5 vs 6 channel Audiocontrol DSP 3rd gen tacoma

Hello everyone!

I've been looking to piece together a full system for my 2021 Tacoma. I previously upgraded the door speakers with some cheap coaxial, and I'm not super impressed. I also briefly swapped out the dash speakers for some DS18 tweeters, but the highs were shreikingly loud. The factory head unit is very limited in adjustability.

Fast forward to today. I'm ready to order some higher end equipment to last the life of the truck. I'm unsure which route to take without going crazy cost wise. But below are a couple of options I've come up with. I'm a little hesitant to delete the rear door speakers as it's not uncommon to have passengers sitting back there. I also figure the Audiofrog GS25's are a good middle ground to bring more voice and full sound to the front dash, even if these can't handle as high frequencies as compared to a dedicated tweeter. The GS25's would fit in the Tacoma dash factory location.

Overall goal at the end of the day is good clean sound. I don't need to go crazy with a huge sub. Ideally a 10" shallow would go behind the rear seats.

Thoughts on the following, or any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. These set ups are already at the higher end of what I'd like to spend $ wise.

Option 1: Full replacement
- AudioControl Amp/DSP D-6.1200
- Audiofrog GS690 6x9 in the front doors
- Audiofrog GS25 2-1/2" in the dash - on their own channels
- Audiofrog GS62 6" rear door speakes
- Add an additional mono amp controlled through the DSP out for a subwoofer.

Option 2: Focus on front sound stage??
- AudioControl Amp/DSP D-5.1300
- Audiofrog GS690 6x9 in the front doors
- Audiofrog GS25 2-1/2" in the dash - on their own channels
- "delete" the rear door speakers
- Run subwoofer off the 5th channel 300w@4/500w@2 RMS

Thanks in advance for any advice and input!

 

I might consider doing the 6ch amp but no rear doors.

ch 1/2 dash
ch 3/4 front doors
ch 5/6 bridged for sub, 400w @ 4ohm

This gives you flexibility. If you decide you miss your rear fill, THEN you can spend the extra money on rear door speakers and a monoblock sub amp.

 

Great idea! It looks like the price difference between the 5 and 6 channel is negligible anyway. I don't have a sub at this moment... So in the meantime I could always hook up my current rear door speakers to get an idea how important the rear fill is to my ears.

 

Yeah I would go ahead and run wiring for all 6 speakers; either by running new wire to all locations, or running speedwire from the amp back to the head unit and then running more fro the amp to the dash locations. You'll already have speedwire coming from the head unit to the amp if you're using the factory radio

The 6 channel at least gives you the flexibility. Even if you're happy with just the front stage and a sub, maybe a promotion comes along and you want to toss a few hundred more at it and add the rears and the monoblock. The groundwork is already laid for you.

Speaking of flexibility and future-proofing, I would consider running 1/0 power wire from the battery. The 6.1200 can take 4awg, but if you add a monoblock down the road, you'd need to run an additional power and ground. This gets tricky when trying to cram all that in the door sills, and just adds more work at that point as well.

 

^+1

the only note i have is that if you want to tie into factory wiring for the speakers, one of the hurdles you'll need to overcome will be the oem tweeter/door woofer wiring.

the tweeter connector itself is what completes the circuit to the door speakers.

there's really 2 ways to accomplish it. either you can run new wire to the tweeters, and install a jumper to complete the door speaker wiring while connecting behind the radio for those door speakers, or you can continue the speed wire run to the tweeter location and tie in the door speaker at the tweeter location, but then you're there anyways, there's no reason not to run the tweeter wires there as well.

personally, i always prefer to run all new wiring to new speakers from a new amp. it eliminates potential problems with adding to factory wiring and connection points, though does add some hassle.

 

I was planning to run some fresh 16awg to all the doors, and the tweeter location. I'll run a speedwire from the headunit for the speaker inputs.
Assuming I am happy with the front stage only... Would it be wise to fabricate some ABS covers that can fill the cutout in the rear door panels where the speakers are? I'm looking to eventually sound deaden the 4 doors, and rear wall behind the seats.

 

I'm sure you can if you want to, but I would probably just leave the factory speakers in there for now. I'm lazy though lol