Taco Tunes Harnesses and Speaker Brackets vs Competitors/DIY Solutions

Hello, I have searched and haven't found a thread that addresses this directly. I would like to check with other members before I place my order.
Taco Tunes sells the following items for he 2020+ 5th gen 4runner that I'm interested it:

2020+ Toyota 4runner Add amplifiers to factory stereo Plug & Play Harness (17-ft leads $99.99, 0-ft leads $19.99)

It's unclear what gauge the 0'ft harness is. If it's 16 gauge, I would buy this and make my own leads with 16 gauge speedwire. Their site mentions the 17ft lead option ($99.99) has 18-gauge for the high-output feed to the amplifier and 16-guage output from the amplifier to the stock wiring. I would prefer to save the $80 and do it myself, but I'd hate to get the 0'ft adapter and find it is the smaller gauge. I will be pushing 75 watts RMS on the stock wiring (front doors and rear doors) and would prefer the 16 gauge. I will be running 16-gauge myself to the front dash speakers to eliminate the parallel wiring of the front. I will also be bypassing the hatch speakers to eliminate the series wiring for the rear doors. Looking to achieve a 4Ohm load per channel for 75watts RMS.

2020+ Toyota 4runner Remote Turn on Plug & Play Harness (17-ft leads $69.99, 0-ft $29.99)

The 0'ft is all I need. I will make my own "Accessory" wire for the remote input on my amp. I don't have a need for the Constant 12' volt... Can't help but think there is a cheaper way than $29.99 to do this. I could "tap" into the Accessory wire, but I really want to keep the stock wiring 100% intact

Toyota 4Runner 6×9 Budget Friendly Speaker Adapter Installation Kit (Front Doors - $16.00)
Toyota 4Runner 6×9 6.5 6.75 Heavy Duty Speaker Adapter Front & Rear Door Installation Kit - (Front Doors - $44.99)

Toyota 4Runner 6.5 6.75 Budget Friendly Speaker Adapter Installation Kit (Rear Doors - $16.00)
Toyota 4Runner 6.5 6.75 Heavy Duty Speaker Adapter Front & Rear Door Installation Kit (Rear Doors - $53.99)

Are the "Heavy Duty Speaker Adapters" worth the premium over the budget? I plan on using AudioFrog speakers and don't want to cheap out if the adapters are a much better product. Would be ~$100.00 for Front and Rear Doors for Heavy Duty option. I have also heard of people making their own with MDF which I'm not totally opposed to as it's just requires a jigsaw (which I have)

8" Toyota Speaker Harness (for after market speakers) - $8.96

Seems I would need 2 sets of these. Price seems reasonable to avoid cutting factory wires.


If Taco Tunes has the best product out there for the 5th gen factory head unit integration, I'm not opposed to just spending the money to get this done. I'm also not afraid of doing a little work to save some money for an equal or better product. I did find a Red Wolf-brand speaker harness for $13.00 on Amazon that appears to be the same thing as the 0-ft $19.99 Taco Tunes speaker harness. I'm unsure of the gauge. I just don't want to waste unnecessary money on this as I am pushing my budget for better components - I hate throwing money away.

For anyone who added an amplifier to the factory system or replaced the factory speakers, which route did you go for the harnesses and speaker adapters ? Taco Tunes, Red Wolf, Metra, PAC, or something else?

Thank you

 

What are you trying to do? I see a lot of good info above and I commend you for all the research you've done. I went the other route where I didn't do enough research and was figuring out while doing which made my 4Runner be out of commission longer.

If you want it to sound good you need to drop the factory head unit. Sorry. That's a fact. Or run it into a DSP and an amp. You'll get a little better sound upgrading speakers but the factory head unit is a pretty big weak point.

I'm going to put in one of the new Dasaito's soon, the 13G or G13 or what ever. Looks close to stock so could be a good route. It's also supposed to be very plug and play.

That said, I used the Taco Tune speaker brackets and they are just splendid. When you order they can vary a bit on sizing so you get to measure your speaker and order the best fit. The screws that come with them suck and barely work so get ready to go to the hardware store. I complain about that on my build thread here:
https://www.4runners.com/threads/crows-2021-orp-super-white.32685/page-2#post-633242

If taco tunes is charging more for the bolts, don't get em. Bring your stock bolts to the hardware store and just buy longer versions there.


I ended up running all new wire everywhere except I tapped into the wire going through the b-pilar to get to the rear doors. <-- so I've got a couple inches of factory wiring there to go through those plugs.

 

Thank you, this is what i needed to hear... I'm going to use a Helix DSP Amp (8 channel) right off the factory head unit. I'm going to keep 2 channels unused unless I can come across a good pod for a tweeter for a 3-way stage upfront (for tweeter).

Did you go with the cheaper speaker brackets or the heavy duty? I will take your tip on the bolts/screws and won't buy those. The 6x9 doesn't have a custom size to choose from, but I did notice this for the 6.5/6.75. My proposed speaker has 5" 3/16 cut-out diameter so I think the 5.2 should cover it since it's a 5.185" opening.

I'm thinking I will just go with the Taco Tunes harnesses to make this easy (even if I could get a cheaper brand somewhere else). Just sucks paying over $230 for harnesses/brackets (heavy duty) from Taco Tunes.

 

Heavy duty. Totally worth it. They are built very well. Everything I've ever read the stock wiring is just fine. You could just cut the stock wire and crimp some connectors on, maybe need to extend the wire a little.

Edit: heavy duty also gives you clearance in the door for the deeper/bigger speaker.

 

Sounds like I need to get these. I just need to see a comparison of the 0ft to 17ft speaker wire to see if the gauge difference is a thing. Truthfully, running new wire that would bypass the stock wiring would resolve this issue. I'm already doing this for the Dash Speakers, but I was dreading doing this for the door speakers because I wasn't sure how hard it was to do with 16 gauge.

 

The stock wiring plugs into the b pillar. It'd literally a plug. So you could drill a hole in the b pillar to bypass this.

I took a volt meter to make sure I had the correct wire on both side of this plug, cut the stock speaker wire on either side of said plug so I could use this plug.

That's the only thing about running new wire. You'll need to deal with the b pillar to the rear doors.

 

Definitely some good advice here... another thing to consider is who will be tuning your system. Many experienced tuners "may" be able to deal with the all pass filters of the stock headunit, but it will definitely take some tinkering. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the trial and error associated with the hobby but there is quite the learning curve. Start reading up on REW and get yourself a Umik1 and let the fun begin.

If you do choose to make your own speaker adapters consider using HDPE (same thing many chopping boards are made of) instead of mdf. It's a lot more moisture resistant. And don't forget sound deadening for the doors... dare I say it's equally if not more important than which speaker adapter you go with.