Grantasaurus

You're probably right about the subwoofers but I thought I'd give this option a try before putting in a sub. I got a good deal on the kenwoods so it won't be a huge loss if I don't hear much improvement from them over the crappy stock speakers.

What about the 2nd set of tweeters from the Kenwood components? Any thoughts on whether there would be any benefit to running 4 tweeters all the way around the cab? I have a feeling the infinity kappa tweeters will be more than sufficient.

Taking my time on this install and learning a lot along the way. Wife was a little shocked to come home and see all the interior trim stripped off our new truck.

Got pictures of where I spliced into the high level speaker wires in the kick panels and will post them soon. I know a few on this forum were asking for those.

Also found a blue factory plug behind the rear right seat that had a switched power line in it. I tapped into that for my remote line in to my sub since it's right where I'll be mounting my sub.

Grantasaurus

Today I got my whole system wired and listened to it for the first time. Sounded awful! I was convinced that the speakers were blown. Turns out it was the foam baffles I put in behind the speakers. I removed those and it now sounds great. Just goes to show how the acoustics of the enclosure is just as important as the speaker itself.

The kappa woofers were rubbing on the window as it went down so I ripped off the plastic mounting plate from the stock speakers and modified (dremeled) that into a spacer between the speaker and door. Problem fixed.

I have the rears running on low pass and I am getting a noticeable uplift on the low end. Doesn't come close to a sub though...

I think I'm going to end up using both sets of tweeters. One set in the A pillars and the other up high in the B pillars.

Grantasaurus

I could use some help. After testing quite a few different mounting locations behind the rear seat for my amp, I was never able to find a spot that gave me enough clearance to fold up my rear seats into their locking position.

The only solution was to ditch the mdf and mount the amp directly to the chassis using metal screws with the layer of back panel fabric between the amp and chassis. I'm hearing some alternator noise at low volume and I'm wondering if that is due to grounding issues from the way I mounted the amp. Any thoughts on that?

NastyNoble3k

Great thread...Grantasaurus, what was your outcome?

massive1

if u dont want to loose much space why dont u try under the seat subs, these are really thin and should do the trick. i haven't really heard how these subs sound, but it might be worth a look

Grantasaurus

I finished the install several months ago and absolutely love the new system. Turns out the noise was coming from the internal high level conversion in the amp (which was gray market). Switched to $10 Line out converters and the noise was gone - had nothing to do with grounding.

After mounting the amp in several locations I finally found a place that provided enough room to latch the seat back and fold up the seat into locking position. Here's a pic of the installed amp / crossovers and loc's. My first install, so it doesn't quite have the professional look but I'm ok with it.


I ordered the pillars from Tasca which included sony factory tweeters in them. I replaced the factory tweeters with the infinity Kappa tweeters. There was barely enough room inside the pillar for the larger tweeters but they did end up fitting. Here's a pic of the front tweeters:


I added a small basslink sub 8" which fit way up under the passenger front seat totally out of view. You have to get down at floor level to see it tucked away under the front seat. The sub cost ~$100 but made a huge difference in sound quality. I wasn't expecting much given the cost but it really fills in the low end.

Here's the sub I bought:

Here's a pic of the sub installed:


The sub also included a volume **** with a bright LED which provided a nice way to light up the inside of the center console storage box. Here's a pic showing where I installed that:


I ended up installing the Sony component tweeters in the back pillars. Here is a pic showing where I installed those:


The sound quality beats the pants off the factory system. Sounds better than premium sound in my old Xterra which included RockFord fosgate 6 channel system with subwoofer.

Most of the audio I listen to streams via bluetooth from either my iPhone or ipad. One day I noticed my steering wheel controls can advance songs on my iPhone/ipad via bluetooth which I thought was pretty slick. I use a $5 equalizer app that really cleans up the sound. Factory radio also sounds pretty good when RDS is enabled (it was disabled when I bought the truck).

I know a few on the forum have mentioned this, but this is the mod I did to be able to quickly fold down the rear seats. Otherwise it's a PIA to get to the pin that releases the latch.



Grantasaurus

Canadian Boyz

Looking good ... I cant imagine this sub would provide much bottom end ??? why the 8 and not the 10?

Rusher289

Nice set up i like the a pillar pods you have... I have three sets of tweeters in my truck and can screech some awesome ear piercers I also went with a c pillar mount on one set

bigshane90

I'm still laughing at that wiring chart hahha that's a power wire chart not speaker wire.

Grantasaurus

It added enough bass to make me satisfied with the sound. Not a thumpin system that would turn heads, but enough. I was skeptical also, but for $100 bucks I decided to give it a try (which is why I went with the 8").

I'd be curious to know if anyone has fit a 10" under the front seat. I'm sure it would sound even better. I was eyeing a similar product from infinity (think it was called basslink)- but it didn't look like it would fit under the seat.