My Regular Cab Stereo System Build (Yes, with a subwoofer too)!

Hello All! I had absolutely no knowledge on electronics. I built this from the ground up, so to say. I learned a lot along the way and I enjoy this every time I go out for a drive. Win win!

Any questions? Feel free to ask! Just thought I would share my system. Nothing special, but it sure makes me happy!

Here is my system on my 2002 Tacoma Regular Cab Prerunner-

Head Unit:
+ Sony WX-GT90BT.

Amps:
+ Precision Audio Hot Shots 90X4 (older than me and probably not that great, but it was free from my dad so I cannot complain).
+ "Loud" ? JBL 2 channel and I am running bridged (Given to my by my very nice neighbor).

Crossover:
+ Legacy LXR-6 with the bass remote.

Door Speakers:
+ 3 way coaxial 6.5" Kenwood KFC (I don't know the model number offhand). I built adapters out of acrylic to fit them.

Subwoofer:
+ 10 Inch Alpine Type-S 4 ohm Dual Voice Coil (I have it wired to 8 ohms and bridged).

Subwoofer Enclosure:
+ Built entirely by me.

The subwoofer box... I didn't want to go with a shallow mount subwoofer (nothing wrong with it, but I just didn't want to go that rout). I am 6'1" and need my seat nearly all the way back so I had to put my brain to work on this one...

What I did was remove the little brace thing in the middle of the truck against the back wall (That the jack handle sits against) and remove the jack handle and put it somewhere else. The subwoofer box is built contoured to the back of the taco to give me a little more space and the 0.54 cubic feet sealed volume that the subwoofer demanded.

If you notice, there is a weird connector on the subwoofer box. That is a BNC Connector. I am able to "quick disconnect" it and simply pull it out and put it in my truck bed, passenger seat, or even the middle seat (if you can even call that a seat haha) or simply leave it at home if I need to stash something behind my seat or get one more notch back for leg room.

Next thing I plan to do would be the "big 3" with the grounding and all that because I am having issues with alternator whine. If that doesn't work I will think about maybe re-arranging my RCA and power cables (they are separate, but not on the mounting board).

 

That mounting board looks good. Amazing how many people are sitting on perfectly good working amps that really have little resale value. Looks like you did a good job overall. I am sure that whine is driving you crazy. Grounding should help.

 

love the use of an external crossover...you don't see much of those anymore. did you ground your amps and crossover to common point?

kudos for using a BNC connector. i'm an electrical engineer and spent a lot of time in a lab building test fixtures, so i can definitely appreciate something like that.

 

Wow! It is nice to see that people are taking interested in this!

Yes, the two amps and crossover are all grounded to the exact same point. My head unit is not. I don't know if it'll help or not, but it's worth a try grounding that to the same point (I don't know how a long ground cable will effect it, but don't know till I try). Easy task to do.

Regardless of the outcome, I will still eventually be doing "the big three" (the bigger battery grounds, better grounds to car, etc).


Thanks again for the input, I really appreciate it. This alternator whine is not extremely bad, but it is very annoying and distracting.

 

I am completely mind boggled. The alternator whine is originating from my head unit. This one is brand new and did the same thing the last one did when I hooked an amp to it. Anyhow, I had these noise suppressor things laying around (that go between the RCA cables) that didn't work on the old head unit I had in before, but somehow work on this one. I am 100% sure without a doubt that everything is hooked up correctly. I even jumped the ground to the amp/crossover ground and no difference.


Here is what happened-
I have no freaking idea what it is, how it is, where it is, but it worked and that is all I care about right now. I am happy ^_^ Besides the part where my OCD is making me want to take everything off the mounting panel and put these on it now too....... -_-

 

I saw a post on here once where whine was eliminated by wrapping a wire to the back of the head unit in between the RCA jacks. I do not remember what it connected to though...

 

Does what you are referring to look like this? (See attachment).

 

Yes that is it. It was whine related, right?

 

Yes it was definitely alternator whine. At one point with my gains up it sounded like I had a turbo charger when the volume was low LOL.

I will actually try that red-neck fix like the red-neck I am haha. It's 100 degrees out, and I don't want to deal with it right now.

I will definitely post my results when I do it tomorrow. I am definitely trying it as I don't want anymore clutter on my panel that the amps and crossover are mounted to.

 

So I just muscled through it and ended up grounding all the RCAs. Did absolutely nothing for me.

Well, the inline noise suppressor things work good enough for me. I cannot hear the buzzing through them and also with the car off there would be a very slight hiss. That hiss is completely gone now with the noise suppressor.

I wanted a more permanent and legit solution, but whatever. I have done all that I can at this point...as far as I know.

Anyhow, noise suppressors are working fine for me at this point so I will just stick with 'em! Thank you for the help!!

 

in my experience grounding is trial and error. what may work in one installation does not work in another. glad to see you were able to fix it.