’08 tacoma front stage in need of advice
 

Hello everyone.

Yes, I know I am not a fellow Canadian - sorry. However, I was attracted to your site from the thoughtful postings I have read through so far, and was hoping to get a view of things from outside the US. It seems responses are very insightful and educated. I often find our own boards to be very 'Brand Pride' oriented instead of honest opinion, and things get heated fast. Hoped you guys sponsored a different viewpoint (worth a shot at least!)



Anyway, to the meat of the matter:

I'm currently in a dilemma, but that's pretty much always the case when it comes to car audio purchases.

I have a 2008 Tacoma 4 door.

Alpine iDA-X100 head unit
Memphis MCA-3004 (http://www.tacomaworld.com/out.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.memphiscaraudio.com%2 Famp_specs%2F16-mca3004info.html)
Memphis MCD1000 (http://www.tacomaworld.com/out.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.memphiscaraudio.com%2 Famp_specs%2F16-mcd1000info.html)
JL Audio 10" W3v2 -D4 in custom sealed enclosure

I am now focusing on the front speakers, and have the following choices:

-Used Morel Pulse 5.25" Components and Pulse Coax 6x9. (I would be buying them from my friend of 15 years, so I am not worried about the legitimacy of the quality or condition). Note that the 6x9 will not fit the vehicle, but I don't get the option of splitting things up.

-Hybrid Audio Clarus 6.5" (one pair only). Highly recommended to me by my "audio advisor"

-something else

The Morel set and the Clarus pair are available to me at the same price, in the neighborhood of $400-$500. They are already above my comfort zone of where I hoped to be spending, but I am also done with selling myself short.
I plan to have the truck until the wheels fall off, and I want to do things right without overspending as well.
I am playing with the idea of sound dampening late this year.
I do not intend to add anything more than what is listed above.

Can I get recommendations on which set I should be buying? I am after natural sound, full body, and liveliness. The Morels are so far the best thing I've been exposed to.

Both the front and rear speakers in your truck are going to need some degree of custom install work. This is due to how Toyota has designed the speaker and the mount as all one unit. The front speakers in the last 08 Tacoma I did were a 6x9" if I remember correctly. In any case, you are going to need to make some mounting adaptors / spacers to properly install the new speakers. I recommend that you make them from multiple layers of abs or mdf (and use fibreglass resin on the mdf) as you don't exactly live in the driest part of the country (sort of like where I do on the island...)

That said there is a world of speakers out there for you to consider. Morel speakers are amazing speakers indeed but to pay that kind of $ for used speakers that are the entry level, your friend is taking you for a ride I hate to say, jump off or tell the friend that $250 is more like it.

If you do not want to sell yourself short, then do one pair of speakers at a time. Concentrate on good front component speakers. Morel makes great speakers and I would short list them right away. Use the savings to install that deadener up front when you install the speakers as your doors are a rattly tin can and you will lose a boatload of energy to door rattles that you should be having coming out as sound. If you cannot find a good price on speakers locally, pm me and I will see what I can do for you. I have the templates made for your vehicle and keep them on a CNC router machine so it is easy to blast new ones out.

Thanks for the quick response.

I am aware of the status of the doors, and would be buying baffles from Mr Marv (http://community-2.webtv.net/MarvsPlace/MarvsPlace), his baffles can be seen here (http://community-2.webtv.net/MarvsPlace/MarvsPlace)
Thank you for the warning on the Morels. He kind of threw out a general figure, and I don't like going off "hey, how about x dollars?"

From advice, my plan is to leave the back speakers as-is... sounds like there's no reason to bother with them, there's better things to think about, and they don't make a difference.

I guess another question to be asking is, at what point will I notice diminishing returns? Am I really needing to play up to that level of spending, or would I just as well be buying top end models of more mainstream brands at a lower cost? This is what kills me, I consider my demands are a bit above the average joe, but I need to keep from looking far off into the stratosphere (I'm good at talking myself into things that are greater than my needs) :o

I switched from mainstream to a pair CDT ES-62i GOLD and notice an huge difference in SQ and imaging. I know there's a lot of brand that are equal/better but for me it was with CDT that i found peace...

hybrid!

x2.....no brainer

You like good sound, definitely go back to Morel. I am unsure about US pricing however. In Canada, the pair to consider would be the Dotech Ovation 6 ($599CDN) that I would start you off at. Good front speakers are important no matter what. Talk yourself into good speakers, then sit back and enjoy the ride.....

Unfortunately, don't really have the luxury.
-The dealer I used to go to shut down (he was a decent guy, but was a big hack on installs and it caught up to him)
-The one dealer that carries them here are people I refuse to do business with. I always get treated like an idiot.
-Unless I want to go on a serious road trip, local shops have Focal, Memphis, McIntosh, Phoenix Gold, and mainstream (Alpine, Pioneer, etc).

The dealer in California selling the Hybrid can get other stuff, but Morel is one thing he doesn't carry. The Hybrids are currently on sale, which prompted me to look at them.

How do Image Dynamics stack up? It's another brand that's been kicked around in the other forum I go to, and has a lower price tag.