Mesa Client Gets Tundra CrewMax Lighting & Audio Upgrade

A repeat client from Mesa, Arizona, came to Handcrafted Car Audio for some serious 2015 Toyota Tundra CrewMax lighting and audio upgrades. We know this client very well and this would make a total of eight vehicles we had built for him.

As is customary with all of our customers, we got together with the client and looked over the vehicle together. We listened intently as he explained his goals for the build. Since we knew him well, we had a pretty good idea of how he wanted it outfitted: He wanted us to make it sound incredible, keep the usefulness of the truck, install a remote start/alarm combination and do some trick exterior mods. Our team worked up a proposal for the build; he liked it, and we scheduled an installation appointment.

First and foremost, this guy loves great sound. He also likes keeping the interior looking pretty original, with some tasteful modifications. We decided right out of the gate to leave the factory Toyota navigation system intact. It looks great in the dash and has all the smartphone connectivity he desired.

Audison Processor Gives Us A Clean Audio Signal

Since, unfortunately, the sound quality coming out of the JBL system is lousy, we knew an Audison BitOne processor was in order. We took the musical signal coming out of the factory amplifier and ran it into the processor. Then we stripped the music of all the equalization JBL added to it, along with summing all of the channels to get us back to an unmodified, usable musical signal from which to build.

Actively Amplified System For The Ultimate Audio Control

In our design phase, we decided to run the whole system active, meaning every speaker would get its own amplifier channel. We like active systems for several reasons, with the main one being the fine-tuning capability that they give us. When combining active channels with the BitOne processor, we now had 31 bands of equalization, signal level, crossover adjustment and digital delay for every speaker in the truck. This gave us crazy amounts of fine-tuning, with the result being one of the best-sounding systems we have done in a truck. The sound stages clearly across the top of the dash as though you were sitting in the middle of the space, not off to the left. Every nuance and detail in the music comes through with incredible detail.

New Brand To The High-End Speaker Segment, Audiofrog

We added an S&B intake system for improved power and efficiency.

The Audiofrog tweeter was a perfect fit for the sail panel of the door.

The Audiofrog Midbass drivers were mounted in the doors on our custom fabricated mounting rings. We used FAST foam rings to seal the speakers to the door card.

The Audiofrog tweeters are a great fit for this Toyota interior. The chrome accent ring blends in perfectly.

We installed the Audiofrog midrange speaker in the factory location in the top of the dash.

For front speakers, we chose Audiofrog GB60 6.5” woofers for the stock locations in the door, and picked their GB25 2.5” midrange, placing them in the stock dash locations. For tweeters, we went back to Audiofrog, using their GB10 1” tweeters that we installed into custom sail panel mounts at the top of the doors. We installed the woofer and midrange using our custom-machined composite speaker adapters, and sound damping throughout the truck to eliminate any rattling or vibration.

Alpine Woofer And Hertz Amplifiers All Fit Neatly Under The Rear Seat

We were pleasantly surprised to find that once the foam was removed from under the rear carpet, there was room for our equipment.

We had to be very creative with this enclosure to get the proper airspace we needed for the Alpine woofer.

Using our StrongArm welding table makes creating metal amplifier racks that are perfectly square a breeze!

We chose a slotted pattern grille to protect the subwoofer and also the amplifiers and processor.

The Audison BitOne processor, and Hertz amplifiers all fit neatly under the seat.

When it came time for bass, the install got a lot more challenging. There really is no room under the rear seat, but we did find something interesting. If you remove the carpet underneath the rear seat, you will find three cavities that come filled with Styrofoam blocks. We fabricated a custom fiberglass enclosure to house an Alpine SWR-T10 subwoofer and made a custom trim plate to finish off around the subwoofer. While we were back there, we also fabricated a steel amp rack to hold the two Hertz HDP4 amplifiers and the BitOne processor. The same trim plate also finishes off the electronics, and a custom metal grille protects them from harm while providing a rugged, classy look. When the seat is down, everything is hidden from view; when you flip it up, you see all the audio goodness.

The amplifiers send 150 watts per channel to each of the front speakers and 500 watts to the subwoofer, so this thing jams. It has output and sound quality that seem effortless, since you are never straining the amplifiers when you turn it up.

Smartphone Controlled Security And Remote Start

We installed a Compustar alarm and remote-start combination, with control by the company’s drone smartphone controller. Our customer now has full control and notification right from his phone, including the ability to locate and track the Tundra from anywhere his phone has Internet access.

Tundra CrewMax Lighting Upgrade With Premium Rigid Products

All our wiring was neatly taped with OEM spec tape and secured using nylon ties.

We made a custom label to let the client know each of the fuses we added for his lighting package.

Each component of the lighting system is fused for maximum safety and reliability.

These lights are bright in the daytime and even brighter at night!

The Rigid grille is made to hold their E2 lightbar and D2 square lights.

The Rigid D2 floodlights installed in the rear bumper give the client a BRIGHT path to follow when backing up.

SDHQ fabricated this trick custom bumper to hold the lighting and towing accessories.

The team at Handcrafted Car Audio next turned their attention to this Tundra CrewMax lighting. We installed a Rigid grille with integrated 20” E2 light bar, and added a set of Rigid’s D2 square lights with a fog pattern. The client had a custom bumper fabricated by SDHQ, and we installed two sets of Vision X lights: the 8.7” Light Cannons on the edges and a Xmitter Elite light bar in the center of the bumper. For backup lights, we flushed a set of Rigid D2 flood lights in the rear bumper. All of the lighting is controllable independently, fused separately and designed for easy servicing by the client while on the road, should the need ever arise.

Air Intake System For Improved Tundra CrewMax Performance

For the final touch, we installed an S & B air intake system to give the truck more power, along with a throaty growl.

When the client came to pick up the vehicle, he was thrilled. Everything from the sound quality to the fit and finish of the install had him smiling ear to ear. And that made our day. It is what we live for.

When you are ready to outfit your truck, we invite you to stop by Handcrafted Car Audio and get to know us. Ask us for a tour and we will show you around our state-of-the-art facility and let you see current projects. Then we will look over your truck together and design the upgrades that best fit your needs.

You can also contact us here for more information about any of our products and services.