# Blue Taco!, SQ system re-build



## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Hey everyone, been doing a bunch of work to my system over the last several months and thought I'd share. I'd call this a budget build, especially compared to some of the setups on here, though I have splurged in certain areas that I thought would have the most meaningful impact. This is my daily driver and I listen to most all types of music depending on my mood. I installed my previous setup back in 2014 which was a simple 2-way active system with all xovers and EQ done by my HU and I have not made any changes since that time. I recently got a new job and with that came some extra disposable income and what better way to spend some cash then on a SQ system! Here's the truck, a 2005 Tacoma in Speedway Blue!










Source material is currently from my Headunit from either CD, USB, or Bluetooth streaming. As part of this upgrade I'll be installing a Douk USB to Toslink adapter and using my phone (via USB OTG) as my media player. This will allow me to stream Tidal digitally directly to my MiniDSP 8x12DL. I don't plan to go into too much detail on specifics so if you've got questions just let me know. Thanks for checking out my build!

Current Planned system, 3-way active front stage:
HU - Clarion CZ702
Tweeters - Kravchenko Audio KAXBL-TWT (purchased here back in 14') Love these tweeters!
Midrange - Stereo Integrity M3 carbon
Midbass - Silver Flute 6.5's (been running these since 14' and been very pleased with them especially given the price tag. They should work great in a 3-way)
Sub - JL 12TW3-D4 sealed
Amp 1 - Sony XM-GS4 (will be powering the tweets and mids) Have not used this amp before but based on all the reviews it should be a very solid performer
Amp 2 - Alpine PDX-V9 (will be powering the 6.5's and JL sub) The extra 2 channels will allow me to add some rear fill in the future if I want.
DSP - MiniDSP 8x12 DL

The only items from my original setup that I'm keeping are the HU, tweets, midbass, all the wiring and sound deadening. I had previously deadened all the doors and back of the cab with CLD and ensolite. As part of this upgrade I pulled out the whole interior and did CLD, CCF, and MLV on the floors and CLD/melamine foam on the roof. I have not done MLV on the doors yet because I'm struggling to figure out how to properly hang it, plus there is not a lot of room left between the door and the interior panel. I may leave it off for now. I know the MLV is not very effective if you don't have 100% coverage, so I'm open to help suggestions on that front.


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Planning on setting up the xover's as follows and will be using Dirac for the final tune. Going for a single seat tune with this setup. Obviously subject to change once I get some measurements. All measurements will be done with UMIK-1 and REW. I'll try to keep this thread going with measurements tuning info.

Tweets - 3k and up
MR - 300 to 3k
MB - 80 to 300
Sub - 80 and down

Sub box and Amp rack were made by Mr. Marv. Really happy with the fit and finish and a great guy to talk to and work with.


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

The part of this system I'm most excited about are the custom designed 3D printed pods that my brother and I came up with. They were printed on an SLA printer using Accura 60 material. The pods feature a wire passthrough from the tweeter pod to the MR pod and a single hole out of the back for both sets of wires. The tweeters are held in by 3 set screws. The pods were printed with pilot holes for all the screw locations so I drilled and taped the set screw locations and used the supplied screws from the M3's to cut threads into the plastic. The finish on the pods is just a satin finish black spray paint and several coats of clear for UV protection. I decided against sanding down the outsides because I ended up liking the way the print lines came out. For those unfamiliar with 3D printing SLA prints still typically have print lines, but they are much more subtle compared to a FDM printer. The other benefit is that they are completely solid (no infill to worry about) and airtight (once you seal the hole for the wires). 


































The pods are currently held in place with 4 points of contact using heavy duty velcro on the windshield, dash, and a-pillar. Not the most elegant solution, but I didn't want to drill any holes in the dash or A-pillar. If I am happy with this driver combo, the long term plan is to build some fiberglass enclosures. Tweeters would go in the sail panel and mids in the A-pillar.










I'm currently working on the layout and wiring of the amp rack. Once that's complete the plan is to paint the rack and sub box, then get those last pieces installed before tuning! Thanks for taking a look at my build and let me know if you've got any questions or comments. Always looking to learn and improve! Thanks.


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## Clvol1255 (Aug 6, 2020)

Nice build! Subd


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## BLD MOVS (Sep 23, 2007)

Looking sharp!!


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Clvol1255 said:


> Nice build! Subd


Thanks Man! Your setup looks amazing, so much Focal!


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## Clvol1255 (Aug 6, 2020)

squiers007 said:


> Thanks Man! Your setup looks amazing, so much Focal!


Thanks man I’m in love with the Utopia M front stage for sure! Still working on low end sub bass


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## DeLander (Feb 23, 2006)

If you need midbass mounts, hit me up 👍


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

DeLander said:


> If you need midbass mounts, hit me up 👍


I am good for now, using some adapters I pickup up from TacoTunes. If I decide to upgrade then I'll hit you up for sure!


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## Clvol1255 (Aug 6, 2020)

Speaking of here is an example of mid bass mounts delander made for my Tacoma


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Clvol1255 said:


> View attachment 298204
> View attachment 298205
> Speaking of here is an example of mid bass mounts delander made for my Tacoma


 Is there any sort of chamfer on the backside? Looks like a pretty deep "tunnel" to be placing the woofer in?


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## Clvol1255 (Aug 6, 2020)

Fast rings. He can make them as I wanted. That’s just what I asked for. That picture actually has the custom mount over the top of the metra bracket I just noticed. That’s why it looks deep. Doors are deadened inside and out with butyl and ccf on outer and butyl ccf and mlv on the inner and I have as much thump or more from my doors than I do from my JL 12tw3 in .85 ft3 birch from Marv. He’s building me another enclosure as we speak for a full sized 10”. JL can’t keep up


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Clvol1255 said:


> Fast rings. He can make them as I wanted. That’s just what I asked for. That picture actually has the custom mount over the top of the metra bracket I just noticed. That’s why it looks deep


You might look into adding a chamfer if you can. Take a look at this link. This guy is very well regarded in the DIY speaker building community. Lots of measurements in the article as well. 

chamfering driver holes.


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## Clvol1255 (Aug 6, 2020)

I’m very happy with my mid bass. Tuning response on mid bass was extremely easy. Focal gets a lot of praise about their tweeters and upper mid range and rightly so but these Utopia’s mid bass are arguably the stars of the show. I’ve never heard such accurate and musical mid bass drivers


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Clvol1255 said:


> I’m very happy with my mid bass. Tuning response on mid bass was extremely easy


Awesome, just thought I'd throw it out there in case it was an easy way make an improvement.


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## Clvol1255 (Aug 6, 2020)

Chamfer I see! I thought you typo’d chamber. I’ve just used fast rings and butyl tape to separate front back waves but would’ve been simple for me to have these chamfered if I’d thought of it. May look into that after I read


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Clvol1255 said:


> Chamfer I see! I thought you typo’d chamber. I’ve just used fast rings and butyl tape to separate front back waves but would’ve been simple for me to have these chamfered if I’d thought of it. May look into that after I read


Haha, your response makes a lot more sense now. Pretty easy to add a chamfer to the backside after the fact if you decide to.


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## DeLander (Feb 23, 2006)

Or a large round over. I think I put a pretty healthy round over on them myself. You could always make it larger.


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## Clvol1255 (Aug 6, 2020)

Yeah I pulled them out and looked bc I didn’t even consider looking at that and yes it has about a .33” round over on the backside. I think they sound phenomenal with these mounts. Sounded great with metra brackets but even better now that they’re closer to door grilles and more solidly mounted


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

DeLander said:


> Or a large round over. I think I put a pretty healthy round over on them myself. You could always make it larger.


If going to the effort to do the work I'd just go chamfer. A round over would look nicer (no one will see it), but ultimately does not remove significant material close to the edge as a 45deg chamfer will.


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## Petererc (Dec 28, 2016)

Dammit man, now there’s something else to do chamfer lol
Looking good,
Going from two way to 3 with DL. Uh huh. Still blows my mind. Definitely try rear fill when ya can, some say no but I like it. I used some inexpensive peerless drivers in homemade pvc pods. Stuck them in the corners of the back window next to the head rests. You could make some 3d pods and make it look nice. 
I liked the Sony gs-4 so much In am running three of them. I had some old sony xm, 3060, 10020, 4020, 5046, 2150gsx... and the gs4 is staying. Being a budget guy this is the first time running all new amps. Even took out the SS 60II that I thought would be part of the truck. 
Had the Silver Flutes too, they got beat out by Volvo dyn’s. 
In your opinion, was the MLV on the floor a noticeable improvement worth the time and expense? That plastic egg crate crap above the headliner was broken and would rattle like a mofo, so slapped on some cld while in there. First day driving in the rain in months and noticed a difference right away. Now the windshield need CLD


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Petererc said:


> Dammit man, now there’s something else to do chamfer lol
> Looking good,
> Going from two way to 3 with DL. Uh huh. Still blows my mind. Definitely try rear fill when ya can, some say no but I like it. I used some inexpensive peerless drivers in homemade pvc pods. Stuck them in the corners of the back window next to the head rests. You could make some 3d pods and make it look nice.
> I liked the Sony gs-4 so much In am running three of them. I had some old sony xm, 3060, 10020, 4020, 5046, 2150gsx... and the gs4 is staying. Being a budget guy this is the first time running all new amps. Even took out the SS 60II that I thought would be part of the truck.
> ...


I do think I'll give rear fill a try since I've already got the processing and amp channels I'd need. Just need to figure out speakers and placement. I've got some cheap Polk coaxials in the rear doors that are not hooked up I could use, but didn't know if having them down low in the door would be more trouble than it's worth. I could do more pods in the rear corners like you suggested, but not sure how that would look. Might do the pods as a temporary solution to see if I like the rear fill, then do fiberglass on the rear quarter trim panel for a more OEM look. Lots of options there. What freq. range are you using on the rear? I've got some Dayton RS100's laying around I could use, but they don't play very low (maybe 300hz?). 

What made you go with the Dyn's over the Flutes? I've seen those mentioned a bunch before but haven't looked into them much. 

I do think the MLV made a difference, but not a huge one. If I can figure out how to do the doors the overall effect will be good, but just the floors only made about a 1db diff. I did some crude measurements before and after and there was only the slight decrease. The majority of my noise (other than my tires and exhaust) seems to be coming from the firewall, and if you've been up under that dash there is not exactly a lot of room to put anything unless you were to pull out the whole dash and I don't think it would be worth the effort. My truck is not exactly quiet so any improvements have been welcome, I've kept my expectations low given my oversize tires and aftermarket exhaust. 

That plastic egg crate stuff was a PITA. I should have just removed it, but instead I put CCF on spots that were rattling, took way longer than necessary. After doing the CLD and melamine the roof is way quieter and you can hardly hear it when it rains. Like you said the windshield seems way louder now that the roof is quite though!


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## Petererc (Dec 28, 2016)

At first i used the dyn MD140/2, because I had them and also wanted to see if rear fill was for me. They were crossed 600-5khz. I believe the peerless are crossed 300-5khz and to me they sound better than the md140. I dont know about the rear door locations, did not try them. Consensus from searching was as far back as ya can get and high up. I have some 2” Aurasound Whipers that I want to try, not sure if will be better or worse. . If i can get the sealed volume they can play from 300-15khz or maybe just let roll off. 

I went nuts with the Volvo Dyns, first the mw162gt md100 two way. The found the 8.75” front door from Volvo. Had to see and they fit in the Taco doors. Picked up a used 6to8v8 and went three way the dyns. Then finally found some mw180 and had to see, and they fit. Now using mw180 70-300hz, mw162gt (sealed pods) 300-2500khz, still messing around with tweeters. Sold the Flutes and a bunch of other stuff to get the MiniDSP.

Good to know about the MLV, thanks, saving me some headache as beeb thinking about doing it up. I have roof racks that whistle pretty good which made me hesitate. And yes the door cards are tight with Ensolite and CLD. Once/If i get settled on drivers would like redo the door cards and make it presentable.
i had removed the egg grate then started wondering what it even did. Got concerned if removed the air bags wouldn’t deploy properly. Which is also a reason for not doing pillars. God forbid something happed and drove a speaker into passengers head.


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Petererc said:


> At first i used the dyn MD140/2, because I had them and also wanted to see if rear fill was for me. They were crossed 600-5khz. I believe the peerless are crossed 300-5khz and to me they sound better than the md140. I dont know about the rear door locations, did not try them. Consensus from searching was as far back as ya can get and high up. I have some 2” Aurasound Whipers that I want to try, not sure if will be better or worse. . If i can get the sealed volume they can play from 300-15khz or maybe just let roll off.
> 
> I went nuts with the Volvo Dyns, first the mw162gt md100 two way. The found the 8.75” front door from Volvo. Had to see and they fit in the Taco doors. Picked up a used 6to8v8 and went three way the dyns. Then finally found some mw180 and had to see, and they fit. Now using mw180 70-300hz, mw162gt (sealed pods) 300-2500khz, still messing around with tweeters. Sold the Flutes and a bunch of other stuff to get the MiniDSP.
> 
> ...


I'll have to give the RS100's a shot for rear fill then. Should be easy to make some pods and stick them in the rear corners. 

What year is your Tacoma? I've always wondered if I could fit an 8" on those front doors, looks pretty tight especially on depth. Are the model #'s different on the Volvo version? Wondering what I should be looking for when searching Ebay, etc. 

For better or worse my 05' doesn't have any air bags in the pillars so no worries there. But that being said everything I've seen related to speakers in a-pillars is that so long as you're not blocking the airbag, the trim panels are designed to only pop off one side so the airbag can deploy and not dislodge the whole trim piece.


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## Petererc (Dec 28, 2016)

Yes sir, give the Daytons a go. The rears are attenuated, it’s like you don’t even hear them. When my son sat in the back I asked if the rear speakers we annoying and he said no, sounds good.
I have a 2010 , the door cards look a little different. Where the speakers go looks similar. I cut the perforated area out of the card. Sealed between the card and door with armacell pipe insulation and weather stripping. No way MLV will ever fit. Made a huge difference though, the window switches and card would resonate like crazy. The window seal was another culprit, put some butyl between the back where it seats on the card.
Volvo dyn’s 98-04 C70 haven’t figured out model # for 8.75” front door/back shelf. They have 3” VC where the mw180(behind rear seat subs) have a 4” VC and larger diameter dust cap. Didn’t have much luck with the 8.75, most are blown, torn surround or locked up. They sound really good if you can find a pair in good shape. The 3” domes md140/142 have all been good, they are built into the card and well protected. The md100 front dash tweeters are square stay away, guess the sun and heat took its toll as most are bad. The rear oval tweeters and the 6.5 mw160gt/162gt are protected well and usually in good shape. The subs are the hardest to find but the ones i did have all been good, well protected behind rear seats.


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Petererc said:


> Yes sir, give the Daytons a go. The rears are attenuated, it’s like you don’t even hear them. When my son sat in the back I asked if the rear speakers we annoying and he said no, sounds good.
> I have a 2010 , the door cards look a little different. Where the speakers go looks similar. I cut the perforated area out of the card. Sealed between the card and door with armacell pipe insulation and weather stripping. No way MLV will ever fit. Made a huge difference though, the window switches and card would resonate like crazy. The window seal was another culprit, put some butyl between the back where it seats on the card.
> Volvo dyn’s 98-04 C70 haven’t figured out model # for 8.75” front door/back shelf. They have 3” VC where the mw180(behind rear seat subs) have a 4” VC and larger diameter dust cap. Didn’t have much luck with the 8.75, most are blown, torn surround or locked up. They sound really good if you can find a pair in good shape. The 3” domes md140/142 have all been good, they are built into the card and well protected. The md100 front dash tweeters are square stay away, guess the sun and heat took its toll as most are bad. The rear oval tweeters and the 6.5 mw160gt/162gt are protected well and usually in good shape. The subs are the hardest to find but the ones i did have all been good, well protected behind rear seats.


Got any photos of these for cards? You've got me intrigued. 

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## Petererc (Dec 28, 2016)

here's the progression of the madness


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## asnatlas (Apr 4, 2021)

Awesome build


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Finished up wiring on my amp rack tonight. The goal was a super clean look from the front side and keeping things organized on the back. I don't plan on any trim/beauty panels which is why I focused on keeping the wiring on the back. I think it turned out pretty well.

I wasn't super excited about having to mount the Sony amp upside down, but there really wasn't much room for wiring if I'd have mounted it logo side up. Going to try and get the rest of the wiring complete in the truck tomorrow and get the rack mounted. I'll try to snag some more photos of my progress tomorrow. Thanks.
















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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

I think that's a nice job fitting all different components together in a cohesive way. The painted wood looks really good, too.


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Finished sub box and got everything in the truck. Did a quick check to make sure everything powered on and it looks good. I still need to secure the rack and set gains on the amps. Then the fun begins.





































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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

I've been rocking this setup for a couple weeks now and have played around with several different house curves. Overall I'm super happy with my results. This upgrade has paid off and is a major improvement in sound quality over my last setup. For stationary listening I'm using a modified version of the JBL and Jazzy curve, but for the bulk of my listening, which occurs while driving, I'm using the Whitledge curve. The current tires on my truck are pretty noisy so I need the extra bass to even be able to hear it. 

So, now that I've been listening to the SI M3 carbons I have to say that I am very impressed. I've thrown every genre of music at them that I can think of, at every volume level, and they haven't skipped a beat. I'm not very good at describing what I'm hearing (especially not compared to @Ge0 ), but these things are very articulate without being the least bit fatiguing and have plenty of dynamics. They are not too "in your face", but can jump out at you if needed. Friday I went through the playlist Geo is using in his comparison thread to see if I could hear any of the things he has described and came away pleasantly surprised. I've not heard the Micro Precisions, but think the M3's could compete if given the chance.

I still need to build a bracket and mount the remote for the MiniDSP so I'll likely update this thread once I get started on that process. Let me know if anyone has questions. Thanks for checking in!


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## Ge0 (Jul 23, 2007)

I have a set of M3's in queue to test.


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Ge0 said:


> I have a set of M3's in queue to test.


Nice, hopefully I didn't just stick my foot in my mouth then... It will be nice to see what you think of them though since you've listened to so many other drivers.


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## court (Feb 7, 2017)

Very nice!! Excellent build


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## TrashPanda (May 21, 2021)

Looks great man. Hard work and great detail.


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

court said:


> Very nice!! Excellent build





TrashPanda said:


> Looks great man. Hard work and great detail.


Thanks! 

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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Finally got my OLED remote installed for the 8x12. I never used this little coin flip down pocket and it's within arms reach so I thought it would be a good spot. I can still close it up so it's totally hidden, or flip it down if I want to see/use it. The other bonus is that I can see it through the cutouts in my steering wheel so I don't need to move my head at all.


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Just realized I never updated this thread when I swapped out midbasses! Decided to try out something new and picked up a pair of used Peerless SLS 6.5's (excuse the dirty cone/surrounds). These things are definitely more beefy than the Silver Flutes and have no trouble keeping up with my sub. I took the truck over to the recent meetup in VA and got some good feedback on my system from some other forum members. Everyone seemed to enjoy the setup and I got a lot of good comments on the pods. My Dirac tune was pretty dialed in and if @bertholomey liked what he heard I knew I was doing something right! I also recently picked up a pair of Scanspeak D3004 silk domes to try out in place of the KAX's so I need to get those swapped out in the pods or mounted elsewhere to test. I plan to do fiberglass sail panels for the tweets once I pick between the two and am considering putting the M3's either in the upper doors or A-pillars as a permanent location.


























And before anyone calls me out on the MDF mounts, they have been in these doors since 2014 in crazy humid (south Texas) and crazy rainy (Oregon coast) climates (always parked outside) and do not show any signs of swelling or water damage. Once I see any signs of damage I'll upgrade to some mounts from Delander, but until then these are working great. 

Last, but not least, I grabbed one of the last Stereo Integrity BM MKV to try in place of the JL. Hoping to get that installed over Xmas, but we'll see how it goes.


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## 99xjproject (Jan 11, 2011)

squiers007 said:


> Hey everyone, been doing a bunch of work to my system over the last several months and thought I'd share. I'd call this a budget build, especially compared to some of the setups on here, though I have splurged in certain areas that I thought would have the most meaningful impact. This is my daily driver and I listen to most all types of music depending on my mood. I installed my previous setup back in 2014 which was a simple 2-way active system with all xovers and EQ done by my HU and I have not made any changes since that time. I recently got a new job and with that came some extra disposable income and what better way to spend some cash then on a SQ system! Here's the truck, a 2005 Tacoma in Speedway Blue!
> 
> View attachment 298183
> 
> ...


What thickness of CCF and MLV did you use on the floor? Did you have any issues getting it back together with the extra layers?


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

99xjproject said:


> What thickness of CCF and MLV did you use on the floor? Did you have any issues getting it back together with the extra layers?


I used Noico 150mil ccf for most of the floor, but 310mil in the driver and passenger footwells. Then I used 1/8" mlv. The carpet was definitely tight in some places, primarily trying to get the edges to clip back in. Three other area that was an issue was the plastic covers that go over the rear bolts of the front seats. I never could get them back in so I just left them off and it looks fine. If I could do it again I think it's spend the extra money for a lead sheet/ccf combo to make things easier and faster. 

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## Clvol1255 (Aug 6, 2020)

What’d you think of the SI BM MKV compared to the JL?? I just ordered an SI SQL12 just to test out and listen to off their website since they were on sale for cheap. Shouod be in this week. I honestly went on there looking for the sub you have but didn’t know it was discontinued


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## squiers007 (Sep 12, 2012)

Clvol1255 said:


> What’d you think of the SI BM MKV compared to the JL?? I just ordered an SI SQL12 just to test out and listen to off their website since they were on sale for cheap. Shouod be in this week. I honestly went on there looking for the sub you have but didn’t know it was discontinued


I haven't gotten it installed yet unfortunately. I'm hoping to get it installed along with the Scanspeak tweeters I picked it in the next month or so. 

I've heard nothing but good things about the SQL series, but I didn't think it would fit? How are you squeezing that behind the seats? 

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## Clvol1255 (Aug 6, 2020)

Lol it won’t be installed in the Tacoma. No possible way to fit it but I wanted to hear it and have another vehicle I could make it work in if I love it. For the Tacoma I’m sold on WM10 but I’d love to hear your thoughts on the SI shallow. The sql is almost twice the depth I could use in the Tacoma


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