Conservative sound system build - Should I pull the trigger?

My recommendation is SecondSkin Pro 2mm. Pricy, but quality.

 

Here's a good (although a bit expensive) complete harness:

$43 Wire Harness Compatible with 1987-2018 Toyota and 2016+ Subaru (Used for Amplifier or Subwoofer Installation)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Y2DJFXC

I brought both the nico and kilmat sound deadener (doors and back wall), I thought the kilmat was perhaps slighter easier to work but like the nico brand name better for some reason. I'm [subtly] amazed at the difference using sound deadener. Be mindful to not block door drain holes with deadener!

No idea why so many people poo-poo Tacoma stock wiering. Now that I've cut the speaker adapters it looks like quality 18AWG wire to me that could handle 50watts x4 (only 7amps folks) no problem. Knowing what I know now I would not think twice about putting the crossover in the door using 15lbs velcro under the elbow rest on the inside (dry side of the vapor barrier plastic, it's there for a reason) of the door panel. As it is I'm going to put the crossover next to the shifter under the trim). The idea that a crossover will rust in the door panel is ludicrous (do a search for rusted crossover, there's one guy out of thousands whos crossover fell to the bottom of his door and rusted becasue he left it there for a year...still worked, did not short his speakers or amp).

If your going to run your own wires this tool is a god send, jamming a coat hanger through the door grommet seems really risky
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-7rseTNj457l/p_042DM4533/Pro-Fit-Wire-Worm.html

Don't have any illusions about it, installing speakers and running wires is a piece of work but doable, there's no shame in paying someone to do the install. Problem is car auto is such a hustle and they'll try to over sell you. Also be warned crutchfield does have good customer service but they can only help so much.

I did fast strings but felt a little silly about it (pro tip: remove the center plug first).

If you install crossovers in the door (or use speakers with a built in crossover) you can run 9-wire speaker cable straight from the HU to an amp and back to the stock harness using the harness above. I'm running 9 wire cable from the HU to the crossover and back to the tweeters using stock wiring for the tweeters and ran my own 18awg wire wire from the crossover to the 6x9. I'm just going to use speaker level inputs from the HU (no DSP, LOC, etc.). Much thanks to everyone here who laid to rest the notion of "bass roll off." I'm not saying a DSP would be nice...just saying...

To simplify my impression is if your okay with the stock volume level (stock does not really sound all that bad, stock speakers make my rear view mirror shake, also have to consider mp3 audio quality and audio over bluetooth is even worse) doing the Subaru tweeters is probably the easiest upgrade, if you plan on doing anything more then a tweeter upgrade plan on getting an amp, at the end of the day an amp is really what makes a stereo sound good (I like Alpine), I'd say the amp [and sub] is _way_ more important then the speakers as long as the speakers can handle the watts, speakers by themselves will likely disappoint IMHO.

Finally, again, no shame in having a professional do it, this is the second time I've done a speakers/amp upgrade and 1/2 way through it I was kicking myself for not just paying someone else to do it (in an air conditioned garage none the less) not to mention you get a warranty on the work. On the other hand "professionals" screw things up and 1/2 arse it too so yeah...it's a complicated world when all you want to do is have some decent audio - either do the Subaru tweeters or plan on an amp, that's my 2 cents.

 

it's not the amperage. it's the quality of the conductors. and also if one believes in the skin effect or not, which would mean a higher strand count will offer a better frequency response.

it's also a level of effort. if i'm only tossing a radio, as i've currently done, the factory wiring is fine. but once i go to the work of pulling panels, running power wire and installing my amps, i'm ditching as much of the factory wiring as possible. running speaker wire is really just a minor step up once i'm yanking panels and pulling power wire anyways. so why not go through the effort to maximize the effort i've already decided on?

i will say, all my 1950-60's era jenson speakers specifically mention in all the documentation to connect with 18 gauge lamp cord. but they all definitively sound better and 'fuller' with 12ga speaker wire.

i've tried thinner/cheaper speaker wire in the past a number of times. i don't go below 14 gauge in my installs anymore because i can hear a difference in clarity between 18 gauge wire and 14-12ga wire. my cars sub is connected with 8gauge speaker wire

can also use a really large HVAC zip tie, for a similar price. here's a 15-pack
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commerc...-Duty-Cable-Tie-15-Pack-GT-920HD-15/315460455

or visit some new home builds. they like to leave the zip tie tails everywhere, can likely get a number of nearly-full lengths for free.

i generally use a piece of 12 gauge solid copper wire. it's flexible enough to control and bend as needed to get through, where the plastic ziptie method can be uncontrollable at times due to the springy nature of nylon. though i understand the safety aspect.

 

Yeah I figured there was something more cleaver then a $10 plastic strip that I'm unlikely to ever use again, higher strand wire makes [theoretical] sense. The stock wire defiantly had fewer strands then the speaker wire - for some reason I felt compelled to make use of the wire that was there, makes we wounder about the solid copper flat 4 Core telephone cable I'm using to run my surround speakers in my home stereo, I got 25 feet of it for a couple bucks at a thrift store, my thinking at the time was solid copper was better - live and learn.

 

Y'all keep going, but for what it's worth, I ended up with the kicker key 200.4, kicker KS component fronts and coaxial backs. Might eventually add a sub, but even my typically unenthused wife was impressed before I even told her what I had done.

 

Cool, where did you put the crossovers?

 

They fit snuggly under the kick panel. Easy to access if you want to make adjustment, but you don't have to look at them otherwise. You'd never know I modified my audio unless you looked under my seat and saw the amp.

 

i couldn't find any definitive technical documentation stating that either any number of strands from 1 to 100 is any better/worse than the other(for as much your benefit as my own!).

i did find this thread that openly states that some of it is each of our own ears, and some of it is theoretical, that is to say, justification of each of our preconceived ideals!
https://forum.polkaudio.com/discuss...r-of-copper-wire-strands-matter-hard-to-gauge

there's also this one
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/number-of-strands-in-speaker-wire.922451/

that link also has this gem:

that leads to this heavily in-depth pdf that the link died but lives on elsewhere--i haven't read, but downloaded it for later when i get bored:
http://api.guide.free.fr/AES-cableInteractions.pdf

i think any copper wiring really is fair game, with sizing and strand count really coming down to preference. we could debate the purity of copper used, as any doping of the copper will have an effect on it's electrical resistance, but there's no way to know that without extreme scientific machinery... but getting into aluminum, or cca(copper coated aluminum) is a whole other debate...

 

Did you end up going this route?
Looking to do exactly the same (thanks for the links!!) and have some questions if you did