What have you done to your ride lately?

[Silverback]

Nice looking rack! Words that have got me slapped more than once.

 

[achirdo]

Drilled some holes in the roof. Fuck the roof is thick in the drip rails. Probably 1/2" or more.

I will get some better pics this week but it's up and mounted. Very secure and really pleased with how it turned out.
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What kind of shavings were coming out? Aluminum the whole way?

 

[Silverback]

I doubt its aluminum, its a Toyota and not a Ferd.

 

[tex]

They were metal. I kept stopping to let the bits cool and used a magnet to pick up the shavings.

 

[fsbrain03]

I feel like this thread is missing some very important things...

@tex @fsbrain03

Well, picked up a new rig over the weekend! I’ll start a build thread for it, with some items that are planned.

Drove it home from Houston, and it did great! I couldn’t be happier.

 

[TacoXpo]

I doubt its aluminum, its a Toyota and not a Ferd.

Kryptonite.

 

[Taco Loco]

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Well, picked up a new rig over the weekend! I’ll start a build thread for it, with some items that are planned.

Drove it home from Houston, and it did great! I couldn’t be happier.

Very nice!

 

[CowboyTaco]

I have a core now for anyone looking into locking their front end. The Tacoma’s days are limited starting tomorrow.

Just out of curiosity, how much?

 

[CowboyTaco]

"Upgraded" the factory speakers in the front and installed some old dynamat alternative stuff.

Even though the magnet on the Kenwood is significantly bigger than the factory and the woofer is polypropelene (or however you spell it), I can't really tell much of a difference in sound quality. The mids are better, but I am completely underwhelmed by the Kenwoods. I know they aren't top of the line, but figured anything would be better than stock....I was wrong. Probably going to be pulling the new ones out and returning.

On that note, I'm open for suggestions. I don't have to "feel" the bass, but I'd at least like to be able to hear it.

 

[balakay]

"Upgraded" the factory speakers in the front and installed some old dynamat alternative stuff.

Even though the magnet on the Kenwood is significantly bigger than the factory and the woofer is polypropelene (or however you spell it), I can't really tell much of a difference in sound quality. The mids are better, but I am completely underwhelmed by the Kenwoods. I know they aren't top of the line, but figured anything would be better than stock....I was wrong. Probably going to be pulling the new ones out and returning.

On that note, I'm open for suggestions. I don't have to "feel" the bass, but I'd at least like to be able to hear it.

@Silverback and @italynstylion are the resident stereo guys

 

[CowboyTaco]

I've never meet him, but I'm pretty sure @italynstylion is on another level... Like Audiophile Expert.

I'm more like an amateur audiophile... On a budget.

 

[italynstylion]

On that note, I'm open for suggestions. I don't have to "feel" the bass, but I'd at least like to be able to hear it.

Can't see the pictures (not sure why). What all have you upgraded over stock? Headunit still OEM? Size of the magnet really doesn't matter till you really start moving some air with big cones. At that point it's all about control.

What about your stock system (with the OEM speakers) did you find lacking? What are you hoping to gain by putting in new speakers?

 

[Taco Loco]

No pictures

 

[tx_shooter]

"Upgraded" the factory speakers in the front and installed some old dynamat alternative stuff.

Even though the magnet on the Kenwood is significantly bigger than the factory and the woofer is polypropelene (or however you spell it), I can't really tell much of a difference in sound quality. The mids are better, but I am completely underwhelmed by the Kenwoods. I know they aren't top of the line, but figured anything would be better than stock....I was wrong. Probably going to be pulling the new ones out and returning.

On that note, I'm open for suggestions. I don't have to "feel" the bass, but I'd at least like to be able to hear it.

Looks like access permission error to the Google hosted pics.

 

[Silverback]

Its been so long since I yanked all the OEM stuff out of the truck I forget what size speakers are in the front doors. 6.5"'s? I built a baffle for my doors (and removed some sheetmetal, and installed Morel 8's in the doors, along with about 4 layers of Dynamat. The 8's only see mid-bass though, a pair of 5.25 and tweets are in kick panels down by your feet. They sound great, but they also are not cheap.. I don't even want to think what I have in it. I can't see your pics so I am not sure what Kenwood speakers you bought.

 

[balakay]

 

[CowboyTaco]

HU is a Kenwood. I think the model is DDX37BT, or at least something like that.

My stock HU volume knob stopped working "correctly" and was the main reason for the upgrade. That, and I had a best buy gift card.

I figured a head unit would push more power to the stock speakers and I would just rock those until I decided it was time for an upgrade. The noticeable bass declined significantly with the new head unit. Sound quality actually got worse with the upgrade. A colleague suggested that maybe the HU was pushing more power than the speakers could handle and that's why the bass was non existent. So, over a year with the new HU and increasing dissatisfaction with the sound quality, I decided to swap the speakers and install some Shok Industries sound deadener at the same time. I only installed that on the inside cavity of the door. I will likely put more on the door panel between the metal and plastic.

I used to be able to feel the bass. Now, don't get me wrong, bass is not what in mainly after. I know it's what I've mentioned the most, but not my end game. It is, however, the area that is lacking the most. I don't want mirror shaking bass, but I do want to know that it is there.

The only noticeable difference in sound with the Kenwood 6x9s are the mids. An acoustic guitar sounds much better than before. Bass is still nonexistent, which I'm starting to think is the head unit even though I have played with the different EQ settings. Vocals are not better... The same at best.

 

[Silverback]

Does the HU have a built in crossover? It maybe just limiting the bass freq's going to those 6x9's.

 

[italynstylion]

Yeah it sounds like a tuning adjustment is really all you need. Many headunits have a "loudness" button that's intended to help weak stock speakers sound better. It's shunned when using high end speakers that don't need it but for stock stuff it can actually improve things quite a bit.

Below is the feature set from your unit. If I had to guess, the speaker size is set to "small" or the crossover isn't set low enough and thus the unit simply isn't sending the speakers bass to play.

Are you near Dallas? I'd happily take a look at it and spend some time with the measurement mic to see if we can get it sounding right.

DSP: In order to optimize the sound quality, you can use the unit's DSP to set the type of vehicle, speaker sizes & locations, listening distances, and x-over points. You can also choose to bypass the head unit's DSP feature.

• Car Type: Select your car type to automatically set the delay time of each speaker for timing adjustment of sound output of each channel to have the highest surround effect. Choose from Compact, Full Size Car, Wagon, Mini Van, SUV, or Off
• Listening Position + Digital Time Alignment: For a better sound-stage you can select your optimal listening position. You can choose from All, Front Left, Front Right or Front. You can also select to manually fine tune the sound stage, using Digital Time Alignment (DTA) by selecting the distance (0-20') for each individual speaker in the vehicle compared to your listening position.
• Rear Speaker Location: You can indicate the location of your vehicle's Rear speakers. Choose from Door, Rear Deck, 2nd Row, or 3rd Row.
• Speaker Size: You are able to select which size speakers are in your vehicle.
  • Tweeter: Small, Medium, Large, or None
  • Front & Rear: 3.5", 4", 4.75", 5", 6.5", 6.75", 7", 4x6", 5x7", 6x8", 6x9", 7x10" or None
  • Subwoofer: 6.5", 8", 10", 12", 15" or greater, None
• High Pass & Low Pass Crossovers: Allows you to set high-pass and low-pass crossovers for a standard Tweeter, Front, Rear, and Subwoofer speaker setup.
  • Tweeter: set high pass filter (HPF) for your tweeters
    • Frequency: 1kHz, 1.6kHz, 2.5kHz, 4kHz, 5kHz, 6.3kHz, 8kHz, 10kHz, 12.5kHz
    • Gain: -8 to 0 dB
  • Front & Rear: independently set high pass filter (HPF) for your front & rear speakers
    • Frequency: 30Hz, 40Hz, 50Hz, 60Hz, 70Hz, 80Hz, 90Hz, 100Hz, 120Hz, 150Hz, 180Hz, 220Hz, 250Hz, Through (Full-Range)
    • Slope: -6dB, -12dB, -18dB, -24dB
    • Gain: -8 to 0 dB
  • Sub: set low pass filter (LPF) for unit sub out
    • Frequency: 30Hz, 40Hz, 50Hz, 60Hz, 70Hz, 80Hz, 90Hz, 100Hz, 120Hz, 150Hz, 180Hz, 220Hz, 250Hz, Through (Full-Range)
    • Slope: -6dB, -12dB, -18dB, -24dB
    • Phase: Reverse (180°), Normal (0°)
    • Gain: -8 to 0 dB

 

[tex]

Yeah it sounds like a tuning adjustment is really all you need. Many headunits have a "loudness" button that's intended to help weak stock speakers sound better. It's shunned when using high end speakers that don't need it but for stock stuff it can actually improve things quite a bit.

Below is the feature set from your unit. If I had to guess, the speaker size is set to "small" or the crossover isn't set low enough and thus the unit simply isn't sending the speakers bass to play.

Are you near Dallas? I'd happily take a look at it and spend some time with the measurement mic to see if we can get it sounding right.

You da man!