2011 Toyota Tundra gets new front speakers and custom subwoofer enclosure.

Looks can really be deceiving.  You would think that a big truck like this would have all kinds of room in it for an upgraded sound system.  However, Toyota found ways to use almost all of that space for other purposes, so we had to get creative in our system design here.

The first piece of the system is a Kenwood DNX9960 in-dash navigation receiver which fed signal to an Arc Audio IDX active crossover and then on to the amplifiers.  The IDX allowed us to filter out frequencies that specific speakers are not designed to play so that they do what they are designed to play that much better.  This is called an active system because there are no passive crossovers in the system and it allows more power to the midbass and better control over the tweeter.  The new Hertz Hi Energy 6 1/2″ components in the front doors were ran off of an Arc Audio KS125.4mini which was mounted underneath the drives side rear seat and delivered 80 watts of power to each speaker.

The owner of this truck likes his music loud and bass heavy, but we didn’t have room for a big enclosure for powerful subwoofers, so we decided to go with a pair of Clarion shallow subwoofers which require a small amount of space to perform and we gave them plenty of power from an MTX amplifier which was mounted under the passenger’s side rear seat.

To prevent unwanted rattling and buzzing, we applied sound damping products from Stinger to the front and rear doors and the floor to block airborne noises like the engine and other vehicles as well as mechanical vibrations created by the subwoofers.

Fresh off the showroom floor, just the way we like em!

We applied sound damper mat to the outside wall of the cab behind the glass and also on the inside to kill any rattling.

It’s a tight fit, but it sure sounded good!

Here is the enclsoure all wrapped up and mounted. Most of the enclosure sits behind the plastic panel.

We like to use multiple materials when upholstering something, just like the factory does.

You can see through the hole in the door frame, where we appllied the sound damping mat. This is critical for good sound.

Then we apply the same material to the inner skin. This not only kills rattles but seals off the door which helps the speaker perform better.

This foam material is applied to the plastic door panel to help seal it up and stop vibrations.

We run new speaker wires into the door, as opposed to just using the factory wiring.

Here is an adapter plate made to house the new speakers. We use this gasket foam to seal it off.

Soldered sonnections to the speaker terminals is always the most reliable way to go.

Here is the speaker mounted in place.

Here, you can see the Stinger Carpet Pad that we applied to the floors so the noise from outside the vehicle doesn’t ruin the sound inside.