Complete Sound System in my 2nd Gen

Whats up guys,

I've done a handful of things to my truck, but haven't posted on here until now. I've done my fair share of reading, so figured its about time to contribute to the forum. Plus, I want to show off the sub enclosure that Mr. Marv made for me . Anyway, this isn't going to be a complete step-by-step guide for any of this stuff (there are plenty of those threads on here), just a general overview of my setup and a couple photos/ light discussion.

Equipment/Materials:

• Sony XAV-AX5000 touchscreen head unit (with Android Auto/ Apple Carplay of course)
• JL Audio C3-650 6.5" component speakers
• JL Audio 10W1V3 - 2 ohm 10" subwoofer
• Soundstream Picasso Nano
  $157 PN5.640D 640W 5-Channel Picasso Nano Class-D Amplifier
  PN5.640D 5-channel amp (I only used 3 of the 5 channels, as I only have speakers in the front doors plus the subwoofer in the rear)
• Dynamat sound deadener (36 sq. ft.) and aluminum tape
• Scosche dash kit
• Mr. Marv birch subwoofer encloser & speaker adapters
• Tan speaker box carpet from ebay

Photos/Discussion:



First thing I did was apply the Dynamat to the rear wall and the outer part of the doors. I made sure to tuck it behind the crash bar inside the door, so any water could run down behind the bar and not pool up over top of it, although maybe not necessary. I also ran the wires into the door and taped up some stuff to secure everything before applying the dynamat to the interior part.
This stuff was kinda a PITA at first, but I got used to it. 36 square feet was the perfect amount. If you want to do the rear doors as well, you'll need more. Didn't get any photos of the rear wall, but it was a pretty straight forward process, I only broke 1 clip removing the wall trim piece LOL. Ended up getting a bag of clips from the dealership for a couple bucks. They also came in handy for the doors....






Keep your workspace neater than mine. ^ This photo looks like a page from one of those seek-and-find books I had as a kid.

Next up was installing the HU and dash kit, I don't have a photo of that right now, but I'll post one later.





I ended up installing the crossovers under the passenger seat, that way I can adjust them if I want.



Here's a photo of the amp installed under the drivers seat, after the seat was put back in. Here the seat is all the way forward so I can adjust it if I need to. It's completely concealed under the seat when it is at it's normal position. As suggested by Mr. Marv, I placed a small sheet of plywood under the carpet and secured it to the sheet metal with a little construction adhesive that I had laying around. Then screwed the amp into it, through the carpet, effectively sandwiching the carpet between the amp and the plywood. Its solid.



This one is for anybody getting an angled sub enclosure from Marv that mounts to the rear center console bracket (I have an access cab). In order for it to fit properly on the bracket you need to use a 1/2" spacer when drilling the holes in the enclosure. Also, you'll need longer bolts by 1/2". The plywood spacer in the photo is temporary, you'll slide that out after marking and drilling the holes.





I didn't get photos of carpeting the box, but here it is completed and installed. The carpet I got from ebay isn't perfect but the color is close enough. None of my local shops had tan carpet so I had to take the gamble and order online. Looks good to me.



My HU has two USB's for plugging in your phone/ flash drive so I bought two flush-mount USB adapters from ebay to install into the two unused spots under the climate control module. They fit perfectly, just make sure to get the smaller of the two sizes (not the bigger ones like near the fog light button to the left of the steering wheel in my 2nd gen. I've already used one of those spots for my ditch lights and I still have an open spot for a light bar if i decide to install one).

The whole process took me a few weeks, mainly because I would work on it here and there with the little bit of daylight I had after getting home from work. Plus I was buying parts and bits and things as I went along. You could do it in a couple of days if you wanted to.

 

Can you link the USB jacks? Those are clean looking.

 

Yeah, they fit perfectly. Better than expected considering that they aren't model specific and came from China. They took a few weeks to arrive in the mail. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Car-...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

I was hoping to find a duplex version of that, but that seller only has single jacks.

 

Yeah, I ended up getting two single jacks. It wasnt an issue for me because I had two spots for them. I wasnt able to find a double jack in the little bit of searching that I did. If you really wanted to, you could pop the blank cap thing out and modify it to fit the two female USB ends into it. A little dremel work and some epoxy would do the trick but it wont look as clean as something that was molded from a factory

 

I found this one but IDK if it fits. I'm too lazy to go measure the hole right now!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1m-3-3ft-D...hash=item3f8f3bbad8:m:mV4pKMicaUizI0Zo6c97bJQ

 

Here's a photo of the HU installed. The scosche kit looks pretty good. It matches the color of the silver trim around the A/C vents.



Also I forgot to mention the most important part... It sounds infinitely better than the stock sound system! Idk if there was something wrong with my stock headunit/speakers or if it's just supposed to be terrible, but it didnt get very loud at all. I often listened to it with the volume on max. Even then I could still have a conversation with a passenger if I wanted. Needless to say, I'm not gonna max out this system because I like my eardrums the way they are. And this isn't even a high power system.

 

Niles, those C3-650's are a little rich for me. Don't get me wrong I'm sure they're worth the price of admission, but I'm just a poor average Joe. I'm going to use sound deadening on the back of my regular cab and the inner and outer door. Price wise I'm looking at the Rockford Fosgate R165-S speakers. Do you think that I'd be wasting my money? https://www.crutchfield.com/p_575R165S/Rockford-Fosgate-R165-S.html

 

You absolutely would NOT be wasting your money going with those speakers imo. I dont have any experience with them but I know that Rockford Fosgate is a reputable brand so I'm sure that they will be notable better than the stock speakers. I would however recommend adding a small 2 channel amplifier and/or upgrading your head unit to get the most out of them. Looking back, my $500 speakers are probably overkill. Dont get me wrong they sound amazing, but I'm not exactly an audiophile so I probably would have been just as happy with a less expensive set. My point is that you dont have to spend a lot of money to get a significant upgrade in sound quality. Good call on the sound deadening btw, it helps a lot. Good luck with whatever you go with!

EDIT: Do those speakers come with crossovers? Might be something that you'll want to look into

 

They do have crossovers. Though if I'm reading this right they are not adjustable. I'm hoping that wouldn't be a deal breaker.
"Crossovers: A 6 dB/octave high-pass crossover is integrated into the case of each tweeter. The woofers have two spades on each terminal; the wire from the tweeter, as well as the wire from the source are connected there."

 

Gotcha. Yeah then you should be good to go. All depends on how you want it to sound. I would recommend trying to find a local shop to listen to a few options. There are plenty of inexpensive speaker options out there. Kicker makes some good ones as well.

 

I'd love to hear about it if you find a good one.