Comprehensive Ford Raptor Supercab Subwoofer/Amp installation Instructions

[BIRDMAN]

So, did you turn the "Bass" level on the head unit down, to ease some stress on the door speakers, while turning the remote gain on the amp up, to fill in the bass?

How's the "overall" sound quality now, after you did this? Can you crank it up pretty decent and still retain good quality without distortion, now that the door speakers won't have to crank as much bass out?

P.S. Your picture links are broken!

i have noticed that the speakers start to distort at about 3/4 volume, with the bass setting 5/7 for songs with a lot of bass. which is actually very impressive...that's louder than i would normally listen to my music. unless i'm feeling it

i have the bass set at 4/7 and when i tuned my amp's input sensitivity and output volatage i did so with the bass at "0" to compensate for this. i also turned up my treble +2, and moved the fader F + 1 to push the center channel a bit more.

i suppose to a point if i turn my input sensitivity up too high, and then crank the head unit bass up then my amp will be putting out a higher AC voltage at the speaker lines than what is recommended, which could result in sub distortion or clipping. i have not yet experienced any distortion from my sub though.

the main thing that took some fine tuning is that the factory speakers lack any full mid range bass because a lot of it was produced by the factory sub(that's about all the factory sub was good for, not low frequency stuff).

so, what i ended up doing was setting my low pass filter on the sub amp(it goes from 40hz-200hz) slightly higher on my sub amp(around 100hz), forcing my sub to produce more mid-level bass without causing distortion.

this is something you have to do to make sure you aren't missing any frequency ranges in your system output and it improves the overall sound quality.

when your door speakers "bottom out" on their low frequency cutout, and then the sub is right there to catch the mid level bass all the way down to the low frequency 40-50hz stuff.

i recommend downloading a bass tester track that does noise frequency sweeps, up and down, up and down. listening to this you can clearly hear where your system is lacking because you simply won't hear anything.

there's a frequency range between where your door speakers won't go any lower...and where the sub won't produce any higher. closing that hole in your frequency range will make for a very full, quality sound.

i have mine tuned perfectly where if listening to Metallica for example, i can "feel" the low frequency kick of the bass drum in my seat, and also since i have my lpf turned up high enough... during bass guitar and E-chord guitar riff sections i can feel the fullness of the sound which is being supplemented by the sub.

 

[BlueSVT]

Sweet, exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for the info, looking forward to having decent sound.

 

[Maxx2893]

I've gotta do this soon. I am now going to take your advice instead of the raw power setup i described to you in my pm. I can't wait for this.

BTW the only song i have sound that actually sounds pretty good bass wise on the stock system is this:
Tech N9ne "He's a Mental Giant" Official Music Video - YouTube

 

[Stefaniw]

hew bird man could you run the stock sub/with its stock amp aswell as do the mod that you have done ? that way you would have more range? you could mount your new amp under one of the front seats. thanks for the great thread!!

 

[BIRDMAN]

hew bird man could you run the stock sub/with its stock amp aswell as do the mod that you have done ? that way you would have more range? you could mount your new amp under one of the front seats. thanks for the great thread!!

you could just splice the wires and leave your stock sub installed, but honestly 2 different size subs working off 2 different amps would probably produce a less desirable sound.

that is, of course, if you can actually hear your stock sub. this system as tame as it is, still produces enough bass that it would completely drown out the stock sub. also, i would be concerned that sharing the signal wires with another amp might have negative effects on the signal input quality.

 

[KTM RAPTOR]

Boom Boom Boom

I just finished my rough install today. I still have to order the sub enclosure for under the seat, but for now I slammed in a box and mounted it to the seat bracket. I ended up using a 600 watt Alpine Type V or something?!? (It was laying around) The sub is a 10" Alpine 300 watt.

Thanks again for the detailed write up. (It took me 45 minutes to fish the wire through the firewall... Had to come back and look at your picture, FAR LEFT LOL) Gotter done though. sill gotta put the rubber grommet back in all the way as well.

Thanks again Birdie.

 

[BIRDMAN]

Sweet! glad it worked out! Make sure you use a lock washer on that ground connection.

 

[johnlocal3]

Bird,

Is there any particular reason why you did not go with a 12" sub or 2x 10" subs on the install? Just curious I am thinking about running this setup in my truck. I have a supercab but I was thinking about doing a 12" sub. At the same time I don't wan't my ears bleeding!

 

[BIRDMAN]

Bird,

Is there any particular reason why you did not go with a 12" sub or 2x 10" subs on the install? Just curious I am thinking about running this setup in my truck. I have a supercab but I was thinking about doing a 12" sub. At the same time I don't wan't my ears bleeding!

i definitely only wanted 1 sub just due to the additional cost of another sub, bigger amp and the box its self($400-$500 more). i went with a 10" because I listen to a lot of rock/metal and wanted the tightest sound possible. I also considered that going with 2 subs would make it necessary to upgrade the door speakers to compensate. i was really just shooting for an improvement over stock rather than an earth shaking system. i think i achieved that and i'm very happy with it.

If I want to go to 12" at some point I can just expand the cutout. a 12" would be slightly louder than the 10", 2 10"s or 2 12"s would definitely be a lot louder but based on the available mounting depth you won't get an ear bleeding setup. the boxes only allow for 5 1/8" mounting depth which is generally going to be an entry level sub. to get in to the JL W3/W6 or the Alpine Type-R class of subs you would need a lot more room but with two of either you would have the potential for the ear bleeding setup

 

[johnlocal3]

i definitely only wanted 1 sub just due to the additional cost of another sub, bigger amp and the box its self($400-$500 more). i went with a 10" because I listen to a lot of rock/metal and wanted the tightest sound possible. I also considered that going with 2 subs would make it necessary to upgrade the door speakers to compensate. i was really just shooting for an improvement over stock rather than an earth shaking system. i think i achieved that and i'm very happy with it.

If I want to go to 12" at some point I can just expand the cutout. a 12" would be slightly louder than the 10", 2 10"s or 2 12"s would definitely be a lot louder but based on the available mounting depth you won't get an ear bleeding setup. the boxes only allow for 5 1/8" mounting depth which is generally going to be an entry level sub. to get in to the JL W3/W6 or the Alpine Type-R class of subs you would need a lot more room but with two of either you would have the potential for the ear bleeding setup

Thanks for the extensive explaination. I would consider changing my door speakers if it was going to give me a Bette quality and crisper sounding system. Do you recommend any particular door speakers for the truck?

Back to adding two subss instead of one. I don't want to rattle the teeth out of my head so do you think adding 2x. 10" subs would over do it? I'm not a 16 year old kid hooking up a sound system in my shitbox irock anymore lol!