2017 Stereo upgrade

[crash457]

I thought I would document my system upgrade.

Step one, full sound deadening.

I used Kilmat 80mil on floor and back wall of cab.





Then I did 80mil inside and outside on the doors and 50mil on the back of the door panels. I also replaced the plastic sheet on the doors with ABS block off panels panels from Sounds Good Stereo.






Then I built a custom sub box for a single Sundown SD4-10 D2. I used 3/4 MDF and ended up with 0.67 ft3 of airspace. The SD4 is designed for between 0.50 and 0.75 ft3. The box is carpeted except for the front, which is vinyl. Connection is done via a SMD terminal cup.








For speakers, I am running JBL club 6.5 coaxes in the rear and JBL Club 6x9 separates for the front. I made a custom ABS bracket for the tweeters and wrapped them in butyl foam. I also made a custom wiring plug adapter for the tweeter.




Signal came from the factory unit with a PAC AP4FD21 for 5V flat preamp output. Singer 4000series 6channel RCAs run done the driver side to a custom ABS amp rack that mounts the stock Sony amp on the backside and a Rockford Fosgate T1000x5AD amp on the front. Front and rear channels tie into the factory harness at the amp using PAC APHFD01 harness. Power and ground run across the top of the back wall of the cab then up the passenger side to a custom ABS fuse mount.








Overall, I'm very impressed with the results. I accomplished my goal. I wanted an impressive system that was fully hidden and didn't take up any space on the rear floor (need that for the dogs). It hits hard for a single 10 and sounds very good. I might upgrade the door speakers at some point. See the cost breakdown below for all the details.


PAC AP4FD21 Amppro4 $280
PAC APHFD01 speaker harness $45
Stinger 4000 6 channel RCA $30
JBL Club 9600C 6x9 separates $110
JBL Club 6520 6.5 coax $45
Speaker adapters $50
Door speaker adapter $30
Digi-key 0310671040 and 2-1419158-5 tweeter plug $10
Rockford Fosgate T1000x5ad $667
Sundown SD4 10D2 $289
Sounds Good Stereo door block off plates $100
Kilmat 90sq ft 80mil $150
Kilmat 25sq ft 50mil $35
Fastring foam rings $40
Knukonceptz wiring and fuses $140
LMI 1520 SA Seat relocation brackets $165
Misc ABS, MDF, wiring, heat shrink, wire loom, ferrules, ring terminals, carpet, vinyl, etc. $500

Hours
Sound deadening 10 hrs
Build amp board 3 hrs
Build sub box 15 hours
Wire system 3 hours

 

[smurfslayer]

Very nice!

 

[Clinsta]

Thank you for adding to the knowledge base on the forum! Nice job documenting your build too! Looks like for $2,700 you made a substantial upgrade to your sound system and greatly reduced the road noise in the cab.
I have a couple of questions.

1. What kind of upgrade would you do to door speakers and why?
2. What part of the upgrade required the LMI seat relocation brackets?
3. Outside of the door speakers, is there anything that you would have done differently or improved upon while you had your interior completely removed from the truck?
4. Any pitfalls or concerns in removing and reinstalling the interior of the truck?

Thanks again for the post!!

 

[crash457]

Thank you for adding to the knowledge base on the forum! Nice job documenting your build too! Looks like for $2,700 you made a substantial upgrade to your sound system and greatly reduced the road noise in the cab.
I have a couple of questions.

1. What kind of upgrade would you do to door speakers and why?
2. What part of the upgrade required the LMI seat relocation brackets?
3. Outside of the door speakers, is there anything that you would have done differently or improved upon while you had your interior completely removed from the truck?
4. Any pitfalls or concerns in removing and reinstalling the interior of the truck?

Thanks again for the post!!

1. I'm planning to upgrade the door speakers to something a little higher quality with a higher power handling. The JBLs are rated at 90w front and 65w rear. The amp puts out 100w so I have the gain set lower. I have the fronts set at -5db gain and the rears at 0db with the sub at -10db. With this setup, I get some distortion with the volume at full. I'm currently looking at Morel Tempo Ultra 692 6x9 separates for the front and Morel Tempo Ultra Integra 602 6.5 coaxials for the rear. They will handle more power and provide a better sound.

2. The LMI seat brackets move the seat forward 2.5 inches. This allows room for the sub box. I can still play the sub at full volume even with the seat up. Most setups cause the sub to contact the seatback when the seat is up. It also allows for more depth for the subwoofer. I didn't like the specs for most shallow mount subs. The Sundown has 15mm of excursion and only needs 4.5" of depth.

3. Not really. I did a lot of research and planning before beginning. I knew the door speakers might be an issue but they are an easy upgrade later.

4. Take lots of pictures and make notes when removing the center console. There are a lot of bolts and plugs. It gets a little confusing when reinstalling. Especially when it's the next day and not fresh in your mind. Also when reinstalling the carpet, make sure the shifter cable is not under the carpet. I had to pull everything back out to fix it after that mistake.

 

[The Car Stereo Company]

1. I'm planning to upgrade the door speakers to something a little higher quality with a higher power handling. The JBLs are rated at 90w front and 65w rear. The amp puts out 100w so I have the gain set lower. I have the fronts set at -5db gain and the rears at 0db with the sub at -10db. With this setup, I get some distortion with the volume at full. I'm currently looking at Morel Tempo Ultra 692 6x9 separates for the front and Morel Tempo Ultra Integra 602 6.5 coaxials for the rear. They will handle more power and provide a better sound.

2. The LMI seat brackets move the seat forward 2.5 inches. This allows room for the sub box. I can still play the sub at full volume even with the seat up. Most setups cause the sub to contact the seatback when the seat is up. It also allows for more depth for the subwoofer. I didn't like the specs for most shallow mount subs. The Sundown has 15mm of excursion and only needs 4.5" of depth.

3. Not really. I did a lot of research and planning before beginning. I knew the door speakers might be an issue but they are an easy upgrade later.

4. Take lots of pictures and make notes when removing the center console. There are a lot of bolts and plugs. It gets a little confusing when reinstalling. Especially when it's the next day and not fresh in your mind. Also when reinstalling the carpet, make sure the shifter cable is not under the carpet. I had to pull everything back out to fix it after that mistake.

first off, nice job on your build. but have a question and some comments for you, and hopefully it helps. by no means am i saying anything but constructive criticism here. so dont take it wrong.

define full volume. if you are at max on the head unit, you will definitely have distortion. if you set your max volume at 25 on the head unit, you are at roughtly 3/4 max of what the head unit will be. normally you get most output and least amount of distortion at 2/3 - 3/4 max volume. however its a little lower on these trucks.

dont pay attention to rms power. it means nothing. there are some facts you havent considered with your amp rating. no amplifier is 100% efficient. if your 100 watt/channel amp is 92% efficient, then you are getting 92watts. now also figure in the length of power cable and size of power cable and you could be as low as 85watts. also, (to a certain extent) more power is better. it gives you the dynamic headroom to make sure you are giving the speaker the power it needs to play. for example, i have the focal 165wx-p in my truck. they are rated for 135 watts. i am running active so the tweeter and door woofer both get 200 watts a piece. so 400 watts. now my amp is a class a/b amp (mosconi as200.4) and i believe is 89% efficient, so 178 watts/channel. l/0 ga power running to a distribution block to a 1.5ft 4ga run to the amp. so in reality im probably getting 170watts/channel. the reason i bring this up is that if you are hearing distortion at higher volumes, it could be because you arent supplying enough power to the speakers. a good way to test this is to get the song "dont know why" by nora jones. her voice will test even the most extravagent systems. you will hear her reach the high points in the song, and if you hear a fluttering type sound when she does, you should focus on the amp rather than the speakers.

also, what are the crossover settings for the speakers?

 

[crash457]

first off, nice job on your build. but have a question and some comments for you, and hopefully it helps. by no means am i saying anything but constructive criticism here. so dont take it wrong.

define full volume. if you are at max on the head unit, you will definitely have distortion. if you set your max volume at 25 on the head unit, you are at roughtly 3/4 max of what the head unit will be. normally you get most output and least amount of distortion at 2/3 - 3/4 max volume. however its a little lower on these trucks.

dont pay attention to rms power. it means nothing. there are some facts you havent considered with your amp rating. no amplifier is 100% efficient. if your 100 watt/channel amp is 92% efficient, then you are getting 92watts. now also figure in the length of power cable and size of power cable and you could be as low as 85watts. also, (to a certain extent) more power is better. it gives you the dynamic headroom to make sure you are giving the speaker the power it needs to play. for example, i have the focal 165wx-p in my truck. they are rated for 135 watts. i am running active so the tweeter and door woofer both get 200 watts a piece. so 400 watts. now my amp is a class a/b amp (mosconi as200.4) and i believe is 89% efficient, so 178 watts/channel. l/0 ga power running to a distribution block to a 1.5ft 4ga run to the amp. so in reality im probably getting 170watts/channel. the reason i bring this up is that if you are hearing distortion at higher volumes, it could be because you arent supplying enough power to the speakers. a good way to test this is to get the song "dont know why" by nora jones. her voice will test even the most extravagent systems. you will hear her reach the high points in the song, and if you hear a fluttering type sound when she does, you should focus on the amp rather than the speakers.

also, what are the crossover settings for the speakers?

Thanks for the feedback

Max volume is 30 and if the clipping indicator in the Rockford is to be believed (and from what I've seen, it's as accurate as a SMD DD1) I get no source clipping at 30. I'm not sure if this is because the PAC AMPPRO pulls direct from the data bus or what. I do know that others that use a line out convertor instead of the PAC see distortion lower in the volume. I have also seen that the 2018 and newer see some distortion with the ZEN at lower volumes too. I set the gains using the Rockford disc using their CLEAN setup indicators. Sub set with a 40Hz -10db track since the sub is more than capable of the power. The front and rear channels are set with a 1kHz -5db and 0db respectively to protect them at full volume. considering that there really isn't anything that I would listen to that would be reordered at 0db. I'm safe even at full volume. When I say they are distorting, that really isn't accurate. They just start to show there limitations in accurate sound reproduction at levels from 25 and up. as form RMS power, I understand that those numbers aren't always useful but my Rockford comes with a dyno test sheet that verifies 125w x4 and 650x1. These are again in a perfect lab condition with a controlled voltage but I feel comfortable that in my scenario, I'm still over the rated for the speakers. Mass production speaker manufacturers are known to be slightly optimistic with there power handling ratings before distortion occurs. This is usually fine because most amplifiers are over rated as well. Higher end speakers are usually under rated. Focal, Morel, Audison, etc are usually capable of exceeding their ratings and still have excellent sound reproduction. My goal is that in the future, upgrading the door speakers would allow for a better sound at all levels including high volume. Right now the sub is crossed over at 68Hz and the front is crossed over at 75Hz and the rear is crossed over at 85Hz. Since the built in crossover is a 12db, I separated the crossover point slightly to avoid as much overlap cancellation as possible. a 24db crossover would ideal but I couldn't justify and external crossover at this time.

 

[The Car Stereo Company]

your distortion might be from too low of crossover settings. try setting the fronts at around 100hz and the rears to 90. raise the sub to 80 as well. on a 12db slope, your speakers are dropping quite low into the sub level

 

[crash457]

your distortion might be from too low of crossover settings. try setting the fronts at around 100hz and the rears to 90. raise the sub to 80 as well. on a 12db slope, your speakers are dropping quite low into the sub level

Thanks, I'll give that a try. I've never run a sub crossover above 70hz but my previous systems were larger subs in ported boxes.

 

[Mike T]

You guys frickin lost me about the first sentence.....

 

[crash457]

your distortion might be from too low of crossover settings. try setting the fronts at around 100hz and the rears to 90. raise the sub to 80 as well. on a 12db slope, your speakers are dropping quite low into the sub level

I just reread this. Why do you recommend the fronts crossed over higher than the rear? I would think the 6x9 fronts would be able to handle lower than the 6.5 rears.