DIY stereo upgrade for under $500.00

[smurfslayer]

I agree. Sorry for hijacking.

@Bent22 Please PM me and we will get this fixed.

wouldn’t hurt to have it’s own thread - but he’s in capable hands...

 

[tlnt60]

So looking to do this setup in my truck. Only substitution I wanted to make was the sub and amp. I spoke with people over at crutchfield and they suggest the kicker compRT 43cwrt81 and the kicker 43cxa3001 amp.

My question is - for those who have installed the pioneer sub and Kenwood amp, this kicker puts out twice the power but sticks out about 0.35 inches further. And the kicker amp is 8x6.75x2.5 vs the Kenwood one that is 4x6x2, would these still fit behind the seat? Crutchfield’s systems showed that mounting size (circumference) and holes are the same on the kicker and pioneer.

Thanks very much for any help! Hoping to get this installed next week so I want to order as soon as possible!

 

[Wolfeman]

I've done the Kicker and the holes line up exactly with the holes on the 2017 box. I don't know about the 2018 or 2019 trucks.

I also found this from a previous post of mine about adding a sub - "The Kicker sub holes do in fact line up perfectly. Because of the increased depth of the mounting holes, you do need new screws. I used #12 x 1 inch sheet metal screws and they worked perfectly. I did have to grind the head down a little to get them to fit the holes in the subwoofer. Also, I choose hex head SLOTTED so that I would have something to get them screwed down because the subwoofer won't allow the nut driver to get down far enough.

Also, I found it better to heat the box with a heat gun from the outside and push from the inside. Takes longer but less likely to push through in my opinion."

 

[tlnt60]

I've done the Kicker and the holes line up exactly with the holes on the 2017 box. I don't know about the 2018 or 2019 trucks.

I also found this from a previous post of mine about adding a sub - "The Kicker sub holes do in fact line up perfectly. Because of the increased depth of the mounting holes, you do need new screws. I used #12 x 1 inch sheet metal screws and they worked perfectly. I did have to grind the head down a little to get them to fit the holes in the subwoofer. Also, I choose hex head SLOTTED so that I would have something to get them screwed down because the subwoofer won't allow the nut driver to get down far enough.

Also, I found it better to heat the box with a heat gun from the outside and push from the inside. Takes longer but less likely to push through in my opinion."

Perfect thank you, did you run the same amp as I will be? Also did you stick with the pioneer speakers or did you use kicker door speakers?

 

[tlnt60]

So I ended up doing this. Ran the pioneer speakers, and did the kicker cxa 400.1 (300 rms at 2 ohm) amp this amp has hi level inputs build it do it was really easy to install and do a clean job, and used the kicker compRT sub (1 ohm DVC). I also
did run a remote gain control as I listen to several different types of music. So far sounds quite a bit better than stock, (not as good as my AMG merc, but similar to my wife’s XC90 with the B&W system) and I’m sure it will get better as it breaks in.

 

[Saby]

I've been following this thread for a while. Got a question. Looking to get this setup going

- navtv Zen a2b DSP
- Polk audio db692 6x9
- Polk audio db6502
- Rockford Fosgate R1T-S for front pillar
- Kicker 44ksc3504 for the center
- JBL exceleron xrw804 sub (worried about fit in the original location)
- JBL gtr104 amp

Maybe one of the guys here can look at this see if this will work or am I missing anything.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dhmcfadin]

I've been following this thread for a while. Got a question. Looking to get this setup going

- navtv Zen a2b DSP
- Polk audio db692 6x9
- Polk audio db6502
- Rockford Fosgate R1T-S for front pillar
- Kicker 44ksc3504 for the center
- JBL exceleron xrw804 sub (worried about fit in the original location)
- JBL gtr104 amp

Maybe one of the guys here can look at this see if this will work or am I missing anything.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

- navtv Zen a2b DSP- good

- Polk audio db692 6x9- get rid of this. You don’t want Coax and a tweeter as the front stage. Get a good set of components. Put the midbass in the door and tweeter in the a-pillar.

- Polk audio db6502- fine for the rears.

- Rockford Fosgate R1T-S for front pillar- You don’t want Coax and a tweeter as the front stage. Get a good set of components. Put the midbass in the door and tweeter in the a-pillar.

- Kicker 44ksc3504 for the center- get rid of this, center channel won’t be retained. It’s also not needed anymore. The oem center channel is not a real center, it’s a mix of left and right and is only present to make up for the low power output of the factory b&o amp.

- JBL exceleron xrw804 sub (worried about fit in the original location)- can’t find this sub online.

- JBL gtr104 amp- this is only a 4 channel. If you want a sub as well, you will either need a second amp or go with a 5 channel.

- I would strongly consider you invest an additional $150.00 in a Dayton 408 DSP. It will greatly improve the performance and imaging of your system.

 

[Saby]

- navtv Zen a2b DSP- good

- Polk audio db692 6x9- get rid of this. You don’t want Coax and a tweeter as the front stage. Get a good set of components. Put the midbass in the door and tweeter in the a-pillar.

- Polk audio db6502- fine for the rears.

- Rockford Fosgate R1T-S for front pillar- You don’t want Coax and a tweeter as the front stage. Get a good set of components. Put the midbass in the door and tweeter in the a-pillar.

- Kicker 44ksc3504 for the center- get rid of this, center channel won’t be retained. It’s also not needed anymore. The oem center channel is not a real center, it’s a mix of left and right and is only present to make up for the low power output of the factory b&o amp.

- JBL exceleron xrw804 sub (worried about fit in the original location)- can’t find this sub online.

- JBL gtr104 amp- this is only a 4 channel. If you want a sub as well, you will either need a second amp or go with a 5 channel.

- I would strongly consider you invest an additional $150.00 in a Dayton 408 DSP. It greatly improve the performance imaging of your system.

Appreciate the fast response bud!

Suggestions of what to go for vs coax?

Also the sub is Kenwood Excelon xr-w804.

 

[Chris Mies]

So I ended up doing this. Ran the pioneer speakers, and did the kicker cxa 400.1 (300 rms at 2 ohm) amp this amp has hi level inputs build it do it was really easy to install and do a clean job, and used the kicker compRT sub (1 ohm DVC). I also
did run a remote gain control as I listen to several different types of music. So far sounds quite a bit better than stock, (not as good as my AMG merc, but similar to my wife’s XC90 with the B&W system) and I’m sure it will get better as it breaks in.

What enclosure did you put the CompRT in?

 

[Wolfeman]

Appreciate the fast response bud!

Suggestions of what to go for vs coax?

Also the sub is Kenwood Excelon xr-w804.

Pretty sure the mounting depth on that sub is going to be too great for a behind the seat enclosure, especially if you are hoping to re-use the factory enclosure.