doing some audio upgrades on my 09...

i want to keep the steering wheel controls working (bluetooth and volume) but want more power to the sub and posibly new sub and new amp. what is the best way to do this?
i dont mind changing the head unit but those steering wheel controls have to work or ill go crazy...
any help would be nice.
new sub probly go with one 10 or one 12 but i want low end bass that is loud. and ill go with a pioneer amp or fosgate 250-600 watt i think.
what else do i need besides the sound deadner?

 

If you change your head unit you will need a device to interface with the steering controls. You lose some of the control; for instance I can choose to have mine wired to skip tracks when listening to the iPod OR change radio presets, but not both.

don't feed any more power to the stock sub. It probably can't handle it.

This is just my opinion, but I would go with the pioneer over the fosgate in a heartbeat. I've owned fosgate and to me the experience is, 'loud but dirty'.

If you want 12", it is most likely that you will need to go shallow mount subs, which can be spendy. Some may claim that they can get larger stuff in the truck, but you need to ask if they provided the right amount of airspace in the sub box, if the sub is slapping the back of the seat, or if they did some modding to the seat/install location. Making sure everything fits the way you want is key.

It seems that for what fits in our trucks, a single sub will want an average of 300w RMS. More power is better, don't be afraid to use a heftier amp (you can always turn down the gain).

wait on sound deadener. Unless you are messing with the doors, you may not need it as much as you think. I've been advised that most of the rattle would be from the rear window, and you really can't glue on sound deadener to that!
In mine, the only rattle I have so far is in either the glove box or passenger a-pillar. I will be doing sound deadening, but it's for the benefit of the door speakers. Leftover scraps will go to the back wall.

You will need at the very least:

amp
sub
sub box
18' of power wire (guage dependent on your setup)
5' or so of ground wire
fuse block or circuit breaker
crimp on ring terminals, etc.
a way to secure the amp (most likely an amp rack or under passenger seat)
speaker wire

I may be missing some stuff, but that's a good start for the checklist.

 

I saw your post and you mentioned you want to retain the use of your steering wheel controls. And the person who replied to you said you'll need an interface to keep the controls working if you change your radio. Well, he's correct, however, currently there isn't a solution for the 2009 Tacoma. I installed an Alpine head unit recently and then took my truck to a local audio shot to have the PAC interface installed so I could use my steering wheel controls. Long story short, the interface didn't work b/c the stock Toyota radio is different in 2009 than it was from 2005-2008. (It's a newer radio which includes mp3 playback and an ipod adapter). The installers even called PAC in California to have them walk them through the install to make it work, however, PAC have yet to make an interface for a 2009 Tacoma, so they couldn't help. The interface for the 2005-2008 tacoma can work, but the wiring has to be manipulated and PAC hasn't worked on a Tacoma yet to figure out the diagnostics. They told my local shop to call back in a few months and ask again, that at some point they'll come across an 09 Tacoma to work on and figure it out.

I hope this saves you from going through what I went through with my 09.

 

You might be able to get an 09 that still interfaces with Eclipse decks - I know for the 05-08 trucks that a newer Eclipse deck is pretty much plug n' play.

 

I got my steering wheel to work with the PAC SWI-JACK no problem. I don't have BT controls on my wheel but I do have the radio controls. The only issue I had was I installed the resistor to the wrong two wires at first but after I looked at the instructions closer I figured it out and all is well. I have a JVC KW-AVX710 in the dash with the Metra dash kit.