Installing Mr.Marv Box's, Arc Amps, DC Subs, AudioFrog and more!

This install has been a long time coming....buying, waiting, buying, waiting to gather everything for this system. I picked up my first audio components on a group buy here a few years back from Mr. Marv, it was a long wait from then till now but my patience has paid off. Rather than get into the details of the mishaps down that road I'll go straight into my component list. I would like to shout out to @Mr Marv for the time he has spent dealing with me, through text and phone calls, through the shipping issues and foremost doing all he could to make my money spent worth it!

I have slacked greatly on pictures for this build mainly due to time constraints and only being able to work on it here and there in my free time, with that said please forgive the lack of picture detail. I have added links to some of the items someone might be interested in.

2015 Tacoma 4x4 Double Cab Schtuff:

Pioneer AVH-W4400NEX
iDatalink Maestro Rr, TO1 and

$30 Maestro Acc-SAT-TO2 Sat Radio and GPS Antenna adaptors for TO2 Vehicles

sT02 (This does work for 15 Taco's depsite what they say)
Sirius/XM SXV300 Tuner
Mr. Marv full height box and amp rack - 1/2" Birch
Mr. Marv MDF speaker adapters and wiring kit
(2) DC Audio Level 2 10" Subs
Arc Audio XDi 1100.1
Arc Audio XDi 600.4
AudioFrog 2-Way GS Series 6x9, Tweets and Passive Crossovers
AudioFrog GS Series 6.5 rears

Tools and Accessories:

RAAMaudio Sound deading kit (plus another 60 sq. ft of NVX)
Speaker Gasketing Tape
Stinger Fast Rings
SMD DD-1 and CC-1
KnuKonceptz 1/0 to 4 gauge distribution block
KnuKonceptz Bassik Battery terminals
KnuKonceptz Karma V3 RCA's
TEMCo 1/0 and 4 gauge welding cable
Sky High Car Audio 1/0 and 4 Gauge copper lugs
Sky High Car Audio 12g, 14g and 16g OFC speaker wire
m5x13 Threaded Inserts
Silicon Bronze 5/16" Bolts for Box terminals

$21 TEMCo Hammer Lug Crimper Tool - Crimps 8 AWG to 4/0 Battery & Welding Cables (Workbench-Mountable)

TEMCo Hammer Lug Crimper (Cheap and Works Great!)
Duratex (This is some great stuff!)

$28 Bussmann Series CB185 150A Type III Circuit Breaker - 1 Piece

Bussmann 150a Circuit Breaker

$13 tesa 51608 Noise Damping PET Fleece Automotive Wire Harness Tape, Black, 19mm x 25m, 3 Rolls

Tesa Tape (Use this over Electrical tape, you won't regret it)

$20 Cllena Dual USB Port Charger Socket Quick Charge 3.0 & 2.4A for Toyota

Cllena Dual USB (For Toyota)

$13 BATIGE USB 3.0 & 3.5mm Car Mount Flush Cable 3.5mm + USB3.0 AUX Extension Dash Panel Waterproof Mount Cable for Car Boat and Motorcycle - 6ft

Batige USB/Aux panel mount

$6 wawpi USB 3.0 Right Angle 270 Degree Extension Cable Male to Female Adapter Cord, Length: 24cm

USB 3.0 Right angle extension (For back of Head Unit)

Motivx Tools 11pc Car Trim and Door Panel Removal Kit - Safely Pry Plastic Dash Pieces, Window Trim, Upholstery, Interior and Exterior Auto Parts Without Breaking Clips, Fasteners, or Scratching Paint

Motiv X Trim Removal Tools

Most of the main goodies!



Box and Amp Rack prep, I went with some furniture threaded inserts to hold the subs in and some Brass split inserts for the amps and crossovers.













I originally coated the box and amp rack with some Harbor Freight bedliner and it did not give me the texture I was looking for. I ended up finding a product called Duratex that works amazing! The best thing - it cleans up with water and drys (or can be backed in the oven) very quickly. It runs $40 for a quart which was more than enough to do 2 coats plus touch up's to my stuff, I also threw two coats on my Tundra bed rails just to see how it would hold up, so far it's been great!











Cleans up with water and Dawn!


Installed threaded inserts into the amp rack and box...Test fit amps and crossovers.










I'll be posting updates as I can to the install thread, I ran into a detour yesterday when I discovered one of my door speakers was dead. I should be getting a new one on the way shortly. Also for those of you looking to install a W4400NEX or similar Head Unit I have some tips to get all of the wiring to fit in good so keep an eye out

 

Looks great! Love the amp rack with the threaded inserts! Talk about CLEAN! And the bedliner on all the wood will keep any moisture from getting absorbed. I see way too many boxes destroyed by water leaking in the sliding window or the vents on the back wall

 

Thank You! As hard as I have tried to keep this as clean of an install sometimes you just have to get dirty with things. This was also a large learning curve for me as I have never done an install this in-depth...First time using sound deadener, gasketing material, anything larger than 4 gauge wire, running wires this tight and tidy (as opposed to running them to a trunk and easy to conceal). Everything else I have done plenty but in a not so "professional" manner if you will. Also that Duratex I used it top notch stuff, highly recommend it to anyone wanting to get that bed liner look and protection without the hassle!

 

I just finished getting the subs re-installed today, during my test phase I was getting some serious vibrations on my back wall that kept moving to a different spot as I would add more deadner. Finally got sick of messing with it and just ordered some more RaamMat. Yesterday I pulled everything back out, ripped out all the cheap deadner and did ONE good layer of RaamMat, DONE! No more vibrations or well atleast none of the bad kind, lol

I am definitely sold on RaamMat now, I'm considering pulling my carpet back up and redoing my floor with it now. I also re-tuned down to -7.5 db, considering bumping up to -10 db but I'll leave it as is until I finishing tuning my EQ and get my other door speaker back. I'll also be trying to get this post finished up

 

Ribbit! Looking good - in for the rest

 

Now comes time to start pulling my truck apart to prep for sound deadening, the roof is first order of business. Headliner removed (that was a pain in the a**)







Sound deadner and Ensolite installed - Looking back I would of done things differently and tried to put an entire sheet of ensolite instead of just between the ribs.









Moving along I start on my driver side door, this is my first time sound deadening so there was a large learning curve. You can tell as I do each door it looks better as I figured out better ways to apply. Over all the doors took the longest, I think it was three 6-8 hour days in total.









I had 50 sq ft of NVX deadner that I had picked up for my sisters car a few years ago. I opted to start using that when I realized that I wasn't going to have nearly enough RaamMat to do my entire truck.







I also did the inner skin of all the doors, be cautious when you do the inner parts as to not interfere with the window mechanisms - my apologies for the lack of photos, I just realized I also skipped getting pictures of the door speakers going together.





The back wall was fairly easy - I ended up having to redo the entire back wall though. **Side note to anyone using a Marv box, you CAN deaden and ensolite the entire back wall, INCLUDING the center rib. When I redid the back wall I put two layers of deadner with one layer of ensolite on the center rib.

 

Since I didn't get pics of the door speaker going together here is a little AudioFrog speaker porn!

 

I knew I was going to run out of the NVX so I found a Custom Sounds close by me and purchased another 25 sq ft of deadner - this stuff is absolute garbage and I way over payed for it (more than Raam's big kit). The floor wasn't too bad, I did my tranny tunnel as well, it was somewhat a PITA. I'm nearing getting my interior done and starting to actually get my subs and amps installed.













I decided that I would bolt my boxes down to the wall rail, to get my holes marked I ground a point into a bolt and lined my boxes up pressed them into. Worked well to get my holes marked and took out of the guess work of measuring.






If you want a good spot to run 1/0 through the firewall then do not even attempt to use the factory hole behind the brake booster. Look down below that hole and you will see two dimples, drill between those dimples and boom, you have an easily accessible hole for your power wire!










Installing the KnuKonceptz Bassik battery terminals - You will have to trim your OEM cable connectors to make these work. Of all the battery terminals I looked at the were the most appealing due to overall size and ease of use.

 

Once I got the 1/0 cable in place the ensolite started going onto the floor, following the vents and any other cables that were disconnected for this part. I also laid the carpet out in the driveway and did a major cleaning on it, that sh*t was DIRTY.







The carpet going back in was the first turning point of feeling relief that my truck was starting to look normal again.



Time to start getting the wiring pinned down and figure out my grounding points for the amps! I see a lot of people asking about grounding points for the amps, if you have the rear panels off or don't mind removing them (they are super easy to pull) the seat belt bracket is a perfect mounting point if prepped correctly.



This is resistance between seat belt bracket bolt and main ground point at chassis (tranny tunnel area)







I grounded one amp driver side and one to passenger side.



Time to get the wiring labeled and everything test fit into the rear to make needed adjustments.





Once I test fit I made some adjustments to my wiring and set them in stone with some Tesa tape to protect them where they run into the rear wall bracket. AND Now we have a first look of what this is going to look like

 

Time to get the subs wired up! Head on over to BoltDepot and pick yourself up some Silicon Bronze bolts and screw off the terminal inserts. Unless you want the fancy SMD one's but honestly his price is wayyyy to high. I think I paid like $10 for all this hardware.







For now I left the sub's out of the truck and turned my focus to getting the radio and front of the truck done. The seats go back in (didn't get pictures of this) and all my front panels get put back on. Remember when I said I would have some tips? Well none of these pictures turned out good so I will do my best writing it out.

Get your Maestro harness laid out and looking something like this, I removed everything that was not needed for the install and wrapped with Tesa Tape. You want to route everything clean and not fold any wires (you need all the length you can get). Go ahead and add your remote wire for your amps at this step. If you are running your amps direct to your speakers you can remove and speaker wiring from the head unit/maestro harness as you won't need those.




Get your OEM mic on the bench and removed - I cut a sliver of egg crate foam as a filter/cosmetic and hot glued the pioneer mic in place. I have used the mic several times on the phone and everyone says they can hear me clearly as if I was talking on the phone itself.









Now let's prep the back up camera wires...Find the OEM harness that looks like below.



Cut the wires far enough back from the plug to put back to stock in the future if needed. Strip the wires back and solder your Maestro harness in as specified by your Maestro wire color guide.





At this point you should be looking something like this! I highly recommend pulling all the tape off your OEM harness and Tesa Tape all the length you can get and separate your plugs by where they need to route too. Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of this. Basically your a/c and hazard harness will need to be separated from your radio harness and tesa taped on there own.



If you want to run a separate Aux/USB like I did then turn your attention to that next so we can run those wires. The parts I used are linked in my first post.



The Aux/USB is not an exact fit into the 12v cig power, you will need to open up the hole for it to fit properly. The dual USB charge port is an exact fit, link to the one I used in first post.

 

I also had to relocate my alarm light so I could mount my bass knob in a switch blank. I used some cheap JST connectors from my R/C supplies.













Lastly I installed a remote switch for my sub amp in the glove box, if you ever take it into a shop or the dealer you can flip the switch to make it harder for someone to be able to abuse your subs. Also comes in handy if you need to fold your seats down








Ok now let's get to putting everything back together! Install your harness and route all your wires, tesa tape everything togther. There is a small hole to the right of your radio between the glove box area. If you taped all your wires properly you can slide your Maestro module into this little hole. It will be accessible by removing your glove box if you ever need to get to it in the future. *Don't forget to run a micro-usb from your Maestro module over to your glove box in the event you ever need to flash the firmware or update*


Another good tip - Get yourself a right angle usb extension, a straight usb in the back of the radio causes depth issues and causes problems with the trim plate not staying seated. Also HEATSHRINK your aux cable, mine pulled out the first time and I had to remove the radio to hook it back up.

Route your USB, HDMI (if you have one), Remote wire and parking brake ground wire out to your glove box. I originally put the parking brake wire into the harness and found that it does not work for AA to recognize the parking brake being applied. Run it out to your glove box so you can ground it out when initially setting up AA or Carplay.


I just tucked the ground wire out of the way behind the glove box.



If you are running a SirusXM module this is good mounting spot for it with some double sided sticky tape.


At this point you should have your lower panel back on, your hazards and A/C trim back on and radio sitting in place, before you move forward verify you do not have any other panels that need to go on first. I made this mistake the first go round and had to pull everything back out. Congrat's you should now have a working radio

 

Alright now that we are past that HUGE headache - seriously the radio and panels was a 2 day ordeal. I had to remove it so many times trying to work out the kinks, shifting wires and then forgetting to put the lower trim panel on but the end result is nice and the wires aren't a cluster f*ck.

Next up, getting the subs put in and start tuning. At this point forward I had a few complications that were already mentioned earlier. I ended up pulling everything back out and redoing the deadner on the back wall. I also cut a spare set of storage bins to complete the finish but TBH I like it better without the trim in.













Putting the DD1 and CC1 to use - made up a pigtail that I can easily clip to.




I ended up adding deadner to the tailgate as well - she was rattling like a beat up beer can.


Here is what she looks like now, after I re-did the back wall and got the rest of the plastics in place.



I wanted to add a disclaimer here - For anyone looking to do this keep in mind that without modifying your rear seat mounting brackets you will not be able to A) keep the back seat plastics and B) even remotely attempt to fold your seats down all the way. I did not post pictures of the modifications to avoid getting flak from others, if you are curious of what I did I will gladly send you pics in a PM.

 

looks really nice. I imagine the sound is just as good. were the sub enclosures sold as one piece or two?

 

Thank you on the compliment! The enclosures and amp rack were sold as one piece but Marv can do just about any configuration you want him too. He built my enclosures to spec for the subs and got my amp rack as large as possible in the process so I could mount everything on it.

Edit: I wanted to make sure we are on the same wavelength, by one or two piece you do mean purchase cost as a set or were you referring to the way he built them? The enclosures and amp rack are all single pieces sold at one cost.