2019 Crewmax All New Custom Sound System DIY Build Thread

Thanks guys. I appreciate the kind words. I will get around to putting a mic in the cab before to long. I'll post that when I do.

I'll have to check it out.

This is true because I have one intergraded into a multi channel amp that I built using Icepower amp modules for some active three way floor standing speakers that I need to get back to building. They got put on hold when I decided to build this. So yea they can work but I found out that their QC is crap and it's a game of chance whether you get a good one or not. I posted a picture earlier in this thread showing what fell out of the Dayton DSP when I opened it up because there was something rattling around inside of it. Looking down the backside of the board I could see what looked like cold soldier joints and a bunch of untrimmed component leads. I should have just sent it back there and then but against better judgement I decided to gave it a try anyways. If you go back and watch the video I posted you will see first hand why some people hate on this DSP unit. There is a good reason for it.

Sundown Audio offers some banging subs and they are priced fairly. I'm not real familiar with their amps but I was looking at them as a possible choice for my build but ultimately went with Down4Sound. No regrets there so far.

I can't really argue with that. This is especially true these days since most equipment is built in the same build houses in China or South Korea. So there often times isn't any significant difference from one brand to the next any ways. Very few companies actually build there own stuff in house any more. There are obviously exceptions. Jl Audio, Focal and Morel to name a few. Most amplifier designs these days are just clones of well known amp circuits. There may be a few modifications or customizations that a customer may ask for that the build house can accommodate for them but the basic boards are the same.

The good thing is that most of these designs are time tested and proven to deliver, so really all that matters is if the build house uses quality components and has good QC.

In the past I was forced by my finance situation to build systems with parts that often times where scavenged from other places, bought second hand or found at a few electronics stores that sold buyout stock from different manufacturers. So I ended up with a lot of peerless speakers that where branded with other companies names or no names at all. But none of this stopped me from building some real over the top systems on shoe string budgets. I even used to go to where they made all of the speakers for Infinity and on Sunday they where closed. We used to jump the fence and get into the trash compactor (it was off) and pull out a bunch of factory blemished drivers that they where throwing away. Some had defects that effected their performance that we would toss but a lot of them just had cosmetic blemishes and worked fine. So yea. Doing things like this gave me a good understanding of how to make a system work and sound good even if I couldn't explain why. It was a lot of fun.

 

Lol. Got do what ya gotta do. I loved music and had to piece things together in my teen years as well in my vehicles. We had a company called mcm electronics back in the day. They are still around but very different company. Used a lot of Pyle drivers and no name stuff as well. Good brand amps we’re about $1-2 a watt so needless to say mega watt systems were out for us. The hifonics (in the 80s when it was way better) colossus amp was like $2000 and we were making about $4 an hour at the time.
Good times.

apparently, I got the only Dayton dsp that was any good. Heard a lot of bad stories about them as well but built my daughters car on a limited budget. Got a great deal on an alpine pdx v9 and put it in her car. She loves it. I almost got one but wound up with a minidsp 6x8. Then moved to the 8x12 dl. That is the game changer.

I tell you though these tundras have a great cabin for sound.

the dfs amps seem to be like the Dayton dsp. Glad you got some that behave and do their job correctly.

Great thread. I got inspired to do a floater screen after reading this thread.

 

The hifonics amps where pretty decent back in the day but then they started having problems with quality control. I think they started out sourcing things to Taiwan and the boards looked like they where soldiered by 12 year old's in a sweat shop. But yea they where one of the first big watt amps you could get for a car. Well big watt being over 300 watts anyways. I ended up with Orion's in most of my rides by the late 90's but I had a lot of different stuff before that. MCM Electronics if I remember there was one of those in the San Fernando Valley. I think it was in Chatsworth or Woodlyn Hills. I grew up in Southern California and graduated High School in 85. That was a different time back then. Lowered mini trucks where all the rage and MTV still played music videos.

The Tundra's definitely have a great cab for sound you just need to be creative with finding places to put the gear. This is my first one and I'm liking everything about it so far except the gas bill. I can do with out that. This has to be one of the most rattle free vehicles I've ever owned, after I damped everything down anyways. The base hits pretty hard and the only rattling I have is a little from the rearview mirror but I'm going to fix that later today. Other then that there really isn't any thing.

So have you been hearing that people are having problems with the D4S amps? The three I have are just about perfect. They are well built. The internals all look to be high quality. 105 degree caps and discrete resisters and a bunch of surface mount stuff. I've been running my subs at 1 ohm and the amp hasn't even gotten hot enough to trigger the fan which comes on at 120 degrees. It would probably be better if it came on around 90 degrees though. The four channel amps barley even get warm and I'm running those at 2 ohms per channel. So yea they are definitely working for me so far.

Have you given any thought to what head unit you might go with? The Sony is a great choice but I think I would be equally happy with the Kenwood though. The Pioneers from what I've been hearing are real laggy and kind of buggy too. I have no experience with them personally but that is what I've been hearing from multiple people anyways. Back in the day it was Pioneer all the way. I had one in my Explorer but traded it out for a Sony and it was just so much better and that's why I went with Sony again. This one is a lot more expensive then the one from my Explorer but it is hands down the best head unit I've ever had.

 

I have no personal experience with dfs amps. It’s a mixed bag of reviews. kinda like Dayton dsp stuff. Some folks are tickled pink and others hate them.

I have realized in the last several years price doesn’t really determine quality. Especially in audio in general. I put a component set in my daughters car that I only paid $69 for (granted it was dealer cost) that I would still put up against most equipment under $1000.

I wound up going with the

$1,399 kenwood dnr1007xr excelon 10.1" high definition navigation car stereo receiver with capacitive touch panel

kenwood dnr1007xr. Got a good deal on it with all the accessories for plug and play. I love it.

 

That's a real nice unit. That was the one I was also looking at. It was out of stock everywhere when I was looking so it kind of took it's self off the list though. So what was the component set you put in your daughters car?

 

Db drive euphoria es7c. Very underrated and sound incredible with a dsp. Sound like crap with the included crossovers but eq them with a dsp and time align them and wow!!!!

 

Wow, nice setup, wish I had the time and patience to do that!

 

I really apreciate all you went through to post this! It's helping me a lot in my build planning!!! I am working on my 2015 "JBL Premium" Crewcab using the following:

Kenwood Excelon DMX958R (was really on the fence with the ES but didn't want the floating screen as I want to keep the stock look for security)
Sony XM-5ES (100x4 750x1)
Sony ES 3-way 6.5 for Front Stage w/ passive x
CDT HD-6BE/sub in Rear doors (bandpass filter set in amp and run at 2 ohms for 165w ea)
Soundbox dual 10" Sub box loaded with Pioneer TSA2500 LS4 shallow subs

I too plan to use the stock speaker wire as much as I can but an having trouble locating a color chart to start with. Do you happen to have any notes once you identified them?

 

That is a serious love of music, very impressive, well done!!

 

the speaker wiring in the tundra is kinda crazy. If your going to run a three way it’s not hard at all to run new speaker wire. It Will save you some headaches. Took about 15 minutes to run tweeter wires, 8inch midbass and midrange speaker wire in each door. At least you know for certain your polarity is correct and you decide how the speakers are connected.
Just be aware that your balance between the midbass 6.5 and the mid and tweet may not be optimal as they are separated pretty well from the low door to the top of the dash.
Another option may be to use the 4 channel amp and use 2 channels to power the midbass in the front doors and the passive with the mid and tweet as they are close together. I had to pull my tweets down about 3db. But just a suggestion.
If you deaden your front doors well enough and get the tune right you really don’t need the 6 in the rear. as a matter of fact I’m running stereo integrity m25 in the dash and the tm8 8 inch in the door. I find that I can run them and just about get away with out the subs.

But the tuning is the biggest factor. I didn’t see a dsp in your list.

you have good equipment but I would also suggest a dsp. Makes a day and night difference. Less pricy speakers with a dsp will sound way better than pricy equipment with passives and no dsp.

but good for you for replacing the head unit. I fought this for a long time and when mine died and I put in my kenwood floating screen everything came to life and all the issue I had with subs completely went away.

 

WOW!! Heck of a write up and a heck of a job!! Very nice.

 

Thanks for bring some logic to my madness! I could have rewired the speakers 10x over given the time i've spent searching for those wire colors... Looks like the CDT subs won't be in until next week some time so i'm going to take your advice and bi-amp the front and see how that goes first. The CDTs were on sale for like 100 bucks so it's not the end of the world if i don't use them. As for the dsp, my "hope" was to be able to tune as much as i can through the deck and amp first. This project kind of got away from me so i had to cut off the funding at some point. The way i am installing things adding a dsp into the system will be relatively simple. I've been out of the car audio thing for quite some time (really thought the "premium sound system" would satisfy my 50 year old ears but a 22 hour road trip put me over the edge). Do you have any sugestions on a resonably priced dsp? I'm not really running a bunch of channels so i don't need to get crazy.

 

That’s a great build. I’ve already installed an Audison af m12.14bit, Audison Prima 3 way upfront, Audison coaxial and 8” Jo audio powered sub. Just need to sound deaden the rear. Wanted to find out how to remove rear panel which is a solid plastic panel.