Truck Audio the Long Way

Interlude 2: More sound deadening stuff and better speaker rings

I decided I wanted to do a few things to mitigate some sound issues

 

Rev 12 - Swap out Morel Tempo Ultra Tweeters for CDT Unity 8.0

 

Interlude 3 - another excuse? Amp issues

 

Rev 13 - Swap amps (again) and delete external DSP

 

Rev 14 - Swap head unit

I had been thinking about doing this for a while. Head unit swap from the Kenwood DMX905S to the Pioneer DMH-WT8600NEX

 

Rev 15 - Pods and dash swap out

This change kind of overlaps the last rev. I always liked the idea of moving the speakers in the dash to somewhere closer to on-axis...

 

Interlude 4 - What's next?

So as I have said, it's ever evolving. Barring anything ridiculous occurring to my amp, that is not changing. However, my door speakers will be later this summer. They will either be HAT 6x9s, AudioFrog 6x9s, CDT 6x9s or the new Karma 6x9s.

So what is my point? The point is, have a plan! As you can see I clearly did not, and spent way more money than I ever really needed to - which leads into have a budget! Also, if you have a plan and a budget, but that budget is high, spread your purchases out!

 

@CoastieRon

Great thread, are you not happy with the Morel 6x9's up front. Any plans for that set with the tweets and Xover if you get rid of them?

 

Well, I'm glad you asked LOL.

Right now the crossovers for that set are being used in my bluetooth boombox. However, I have other passive crossovers I can swap those out with.

I don't have any issue with the Morels. They're good drivers. I feel as though I'm chasing that "last 5%" and at the same time, I'm just kind of bored, and when I get bored, I do shit.....

As for what I might do with them? I think I'd like to sell that set to recoup whatever I can for a new purchase. I'm probably going to sell the unity 8.os as well....

 

hmmm, i may be interested. I have some Hertz 6.5 Energy Comps that I never installed yet but im thinking the 6x9 may give me some better mid bass response up front. Im still deciding on an amp to run the front and a possible 8'' sub before i install anything up front. Ive already deadened the doors and added a Kenwood Excelon HU

 

Mr. Marv said to me when I asked him about moving to 6x9s "Ron, there's a big holes in those doors, fill em up" LOL

 

@CoastieRon
That makes a ton of sense and he is one of the nicest guys i have ever talked to about audio equipment.

Keep me in mind if you sell them. I may give them a shot if they haven't taken too much punishement.

 

I'll keep you in mind. Marv is an awesome dude for sure!

 

LOL, just catching this after I ordered new stuff for my stereo. For the third time. I'm not nearly as invested as you, though! But yeah, I am bored and needed a project. I started with the Kicker tweeters and JBL door speakers, then added a Kicker Key running all speakers, now planning on replacing the front door and dash speakers with components and running them in bi-amp mode off of the Key. Also adding sound dampening at the same time, should have done that in the first place.

I like the DSP and tuning that the Key does -- with the current setup, I just run things flat, so it figured something out. Hopefully it does a good job of tuning in bi-amp mode.

Thanks for the recap of your journey, quite the saga!

 

And now, after deciding I wasn't going to do anything else, I have decided to buy a set of Audiofrog GS690s...... They'll be here tomorrow....

 

we knew it was coming. Lol

 

So this is kind of the perfect example when people start out an audio upgrade with the words “I just want…”

Which is why I’m always poo poo on anything Kicker, Boss, Dual, etc. I know we all start out fairly ignorant, and also that damn well you can lead a horse to water but can’t make him drink it.

“No man has ever learned anything from someone else” comes to mind, but also it’s really about the journey too. This is a tale of extreme audio adventure and it starts out just like the MMO has you with killing worms and bunnies just outside the gates of your starting city, and evolves into what could only be considered end game content, at least until the next expansion. There’s always a next level.

Also I can’t believe you fell for the Dayton DSP. C’mon man, you knew that thing was a piece of shit before you put it in the cart. At least you didn’t end up having to spend a few weeks trying to convince yourself it wasn’t before having the come to Jesus.

 

This is exactly why I posted it. I firmly believe that people can do better. People drop ridiculous coin on stuff they never will use on their trucks, but skinflint out on audio. And I'm no different. But like everything, learning the hard way seems to be the best way I learn, much to the detriment of my wallet.

Man, that Dayton was noisy AF. I just packed it up willy nillie and sent it back. I'll be honest, the MiniDSP unit is just sitting in a drawer as well.

There is so much out there that is better - I understand the whole concept of "plug and play", and there certainly is a market for that. The whole $250 Premium Audio has so many tweeters in it, I wouldn't ever recommend it to anyone. 8 friggen tweeters! EIGHT!!! Who does that?

 

Damn you. After I run the AFs for a week, I'll pack up the Morels and shoot you a PM. They have not been abused, and are currently bandpassed 90-500hz....

 

Sounds good, when you get a chance, shoot me a DM with some pics of them and we'll see what we can work out.