2001 Chevy Blazer Upgrades

[Buldg7]

Well I've got an '01 Blazer, and I love the thing, but it could really use some low-end to round out the sound, so that's where this project starts.

Okay, the background:

The Blazer's been going between owners within my family since it was new, and has always been well taken care of. It's the 4dr LT, that came with the 6-channel bose system. A few years back my Dad had it (just before he passed) and he stuck a Pioneer MVH-X360BT head unit in it. That really transformed the sound, but as it is, the front door speakers (listed as fullrange subs?) are working a bit too hard for my liking, and I'd like to lighten the load on them while also clearing up the sound.

Obstacle #1 : I don't have a lot to spend on this project, and as it is, I'm really having to pinch pennies and save to be able to do any of this at all. So, I want big sound, for cheap, might as well start looking for as inexpensive component sub as I can find. After a couple hours scouring ebay, crutchfield, and amazon, I had come down to two options. Now a little disclaimer first: as I said, I'm on a pretty tight budget, so I decided to go with 8" subs. Since they don't have the raw surface area to push a lot of air, I decided to get a lot of them. This is because the subs I found were both under $20 a piece. The way I look at it is this: they're not going to be very high-quality, however if one blows or otherwise fails, it's quick and cheap enough to replace, and there are enough of them that I can still get sizable sound from them without pushing them too hard. Now that that's out of the way, the first of the two options was from Pyle, and I'm actually considering them as an upgrade path. These are the Pyle PLPW8Ds, a DVC 4Ω driver, rated at 400W RMS and 800W peak. The ones I ended up going with though for the initial build are the Soundstorm SS8 component subs, which aren't DVC like the Pyles, and are only rated for half the power, but the $2.90 difference is what made the decision for me. Because I'm not getting one of these, or two, or even four. I'm getting 8, having two banks of four.

Okay so I found the subs, now how to drive them.... Again I did some research, and found an amp that will work very well for me, the way I'm wiring these. The amp I'll be getting is a Rockville RXD-M3. There are two graphics at the bottom of this post showing both physical layout and wiring, and a more precise diagram showing the mathematics behind it. They should be fairly self-explanatory, and show why I chose this amp: It's powerful enough to drive these to almost their full rating, but not quite, which means I don't have to worry about overdriving them or distortion (though if one did fail, as I mentioned, it'd be cheap enough that I could easily replace it). The other reason I chose this amp is that it's priced at a place where if I were to upgrade to the Pyle subs, I could get a second amp and drive each of the banks independently.

Alright, the subs have been chosen, as has the amp. What about where to put it all? Well I've decided to mount the amp under the driver's seat. Honestly though, that could easily change between now and when I go to install it. As for where to mount the subs, well I'm not going to spend more on an enclosure than I did the drivers, so I'll be building them myself. Not only will I be able to achieve the look I want, and the functionality, but it'll also allow me to build it to fit in my blazer. They'll be on either side of the far back, and they'll be seven-sided boxes, or pentagonal prisms. That's the front and back (against the tailgate and back seats respectively), the sides (perpendicular to the bottom), The top, the bottom, and the speaker face. The speaker face will be 30° from parallel to the top, so that the subs will be facing up and center. I'll be making the boxes out of 3/4" MDF, and I'm seeing about also incorporating some acrylic panels and some RGB lighting, but that's still not finalized. This is about where I'm at thus far with the planning for this project, so I'll leave it here. Below are the links for the products I've mentioned, as well as the two images I mentioned.

SSL SS8 drivers:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/SOUND-SS8-Single-400-watt-Subwoofer/dp/B00CMC6O68

Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/SoundStorm-SS8-8in-Woofer-400W-Max/28087334

Pyle Drivers:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PLPW8D-8-Inch-Watt-Subwoofer/dp/B007JV7F4W/ref=pd_lpo_107_bs_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=510VS3GPGYHS38DWE0RH

Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pyle-PLPW8D-Dual-Voice-Coil-Subwoofer/26680521

Rockville Amp:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rockville-RXD-M3-2000w-Amplifier-Stereo/dp/B019Z3RIYI/ref=sr_1_1?s=car&ie=UTF8&qid=1489504021&sr=1-1&keywords=Rockville+RXD-M3

Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rockville-RXD-M3-4000-Watt-2000w-RMS-Mono-Class-D-1-Ohm-Amplifier-Car-Stereo-Amp/662451227

Click to read more...

 

[Buldg7]

Alright so an update for you guys. I've measured the space in the back of my Blazer, and done the CAD modeling for the cabs as such. The majority of it is 3/4" MDF, and the rest is 1/4" acrylic. The insides will be painted white to allow better reflection of the RGB LEDs inside, and the outer surfaces will be painted with truck bed liner. I've also found most of the other products I'll need to buy for this project, the only things left are the various wires, the connectors I'll need for the sub LEDs, and the sealant I'll need for the acrylic. I've also chosen to do zoned lighting in the rest of the vehicle (front footwells, rear footwells, and possibly overhead as well), and so I have to find the switches I'll be using to control that. All the LEDs will be wired to the same controller/power supply, and I'm planning on putting the switches on the left side of the center console. I'm also planning on putting the Amp underneath the center console, as there's enough space for it. The main reason I opted against putting it underneath the driver's seat is the fact I live in New England where it snows, a lot, and then gets very muddy, and long story short, I don't want the amp to be so exposed to the elements. Alright all of the photos of the CAD model are below:

 

[Buldg7]

I reached the max limit for images so here are the other 5:

 

[Buldg7]

Just a quick little update, really little this time. I've decided that right from the get-go I'm going to be modifying the center console. I'll be removing the cd holder and replacing it with a panel of some kind, I'm not sure if I'm going to use acrylic or wood or mdf or what, but it's going to have the illuminated pushbutton switches for the LEDs, as well as the remote volume control for the Rockville amp. I'm also going to have a small recessed cutout at the top of it for the remote(s) for the RGB LEDs. I've also decided to add a fifth LED zone, accent lighting along the bottom edge of every window, save the windshield. I'm also thinking about having multiple RGB receivers so that I can do upper and lower zones different colors. The other things I've been working on have mostly been working out costs and the stages I can do things in. The first stage is doing the LEDs, second is buying the component subs, third is buying the amp, fourth is getting all the cables I need and testing that everything plays nicely, and fifth is making the enclosures. All in all it's going to be just over $700. Oh, the one other thing I've done is removed my roof rack. Where I live in New England and for some reason we're still getting snow, it's not just a cosmetic upgrade, but also a practical one for clearing snow off the roof. Other things I want to do in the future but are too far ahead to plan financially is I want to do an iPad dash install. I'd be building up the front of the center console to house the heater controls and the head unit, and the iPad would be the only thing in the dash, as I want to keep my center vents. It also seems like it would just work well, as controls would be at arm level, but media would be more at eye level. As I said though, that wouldn't be happening probably for quite a while. I'm planning on getting everything for the LEDs rather soon, hopefully within the month.

 

[Buldg7]

Yet another update. I know it's been a while, but as I'm sure most of you know, life tends to like to get in the way of projects like these. Some good news is that the price of the SSL component subs has gone down, to $12.80 a piece, so now for all 8 it's only going to be $102.40. Due to this price change, I may end up purchasing the subs before purchasing the LED components, especially as the price for all of the LED stuff has gone up to just over $150.

One of the big things that I've made progress on involves lots of numbers. I took the time to calculate the internal volume of each sub enclosure, as thanks to the odd shapes that work around the Blazer they aren't the same. They are very close however which is good. Calculating the internal volumes allowed me to calculate the length that the ports need to be for each one. I've actually decided to use 3" PVC instead of the 4" adjustable sub ports for two reasons: the price kept going from $10 a piece to $40 a piece for the ports, and then half of the time they were unavailable. The other reason is that for the length of the ports, it makes more sense for there to be a 90° bend and for most of the port to run lengthwise on the inside of the cab. The tuning I'm shooting for is 30hz, and while I know that the tuning may not be quite optimal for the SSL drivers, I'm also keeping in mind ones I may upgrade to in the future, that have a lower Fs (the SS8's have an Fs of 59.2hz).

Another thing that I've done since my last update is that I've modelled the LED Switch control panel, and figured out that I want three color-independent zones, one being the front and rear seat floor lighting, one being the 'trunk' and sub box lighting, and the third being the overhead and window accent lighting. That's the main reason that the LED price has gone up; now I'm budgeting for 3 LED power supply/receivers. One thing I'm unsure of at the moment is whether or not all three remotes will be on the same frequency, but I modeled the panel with a slot large enough to comfortably house three remotes. If it turns out that I only need one, then I'll modify the design of the control panel before I actually build it. I'm also contemplating different LED controllers, but it seems so far that this is the best option.

One thing that I haven't begun to do yet, which I have to start on is sketching out what I want to do with the center console. I also think I want to hinge a top portion of the center console to allow better access to the amp(s) that will be inside it (or underneath it, depending on how you look at it).

Another step I need to start planning out is upgrading the mids and highs. I want to not only replace the door speakers, but add some, quite a few in fact, and of course run them off of a new amp (or amps), which would probably also be in/under the center console. I have an image in my mind of what I'd like the final product to look like, but things like what drivers I'd use, what amp(s) I'd use, and other things like EQs and standalone crossovers are what I need to find and price. Also the wiring to go to and from all of these components, including power distribution. Speaking of which, I may need to not only upgrade to a high output alternator, but also a second battery, which are also things I need to do more research on.

As you all can see, there's still a lot to be done, both planning for the future steps, and execution of what I've already planned. While this is going to be a fairly long journey, I hope that some of you find it an interesting one to watch me work my way through.

 

[Buldg7]

AN UPDATE TO THE LAST UPDATE:

So in the third paragraph I went into talk about the LEDs, and I've already changed my mind on how I'm going to do this. I am still going to have independent power switches on each of the six zones, and I will have three different color zones, however instead of going the remote route I'm going to go with three square "in-wall" LED controllers. What I'm actually going to do is mount them on a panel that will go under the arm rest in the center console. Something I did look for was a cheaper controller that didn't actually have a power switch, but there wasn't a such thing, so the way I'm looking at it now is if I don't want people messing with things and turning things on, I can turn the power off from the controllers, as the physical switches will be between the positive output of the controllers and the positive input of the strips. Not only will this result in a cleaner looking setup, but it also means that I was able to have enough room on the physical switch panel for amp controller knobs. A side effect of me not needing a slot in that switch plate is that it'll be thinner overall, which is going to help me when I go to split the center console vertically, because I am set on putting a hinge at the back of it so that I can effectively lift up the LED control panels and the coin sorter (since those will be the only things left here) and let me get easy access to the amps underneath. The one not great thing about this decision is that the total cost for the LEDs has gone from $150 to $185, but I think it's a worthy investment. Okay, that's all, Just figured I aught to type this up while it was fresh in my mind.

 

[Buldg7]

So a lot has happened as far as planning in the last two weeks. Well remember how I said I needed to start planning out the mids and highs? Well I have! As well as the four amp racks, since all of the amps are going to be too large to fit underneath the center console. I've decided that space will be dedicated to signal processing, the EQs and the active crossovers, etc. That way I have quick and easy access to everything I'll need when I'm tuning the system.

Okay, brief speaker rundown:

Front doors (each):

4x 6.5" 300W midbass

3x 4" 100W coaxial midrange

2x 1.75" 100W titanium bullet tweeter

Rear doors (each):

2x 6.5" 300W midbass

2x 4" 100W coaxial midrange

1x 1.75" 100W titanium bullet tweeter

For all of these (unless I wanted to get some crazy expensive huge amps) I'll need 8 amps to drive everything, including the one for the sub. I'm getting all of the amps from Boss Audio, just to make things easier. Because I wanted all of the equipment that wasn't part of the modified door panels to be quickly and easily removable, I had to incorporate panel connectors and cable connectors into the design, as well as making sure there was space for the latches that will secure them. I'll be using NL4 Speakon connectors for all of the connections because they're reliable, I've worked with them before, they lock, when they're disconnected no contacts are exposed, and also because of the design, none of the contacts short on others during connection or disconnection. I've not only drawn out how the door speakers will be wired which allowed me to find the right amp for each application, and I also drew out all of the wires going from the amps on each rack to the panel connectors on that rack to not only create something I can refer to when I go to wire everything, but also allowed me to more easily figure out how many connectors I need to buy.

Power! So in planning out wire runs I've started figuring out how I'm going to deal with getting power to everything, as well as figuring out my main grounding points. Well first, I am going to do the 1/0 gauge "big 3" wiring upgrade. I'll also be upgrading to the Mechman E Series 370 amp Billet high-output alternator, and will probably pick up an XS Power battery to replace my OEM one as well. At the battery I'll have an SMD quad ANL fuse block which will take a 1/0 gauge wire from the battery and then put it out to 4 output wires that will be fed through the firewall, one for each amp rack.

Already I'm not exactly making this project easy on myself, but the front door panels are going to take it to a new level. On the front doors I'm going to attempt to mount all of the speakers on axis. I'll be either ordering or making speaker pods for each speaker and then figuring out the angles and using not so permanent means of mounting the pods, then building up the door panels with MDF and body filler. I'll be painting the door panels, the dash front, and the center console to match each other.

While I have yet to start the actual construction for any of these things, I have gotten one of my small bass amps (I'm a bassist among other things) to work as a sub. It actually sounds pretty good with the stock Bose speakers.

While this project has evolved into something much bigger than I first imagined, I am still going to be buying things in stages, and will be starting my new job very soon, which will help me to save more and speed up this whole process quite a bit.