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Powered Subwoofer Install

TCOTUE

TCOTUE

7️⃣ Connoisseur
Tacoma3G Supporter
Joined
Jul 2, 2021
Messages
907
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Age
40
Location
Ozark, MO
2018 Sport DCSB Auto
Blazing Blue Pearl
After installing my Joying headunit, I've felt the stereo was lacking. Being that I drive my truck 300+ miles a week, and I listen to music on every drive I needed something.

Ordered the MB Quart RW-108A powered 8" sub from Amazon. Link below:


Once it comes in, I plan on doing a install thread to hopefully help other folks.
 
Are you planning On putting it in the storage space behind the rear seats?
 
I spliced the rear speaker wires to ad my underseat 8"powered Sub. Love it. It's not killer bass, but it's much better bass than what was lacking.
 
solscooter said:
Are you planning On putting it in the storage space behind the rear seats?
Click to expand...
Really depends on if it will fit under my drivers seat or not. If it won’t, then yes rear storage bin it goes. I already have an aftermarket headunit, so sending decent signal will be fine.
 
Do you have OV tune? If not, your going to have amplifier output wattage issues.
 
So I found this out about a year after I bought my Taco. Older vehicles, dont quote me on this, but I believe its like 2012 and older have the traditional 14.4v output from the alternator when the vehicle is running. 3rd gen and I believe 2nd gen tacos do not have a consistent 14.4v output from the alternator when running. The voltage actually drops to some stupid number like 13.1v or some crap. When you look at amplifier ratings, you will see something like 500w RMS. This 500w is assuming that it is getting 14.4v input voltage from the alternator. If you are only getting 13.1v input voltage, then the output voltage is going to suffer. You might only get something like 375w instead of the full 500w as advertised due to the decreased input voltage. This presents a problem due to the nature of subwoofers having a 'sweet spot' for required wattage. I dont know about other manufacturers however, JL Audio solved this problem with their old Slash series and now HD series amplifiers. They will put out advertised wattage, say 500w, while getting anywhere from 11.1v to 14.4v input voltage. Yeah, these amps are expensive. Yeah, JL Audio is expensive in general. Ive been doing car audio for years and the one thing that I have learned is that you get what you pay for.
Im not saying that JL Audio is the only company making amplifiers with this technology however, its important to read all of the specs of the amplifier to make sure you aren't inadvertently underpowering your subwoofer. As I am sure you know could cause you to blow the sub.

I had a JL Audio RD500/1 amplifier in my 18 Camry and couldnt figure out why the subwoofer sounded like shit. Then I remembered the article I read about the newer vehicles and alternator output. I found a used 500w Slash amp and boom! Problem fixed.

The reason I asked about OVTune is because you can change your alternator output voltage through OVTune to 14.4v constantly mainly because people are using AGM batteries in their trucks which require 14.4-14.8v to charge correctly.

I sure hope this made sense, I have problems putting thoughts together in a way that makes sense. Im sure its due to my ADHD or something. Im trying to find the article again so I can link it here, but no luck. If I find it, I will link it.
 
XxMagpulxX said:
So I found this out about a year after I bought my Taco. Older vehicles, dont quote me on this, but I believe its like 2012 and older have the traditional 14.4v output from the alternator when the vehicle is running. 3rd gen and I believe 2nd gen tacos do not have a consistent 14.4v output from the alternator when running. The voltage actually drops to some stupid number like 13.1v or some crap. When you look at amplifier ratings, you will see something like 500w RMS. This 500w is assuming that it is getting 14.4v input voltage from the alternator. If you are only getting 13.1v input voltage, then the output voltage is going to suffer. You might only get something like 375w instead of the full 500w as advertised due to the decreased input voltage. This presents a problem due to the nature of subwoofers having a 'sweet spot' for required wattage. I dont know about other manufacturers however, JL Audio solved this problem with their old Slash series and now HD series amplifiers. They will put out advertised wattage, say 500w, while getting anywhere from 11.1v to 14.4v input voltage. Yeah, these amps are expensive. Yeah, JL Audio is expensive in general. Ive been doing car audio for years and the one thing that I have learned is that you get what you pay for.
Im not saying that JL Audio is the only company making amplifiers with this technology however, its important to read all of the specs of the amplifier to make sure you aren't inadvertently underpowering your subwoofer. As I am sure you know could cause you to blow the sub.

I had a JL Audio RD500/1 amplifier in my 18 Camry and couldnt figure out why the subwoofer sounded like shit. Then I remembered the article I read about the newer vehicles and alternator output. I found a used 500w Slash amp and boom! Problem fixed.

The reason I asked about OVTune is because you can change your alternator output voltage through OVTune to 14.4v constantly mainly because people are using AGM batteries in their trucks which require 14.4-14.8v to charge correctly.

I sure hope this made sense, I have problems putting thoughts together in a way that makes sense. Im sure its due to my ADHD or something. Im trying to find the article again so I can link it here, but no luck. If I find it, I will link it.
Click to expand...
That does make quite a bit of sense. I didn't know about the voltage fluctuation. I do remember reading about the AGM bit and having to get a tune to fix the charging issue.

I will keep this in mind, but I'm not looking to win any sound off's.
 
I was running a system before the doing the agm voltage tune mod. Didn’t notice a diff in sound.
 
I swore to myself that I wouldnt mess with the sound system in the Taco. Then a couple of years later I ended up with JL Audio C2 6x9's in the front doors, C2 tweeters in the dash and C2 Coaxials in the rear doors all powered by a compact Kenwood 100x4 amplifier. Then GAIA GPS made their app CARPLAY compatible. Soooo, a couple of months ago, I ended up with an Alpine ILX-F409 head unit (which is amazing). Next is going to be 2 JL amps and a shallow 10 in. (possibly 12 in.) subwoofer.
 
Well go figure I installed with out taking ANY pics!

It ended up fitting perfect under the drivers seat.

Ran power wire through the grommet on the drivers side firewall, down under kick panel. Popped up the drivers side seal, ran it along the floor board coming out under the drivers seat. Popped the rear left drivers seat bolt trim panel, removed the bolt (dremel'd the ring terminal a little bigger to fit the bolt). Ran the RCA down the center console, since I had a aftermarket headunit. I thought I wouldn't have to run a remote wire as this subwoofer stated that it had auto on feature. It might work if you use the high level inputs, but being RCA's it didn't. I used my multimeter and found a trigger coming off my headunit harness that wasn't used on my particular set up. Ran that next to my RCA's.

I still need to set some of the levels. But it's punchy. It's not going to win any SQ battles, but just what I was looking for. I'll get some pics to add to this.

But for now, here is a pic of it under the seat
DAE422B7-3680-4516-90CA-F0BE84DE6C1E.jpeg
 
Last edited:
bonifacio said:
What stereo model do you have? Have you upgraded the speakers?
Click to expand...
I have the Joying. I have not upgraded any speakers just yet. This headunit is totally worth the money, full DSP built in. I've tuned out some of the lows to the speakers and it's really cleaned it up. I can go louder with much less distortion.

I will say, I listen to a variety of music. Hip-Hop it's ok, not boomy like a 12 in, a ported box would be. Rock music, is fantastic. Just enough to feel the drum and bass kick.
 
Last edited:
TCOTUE said:
I have the Joying. I have not upgraded any speakers just yet. This headunit is totally worth the money, full DSP built in. I've tuned out some of the lows to the speakers and it's really cleaned it up. I can go louder with much less distortion.

I will say, I listen to a variety of music. Hip-Hop it's ok, not boomy like a 12 in, a ported box would be. Rock music, is fantastic. Just enough to feel the drum and bass kick.
Click to expand...
Can I see your equalizer settings? Does it have a loudness mode?
 
bonifacio said:
Can I see your equalizer settings? Does it have a loudness mode?
Click to expand...
I'll get you some pics after work!

Note: I still need to do some fine tuning, so don't murder me lol
 
I have the JBL sub, but the sub settings don't do anything for it. I'll compare it to how I have my equalizer set. Just trying to get rid of some of the distortion.
 
I just pull the trigger on the JBL OEM Audio Plus set up, looking forward to see if it meets all the hype!
 
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