Looks really good! I am getting jealous of seeing those great boxes! If I could get workmanship like that around here, I might actually concider letting someone do it for me! Please get us some drawings so we can build our own since not all of us are lucky to live by you so you can build one for us!!!!!!!!

It looks as if both those amps together are about the same size as the pretty large Infinity Kappa 255a 5-ch amp I was thinking about using when I do my stereo (they are currently on sale at Crutchfield). I was probably going to put it on the other side though since that seat won't fold down all the way with the box under it anyway. How hard is it to remove the back panel of the cab? I really need to get off by butt and order that service manual! Was the sub-level control you used part of the amplifier or did it control the high->low level converter for that amp (as it looks like there are RCAs going into those amps)? Did this customer go with that JL Audio driver as well or did you use another brand that worked well in this box? (I'm very reluctant to buy a JL since you can't get them mailorder and the people who sell them around here are pretty sleazy).

Keep up the great work!!!


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2001 SuperCrew Lariat 4x4
Deep Wedgewood Blue/Graphite Captains chairs
5.4L, trailer tow, sunroof, bed extender

And a list of mods that will have me busy (and broke!) for months!

'92 Stealth RT/TT
Feelin' the need for more boost!

 

Hey Dechman, you opened a can of worms!!

I ordered a 4-channel amp from Crutchfield and I want all 4 door speakers and my subwoofer hooked up to it. I'm also going to put my Pioneer 7200 deck and 12 disc changer in.

I was told that all 5 speakers can be powered if the doors are run in parallel. All the installers act like this would be a nightmare and one guy wanted $240 to hook up the amp and said that all new door wiring needs to go in? My amp will fit in the other rear compartment without removing the back panel like you had to.

What do you think of running them in parallel? Do I need all new wiring?
It looks like you ran the wires down the center, rather than down the side under the kick panels.

I miss my tunes! But I'm scared to let just anybody work on it.
TIA

 

erased

[This message has been edited by Femseadoo (edited 01-14-2001).]

 

Did a customers' Screw, with a big four channel and med sized two channel to run his new door speakers and signle ten inch woofer. He kept the stock radio and changer, but we added a sublevel control, where the stock cigarette light goes.
The jack needs to be relocated to the drivers side, but other than that pretty easy install.












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~DECHman
2001 S-Crew Lariat, 2wd, 5.4L, loaded, astro tonneau cover, bedrug, dealer installed bug gaurd, Precsion Power PC 2300 LE 300W amp, 2x JL Audio 8w3d4 subwoofers under rear seat, Clifford alarm with remote start, tilt, prox, omni sensor, window control, radio control, headlight control, back up battery siren, window tint, PIAA 9007 SuperWhite headlight bulbs with CATZ Zeta headlight enhancement transformers.. soon to have new subbox with a JL Audio 10w6 woofer.
Daily ride.. 1987 DECH Mustang 5L Hatchback with way more mods!

 

DECHman,

Here is my situation and question. I just installed a MTX 400X5 5 channel amp in the rear storage compartment. The 4 gauge power wire runs from the engine compartment to the back down the passenger side of the vehicle. The ground wire runs to the rear seat support bolt in the middle. The RCA's run down the drivers side. All new speaker wires (12 AWG) are on there respective sides with the passenger side wire run under the carpet to keep it away form the power wire. I am using the factory head unit and cd changer as you described above.

My problem is with alternator whine in my system. I used a Scosche (FAI-3) line converter/floating ground adapter. Did you on this system have to put some sort of noise suppression on the power wire of the deck itself to eliminate any noise? Do you have any suggestions to get rid of the noise? Could it be caused by my grounding location?

Secondly, will the 60hz alternator whine cause phase cancellation and explain why my two Rockford HE2 DVC's sound like crap right now? I built a box like the one in your pictures. Any help would be most appreciated.

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• Bright Red w/Harvest Gold 4x2 Lariat
• Limited Slip Diff
• Towing Package
• Sliding Read Window
• 6 CD-Changer
• Captains chairs
• Factory Bed Extender
• 5.4L V-8
• 2-Rockford Fosgate HE2 DVC 8" subs under rear drivers side seat
• MTX Blue Thunder Pro 400X5 800Watt amp
• 2-Blaupunkt VC-65 6.5" Components
• Westin Chrome Nerf Bars

Future Mods
Roll top cover
New Headunit(undecided)
Superchip

 

Go straight to clean, sanded bare metal for ground, use a nut and bot if you can or a good tight screw (we all like those). If going under the truck, use undercoating or paint to prevent rust on your ground bolt.

An extra 4 gauge ground, to the body, from the negative battery post, at the battery, won't hurt either.

If your level converter has a ground wire at the input section with the speaker wires, try connecting it to the tab on back of the radio, and see if the noise goes away. We usually use PAC SNI-15 for our converter, and rarely have noise problems.

Everthing else sounds good, the wiring should not cause the noise, unless the RCA cables are run under the dash across the ignition power wires etc.. I usually go under the carpet, and up to the radio behind that black cover on the transmission tunnel, just below the dash, it's easy to do as well.

Double check the wiring of your subs in the box, they should both move in the same direction, when 'poped' by a 9V battery etc..

You should also try swapping the pos and neg terminals at the box input or at the amp, sometimes changing the phase helps the interaction with the front/rear speakers for better sound, leave it where it sounds best to you. Make sure to listen to different music before finalizing the set up, rock will sound way different from country, hip hop, rap, dance, trance, bass discs etc.. you get the idea.

Hope this helps!
[img]
http://www.geocities.com/dechbabe/toys.jpg[/img]

dechman@yahoo.com

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~DECHman
2001 S-Crew Lariat, 2wd, 5.4L, loaded, astro tonneau cover, bedrug, dealer installed bug gaurd, Precsion Power PC 2300 LE 300W amp, 2x JL Audio 8w3d4 subwoofers under rear seat, Clifford alarm with remote start, tilt, prox, omni sensor, window control, radio control, headlight control, back up battery siren, window tint, PIAA 9007 SuperWhite headlight bulbs with CATZ Zeta headlight enhancement transformers.. soon to have new subbox with a JL Audio 10w6 woofer.
Daily ride.. 1987 DECH Mustang 5L Hatchback with way more mods!

 

New signature.

------------------
~DECHman
2001 S-Crew Lariat, 2wd, 5.4L, loaded, astro tonneau cover, bedrug, dealer installed bug gaurd, Precsion Power PC 2300 LE 300W amp, 2x JL Audio 8w3d4 subwoofers under rear seat, Clifford alarm with remote start, tilt, prox, omni sensor, window control, radio control, headlight control, back up battery siren, window tint, PIAA 9007 SuperWhite headlight bulbs with CATZ Zeta headlight enhancement transformers.. soon to have new subbox with a JL Audio 10w6 woofer.
Daily ride.. 1987 DECH Mustang 5L Hatchback with way more mods!
dechman@yahoo.com

 

Worms worms worms.... lets go fishin' !!

I put the amp rack on the passenger side because it offered the most room, and offered the shortest power wire run to the battery, shorter power cable means higher current flow capabilities (and less expensive parts for the customer). The drivers side of the storage bin is smaller and would only fit one of the amps, since I was doing a wooden amp rack to mount the amps, without screwing into the back wall.

The cover pannel comes off very easily, with just a handful fof 11 or 12mm nuts along the bottom, and a few push in snaps along the top. It gets a little awkward to remove the pannel from the truck, since the folding flap is attached to it. Really not hard at all.

I think turning a 4 channel amp into a five channels is a VERY common way to do a system, and there should be no 'extra' charge for wiring it that way, running the front and rear speakers on half the amp and bridging the other half for subs is a common configuration. It may load the amplifier a little more, causing more heat to be produced, but the speakers should like the better signal, and being electronically crossed over doesn't hurt either. Wiring to a harness adapter behind the radio, or direct from the amp to the speakers is the same for a four channel wiring job or two channel.

If you don't worry about fading from front to rear, go for it!

This customer used the JL Audio 10W0 4 ohm in his box, with a 200w alpine T407to power it, and a F407 for the front and rear speakers. Both amps had their own 8 gauge power cable run to the battery, and were fused the same as the amp, hopefully this will be the fuse that will blow if a problem occurs, making it an easy under hood replacement. We do JLs' all the time, but use whatever you like.

Crutchfield is a different story, I believe in fast customer service, I can't get a new radio same day, from a mail order company, or have them check something simple on my way home from work. For the D.Y.I. guy it is okay, but I really do prefer a brick and mortar set up for this type of buisness.

To each their own

If you have a 60/40 front bench with a cd changer mounted in the storage bin, you can put a decent sized multi channel or large sub amp under the front passenger seat, with only minor seat track mods. Captains chairs up front are the same deal, with a passenger front mounted amp under the seat, with minor mods.

Hey, I did see a big buck major multi media system in a SuperCrew featured in the galleries section of F150world, really nice, and something I would do to my own truck, if I were to compete or planned on keeping it for years to come (We trade my wifes' car in every year or so now). Amps mounted in the back of the rears seat (like I did in my stang) and a fiberglass sub enclosure behind the back seat, Alpine CVA-1005 monitor and DVD player in the dash, custom kick panels, etc.. very nice and big $$$

Ok did I cover everything???

Box design... I guess I better get it done for ya'll (TX remember, although I am actually CANADIAN)




Ooops, the sub level control.. it was mounted in place of the stock cigarette lighter, it was fed by the combined front and rear pre amp level output from the front amp. In this way, there would always be bass, regardless of the position on the fader. I used two level converters behind the radio, that fed the four channel front amp, then looped back to the dash and the alpine 4313 subwoofer level control, and back to the sub amp.

Some amps have the ability to go directly in with speaker level signal, some are good and some are not, but more often than not, we end up doing a new radio down the road for even better performance, and it is nice to pull out those level adapters and go direct to RCA level output from the new deck, and doing it this way, the RCA cables are right there ready to go.

Any more questions class?



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~DECHman
2001 S-Crew Lariat, 2wd, 5.4L, loaded, astro tonneau cover, bedrug, dealer installed bug gaurd, Precsion Power PC 2300 LE 300W amp, 2x JL Audio 8w3d4 subwoofers under rear seat, Clifford alarm with remote start, tilt, prox, omni sensor, window control, radio control, headlight control, back up battery siren, window tint, PIAA 9007 SuperWhite headlight bulbs with CATZ Zeta headlight enhancement transformers.. soon to have new subbox with a JL Audio 10w6 woofer.
Daily ride.. 1987 DECH Mustang 5L Hatchback with way more mods!