I am really liking this build. I love the speaker rings. That is the first time I have ever actually seen how they are used. Showing the old plastic ones first was a big plus for me. I also like the cables and other accessories you are using. Too many times people scrimp on the details.

I do, however, have a couple of questions.
First, what is the round plastic "fitting" in the front of the amps? Second, I have always heard that you should run RCA's on one side of the vehicle and Power cords on the other. Is this an old wives school, or have things changed that much?

 

Looks cool. Same place i built my amp rack, cept i put the amps inside so as to hide them. Its getting too cold here to be clownin in the garage, maybe next spring ill finish getting the beats a poundin.

I wemt with two 350 watt mono Alpine amps, and dual DVC 12s from JLAudio. Another deck booster amp and Alpine deck thats 50rms x4 and JL components inside. I dont know how it sounds, but Alpine ans JL have never let me down yet so it should hammer well.

To the guy above, thats an old wives tale from back when wires werent shielded with much more than tar and paper. Nowadays all the wiring is well shielded and wont make a difference.

 

Sorry it's taken so long to respond to you guys' replies. I have subscribed to the thread so I get updated now, lol.


Thank you so much for the comments! I went a fair bit more extreme on my baffles than most people will ever need to, but the results are fantastic. I'm glad you noticed all the little details, they're my kryptonite though and often why my stuff takes so long to complete.

That plastic fitting is a Neutrik Speak-on connector. It's a heavy duty non shorting quick connector that is often used on PA speakers and amps. You can buy the plugs and jacks from PartsExpress. I'm using them so that I can quickly and easily remove my sub enclosure when needed. As for the RCA's and power wires, that's no wives tale, at least in the sense that you can't just lay them all together. If you notice I had them all separated with the speaker wires between the RCA's and power wires. They're not close enough together to cause an issue with the power I'm running. If I were running much larger amps then I would had to have separated them farther or ran them on opposite sides.


Thanks for the comments! You've got a nice selection of equipment for sure and if you pay attention to the details on your installation you'll get some fantastic results.

 

This is exactly what I've been looking for. I've been out of the car audio game/addiction for some time and have been doing some reinstatement lately. I'm in the process of doing the "same" audio upgrades on my 97' and have been inspired by your build thread. Seems you've got a solid grasp of this process and look forward to future progress reports. Thank you for your time and the work it takes to post all this helpful information.

Looks like my next tool is a router.

 

Thank You!

I'm glad my build was some help and inspiration. It does take a little time to get all that posted up but I take the time for this very reason. If it can help someone out or give them an idea then it was worth it.

I look forward to seeing your progress on your build as well.

 

Great looking build Cant wait to see it finished! Whats your thought on 2nd skin? You think its worth the price? or is Dynamat just as good?

 

Thank you! I can't wait to get it finished either, lol. I like the SS Damplifier, it's easy to work with, sticks like there's no tomorrow and seems to do the job it was intended for. The regular Damplifier is cheaper than Dynamat Extreme though but really any decent CLD will work and do it's job. SecondSkin, RaamMat, Dynamat, and SDS (SoundDeadenerShowdown) are all great products. Pick the one that fits your budget and go with it, there's not any particular one that's hands down better than the other, really.

 

Okay, a little update. Things are moving along, albeit extremely slowly, but the enclosure is ready for assembly. Plexi has been cut, all the panels are cut, it's ready to be glued and clamped, cutouts made and then finished.

I have one picture to upload thus far, where I'm working on getting the plexi cut. You can see the enclosure panels standing on end in the upper right corner of the picture next to the oil drum. Woohoo, I may actually get this done this year, LOL.

 

Another teeny tiny update. I got the Clarion CZ702 installed in the truck over the weekend and spent awhile tweaking and tuning it. I have to say first off, I'll never buy another unit again and/or build an installation for myself that doesn't have a complete and comprehensive set of controls such as is found in the Clarion. Be it a HU like the Clarion or a seperate DSP like the miniDSP, MS-8, or whatever all else is out there, it's going to have processing power. With the simple controls of the Kenwood I was able to get quite satisfactory results. I did have a little issue in the 3khz region in which it would almost sound as though the music would screech at high output around that frequency. I'm sure it's a limitation in the speaker and passive crossover design along with installation effects, but it was really only noticeable on certain songs. I had very adequate midbass response and was generally able to get it plenty loud enough for my tastes with very little or no distortion at all with the capability of feeling the midbass in my chest and body on a few songs. I am proud to say, with all the tweaking and tuning I've done so far with the Clarion that I was able to get even better midbass response with less distortion and I've gotten rid of that annoying anomaly in the 3khz region. I can feel the midbass in almost every song I listen to now, not to mention the sound stage is twice as wide and up on top of the dash like it should be after making the time alignment adjustments. Having AT LEAST this kind of processing power should be an absolute requirement for every HU from every manufacturer, lol. I also love the fact that every adjustment happens on the fly. With the Kenwood's I have, if you make a crossover adjustment or change the frequency or Q on the PEQ, or even changing the distance of the DTA (on my KDC-X99 in the van) the sound cuts out for a split second. I assume it does that so the software in the HU can make the adjustment to the signal. On the Clarion it's instant, no pause or cut in the sound at all. I love that because I can hear the slight differences the adjustment makes and hear it really well by switching back and forth a few times to tell if I'm on the right track or not. All in all the HU really kicks *** and I'm likely to get another couple of them just to have on hand! I'm looking forward to trying an active setup with it sometime. The ONLY issue I have found with the unit was one that was mentioned on a few reviews I found on it is that when there's no music playing through the unit there's just a TINY bit of background static type noise. It just is noticeable when there's no music playing and not noticeable at all when it is. If you turn the volume all the way to 0 it goes away, but it doesn't get any louder at all when turned all the way up to 40. It's kind of odd and I think it's a side affect of the DSP and it's software that's built into the unit. I can definitely say if you've looked at the unit with interest but wasn't sure, don't be afraid it has VERY solid features and all the adjustability and how easy it is to adjust is simply amazing to me. On a side note the Bluetooth works great and the dual control for the iPod/iPhone is a kick *** bonus as well. I haven't had a chance to play with the Pandora app much yet but so far it's equally easy and great to use.



Here's a before picture of the Kenwood KDC-X492 coming out:




Here's an after pic of the Clarion CZ702 installed and on:

 

WooHoo, I actually have a REAL update to post!! The box building is ON! Still have a LONG way to go before it's finished, but at least I can actually say it's coming together and mean it!




Setting up the corner clamps, and getting ready to glue the first side panel on.





Glued and clamped.





One extra clamp (cheap POS, broke the first one, lol) and nailed.





Second side going on and getting glued and clamped.





Second side nailed.





Getting the front glued, clamped and nailed as well.







If everything goes according to plan the other side of the front will get attached tomorrow and I'll start getting the top and bottom attached. Hopefully if everything goes according to the current plan by the time the weekend comes around I'll be working on centering up and getting all the alignments done for the double baffles, flush mounts, etc. Damn thing is finally starting to move along, a light is starting to make a faint glow at the end of the tunnel.