# 2001 Toyota Tacoma DoubleCab Audison Thesis/Hertz daily driver



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

Hello guys, my name is Nico, I am a long time lurker of the forum and a was a little reluctant to actually post anything until recently urged on by my two friends in real life GouRiki and jooonnn who post here semi-frequently. I am a music lover and I would throw myself into the category of being an "audiophile". I am far from an expert, but I know what sounds good to me (that's the most important thing, right?). Also, there are not too many builds on 1st gen Tacoma DoubleCabs so I felt obligated to share my experiences with this hobby. . Anyways, enough of the about me. Let's talk about the journey I took to get where I'm at now. 

My truck was my first and only vehicle, I remember first getting it back as a sophomore in high school. I'm pretty much emotionally attached to it and I have no plans of getting anything new anytime soon (sad right haha).
Obligatory pics of my humble daily driver:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647248972/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/, 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647248544/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/
I've always wanted a "system" in my truck, but I was always too scared to try and put one in myself. Finally (6 years later) I pony'ed up and bought the Hertz ESK 165 component set at the urging of GouRiki and jooonnn. In addition to that I added a 2 channel pioneer amplifier and bridged it to power an 8 inch alpine type R sub which we put into a custom box behind my center console. This lasted a little less than 4 months until I got the urge to upgrade. "The next step is to go active and get a TA capable headunit," was the advice from my two pals. So, I purchased the new alpine pdx-v9 and the pioneer p80rs when they both first came out. We tuned it and to keep things short, I was blown away by how much better it sounded. I was skeptical at first cause I thought my system sounded good, but adding the EQ of the p80 as well as going active absolutely improved the system in every way ten fold. We all know this still was not the end of it. I wanted more and the ESK 165's had hit their peak. They are wonderful for the price, they really are, but they coudln't satisfy this insatiable lust for sq that had become my main hobby. Soo, what's next? Well, jooonnn was not using his pioneer p01 headunit or his 2-way thesis set so I purchased them both as well as a sub box filled with 2 Hertz HX250d subs from him for a steal of a price (gotta love your best friends, guys). 

So in went the p01 in place of the p80rs

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647237876/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

You always hear about how the p80 looks and feels cheap and I never thought anything about it until I got to see the p01 in person. SQ wise it is a steal for the price, but compared to the p01 the quality of materials is lower (as it should be for the price).

Now, what to do with these MASSIVE tweeters? Heres a pic for some size reference (ignore my girlfriends "books" please 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647263062/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

I had these fiberglassed into my a-pillars by a local shop and they did a great job. These tweeters are contructed with solid aluminum and are quite heavy so they were quite the chore to mount. Here's a pic of how they did it.

Back side of my a-pillar: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647431976/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Finshed A-pillars wrapped in matching headliner material:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647258754/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/ 

Other side:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647238834/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

IMHO a-pillar placement for tweeters is where it's at if you want the stage height. Ive heard these tweets in the kicks and in my stock locations and they still sound good, but stage height always is not what it should be.

Talking with jooonnn, he explained to me the differences between kick panel placement and door placement and how essential it is for the midbass to be in a kick panel with a two way component set. So we took his old sealed kickpanels with the thesis midbasses still in them and just put them in my truck along with a quick tune so he could show me the difference in stage depth and width (albeit roughly). Well, he was right, it was a huge difference, immediately noticeable. My stage was now directly in front of me as opposed to being pulled to the doors slightly. So custom fiberglass kicks were the next step. I contracted another local car audio shop to fabricate these based off of a build Mr. Bing (he's amazing) did a while back. The only difference between my kicks and his were that I wanted the midbasses aimed at my dome light. Here is the link to that build, just scroll down to see the kicks: http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...ple-sq-build-2000-toyota-tacoma-xtra-cab.html

Pics of my kicks in progress: Here is my floor and kick being taped off

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647237398/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Fiber glass mat laid down:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647236974/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Once they were resined and dried, Flush mount rings were made and aimed
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647236540/in/photostream

Kick panel mold cut and shaped

Untitled http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Mold cloth pulled, covered in carpet, and vent hole cut

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647235782/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Vent hole cut into original kick panel and covered in CLD tile. Inside of kick is also lined with CLD. You can see jooonnns old kick panel in the bed of my truck which we used to try out the positioning at first

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647235434/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Finished kick panel! Yayy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647235070/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Final shot

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647220382/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

the sub box was placed on my back seat with the subs facing the rear. These have the perfect amount of bass for me, I love them. I got the box free basically, but Im looking for a better solution to still have at least 2 people to be able to sit there, but keep my two subs. Any suggestions? Different box design is all I can think of, something more vertical (negatives of having a truck and wanting bass).

Untitled http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Whew that was a lot of typing. After everything was finished it was time for a tune. Let me express to you something that is very hard to convey through words. jooonnn is an amazing tuner and observer of the little nuances it takes to make it sound good. Our taste in music is practically identical so I knew he could make it sound amazing as usual. He went through each of the 31 bands using the focal test tones and tuned it in literally less than 10 minutes. After that we sat and listened for a while and he only went back and modified a couple of bands and he was done. It was just really impressive to me. He was pointing out things in songs that I know really well (or at least i thought I did) that I have never noticed before and would have never noticed unless he pointed them out. A big big thanks to him. We got the TA down pact as well and my image was centered. The vocals were right in the middle of the dash with the instruments on either side of it. I listen to every genre of music except country (does Taylor Swift count?) from Madonna to Yelawolf to Cartel to Anne Murray to Underoath. Completely breathtaking. Here are a few shots of my eq curve for anyone who is interested. 


http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647600204/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/







[/url]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7647599776/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

That's the end of my journey (until my next paycheck). A big thank you to GouRiki and jooonnn of course for all the advice and help installing as well as to Sound Solutions and Auto Sound Specialists in Charleston, SC. If you guys have any questions feel free to ask, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed going through all of it.


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

Forgot to mention, I also laid down CLD tiles, CCF, and MLV through out the whole truck courtesy of Sound Deadener Showdown so a big thanks to Mr. Don as well. He was nothing but professional and EXTREMELY helpful in all the interactions we had. Thanks Don!


----------



## jooonnn (Jul 26, 2009)

sick setup!!!! nice gear! i've heard a setup just like that before!


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

hahah, too many 12 hour shifts at the hospital going right into your pocket ;P


----------



## GouRiki (Apr 9, 2010)

jooonnn said:


> i've heard a setup just like that before!


I haven't


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

Some more pics i found

All seats out getting ready to CLD/CCF/MLV back wall

035 http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Rear door panels off 

032 http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

My friend RJ helping with the fitment of CCF/MLV to the door panel

033 http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

CCF/MLV installed on rear door using the provided velcro Don supplied me with (good, strong stuff)

034 http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Front doors being done. Still have my old ESK's in there, might give them to my brother

022 http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Old pic of my ESK tweeters mounted in my a-pillar when i first got them

020 http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

My PDX V-9 when it first came in and its supplied Berth sheet

029 http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

031 http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

My p80 before i got the p01

025 http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

SQ loving husky named Titan

Untitled http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

Some more old pics of me installing my old setup

Installing my old ESK 165's in the doors into the custom birch mounting plates we traced out onto birch wood. MDF rings were then cut out and glued on top and the speakers mounted. Barely cleared the window

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7657355380/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

My friends and I finishing up construction of the MDF box for my old 8 inch alpine type R sub which we put behind the center console. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7657354454/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Covering box in contact cement before we wrap it in grey vinyl.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7657354116/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Laying the vinyl out

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7657355182/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Vinyl laid down and getting stapled where you can't see

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7657354752/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Final pic installed. Good little sub. Thought it was good enough, for the space savings, but it wasn't ;P

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7657353904/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Here is a better pic of what I'm running now. Still trying to decide ideas on a custom sub box to go directly behind the drivers eat so that i have seats open for the occasional 2 people and for my husky to lay down comfortably in the back seat. Ignore my gf once again haha


http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7657299482/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/


----------



## BrianAbington (Jul 27, 2012)

Is everybody you know wanted by the feds?


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

I hang out with very dangerous people. On a serious note, I did that out of respect, don't know if they'd want their faces posted, probably doesn't matter since we all have facebook accounts.


----------



## GouRiki (Apr 9, 2010)

Lol Rachel's pic is the best one. 

Why'd you take Jon's face out? Several people on the forum know him.


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

Hahah isnt it? Just didn't know if he cared or not that's why


----------



## lucipha (Aug 5, 2009)

Nice setup, I really like how your pillars came out.


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

Thanks very much, here's a better pic I found of them.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7657353392/http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

I've been brainstorming some ideas for a new sub box set up to save more space. I found a picture of this setup in a doublecab nissan frontier. The only changes I would make to mine would be to place it directly behind the drivers seat as far to the left as possible. I've toyed with the idea of buying a single sub solution (JL 10w7) as well but that would be more money and I really do not want to change a thing about my Hertz subs as I love the way they sound. Also, I always thought having a pair of subs just looks better. Anyways, here is the pic I found.










Any further input would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

^^^ Either that or have one sub upfiring right behind your console and the other front firing in the rear seat. 

Nice build!


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

UPDATE: 

So I got a killer deal on a 10W7 in a prowedge enclosure that I couldn't pass up from crutchfield.. And it just came in.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7784389852/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

So I yanked out my two Hertz 10's put this sucker right in the middle and guess what.. perfect fit and I get my two back seats back, mission accomplished. Here's the room for the back seat passengers. I only took pics of one side because obviously the other side is the same.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7784386586/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Now ask me how it sounds..


----------



## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

I think I know the answer already... but ok. How does it sound


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

Amazing! I was very nervous about it since I was going from two 10's to one 10, but it sounds much better and believe it or not it is louder. It digs so low for a 10, easily edging past the Hertz. I had them wired in parallel so I know the 500 watt channel was getting split between them and the single w7 is getting the full 500, so maybe if the two Hertz were getting full recommended power, it may sound better, but I doubt it. The excursion on the w7's is unreal. I thought I loved my Hertz, but this thing takes the cake. And more seat space! Believe the hype, it's worth the price.


----------



## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Now you are making me want to install my W7 - thanks a LOT!!!


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

chithead said:


> Now you are making me want to install my W7 - thanks a LOT!!!


Hahaha, DO IT!!! and take pics


----------



## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

When I do, I will blame you, and Jon.


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

chithead said:


> When I do, I will blame you, and Jon.


Hahah, do you know Jon as well?


----------



## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

I met him at a meet two years ago - got to hear the 13W7 and the Voce components. First time I heard a W7 Infinite Baffle, and it was superb.


----------



## GouRiki (Apr 9, 2010)

chithead said:


> I met him at a meet two years ago - got to hear the 13W7 and the Voce components. First time I heard a W7 Infinite Baffle, and it was superb.


They're thesis not voce, but Nico has Jon's Thesis and p01 now.


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

Yeah Jon's one Of my best friends in real life, we're all planning on going to a meet one of these days maybe we can meet up and you can hear the truck


----------



## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Oh whoops! I thought he had the Voce set. That was a killer setup, I can only imagine how great it sounds in your truck.


----------



## jooonnn (Jul 26, 2009)

Honestly after I wrastled the EQ a lil bit I can honestly say his truck has one of the absolute best bass->midbass transitions in any car i've ever heard (for realistic and fun listening purposes). 

Unfortunately, we did not try to listen to any Spanish Harlem or Janis Ian yet for the True AUTHORITATIVE DIYMA Mosconi-Forum-Boner approved test. So safe to say I love this setup.


----------



## jooonnn (Jul 26, 2009)

PS: LONG TIME NO SEE CHITHEAD! MISSUUUUU


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

jooonnn said:


> Honestly after I wrastled the EQ a lil bit I can honestly say his truck has one of the absolute best bass->midbass transitions in any car i've ever heard (for realistic and fun listening purposes).
> 
> Unfortunately, we did not try to listen to any Spanish Harlem or Janis Ian yet for the True AUTHORITATIVE DIYMA Mosconi-Forum-Boner approved test. So safe to say I love this setup.


"There is a rose in Spanish Harlemmmmm" hahahhaha MOSCONI FTWWWW


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

chithead said:


> Now you are making me want to install my W7 - thanks a LOT!!!


chithead, put that w7 in already and you can get one of these on your car to match me and Jon and be uber cool. Jon even bought the JL hoodie hahah


http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7799280582/ http://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/


----------



## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Don't laugh, but sitting at the house I have:

JL Audio C3-650 Component Set
JL Audio 12W7 Subwoofer
JL Audio XD-PCS4-2B Dual amplifier Wiring Kit
JL Audio XD-PCS4-1B Single amplifier Wiring Kit
JL Audio XD-BTS Battery Connector with red logo for positive terminal
JL Audio XD-BTS Battery Connector with black logo for negative terminal
JL Audio XC-BCSC16-25 16ga speaker wire (two of these)
JL Audio XB-CLRAIC2-18 rca Interconnects (pair of these)
JL Audio XA-SWA-SX16 16ga speaker Connectors
JL Audio XD-RT8-4PAK 8ga Ring Terminals
JL Audio XD-RT4-4PAK 4ga Ring Terminals
JL Audio XD-MAXI-40 40amp Maxi Fuse
JL Audio XD-MAXI-50 50amp Maxi Fuse

Still debating on which series of amps to run, and which vehicle it will all be going in. Even bought one of these to go on whatever key is the lucky auto:


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

chithead said:


> Don't laugh, but sitting at the house I have:
> 
> JL Audio C3-650 Component Set
> JL Audio 12W7 Subwoofer
> ...


I'm gonna need more stickers..


----------



## sirsaechao (Jan 25, 2010)

Nice install.


----------



## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

nicostatus said:


> I'm gonna need more stickers..


Lol, I like that vintage tee they have. And the "Dirty Mo" sticker.


----------



## sirsaechao (Jan 25, 2010)

chithead said:


> Don't laugh, but sitting at the house I have:
> 
> JL Audio C3-650 Component Set
> JL Audio 12W7 Subwoofer
> ...


HD's IMO


----------



## nicostatus (Dec 3, 2011)

I'd do the HD's. I'd love to compare my alpine with a 900/5 to see if there's a difference, but I doubt it. I'm tempted to switch to a two amp set up of the HD 600/4 and the 750/1 just to do it.


----------

