2003 X-Cab 4x4 Budget Audio Build

Just found your build thread! Looks like lots of good reading. ThZnks for posting up all this info

 

Hope you find something useful in here ka

I made up some baffles for the TM65s & found a few hours to do some work





Then tried to stick them in the stock panel & discovered it would need to be seriously altered to make these fit. I'm going to need to find a better solution.

However I did somewhat anticipate this and picked up a pair of SEAS U16RCY/P 6 inch midwoofers

Next to the TM65



Next to the 5.5" Silver Flutes.



In the door. They used the same holes as the Flutes & only required minor modification of the old baffles so quick install. Boing!



That piece that offended the TM65s actually comes to the rescue with the SEAS as the coil is very exposed





Everything set to flat before retune, sub turned all the way down. Same levels and crossover points.



I was using REW through my laptop to generate a signal. Seems like distortion is on the high side here







These drivers are quite a bit different from the Flutes. I guess a good word would be detailed. Revealing. Supple. They're so nice and have me listening to a lot of stuff again that never really sounded that great with the Flutes - like live music. I can certainly tell the difference in a poor recording more easily. I think I've said this before but I wish I'd done this sooner.

I have 2, well, 3 more projects ahead. I need to finish the enclosure for the SA. I need to get the Helix DSP in which will require moving all the amps around & rewiring. And at some point, and this is now not a big deal, I'd like to try the TM65s. I think the DSP might have to take priority. Although these SEAS sound pretty nice with no EQ & really nice with just a few tweaks. Decisions.

 

Not so many pictures to share today, but I have had a little time to work on the truck. 2 Saturdays ago I re-arranged things under the passenger seat to accommodate the Helix DSP. It's tight, but I think it will work. I still need to work out cabling though as there's little room to spare, so while a space has been carved out, it's still not in the truck. Believe it or not, that took most of my work time . Err, I also ran a new OFC power wire, all in Techflex, but forgot to take pictures of all that. In time...

Last Saturday I played with the sub box a bit. I needed to trim a few panels & needed to get familiar with the flush trim bit first. That turned out to be a simple exercise, but with the way I'm having to clamp stuff it's tedious and time-consuming. Also, you've probably heard it before, but do respect the router. All power tools really, but the router is the most temperamental power tool I've encountered yet. It's extremely versatile, but will get a hold of yer damn neck if you aren't 100% into what you're doing.

Not the most ideal work station, but works. Getting ready to cut the inset for the driver



After vacuuming 10 pounds of sawdust out of the hole



On the big side it seems, but in my defense this circle jig is kinda cheesy.



I like the look though. I don't think I'm gonna round these corners after all as that will make it a real bitch when it comes to carpet.



It's raining today & I don't like to mess with MDF when it's humid so I'll be stalled again until it dries out a bit. Not much left to do now though...a bit of sanding then to assemble the box, mount the driver and apply carpet.

I've been playing with the new WinISD & modeled a few items for giggles. This is the vented enclosure I'm building for the SA (Green), SD as it is now (red), and SA in a sealed enclosure identical to the SD (blue). The vented enclosure has a high pass at 25 Hz to get vent speed under control. Some might struggle to consider the SA a SQ sub, but consider that it's going to give me almost an octave on the low end and appears that it will do so with a bit of authority. That's part of SQ to me. If the frequencies are missing, then SQ is being compromised. Plus the bottom octave is the best octave

Max SPL:



Oh, and the box design got modified a bit. Internal volume is a bit smaller, vent length is 32 inches - now tuned to about 29 Hz.

 

Work got slow again last week & it gave me a chance to work on the SA enclosure. And I'm almost done. Just need to trim the carpet a little more and get it mounted. It will use the same grill that the SD is using now - maybe will even get a re-cover. This thing really was a lot of work.



I've never built a slot port enclosure before and it wasn't as easy as I expected it to be. Actually most of my issues were due to my limited woodworking tools (and maybe skills ) but little things like t-nuts just kept stalling me.

Actually I've decided to hang up the t-nuts. I'm going to try threaded inserts next time. I'd be done right now, but one of the nuts fell out as I was installing the driver. I even made the effort to seat them well ahead of driver install and still managed to lose one. This happened on the test fit too.

I also picked up a Helix Pro DSP board and am still in the process of getting it into some sort of case.



I've had a tough time finding one but fortunately member d-squared offered to carve me one out of an aluminum billet!



I'm really excited to see where he goes with this.

Might try to stick this thing in the truck tomorrow to see how it sounds! Still need to find a mounting location for the DSP too. I just can't get all the amps and power management and DSP under there. Might just squeeze it if I relocate the power distribution?

 

Time for a work day - doing something I wanna do for a change. Maybe 2. Now that I got all my belts & water pump & whatnot out of the way I can spend a little time on this. Err, I needed to think it through as well. I built this enclosure for the SA a while back, but I couldn't figure out how I was going to secure it. With the driver it's exactly very fucking heavy and needs to be really secure. I'm also on the fence about where I want this thing exactly and this will allow me the flexibility to move it to the other side if I can't lean the driver's seat back far enough. Not ideal. I designed this to be behind the driver but could go to the other side if need be.

Another thing that held me up is the t-nuts. Evil, evil t-nuts. I've never had an issue before just hammering them into MDF, but this time it didn't quite work as planned. A smarter me might have glued them before attempting to use them, but live and learn, eh? Maybe you can see what's coming next. So one of them spun out. Actually 2 spun, but I was able to recover one miraculously. The other one though - I wasn't so lucky. Not only had I rounded the area the t-nut needed to grab, but managed to mangle one or 2 of the barbs. And the screw crossthreaded on the way out. It was a perfect storm. The only way into the enclosure was blocked by that damn screw.

I just let the thing sit there for months while I thought of possible solutions that didn't involve destroying the new enclosure I hadn't even heard yet. I wound up trying 2 different things. The first was extensions on a drill with a tiny bit to work the bolt free. It was really tedious work and the bit kept getting stuck so I turned to plan B. B for Big ass screwdriver. Really just long, but using a screwdriver as a chisel, very carefully whittled away enough MDF to get it out. This is not something I want to do again, but it worked. I got my sub back and I can still use the box. I'm gonna have to rotate the driver in a funky direction, but this time I'm using wood screws.

The scene of the crime





The other reason I needed in there



Good thing this is a robust sub. Not sure every sub I've ever used would have survived that. The SA cleaned up like new though along with a serious vacuum and air gun session to clear any debris or shavings from the gap.

That bolt was really stuck...left me some shavings as I got it out.







.................

 

Got everything all torn out of the back. I don't really like hauling people around anyway so this gives me an even better excuse.

CLD tiles somewhat sloppily installed on the wall. The constraining layer is so thick it makes straight lines nearly impossible. When I do this again I'll use a more malleable damper on the ribbed sections.



The idea here is pretty simple - a 3/4" carpeted birch plywood backer for the wall to replace the plastic bits and seats that were there...anchored to at least 5 factory bolt locations.



With the enclosure anchored to it using angle brackets



This still leaves me access to my large storage bin as well as the storage next to the enclosure. Actually this arrangement is going to work out giving me about the same storage as I had before as I never put anything on the side with the sub. The small bin will be filled with foam. I need to get some damper in there as well - spaced on that before.

Planning to leave a little space on the sides for bracket access. At this point I'll try to do something with carpet back here, but may go to a vinyl if it looks like shit. If I can figure out how to decouple it, I'll put the Helix DSP back here too.



Both the rear seatbelts are coming out as well.

 

So the seat reclining position isn't going to be a problem



Even if it were, tough titty - almost though



I had to remove or at least loosen the side covers to remove the rear seatbelts.



Those little seatbelt assemblies are rattletraps. I think I'm gonna be glad I took those out



I could tell I have some more deadening to do in these quarters. The rear speaker adapters especially are making a lot of noise. I may remove them completely & fill that big void with something. Dunno what but something.

I generally don't care for Home Depot's wood products, but I had to return some stuff today & made a stop by the lumber section to see what was on the shelf. As this isn't an enclosure and only going on the back wall, I figured a good, straight piece of birch from there would do fine. Paying extra attention to how straight these were, I neglected to pay attention to one of the side surfaces



Yep, that's wood filler.

It's sort of my fault as I did pick it out, but dammit. That line going through it - that's right where I need to put bolts .

It might just have to go back though. The edges were full of splinters so I decided to pull out the mouse and sand them clean.

Well that just started tearing it apart





Moral of the story - don't buy Home Depot's shitty 'lumber'. Even their best 'birch' sucks. And it wasn't cheap. I gotta pick up some wood filler for that booboo on my enclosure tomorrow anyway, so Ima see if they'll take it back marked up & sanded. I'll even return the pieces that fell off . My fault for buying that shit, but this is going to set me back a day at least as I really don't wanna use this sheet. I'm trying to put something nice back there. Oh well - I've waited this long - what's one more day? Without a subwoofer

 

Sometimes there are happy accidents.

Work suddenly got busy again out of the blue, so I have to shelve this project for at least the next few days. I had another work day planned yesterday but came down with some sort of nasty stomach bug & spent the day in bed. That meant that I had to get up at 4 am, shovel off 3 inches of snow, and get my truck driveable. Of course that includes getting a sub back in so I don't have to drive without one 'till I can get at all this again. I had plenty of time to rack my brain on how I would do this, but wasn't feeling better 'till this morning.

About the only thing I could come up with that could be done quickly was to toss it in the floorboard and move the seat up so it locks into place. So that's what I did - and discovered what a front sub sounds like in my truck



I've heard front subs before, but it never never gave me a wow moment. In the truck I know well though - it was a wow moment. It was a wow day. This is what I've been missing in the low end. I don't really think I can properly put into words what it did for the sound, but everything suddenly seems perfect. Just really good. I suspected that putting a sub up front would improve things, but not to this extent. Short of leaving this in the passenger floor, there's no way to do that in this truck without extensive modification. So this will be a short-term thing. It's obviously far from practical anyway, but man I wish there were a way to make it work. At least I can enjoy it for another week.

But now I know.

 

Fresh out of the CNC - the only one of its kind. It's going to the anodizer in a few weeks & then in the truck.







I wasn't sure I was gonna do it, but I'm going to have to integrate this thing in the install so that it can be seen...behind a removable panel, but it's too pretty to hide.

 

This new DSP's gonna need a controller. I'd been sort of halfway thinking about buying one of Helix's controllers, but since it seems to be easy enough to make your own, I'm entertaining ideas. Turns out it's really cheap to build one and this could be a really fun project.

I remembered I had this other Metra pocket in the closet. This is just like the one under the 80 PRS right now. Plenty of room in there for stuff.

Tracing out the outline on some MLV


Pencils mark really well on this stuff & it's easy to cut for a mockup

This was the first idea - just using some knobs I pulled off an old receiver and a terminal where a push switch might be with a placeholder to see how I might wanna mount some USB inputs for the head unit



Kinda how it would sit on the pocket



I got kinda inspired to do this as I was shopping for parts. I started to think where I was gonna even put this thing then remembered the pocket and the sub amp control that will be replaced. Then PE threw some more inspiration at me. This can be as creative or bland as I want it to be. Blingy is out, but maybe I can play on the music theme a little.

Like imitating a guitar face



Or something different with the switch



This leaves even moar room for moar gadgets. Maybe even a phono jack!



I'm thinking this won't be the easiest thing in the world to pull off, but I'm really liking the idea

 

Keeping the USB and adding a phono input



ditching the USB



ditching the USB and LED for a more authentic look

 

If I could burrow the LEDs behind the knobs so they're only visible when lit it might look something like deez



Still trying to convince myself that jack is a good idea. It is kinda fun though

 

nice work!

 

Thanks pichufo. Maybe I'll even get around to 'finishing' one of these days.

 

It never fails. I start to build some momentum and either work or weather get in the way.

I finally got around to trimming, carpeting and drilling the plywood for the back wall. No pictures of that as it was sort of tedious, but 5 test fits later I got it where it needs to be. I'm still working on enclosure details, but wanted to see what sort of difference the backer made in regards to noise suppression. Turns out that 3/4" plywood carpeted on both sides works very well.



Yes, those are earplugs shoved in the bracket holes. I need bolts

It's a nice improvement over what's back there from the factory (seats & cushions) - really quiet. I really wanted to see if I wanted to go further with the deadening back there before finalizing the carpet & installing the enclosure. I think this is going to be adequate. Now all the noise is up front - from the wheel wells.

This is the base for the 'modular' thing I wanted to do all along. This is going to give me a way to swap enclosures pretty easily. Some equipment will probably wind up back here too.

 

Back to it a little bit today. We've hit our busy season at work so I need to get this done. I've been installing (at work) something on the order of 12 hours every day so motivation to do more of it when I get home is tough. I hit a part snag again, but got as far as I could without going back to the store. Still need proper replacements for those earplugs and I can't get the bolts out of my factory seatbelts - they use some sort of funky little clip that won't come out unless I destroy it (which I will do if I can't find something quickly tomorrow morning).

Another test fit to see if the brackets I found at HD are going to work



Getting this thing back in with the brackets in place without destroying my interior or sending myself to the hospital or both is going to be tricky. I'll probably wind up installing the driver once the box is in the truck to make weight manageable.

It took me a while, but I managed to find 3/4" construction screws for to hold the brackets to the enclosure. I'd really prefer to use something larger, but this appears to be the only way this will work without sending studs through the rear of the enclosure and I figured lining that up would be a major PITA. With enough of these though I have faith. Since this is MDF I chose to pre-drill all my holes (which should probably be done in any type of wood).
Taping the bit with several layers of electrical tape makes sure I don't go too far. I don't want these going through the other side.



I love this Ridgid drill. I dropped it 10 feet off a ladder the other day and it just brushed it off. And that wasn't its first tumble. These things are workhorses and for the coin simply can't be beat.

Side brackets attached. Jury's out on top brackets, but I'll add them if I think they're needed.



Got the SA wired up and ready to install. It bounced back and forth between 1.7 and 1.8 ohms before settling at 1.7. The SD it's replacing gave me 1.8, so this should be a pretty even swap. I'll be able to use all the power the MRX has to offer however. It was a little too much for the SD. I'm going to try a stronger sub amp - around a kilowatt for the SA at some point when I find one.



I'm thinking the first choice would be another MRX - just a 110 i/o the 55, but may end up going down some other road. Choices are limited by space as I intend to keep both amps under the seats for now. That and the MRX has been such a great amp. And it runs super cool. Finding a 110 in good shape for a reasonable price hasn't been easy though.

I've said this before, but I think I might actually get to hear this thing tomorrow. Still thinking about a DSP location but that will have to wait until we slow down again - likely in the Fall. But who knows - maybe I'll find a way. I just hate to rush any of this. At least at that I am winning . Still need to get the TM65s in the doors too. I worked on that a little bit the other day but discovered the cutting boards I bought were just too much for my jigsaw so I'm back to the drawing board for that one. One of these days.....

 

I snagged a bunch of foam from a room build the other day. 2 big bags worth. I think I'm going to use every bit of it in here. I'm mostly using the packaging foam from large 2'x2' Shure ceiling microphones. It's closed and doesn't squeak when you rub it against other stuff - or the same stuff. It's really rigid too - using it for filler. It also cuts easily & predictably with a drywall saw.

Filled up the small bin behind the driver's seat



In the rear quarter. Gobs of room back here - again all stuffed with the same packaging foam. I used a couple sheets of open cell stuff behind the factory speaker spots in the rear as it doesn't get wet in there. And it came with open cell stuff from the factory which I just pulled out. No mold - doesn't look like it's ever seen water.



Finally got the sub in!



I need to tune it up, but drove around for an hour or so for initial impressions. I left the gain where it was with the SD in. The SA is much louder than the SD setup at the same gain level. I immediately noticed that it does indeed play much lower effortlessly - as WinISD suggested it would.

Of course I mostly hit the bass heavy music for this. Just to sort of see what she can do. I don't think I've seen it all yet, but output is shocking. It's way louder than I expected. It will flex panels and glass with under 600 watts - at least that's what it looks like is going on from the inside. It knocked my rear view mirror out of adjustment. And it plays loooooooooooooooooooow! loudly . I'm starting to think I don't need any more power. This thing is borderline violent.

I can tell it will take some work though. I'd gotten used to having the SD up front and this is certainly a downgrade from that as far as accuracy goes. Might try flipping phase and playing with TA a bit. It really needs some EQ too. This is more bass than I'll ever need. It will be fun sometimes, but I found it distracting driving with it that loud.

Some cosmetic work is going to happen at some point, but it's really nice out this weekend so I think I'll give my fingers a break for a couple days and go play outside. Looking forward to the next drive though. Might stick a mic in there tomorrow to see where I am & give it a quick tune.

 

Very nice build. Love the details and photos. Silverflutes and Seas drivers? You must shop Madisound - got my SB Acoustics and Scan-speak tweeters there. Active with quality drivers - not box store brand definitely sounds better for the money. Looking forward to the active results. Great work!

 

Thanks RuDawg!

Yes, Madisound is the bomb! If I could pick one place to win a shopping spree. I'm also pretty fond of Nick Lemons' little shop (Stereo Integrity - conveniently located right next door to Sundown). He keeps pushing himself with cool little drivers - such as recently bringing a very nice 3.5" widebander to the somewhat underserved market. Yeah, these little SEAS drivers are the bee's knees - certainly something to write home about. You'd definitely spend a lot more at a car audio shop to get to the same level. Preaching to the choir though if you're using a Scan/SB combo...yet another winner for oh so little coin.

I'm looking forward to some RTA results myself, but haven't gotten that far yet - can't wait to see how low it's actually playing. I found one track yesterday that was almost subsonic that appeared to be deforming all the metal and glass in front of me. I did get to listen a few more hours though and am walking back that part about the SD sounding so much better. After tuning the SA a bit by ear (and letting the suspension soften up a bit), I feel comfortable enough saying that even though this thing absolutely pounds if you need it to, it's also a musical sub and blends in nicely with the front stage even crossed pretty steep at 100 Hz. I thought it might sound like snot crossed this high, but it's very well behaved. Just listening to different types of music you'd never know this beast is behind you - ready to sneak up and insult your senses. Even the most delicate tracks are handled with grace. Break-in is definitely changing the driver's character. It was a little rough around the edges going in, but seems to be settling in nicely. Vent tuning below Fs doesn't seem to be an issue either.

 

This little nugget showed up the other day. Well worth the wait!

The only one like it in the whole world!



My camera batteries are shot, so a proper photo session will have to wait until I can find the power supply, but this is the house for my Helix DSP Pro board. Darren did a stunning job machining this case. It follows the Helix design most of the way, but the bottom is a different layout. Totally stoked to get my hands on this. The finish is gorgeous - matte anodized aluminum & close to the truck paint! Now to figure out where it's gonna live.

Still need to make a remote for it too, but we're working 60 hours/week now and traveling a lot so I'm not holding my breath. I still haven't had time to retune beyond playing with a few things while sitting still for various reasons. But on the whole I like the new sub setup. I still have it crossed at 100 Hz and have found no good reason to lower it. Imaging of lower frequencies is better than the SD ever was in the back. The front-loaded SD was better of course, but still suffered in the extension department. The SA took care of that.

I haven't detected any chuffing, so looks like I got the vent big enough. Not sure exactly how low it's playing, but I have the subsonic filter on the MRX set at 25 Hz. I'm still getting some subsonic information in some tracks which in some cases is really cool and in some is a little strange. I should be able to tame that with the Helix. Still no desire to increase power. Even when I'm in the mood for bass heavy music, the SA delivers enough to hurt my ears and re-arrange my rear view mirror. It's more than I can handle for more than a few seconds. I gave a bass demo to a guy I know the other day and he promptly got out with his fingers in his ears

It's largely a musical setup as well, but lingers a bit too long on some tracks. Very few tracks, but sometimes it's there. 99% of the time lowering the gain via the bass knob brings it home. Reversing phase also helped - just tried that. All things in car audio are a compromise and this particular layout sacrifices a rare bit of a rebound issue for a vast improvement in SPL and extension. I always had to hold back with the SD and that was always in the back of my mind. Sometimes I just really wanna rock out and hated having to watch the levels knowing one turn too far and I'm introducing hard parts. I can't possibly kill this SA with the power I'm providing it so that concern is gone. That's another gain in terms of the compromise. And again I haven't had time to give much effort to tuning.

It's been a lot of fun so far and I'm glad I did it. Hate it that it takes up so much space, but it's either that or power. And I have, AFAIK, an 85A alternator. I'm pretty sure I've come as close as possible to maximizing output and extension with the power and space I have to work with. Tuning will make it better. Looking forward to getting that done.