2021 Non-JBL Wiring Diagram

The platinum has grills there already, I just botched cutting one of the holes and needed a new one.

 

What I think you should do Snert is absolutely get a 3 way setup for your front sound stage. It will 100% be better at pretty much everything in terms of detail and "loudness."

That being said, you don't HAVE to get focals 3 way!

I think a great option to refreshing your setup to start would be to get the 2 way while running passive. Starting off with a 2 way passive saves you some time and money at first and gives you time to think about what you might want to do in the future. Who knows, maybe the 2 ways will be good enough for your standards

If you get the 2 way, you wouldn't have to modify the dash at all too. I'd run new wires through the door for the woofer AND tweeter and mount the tweeters in the sail panels. Don't mount 'em in the dash. I did so in my truck and ended up not liking it and instead swapped them out for my midranges later.

If you are feeling you want more detail, I'd HIGHLY recommend audiofrogs GS25 midranges to transform your 2 way into a 3 way. They bolt right into the factory dash location with NO modification and sound amazing. One thing to keep in mind is I would only add the audiofrog midranges if you go active in the front. Keeping the focal 2 way passive then adding the midrange will mess everything up as I'm sure you are aware.

No matter which way you chose, whether it be doing the Frankenstein build with multiple brand speakers (which is what I have in mine and it sounds great) or just getting the focal 3 way and calling it done, it's gonna cost pretty much the exact same.

Either way, I'd 100% plan on doing a 3 way. You won't regret the extra money and labor! Just up to you on how much up front cash you wanna spend and modifying of the dash you wanna do to fit the larger midrange speakers.

Personally I'm excited to see the route you take, cause either way it's gonna sound amazing!

 

Those pictures are wonderful and the dash corners are what I was thinking about doing if/when I decide to go 3 way! After listening to some sets in person over the weekend, I've landed on which set I'm going to do for the front stage. We more or less have the same ideas about a frankenstein setup lol, I was considering the Audiofrog GS-25's down the line to avoid dash modification, at which point I would be getting another amp/dsp to go full active. For now, what I've landed on, is the Focal ES 165 KX2E. These are the newest line of K2 speakers, and include the new wider-band, larger FRAK tweeters, which retail in the US for $999 on their own. The ES 165 KX2E's draw 120w RMS @ 2 ohms, my amp pushes 100w @ 2 ohms. They'll be very slightly underpowered per the RMS specs, but they are super sensitive so it shouldn't be an issue and I think they'll still exhibit great sound. Local install shop and a Crutchfield advisor both suggested spending most of my money on the front stage right now, which makes sense. They both said that the difference between 2 and 3 way is definitely better and noticeable if done correctly, but both said if given the choice of a mid-level 3 way (Focal Flax, still high end IMO and not a "mid-level" set by any means) vs a high-level 2 way, both would choose to get the higher level 2 way. I plan on ordering the set today, the 1" thick ABS adapters from TT or SoundsGoodStereo, wiring/sound deadening, other install bits etc. My plan is to install the new headunit, run the RCA's, power, new speaker wire, and install the front speakers passively for now. In a month or so I'll grab a second set for the rear doors, and then in 6 months to a year I'll probably get some midranges, either the Audiofrogs or the new K2 M midranges from Focal and install those in the dash corners, at which point I'd get a second amp, likely a 6 channel, as well as a DSP like the Audiocontrol DM-810 or another 10 channel DSP.

For my install currently, one thing I was thinking about that I had initially considered, but then opted against until I did more research over the weekend, is that the while the Woofers for the 2-ohm K2 sets across the board are just that, e.g. 2 ohm, all of the tweeters for any Focal set are 4 ohms. The set comes with bi-ampable passive crossovers. My head unit has the standard 4 channel outputs of 20w @ 4 ohms. The FRAK tweeters are 25w RMS @ 4 ohms. I'm wondering if it would be possible to bi-amp them, using the head unit to feed the Tweeter input on the crossover, and the amped signal from my RD 900/5 to feed the woofer input. Not sure if that's even possible, but from my understanding the head unit has 4 speaker level outputs of 20w @ 4 ohms, along with the 6 channels of RCA output. If not, I can run them non-bi-amped by pig-tailing the inputs together per Focal. I'm thinking the tweeters will be too big for the JBL sail panels I ordered and I may end up needing to flush mount them/cut holes in my current sails. At least they're cheap if I mess up, and I'm assuming the dash corner grills aren't too bad on price either?

 

Forgot to ask, how did you mount the midranges through the grilles like that/what's underneath the grill? Did you use longer bolts into the factory holes or how does all that work? You're the first person I've seen with them setup like that and I'm super curious as I will eventually probably do the same, or dremel the factory holes under the grilles wider like 5 star did. That mid-range and tweeter look great btw, nice work!

 

Also, forgot to ask (sorry for the multiple replies) did you have any fitment issues with the woofers? I know 5-star did the Focal Flax 3 ways using the Metra adapters and they didn't mention any clearance issues. The Flax woofer has a mounting depth of 3-1/16" per Crutchfield, and the KX2E's have a similar mounting depth of 3". TT says their adapters support a mounting depth of 2.95", and it looks like they sell the Metra adapters that 5 star used and list a mounting depth of 2.85", so with the Flax woofers that would equate to roughly 1/4" too deep, but I've seen plenty of folks install K2's and Flax's without issue.

 

Crutchfields max mounting depth is off for the tundras on their website. They said the same thing with my 7" kenwoods for the front and rear doors but they both fit no problem. Worst case scenario they are too deep and you have to space them out a little more from the door itself. I think there's close to 3" from the door to the door card that you have to work with when mounting your speakers, but like you said they should fit no problems with those brackets.

 

Hoping one day I too would be able to hear a set of these speakers but unfortunately I don't have any local focal dealers

In your case, you don't need to bi amp your crossover since you don't have enough channels to begin with and running off of the stereos speaker outputs might mess things up because the speakers will then be running off of different gains, meaning your tweeter (most likely) will be way underpowered at lower volumes compared to your woofer. Best to just keep the jumper between the bi-amp inputs that way they are seeing the same amount of input no matter what. Tweeters are rated at a lower RMS because they don't see any lower frequencies like the midbass does. The lower the speaker plays, the more watts it needs. Even though you are sending 100 watts to your crossover, the crossover will filter out all of the frequencies bellow 3kHz or so thus dropping the amount of wattage the tweeter sees significantly.

Would you happen to have a link to where you bought your JBL sail panels? I'm looking to purchase some as well once I get my audiofrog GB10s because I would rather have the tweeters pointing slightly backward than right at each other. I went to my local toyota dealership and asked them and they said it was over $120 per panel and there's no way in hell I'm paying that for those tiny bits of plastic trim.

 

Also, where in the hell are you finding Focal ES 165 KX2E's for $999?!?!

They are listed for $1,299 on crutchfield!

 

I figured the max mounting depth must’ve been off as I haven’t heard of anyone running into issues. Also that is a super good point I didn’t think about the gain differences, until I get another amp etc. I’ll just run them non-bi-amped. I paid $1299 for the KX2E’s, debated ordering from overseas but heard Focal won’t warranty or support Euro serials in the U.S., and hit or miss if they’ll ship to U.S. because apparently they’re not supposed to and with customs tax probably would’ve saved only a couple hundred dollars. I opted to spend the extra $300 for the Frak tweeters, but Crutchfield does have the “old” K2’s on sale right now, likely until they clear them out and they are definitely a great deal.

Links to sail panels:

https://www.oemgenuineparts.com/oem...trim-ring-right-front-lower-674910c060?c=az0x

https://www.oemgenuineparts.com/oem...or-lower-frame-bracket-left-674920c060?c=az0x

I found these linked in another thread that was originally to “Toyota of Cool Springs” but the link redirects to this site now, and my order was sent from “Carlock Toyota of Tupelo Mississippi”, not sure if the “OEMGenuineParts” site is like a hub for dealers to sell parts online or what, but the order came without issue. Someone emailed to confirm I had the right part number for my VIN. In any case, $125 for one sail panel is insane! When I had an F-150 I was lucky enough to have an AutoNation Ford parts place near me that sold parts for same as other online retailers of OEM.

 

Speakers and head unit were delivered. Will upload pics of both (primarily of Head Unit to show packaging/unboxing from Trail Grid Pro, everything looks fantastic). I've been compiling a parts list/build log of materials. Remaining materials, including rear speakers and sound deadening will be purchased over the next month or so, at which point I will begin installing. Further down the line, ~6 mo - 1yr I will probably begin purchasing additional equipment, namely some midrange speakers, a 6-channel amp and 10 channel DSP to go fully active.

Parts list (green already have, red decided against, no highlight purchase TBD):

Speakers:

Front: Focal PS 165 F3E 3-Way Component Speakers 80w RMS $999.99

Rear: Focal PS 165 FE 2-Way Component Speakers 70w RMS $579.99

Front: Focal ES 165 KX2E $1299.99

Rear: TBD

Midrange: Focal K2M each: $499.99

Midrange: Audiofrog GS-25 $279.00


Subs:

JL Audio 8w7 $699.99

JL Audio 6w3v3 $279.99


Amps:

JL Audio RD 900/5 $699.99

JL Audio JD 250/1 $229.99


DSP/Signal Processors:

Dayton Audio DSP-408 $164.98


Install Parts:

Toyota Factory Amp Upgrade Harness $15.50

18 Gauge Speaker Wire $0.30/ft x 75 ft $22.50

16 Gauge Speaker Wire $0.39/ft x 75 ft $29.25

Bojo Trim Panel Tools $17.99

T-Spec v12 Series VFDB2 Fused Distribution Block $24.99

T-Spec v12 Series VDB2 Non-Fused Distribution Block $19.99

Kolossus Fleks Kable 1/0 Red Power $4.75/ft $TBD

Kolossus Fleks Kable 1/0 Black Ground $4.75/ft $TBD

Sounds Good Stereo Passenger Amp Rack $92.00

Sounds Good Stereo Driver Amp Rack $92.00

Taco Tunes Amp Rack $114.99

Right JBL Equipped/Tweeter Sail Panel $20.31

Left JBL Equipped/Tweeter Sail Panel $20.31

NVX Silicone Speaker Baffles $21.99

SoundSkins Rings v3 $52.99

Taco Tunes Speaker Adapters Front $80.00

Taco Tunes Speaker Adapters Rear $80.00

Resonix CLD Squares 40 ft^2 $340.00

NVX CLD 40 ft^2 $169.98

NVX 90 mil 40 ft^2 $89.99

Temco 1/0 Wire Red $85.00

Temco 1/0 Wire Black $85.00

 

I wanted to make this a separate post so it wouldn't get lost in the parts list above. I've gone down the rabbit hole of sound dampening. I've spent hours reading reviews/researching options. It appears the general consensus is that the best product currently is Resonix CLD squares. On their website they link to a Facebook group called "The Deadening". One guys testing of various options on the market. In short, Resonix performs significantly better than the competition, although their product is CLD in comparison to most manufacturers only offering classic butyl/foil, e.g. Roadkill, Killmat etc. In testing, NVX CLD provided 11.5 dB of dampening, compared to Resonix's 17dB although they mention that "according to international shipping records NVX is manufactured by the same people who make Knu Conceptz sound dampening, which has reports of melting". Resonix touts their product as superior in every way, including damping, adhesion, and durability against melting and wear. While the testing looks promising, it's one guy doing the damping testing, and it's unclear if he is friends with the Resonix owner or has any stake in the claims (he and the Resonix owner both claim neither and to be 100% objective). Resonix does however pay for heat testing. Ultimately, having a background in research, I'm always skeptical of bold claims from a single source. This isn't unique to Resonix or any car audio brand for that matter, as car audio in general is like the wild west of testing and results, although there are certainly CEA ratings etc., everything from power wire to speaker specs are open to wild claims from manufacturers.

My questions are:

Has anyone used the NVX CLD/classic butyl mat? The NVX CLD is currently exactly half the cost of Resonix, and the classic NVX 90 mil is just over 1/4th the cost:

Resonix CLD 40 sq ft $340
NVX CLD 40 sq ft $170
NVX 90 mil 40 sq ft $90

I'm not sure if it's a typo on the website, but in one section they list NVX CLD as 11.5dB reduction, and in another that the NVX 90 mil (which is non CLD) as 11.5dB reduction, or maybe the two are being used interchangeably, but I don't see the butyl thickness on the NVX CLD, and NVX sells a non CLD butyl that is 90 mil. I know any sound dampening will increase mid base response, I'm just curious if the "diminishing returns" on paying 2x as much for Resonix is worth it, and I'm keenly interested in the NVX CLD as a cheaper, albeit likely worse product. People have been using Roadkill, Killmat etc. for years with great anecdotally reported success, as opposed to newer CLD options.

In addition to damping material, I will be using CCF for speaker to door card baffles, chopped up silicone baffles for an "umbrella" over the door woofers, and tesa tape/butyl rope to de-couple wires and rattle-prone parts.

Thanks in advance to anyone that has experience with NVX products, and/or has critically compared/evaluated the market options and ROI, rather than touting Resonix as the only worthwhile option. The main cons I see with Resonix are 1) price and 2) personal beef with the Resonix owner and his gorilla marketing/pseudo-monopolization of the market, e.g. Resonix or bust. Neither of those two things would stop me from buying a product that works well, as I am of the buy once cry once mindset, and I personally don't care how the owner interacts with people on forums, reddit, etc.

 

Now I'm no expert on sound deadening and what makes one company better than another, but I will say based off of my experience in sound deadening my own doors the most important thing about deadening a door is the plastic on the door panel itself. Andy Wehmeyer, the owner and designer of audiofrog speakers, has a very detailed and extravagant facebook post posted on his audiofrog enthusiasts public group forum.

Here's what he says about midbass and treating the door: And I can say without a doubt that whatever this man says goes. It is amazing the amount of knowledge this man posses. If you have the time to read not only his facebook posts on that forum but his blog section on the audiofrog website it will literally blow your mind.

Back to my opinion on sound deadening and basically summing up what Andy says, any thing you put on the inside of the door only really affects the amount of road noise that enters the car, and doesn't really affect midbass performance. What I installed on my truck was 2 dynamatt 10435 Extreme Door kits from crutchfield which costed me about $220 for eight sheets of 12" x 36" deadening material. This was enough to do pretty much the whole inside and outside of each door (pictures bellow).

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_15410435/Dynamat-10435-Xtreme-Door-Kit.html

Yes, you could spend double what I did and go absolutely nuts with the deadening, putting multiple layers or whatever you might want to do with it, but I think if you were to go from my truck to your truck you would probably never notice a difference in terms of midbass.

What really makes the most difference is the door panel itself like I said earlier. For the "fast rings" on my front midbass I used morels Acudamp MAT SPK6 from crutchfield which included six 1" thick 27" long closed cell foam strips that go around the speaker to meet the door to the door panel and six 4.5" x 6.5" foam pads that went on the door panel around where the speaker is. Also added stinger fast rings on the inside of the door and the block of foam on the back as well. This made a HUGE difference over just using kenwoods included foam that came with my 7" midbasses. I still plan to add even more 1/2" foam to the panel for even more rigidity and dampening since I'm also planning on changing the kenwoods for the GB60s but that'll be at a later date.

Morel's from crutchfield: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_210MATSPK/Morel-Acudamp-MAT-SPK6.html

So in conclusion, any type of "foam" used on the door panel will bring out the most difference in MIDBASS performance and rattles while the the rubbery butyl stuff is mostly for road noise.

With just the sound deadening and kenwoods included foam:
(put way more deadening material on the inside of the door vs the outside since that's where most of the road noise will be coming from.




With the morel fast ring:
(also has the stinger fastrings inside the door as well as the little foam pads on the panel but forgot to take pictures )

 

Nice great right up and pics! Also thanks for linking that Facebook post from the AudioFrog owner, he writes in a very lamens friendly manner which I appreciate. Looks like you did a bang-up job installing your speakers! I'm planning on doing closed cell foam around my drivers like you did. I've also heard of people making "block off plates" out of abs or buying them. I can get a 24 x 36 sheet of HDPE that's roughly 1/4" thick but I'm not sure if that would be thick enough for a block off plate, will need to do a little research on that subject as well. Ultimately I know that any amount of door prep will cause drastic improvement in sound quality and response. I will probably end up buying a full box of Resonix and treating the doors and possibly the rear cab wall, which brings me to my next question that I haven't found much success in looking for. I know most people end up doing aftermarket gear under the driver and passenger seats, and that the rear seats don't fold down. I've seen people do amps under the rear seats by cutting into the foam which I don't want to do. I'm wondering if anyone has done an amp rack behind the rear seat? Eventually I will probably make a shallow sub box, but I'm wondering if I could put some rivnuts into the rear panel, and mount my amp rack above the shallow sub box? Any thoughts or links to others who've done similar are greatly appreciated!

 

Here's another post of someone who did an amp rack on the back wall like you'd like to do but in a double cab:
https://www.tundras.com/threads/matts-2-445-mile-2008-tundra-dc-build.120735/#post-3302876

(pic of his setup) The post that includes his audio upgrades was posted May 19, 2023.

The bright red amplifier has a height of 2.24" based off of the link he provided just an fyi.

Keep in mind this is a double cab, but the only main difference about the two is that he might have more thickness higher up than you do but behind the rear seat in the double cab is just as tight. If you remove the the 1/2" foam that they put on the back wall from the factory it'll give you even more clearance.

When I looked at fox acoustics sub box for a 14+ crewcab it says the max depth for a sub is 3.75".

We also have to take into account the thickness of the material and that the box itself is sloped to maximize volume since there is more room the closer you get to the floor.

If you run out of room since your gonna have multiple amplifiers I'd recommend mounting the DSP if you get it under the passenger seat where the factory amplifier is so all you'd have to do is run the rcas from the dsp to the back.

Things are gonna be super tight but I'm sure you could make it work! And I'll keep an eye out for anyone else who might have also put their amplifiers behind the rear seat, but it seems that most went with the under the seat route like you mentioned.

 

So I got a little bored and decided to draw out an amp board for you. I did the best I could when drawing out the size of everything by looking up their dimensions and using the ruler in google draw. Only problem you will run into is trying to fit 4 crossovers on the amp board no matter how big you make it. Good news is, if you decide on moving the dsp to under the passenger seat, whether it be the Dayton Audio one or if you upgrade to an audiocontrol one, it MIGHT give you enough space to fit all of your crossovers...

I took the liberty of drawing in the audio control one since it's bigger that way I knew you could add it later if you decided on upgrading.

Those focal crossovers are pretty beefy so it's gonna be hard to fit 4 of them, as well as a dsp and two amplifiers.

I understand you want to do a component set in both the front AND the rear, but I feel it's best to go with coaxial speakers. Having a tweeter high up in the door as I'm sure you've read online messes with imaging and tbh you don't really gain much even when sitting in the back seats. Not only are coaxials gonna save you space on your amp board because there is no crossover to worry about, but they also save you time and money on installation for little to no loss in sound quality. Coaxials would be plenty for whomever is sitting in the back, but it's your truck so it's up to you.

I do remember you saying you were trying to decide on whether or not to have two different subs and that you were instead just going to run off of the 5 channel which could solve your problems because there is plenty of space above the 5 channel for more crossovers!

Some more good news is that the 5 channel JL amp is also pretty big so it shouldn't be hard to find a replacement if you want upgrade to something else.

 

You are the man! Like seriously you are the f***king man! The thing that got me thinking about behind the seat was 1) security against theft as I park outside, albeit in a very safe neighborhood but you never know and 2) I often have a tall disabled adult in the back seat and I don't want him accidentally kicking gear under the seats. Using photoshop I guesstimated the height of the the JL Audio Crew Max stealth box to be ~16 inches, and I was wondering if I'd be able to squeeze everything on a long but narrow amp board behind the seats. Eventually I will likely either buy or build a shallow mount sub box to go behind the seats, housing either a single or pair of 10Tw3's. Like you mentioned, the only possible issue I foresee is how much height/depth there is available near the top of the seats/up to the edge of the window frame. My RD 900.5 is 2-3/16" tall, so similar to that D4S JP95, but like you said that's in a double cab not crew cab so the depth might be more constrained there. My other thought would be to do an amp rack behind the rear passenger seat that spans floor to bottom of window frame. In any case, from my understanding, underneath the MLV sheet on the rear cab wall, is a removable metal panel that I could run rivnuts/nutserts into, so long as there's plenty of clearance on the back side for the window to go up and down.

To your point about the co-axials vs components, I agree that co-axials will likely be a better option, and in re-watching the 5 Star Car Stereo video about installing a 3-way set of Focal Flax's in a Tundra, I caught a clip that I missed the other times I watched it, with Dean saying that they also recommend co-axials in the rear as the tweeter location in the rear doors is up too high near the driver and passenger seats and messes with the sound stage too much.

As for the KX2E's, you are correct in that the crossovers are MASSIVE. They're also not fully encased, and with the sides being open that also made me lean more towards behind the rear seat, or, heating and bending the HDPE I'll be using for my amp rack, to create a shield against feet in the back seats, if I decide to go that route. Another thing with the KX2E's, and the main reason I bought them, was for the FRAK tweeters, which are way bigger than any previous tweeters I've had. They're too wide for the JBL sail panels I bought, but since the stock sail panels are flat, I will likely still use them and just dremel the holes wider, which unfortunately means I'll lose at least one, if not two, of the three screw holes for the factory tweeter brackets. I'll upload some pics tonight to give a visualization of the issue. The tweeters do come with their own pods that I could surface mount on the non-jbl sail panels, but they'd look tacky. I've never tried my hand at fiberglass, but it might be time to take a stab at it and bondo/fiberglass/paint some custom tweeter pods/panels because like you mentioned in a previous post, I want to avoid mounting the tweeters in the dash location as I'm not a fan of the current bouncing off the windshield sound stage. I think mids would be fine there but tweeters end up with the sound stage sounding so up high and in front of you. Thanks again dude your input is invaluable!

 

No problem at all!

One of the only decent looking sub boxes I found with the dimensions listed on the companies website was the Rhino Box made for 14+ crewmaxes. Here's the website:
https://www.rhinobassbox.com/produc...ndra-crew-max-subwoofer-box-sub-box-2x10-poly

Here's a video of 5 star car stereo installing one in a tundra like yours:
Time Stamp: 3:47
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNsFgvLYRCo&list=LL&index=53

You don't HAVE to go with this box as there are other brands like fox acoustics (link bellow) or Ta co Tu nes (ew) this is just one that I could find a video on that also advertises dimensions to kind of get a perspective on what it looks like based off of the size of the truck. (I find it really stupid that literally every single company that sells boxes doesn't advertise the dimensions of their box! You would think that'd be a main selling point to a customer since they want to know how big the damn thing is!)
The box is 51" wide, 7" deep at the base and 2" deep at the top. Doesn't say how tall but I'm gonna assume it's anywhere from 18" - 22" based off of the video.
These dimensions may kind of give you an idea on how much room you really have to work with back there (pretty much none if you still want to do your amp mount back there since the box literally takes up the entire space)

Fox acoustics box:https://www.foxacoustics.com/collec...2014-20-toyota-tundra-crew-max-dual-10-vented

If you change your mind and instead mount the amps under the seats, another thing to keep in mind with these boxes is that based off of the sub you have interest in, if you were to want to do dual subs then both the fox acoustics and rhino box are slightly larger than what JL recommends (which isn't necessarily a bad thing just depends on how you tune everything)
Another thing to keep in mind is the Rhino box has both of the subs sealed off from each other without a port (.89 cubic feet per sealed side)($299), while the fox acoustics one has them in one giant shared volume with a port (1.75 cubic feet ported)($250)
P.S. The Rhino Box advertises the same box but with 8", 10" or 12" holes. Might be able to custom order the Fox acoustics one with larger holes, but you'll just have to ask

If you wanted to go the harder but maybe more satisfying route you could dig through the internet and hopefully find an angles box that's tiny enough to leave you some space for your amps while also being big enough for a single JL 10Tw3. This MIGHT give you enough room for the box and a small amp rack in the back. Or you could make your own...

I'm sure you could get away with it and have a great sounding system, but if you want ease of installation and also maybe save some money I'd personally get either the Rhino box or Fox Acoustics and instead of the JL subs do some Rockford P3 shallow mount subs. You could buy two Rockford subs for the price of one 10Tw3 and they match both of the boxes almost perfectly. Yet another thing to think about


Getting back to mounting the amps on the back wall, I just remembered that there is the removeable panel on the back to access the window motor for the back sliding glass. This could be a plus since you wouldn't have to worry about drilling holes to outside the cabin of the truck, but you also will have to be extra cautious in making it sturdy enough on the back wall so it won't rattle.

Here's two pictures to compare the back wall on the double cab and crewmax just as an easy reference.




Also found this very useful pic of an amp rack for a DC with the dimensions already on it (sorry it doesn't help you but may help someone in the future reading this)
Link to different forum this was posted on: https://www.tundratalk.net/threads/tundra-dc-amp-rack-behind-seat.98734/





The crewmax is better in my opinion in terms of space because you have have the removable panel and you don't have to worry about the seat mounts.

Guess now it's just up to you and what you want to do!

Obviously I'd recommend the big premade box for dual subs cause who doesn't like bass but I understand the worry with mounting the equipment under the seats. Making a kick panel on the mount is a great idea, and also keep in mind you have a CREWMAX! I'm 6'1" and could practically sprawl my entire body out in the back seat and barely get my feet to touch under the front seats! If you make the kick panel big and sturdy enough on the under seat amp mount, I doubt you'd have any problems. But this is a lot of money we are talking about so I'll make the decision up to you

 

More great pic finds! If or when I do a sub box behind the rear seats, I will most likely end up building it myself, just because I have all the tools and enjoy the process, but these boxes are a fantastic starting point. I built an in-center-console box for the 6w3 I have, that dropped into the center console of my F-150. I'll probably do the same with the Tundra just for s***s and giggles. Ended up doing it down-firing standing on legs as there was an inset ridge in the center console I had to go up and over and also hug the contour of.



That Westminster Speed and Sound shop has a ton of Tundra builds and the exact pics I've been looking for to get a sense of scale behind the rear seats. I'm also noticing in a couple of their builds that they do amps under the rear seats on top of the foam, rather than cutting it out and making them recessed. I didn't think that was an option but I might have to dismount my RD900/5 tonight from my previous amp rack and slide it under there and see what the clearance looks like. It looks like on multiple of the WSS builds they put amps under the rear seats.

In the red truck you linked, it looks like they put a JL HD 750/1 and a HD 600/4 under the rear seats. The 750/1 has dimensions of 10-13/16" W x 1-15/16" H x 8-3/16" D

In another build I see they installed a Hertz HDP5 under the rear seats, which has dimensions of 13-1/2" W x 2" H x 7-1/2" D

My RD 900/5 has dimensions of 14-11/16" W x 2-3/16" H x 7" D

I'm thinking the amps and everything might actually fit under the rear seats which would negate the security of them being behind the rear seats, but would make everything way easier to access for tuning and swapping/adding gear in the future, and would also free up the entire behind rear seat space for a box.

Going off of the WSS pics, it looks like the JL Stealthbox with two 10TW3's goes up to the bottom edge of the of the 3rd-from-bottom valley in the rear window access panel. Using the 750/1 for scale, which has a depth of 8-13/16", it looks like the JL Stealthbox must have an overall height of roughly 13-14", and again using rough guesses, it looks like to the top of the access panel would be another maybe 10" or so, but it's hard to say how much of that space is usable as you approach the top where the seat gap gets smaller and smaller. It looks like there'd be maybe 6-8" of space above the stealth box that would have a depth of 2-3". All that being said, it might be possible to do a stealth-box esque box behind the rear seats with a cab width amp rack above it. Obviously if I chose to do a single shallow sub, I'd have amp space to do an amp rack that includes more vertical space and could be more of an L shape rather than just a rectangle. In any case, I'd definitely have to sound dampen the rear panel to de-couple it from the amp rack. Pics below for my poor guesstimations not factoring in perspective:




More pics grabbed from WSS of the under rear seat amps they've done:





Great find @Black Beauty 5.7 , and I'm not sure if WSS is on this or other forums, but if you're reading this, huge shoutout to them as well for top notch work and documentation, and all credit to them for the pics above. They have 4 pages of Tundra builds, and at least a handful of Crewmax audio upgrade builds that each have a handful of pics to give a sense of scale/space both behind the rear seats and under them.


As for the sail panels and the FRAK tweeters, Crutchfield lists their frame width as 2.3", with a cutout of 2". When I was holding them up to the JBL sail panels, and then via measuring, the FRAK tweeter edge to edge is nearly identical to the width of the of the JBL sail panel opening, again crappy pic for idea:



If I use the JBL sails, I'll end up having to cut out the JBL grills and dremel the hole maybe slightly wider, but I should still end up with some lip around the hole for the tweeter surround to sit on top of. As for the back side, it has 3 factory screw holes. My hope is that I'd be able to save at least 2 of the holes to use after making a custom bracket or backstrap to secure the tweeters.



Luckily the sail panels are relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things and easy to order if I botch one or both of them.

 

Over my lunch break today I was able to sneak out and take a look more closely at the under seat space. I cut a piece of card stock to 2-3/16", the height of my RD900/5, and stuck it under the seat. It fits extremely snugly, but, in folding up the rear seats and feeling around I realized two things.

1) The depth varies all over under the individual seat spots themselves, and across the seats as a whole, which didn't really come as a surprise.
2) I realized that barring any bars, no pun intended, or frame of the seat, there is actually a decent amount of space where the height under the seat could be improved.

Unvelcroing and unzipping the bottom of the seat covers reveals the frame of the seat. The rear passenger and driver seats look about the same, and the middle seat has a little more space overall, primarily from front to back. I think if I were to attach some velcro to the underside of the seat itself, and the seat cover, I'd be able to pull the slack out of the slightly droopy under seat cover. The rear driver and passenger seats have the more clearance towards the front, whereas the middle seat has pretty consistent clearance from front to back. As it stands I'd wager the average clearance is around 2", and by taking the slack out of the seat cover I'd end up with 3-3.5" of clearance. Before I decide on an amp rack location, either under the front seats, under the rear seats, or behind the rear seats, I'm going to try the velcro trick and then sit on the seat to make sure that when passengers are riding in back things aren't getting smooshed. I'll definitely take this as a pretty good lead on an amp rack location. From the Westminster Speed and Sound builds I don't see any mention of doing something similar but I do see numerous builds in which they install amps under the rear seats which is promising. Pics below of the seat undersides for reference.

 

An idea for mounting the amps under the rear seat would be to add spacers under the rear seat mount brackets. If you spaced it up an inch or more you'd definitely have room to work with. I've seen a few people add spacers to fit subs under them in double cabs and it also looks like WSS added some to their build as well.

Here's a forum that talks all about adding spacers to the seats:
https://www.tundras.com/threads/raised-rear-seat-up.58376/

In that post he used metal spacers but I'm sure you could get away with abs plastic if you have some left over from your amp board.

Also found these little circle spacers that someone sells if you just want to buy and forget (kind of expensive for what you get but it's an option)
https://desertdoesit.com/products/rear-seat-jackers-toyota-tundra


Moving on to the tweeters in the sail panels, have you tried to take apart the tweeter itself and see if it'll fit behind the panel? You can take off that trim ring and decrease the size of the tweeter but I'm not sure if it'll be enough.

If not, you could get away with a metal back strap using the 2 holes that you said you should be able to keep after you Dremel out the hole bigger. 2 holes is plenty good cause I'm sure your gonna make the hole barely large enough that way it slides in nice and tight.

Side note, just got my audiofrog GB10s in today and couldn't be more excited because man oh man do they feel like quality

Also just received the bigger sub amp I ordered and got it installed and when I say these dual type S alpines give you a back massage it'd be an understatement

Incase your curious, ordered the audiocontrol lc-1.800 and paired it to dual Alpine S2W10D2 subs which are recommended 600 watts each about 3 weeks ago. Was pushing my 800 watt amp to it's limits so decided to return the 800 and spend an extra $250 to upgrade to double the power! The lc-1.1500 barely fits on the amp mount I made for the passenger side front seat (about 1/4" of space on either side of the amp) but there is still enough room to add an epicenter which I plan on adding down the road. Subs are now getting 750 watts each and the amount of plastic rattles I'm hearing now at full tilt is insane but nothing a little speaker gasket foam can't fix lol (my rear view mirror is practically unusable XD)

Now I'm running into the need an aftermarket alternator territory because I'm pushing 265,000 miles on my oem one and I can visibly see the voltage drop when the bass drops on certain songs when going full tilt. But that's a topic for another day...

Here's some pics:

Smaller 800 watt amp with epicenter prewired and ready to go



It's badass replacement
FYI the new amp is 12" wide and 8" long






Currently have the DSP amp feeding the sub amp with the front and rear channels summed so the fader still works as normal (it's sitting under the drivers seat). When the time comes to add the epicenter, gonna have the sub channel from the kenwood HU going to the epicenter, then feed the DSP amp with the fixed signal, time align and eq. then go back to the lc1500. Gonna be super sweet when it's all finished.

I believe you could fit your 5 channel under your front seat (even though you don't want to) because I managed to get my buddies skar audio 4 channel which is longer than yours when I put his in a couple weeks ago.
The dimensions of his are 14.87" long, 6.2" wide, 2.25" high.

Now this amplifier was an EXTREMELY tight fit because of the way the seat rails work.

Since his seats are mechanical, when you pull the lever under the seat these two latches open inward toward the middle of the seat and stick down just a little bit more than the rails themselves.

Not sure if you've got the luxury of power seats on both front seats but they might have more room than mechanical ones.

I know you don't want to go under the front seats but I just want you to know that if you run out of options you could make it work (I believe in you lol)

Here's a pic of that amp board
I was gonna take a picture of what it looked like under the seat with the seat down but it's so tight under there I don't think it'd come out very good so I didn't.
Seat clears with maybe an 1/8" on either side but it does indeed work!



Not my proudest work, but he had to have it done within a day since he daily drives it so I had to kind of rush it.

He's super happy with it, so if he's happy I'm happy

 

Nice work brotha! I wouldn't call any of that a rush job at all, it all looks super nice and tidy. I know pro-installers are on another level of wire routing/terminations etc., but there are a lot of "pro" jobs I've seen that don't look nearly as good as your work, give yourself a pat on the back, and your friend should be thankful to have someone as skilled as you! I believe you when you say the alpine subs are bangin, my first pair of subs ever was a pair of Alpine Type R 12's, and then later added a JL 12w3 that was on a "nuke" switch, flip the cover and the switch and the third sub/amp would turn on. Could hear 17 year old me coming from a few blocks away lol. It was definitely obnoxious but what 17 year old isn't obnoxious from time to time.

Those audiofrog's look mighty fine, like we discussed earlier I've had my eyes on a pair of GS-25's for when I add midranges as they're a perfect fit drop in to the dash corners.

That audiocontrol amp also looks mighty fine, and although I've only had experience with an LC7i from them, they're definitely a new front runner in the amp/dsp realm and they put out fantastic products with loads of support and knowledge.


I had a pair of Desert Does it seat jackers in my last truck, a Tacoma, but I ended up taking them out due to my own paranoia around the safety of them in a crash. I know they'd 99% probably be fine, but I'm always hesitant to mess with safety stuff. Their labeling is kind of misleading in that the "rear" seat jackers are actually still for the front seats, just the rear bolts. I'm sure they would work for the actual rear seats though so long as the bolt diameters are the same.

As for the FRAK tweeters, I can't find any documentation that the trim is a separate piece and I think they they might be a little unique in that it's not a trim ring but rather just the frame of the tweeter itself. Unfortunately Focal's instruction manuals leave a lot to be desired, presumably because people buying speakers that expensive know what the he** they're doing lol.

This pic is from the spec sheet:



I thought they would for sure come apart and in the manual it looks like they do, unless this is supposed to be one of the other KM drivers as they're not labeled super clearly, but I believe the tweeter would be the only driver with a fastening ring for the back side. I'll have to take them out again tonight and look at them again, I was just hesitant to wrench on them too much since they're so $$$.




Are the amp boards you have pictured metal or plastic? If I do end up going under the seats, I'm thinking I'd be able to use a heat gun on HDPE and cut my amp rack long, with an upward bend to create a kick panel. Either that or some corner brackets would do the trick.

I'm sure you've already thought about it, but in addition to a new HO alternator, the big 3 upgrade is relatively cheap and easy to do in most vehicles and would probably help with the relatively large draw you've got.

 

The tweeter should just pop right out based off of this youtube video I found. Looks like they are just held together by friction.

Time stamp: 32:33
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hwx12WGS1g&list=PLA1LIIrpw0qv32OAlPSrtL3vffqbw2uC5&index=3


I just ordered a 0 gauge wire crimper off Amazon so I'm gonna try to run all new chassis grounds from the battery and a fresh power wire going from the alternator this weekend. Still trying to decide on what alternator to go with because they all seem to be built with the same materials just not sure if there is a "go to" alternator brand for these tundra's. Also looks like most people that are selling them advertise that they are 2-4 week lead times which kind of sucks so I'm definitely gonna have to make a decision quick because as it sits now the voltage fluctuates 2-3 volts if I have the subs running hard. Hopefully upgrading the power wire will buy me some more time...

 

I’m sure you’ve already seen this thread, but here’s an HO discussion, one user said they put a 300 amp LActrical in with good results.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/upgraded-alternator.119655/

Amazon link here:

$260 LActrical High Output 300 Amp Alternator For Toyota Tundra Pickup Truck 5.7L 4.6L 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2007-2019

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z5FS6WV?ie=UTF8

The tweeters in that video are for the “old” K2X sets, whereas the new K2XE’s come with the frak tweeter. I know the grill is removable but the trim/surround is part of the frame and I don’t think they come apart, even though the leads look like they’re pressed in:

 

Hmm unfortunately I think your right because the frak tweeters in the video have wire leads coming off of them that aren't removable where as yours have the terminal leads without the wires.

Pretty strange how they'd use pretty much the same mount for every tweeter up until now.

Always the French trying to keep everyone on their toes...

 

Oh also, I just got delivery of the 0 gauge wire I’ll be running. I found a guy that reviewed a bunch of wire on youtube and created a spreadsheet, I ended up ordering the “top” option as it was the cheapest and highest amount of copper, 0 gauge welding wire from Temco industrial, made in the U.S., plenty flexible, only downside is it’s not tinned like Knu Conceptz but I put marine heat shrink on all my connectors and tin them myself. It’s cheaper the more you buy and free shipping.

Link to Temco if you or anyone needs wire:

https://temcoindustrial.com/temco-wc0015-welding-cable-1-0-awg-20-ft-black/

and link to the 0 gauge cheat sheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1zJyEtBGppmM8aWOZIJ6PxwfcHQG4HWhnU451OUvl-hU/htmlview

 

Indeed lol. The sole reason I went with these was for the FRAK tweeters as they’re supposedly built more like a traditional speaker rather than a tweeter, they look like little 1” speakers with full surrounds etc. The “old” K2’s (made from I believe like 2016 or 17 until today so not old by any means) with the kevlar tweeters are on sale at Crutchfield and other places right now. Besides the K2XE and KX3E sets, all of the “new” K2’s are identical to the previous generation specs wise, just with a cosmetic facelift.

 

I've been searching all over the place and I can't find an answer. I'm curious if anyone knows what size tweeters will fit in the rear doors? I'm keenly aware of all the arguments over no rear fill, coaxials vs components etc. A local shop is clearing out their last gen Focals and I'm wondering if the ES 165 KX2 tweeters would fit. I know the rear door tweeter mount is kind of like a tube and probably need a smaller tweeter. Also, I'm curious if anyone has thoughts on components vs coaxials, specifically in Tundra crewmax rear doors, as the tweeter is up pretty high in the door/closer to the driver/passenger's ears than the front tweeters. Money no object I'd always opt for components, but in this situation with the rear tweeter being up so high and forward, I'm wondering if coaxials might be the better choice over components so you don't end up with a tweeter right behind your head. Any input is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

 

I could be wrong but I'm 90% sure it's the same size as the front sail panel tweeters. If the last gen Focal tweeters break down like we discussed before I think they might be able to fit. If they don't fit in the little tweeter mount that's in the door already then you could always just make your own little strap out of metal or plastic.

 

I suppose that makes sense as far as size goes, sometimes I get so into looking for definitive answers I forget to think about the obvious answer that they’d use the same size tweeter in front/back. I just found a video from Provo Beast where he put in the Taco Tunes Image Dynamics components and those are a direct fit at 1-7/8” mounting diameter. I’ll have to look over the drawings again of the various Focal offerings to see if they’d come apart and fit. I could’ve sworn I watched a 5 Star Car Stereo where Dean said not to do components in the rear doors due to factory tweeter location but I can’t find the video for the life of me.

 

I'm just gonna save you the trouble and tell you straight up that he 100% believes in coaxials in the rear of the tundra.

If you have the time, he is Live on his YouTube channel right now answering questions. Hop in and ask away!