was thinkin i could take my heat gun and heat those plastic radius's and give them a lil push with something and see if it stays.. other then that.. the speakers sound awesome.. def sound better when usps hurries up and brings my damn wires so i can hook up my amps lol..

 

well i got it to fit! the head gun on the inisde of the panel worked.. i just headed up parts up and pushed it out and held till it cooled and it stayed enough... ill post some pix later when i get the driver side done..

 

alright so everything finally came in the mail except my rcas lol.. hopefully those find there where here sometime.. they are well past due.. i got my tweeters mounted..used a 2" hole saw bit to make the hole then used a forstner bit as a rounter on the drill press to open up the back side to fit the ring on the backside.. trying to figure out if i want my amps under the front seats or if i want to put them under the back seat.. they do fit pretty well back there.. put the subs back there to.. pretty much ready to run the wires, just mapping out placement so i can do it nice and clean (unlike my truck right now lol).. the last 2 pictures are of the rear door panel where i heated it up with the heat gun to mold it out a bit in the cubby.. and just above where the speaker grill is although its a lil hard to see it right there.. got some 3/4" abs coming to so i can redo all the speaker mounts, make it look all fancy under the door panels lol.. (and the rear plank of wood the amps are sitting on will be remade and cut to fit, its just scrap i had laying around)

 

some more photobombs.. i got the 4g wire ran.. i was gonna go under the truck so it wouldnt be bundled up with the speaker wire.. but ended up taking the center console apart and finding out where all the spills end up lol... tucked the wire under the carpet down the middle and right into the rear cubby.. worked out perfectly.. gonna drop the ground through the truck onto the frame.. made a mount for the fuse block, and got the final amp mount cut out, seats clear so thats good.. now the fun part of trying to get the 14g speaker wire through the door boot.

 

Did you mention if you were going to seal those speaker brackets with anything? If you leave that MDF unsealed, its going to absorb moisture like crazy and feel like soggy cardboard 3 days after your first heavy rain.

Some cheap bed-liner spray paint seems to do the trick for most people. a few coats to ensure good thick coverage

 

He’s going to remake them with 3/4 abs I think.

 

Ok good! Didn’t want there to be a disaster waiting to happen!

 

What’s your thoughts on the 2500 watts rms? Seems like a pretty heavy load for a stock charging system.

 

If he sets the monoblock to output its full RMS power, he’s going to blow the subs, that’s for sure.
I’m assuming the mids and tweets are getting wired in parallel to create a 2ohm load at the amp. That will let him get 250rms x 4, and the subs are 500rms x 2, so that puts us at 2,000rms total.
At 14.4v, that’s 139A when the audio system is really working. The alternator won’t even put out that much power, much less that much power PLUS the power the run the vehicle (which seems to be about 60A minimum) so we’re going to see a dead battery quickly and frequently without an upgraded alternator.

I don’t believe my ears would enjoy the volume levels this will achieve, but that’s just me and my ears.

 

ya i know ill be upgrading the charging system.. my brother inlaw ran this setup (the subs) and some different door speakers.(pushed it a lot more then i am going to) and it did good.. lights would dim on him, but it ran fine lol.. the subs will be at 2ohm so the amp will be doing like 940 or 980 rms or something like that so it wont be running at full cap... truck is due for a new battery anyway, and were going to be building a new box for my brother in law and running wires this weekend so ill prolly be picking up the new battery to finish up after i finish pulling the door speaker wire though..

 

more wire routed.. drilling holes for grounds tomorrow and wiring everything to the amps.. still gotta run the remote wire.. still waiting on my rcas.. gonna use a set my brother in law has for now to test everything out..

but man was it a pain in the ass to get the wires through the door boots.. the rear doors wernt that bad.. the fronts kinda sucked but it all went good, hopefully all the plastics go back where there spose to lol

 

gettin there little by little.. mainly just cleaning things up till my rcas show up.. but got the remote wire ran, finally put the mic in the head unit. and ran the wire for the bass knob and mounted it.. i think the last thing is to do the big 3.. ill sound deaden after the test fire

 

I used some WD40 silicone spray and fish some tie wire through those door looms. Makes pulling wire infinitely easier. The front is a pain in the ass.

Its looking great OP!