FEATURED 2004 Ram 2500 SQ Build

[GoldCountryCA]

I’m starting this thread to document the process of setting up a sound system in my Ram truck.

From a previous thread, I’ve determined that an Adire Brahma is the way to go on a sub. The rest is making my head spin. I’ve gone back and forth, hither and yon and I’m more unsure than ever.

I like CDT, but all the options are confusing and I don’t know what I’m looking at. I need to start with the components and work from there. Going to set an arbitrary budget for the comps at about $1000. The doesn’t include any wiring, etc. Just the speakers.

If you had $1000 budget to spend at CDT for Components, what would you choose?

Factory locations are as follows:

1. Rear door: 5.25”, but 6.5” will fit

2. Front door: 6x9”, but have been told to avoid oval shapes for SQ. That would mean a 6.5”

2a. Also for the front door, I can add a tweeter in a pod to keep separate Comps to improve SQ.

3. Dash has 3.5” openings on the left and right side and a 2.5” in the center.

4. Other options: sub will likely go in a custom center console enclosure firing down, so it’s possible that comps could be incorporated into that.

My thoughts, which are pretty worthless, in the same numerical order by location as above:

1. Some sort of 6.5 for the rear door

2. A 6.5 in the factory front door location and a tweeter in an angled pod on the sail

3. 3.5” in the dash (if deemed necessary)

It asked for a build photo, so here it is:

Click to read more...

 

[GoldCountryCA]

FWIW, these are my bonehead laymen choices that fit the speaker locations, but that I’d like input about what speakers CDT makes that might best them:

Front/dash:

Sony XS-163ES

Mobile ES Series 6-1/2" 3-way component speaker system

www.crutchfield.com

Rear door:

Sony XS-160ES

Mobile ES Series 6-1/2" 2-way car speakers

www.crutchfield.com

 

[djdilliodon!]

The adire Brahma is a great choice on the sub. Great sq, it will play the low notes with authority and get loud as well if you want it to. The cdt line up can be very confusing but you are in luck since I know it as well as the back of my hand lol. If you will run the midbass drivers in the factory locations, some of their midbass drivers do better then others in an IB install. If you’re willing to do baffled pods attached to the doors that are sealed or use fiberglass to accomplish this, you open up the choices for drivers in their line up that will provide even more midbass output. There are a number of ways you can go here, mounting depth can be the limiting factor if using the factory locations but I’ll give you some options. It’s always best to piece together a set sometimes and the items I show you, before you order it would be best to call them, ask to speak with Ken and tell him you are a friend of “Don smith” who was the former owner of island sound. He will definitely give you the best prices!

1. ES-06 midbass drivers, ES-02a wide band drivers, U-500 Xovers.

This setup will give tons of midbass if run sealed or IB (best run sealed) in well deadened doors and the midbass drivers mounted solid. If you will run active then there is no need for the Xovers but if not, these Xovers will do the job perfectly and make things super easy. If you like a midbass driver that is smooth in the upper range, has lots of depth to its sound, with lots of midbass output, these are perfect! The Es-02a’s will add the sparkle that is missing.

2. ES-6 midbass, ES-1200iS tweeters, EX-560CD Gold Xovers.

This setup still has good midbass output both in sealed and IB setups. The midbass driver has more detail in the upper midrange then the es-06 if you prefer that type of sound. The silk dome Twitter almost has a carbon fiber style pattern, it is very smooth but amazingly detailed. A tweeter that almost all sq buffs would love. The xovers are perfect for both of these drivers paired together. If not running active this is the one you want to use.

3. This is the setup if you want to get a little nutty. ES-6 midbass drivers in doors, ES-03 midrange, ES-1200iS tweeters, and mx1000 Xovers.

Es-6 in doors and those 3” midranges in the factory dash locations. The Xovers will allow you the ability to fine tune each driver separately. I remember when these first came out, I got the prototypes for testing and they are excellent passives built extremely well and can also take tons of power. I use to run a 3 way setup with 300w rms per side with no issues at all. This setup I’m sure is gonna take time to tune due to the midranges being on the dash but can pay off big time.

As for the rear speakers, I’ve never liked running rear fill personally and always preferred putting the money saved into the front stage. Install plays a huge role in the overall performance. Properly setup front stage you won’t even notice or miss having speakers in the back, unless of course you plan on watching movies

 

[GoldCountryCA]

The adire Brahma is a great choice on the sub. Great sq, it will play the low notes with authority and get loud as well if you want it to. The cdt line up can be very confusing but you are in luck since I know it as well as the back of my hand lol. If you will run the midbass drivers in the factory locations, some of their midbass drivers do better then others in an IB install. If you’re willing to do baffled pods attached to the doors that are sealed or use fiberglass to accomplish this, you open up the choices for drivers in their line up that will provide even more midbass output. There are a number of ways you can go here, mounting depth can be the limiting factor if using the factory locations but I’ll give you some options. It’s always best to piece together a set sometimes and the items I show you, before you order it would be best to call them, ask to speak with Ken and tell him you are a friend of “Don smith” who was the former owner of island sound. He will definitely give you the best prices!

1. ES-06 midbass drivers, ES-02a wide band drivers, U-500 Xovers.

This setup will give tons of midbass if run sealed or IB (best run sealed) in well deadened doors and the midbass drivers mounted solid. If you will run active then there is no need for the Xovers but if not, these Xovers will do the job perfectly and make things super easy. If you like a midbass driver that is smooth in the upper range, has lots of depth to its sound, with lots of midbass output, these are perfect! The Es-02a’s will add the sparkle that is missing.

2. ES-6 midbass, ES-1200iS tweeters, EX-560CD Gold Xovers.

This setup still has good midbass output both in sealed and IB setups. The midbass driver has more detail in the upper midrange then the es-06 if you prefer that type of sound. The silk dome Twitter almost has a carbon fiber style pattern, it is very smooth but amazingly detailed. A tweeter that almost all sq buffs would love. The xovers are perfect for both of these drivers paired together. If not running active this is the one you want to use.

3. This is the setup if you want to get a little nutty. ES-6 midbass drivers in doors, ES-03 midrange, ES-1200iS tweeters, and mx1000 Xovers.

Es-6 in doors and those 3” midranges in the factory dash locations. The Xovers will allow you the ability to fine tune each driver separately. I remember when these first came out, I got the prototypes for testing and they are excellent passives built extremely well and can also take tons of power. I use to run a 3 way setup with 300w rms per side with no issues at all. This setup I’m sure is gonna take time to tune due to the midranges being on the dash but can pay off big time.

As for the rear speakers, I’ve never liked running rear fill personally and always preferred putting the money saved into the front stage. Install plays a huge role in the overall performance. Properly setup front stage you won’t even notice or miss having speakers in the back, unless of course you plan on watching movies

Thanks for putting the effort into that response.

Funny you mention movies. This will be our road trip, camping rig. My family will be watching movies from time to time in the truck, so rear channels would be nice.

The head unit I’m looking at (Kenwood DNR1008RVS) has 6 preamp outputs in addition to sub outputs. The amps I’m considering are either:

[A]- 8x100w (Sony XM-8ES) & mono 1000w (Sony XM-1ES)
- 4x100w/1x750w (Sony XM-5ES)
[C]- 4x100w (Sony XM-4ES) & mono 1000w (Sony XM-1ES)

Questions:

1. I want to clarify…options 1-3 that you gave above are three separate options for the front door, correct? In other words option 1 or 2 or 3 in the front door?

2. By running active, that means a separate amp channel to each component in the absence of a crossover, correct? What are the pros to this setup?

3. What does IB stand for?

4. If I want to get stupid and cared about the back seat passengers, should I do separate mids and highs in the rear, or does that muddy the waters? If not, any suggestions for a speaker in the back seat to act as rear channels for movies, etc?

 

[djdilliodon!]

Thanks for putting the effort into that response.

Funny you mention movies. This will be our road trip, camping rig. My family will be watching movies from time to time in the truck, so rear channels would be nice.

The head unit I’m looking at (Kenwood DNR1008RVS) has 6 preamp outputs in addition to sub outputs. The amps I’m considering are either:

[A]- 8x100w (Sony XM-8ES) & mono 1000w (Sony XM-1ES)
- 4x100w/1x750w (Sony XM-5ES)
[C]- 4x100w (Sony XM-4ES) & mono 1000w (Sony XM-1ES)

Questions:

1. I want to clarify…options 1-3 that you gave above are three separate options for the front door, correct? In other words option 1 or 2 or 3 in the front door?

2. By running active, that means a separate amp channel to each component in the absence of a crossover, correct? What are the pros to this setup?

3. What does IB stand for?

4. If I want to get stupid and cared about the back seat passengers, should I do separate mids and highs in the rear, or does that muddy the waters? If not, any suggestions for a speaker in the back seat to act as rear channels for movies, etc?

Answers to your questions.

1. All options are for front only.

2. That is correct but the absence of a passive xover. The speakers will still require an active xover. Pros to this is you can set the frequencies to whatever you want electronically compared to pre set frequencies like a passive. It allows a lot more tuning flexibility. Some of the CDT passives allow many tuning options.

3. IB stands for infinite baffle, meaning no enclosure to put it in simple terms.

4. Since you will watch movies, you would want to use the cdt ES-6ex1 coaxials in the rear. This is basically the es-6cv with the “bullet” unthreaded and a pole that is threaded to a tweeter and threaded to the midbass driver. This isn’t a cheap made coax, they are using the same parts from their component sets and making them into a coax setup for ease of install. Tweeter protrusion is only about 1/4” so it’s really not an issue to get them to fit behind majority of door panels. When not watching movies or not having passengers, you can always gain them down and enjoy the front stage to the fullest.

As far as power goes, we are living in a time that power is dirt cheap! The days of paying $1 or more per watt are only for those who must have the best. I use to be one of those running old school Us amps, pg ms1000, and PPI art series. At one time I even went down the road of tube amplifiers running a us amps model. You can take one of the oldest tricks out of the sq play book and easily run 250 or more watts per channel and gain it down keeping the power super clean and amp not working much at all. The best part is it won’t even cost much to do this! You can even do this for the sub amp as well. The key here is if you are running an active setup, it doesn’t matter what the onboard Xovers are on the amp but if you will rely on them, you want to at least get something with decent ones. For example, taramps makes some very powerful amplifiers that would easily do the job but if good quality Xovers are needed they won’t be a good choice. What to go with will depend on budget, foot print size, if you will go passive or active, and maybe even looks (color preference you may have for example).

 

[GoldCountryCA]

Answers to your questions.

1. All options are for front only.

2. That is correct but the absence of a passive xover. The speakers will still require an active xover. Pros to this is you can set the frequencies to whatever you want electronically compared to pre set frequencies like a passive. It allows a lot more tuning flexibility. Some of the CDT passives allow many tuning options.

3. IB stands for infinite baffle, meaning no enclosure to put it in simple terms.

4. Since you will watch movies, you would want to use the cdt ES-6ex1 coaxials in the rear. This is basically the es-6cv with the “bullet” unthreaded and a pole that is threaded to a tweeter and threaded to the midbass driver. This isn’t a cheap made coax, they are using the same parts from their component sets and making them into a coax setup for ease of install. Tweeter protrusion is only about 1/4” so it’s really not an issue to get them to fit behind majority of door panels. When not watching movies or not having passengers, you can always gain them down and enjoy the front stage to the fullest.

As far as power goes, we are living in a time that power is dirt cheap! The days of paying $1 or more per watt are only for those who must have the best. I use to be one of those running old school Us amps, pg ms1000, and PPI art series. At one time I even went down the road of tube amplifiers running a us amps model. You can take one of the oldest tricks out of the sq play book and easily run 250 or more watts per channel and gain it down keeping the power super clean and amp not working much at all. The best part is it won’t even cost much to do this! You can even do this for the sub amp as well. The key here is if you are running an active setup, it doesn’t matter what the onboard Xovers are on the amp but if you will rely on them, you want to at least get something with decent ones. For example, taramps makes some very powerful amplifiers that would easily do the job but if good quality Xovers are needed they won’t be a good choice. What to go with will depend on budget, foot print size, if you will go passive or active, and maybe even looks (color preference you may have for example).

The screenshot below is essentially the third option, but with a different x over. What are the major differences between the Mx-1000 and the ex30?

 

[djdilliodon!]

The screenshot below is essentially the third option, but with a different x over. What are the major differences between the Mx-1000 and the ex30?

View attachment 55362

The ex-30 is pretty much a budget friendly simple 3 way xover with limited adjustments. It also has built in tweeter protection. The mx1000 is fully adjustable allowing you to change the crossover frequencies along with the amount of attenuation. It uses much better quality parts (tighter tolerances and can handle more power) and does not have built in tweeter protection. Tweeter protection on passives (this kind, but they are idiot proof) can become highly annoying if running alot of power or if you like to play loud at times. Not fun when the tweeters just shut off at random. They use this type of xover mostly on more budget geared sets for those who push things beyond clipping not knowing any better. First thing to usually smoke is the tweeters, less of a headache with warranty claims. On the higher end stuff, most commonly those who buy it know what they are doing so they do not have them. If you call and tell him what I said, I bet he will include the Mx-1000 Xovers for about $25-$30 more which is a steal.

 

[GoldCountryCA]

If I’m sending 230w to each front x over on the front corners, will 16 ga be enough on a 15 foot run? In my head, I was thinking 12 ga based on load (230w/12v=~20a). Looking at some online calculators, they say 16-18ga for OFC. That seems tiny.

Anyway, NVX wire seems to be popular around here and they offer OFC in 12 or 16ga.

 

[djdilliodon!]

If I’m sending 230w to each front x over on the front corners, will 16 ga be enough on a 15 foot run? In my head, I was thinking 12 ga based on load (230w/12v=~20a). Looking at some online calculators, they say 16-18ga for OFC. That seems tiny.

Anyway, NVX wire seems to be popular around here and they offer OFC in 12 or 16ga.

On front stage I use 14ga but then again I always run a ton of power and just like using bigger wire. 16 ga will be more then enough in ofc wire. When I build fancy Xovers that are displayed I use 10 ga .

 

[GoldCountryCA]

Picked up a new Kenwood DNR1008RVS on EBay for $1000. They are $1700 on Crutchfield. HU is squared away. Finalizing the other orders tomorrow. Will begin the install after Christmas.

Only decision left is 10 or 12” Brahma. It’ll be downfiring between my front seats. There’s approximately 15” there. Is there a rule of thumb on how much material should be around the sub ring on the baffle? Meaning, if my sub has a 13” OD for the mount and I’m using 13/16” ply (x2 sides = 1-5/8”) on a 15” cube, there’ll only be 3/16” of area from where the trim ring ends and the side wall starts. Is that okay?

 

[GoldCountryCA]

I’ll be removing the center seat/center console in the front row of my quad cab ram to make room for my subwoofer install. The back seat will always have a dog and baby/small child in the back seat.

Given those parameters, would you all install the sub firing down or back? I’m leaning towards down to keep the back seat occupants comfortable, but not sure what differences it will make…

 

[GoldCountryCA]

I picked up all the components from CDT. Now just trying to decide on the sub amp. The two I’m looking at are the Sony XM-1ES and the Unity Monoblock. Both are two ohm stable, rated at 1000w. They will be pushing a dual 4 VC Brahma 12”.

Any opinions on one vs the other?

Sony XM-1ES

Mobile ES™ Series mono subwoofer amplifier — 1,000 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms

www.crutchfield.com

Unity Monoblock Amplifier - Hybrid Audio Technologies

Unity Amplifiers are designed to be integrated into your sound quality system with a plethora of opt

hybrid.audio

 

[chillin 10+ year member]

I'm not sure about the difference in sounds, but having a dog and child in the back seat, I would down fire for the safety of the sub. If you haven't yet, check out ridinhi down fire sub box. Should be right above or below this thread in build logs.

 

[GoldCountryCA]

I got all the cdt stuff. Looks to be quality, though what the heck do I know…

Now, I may’ve changed my mind on the sub enclosure.

Which would be better:

Two 1200w 8s

https://www.gatelyaudio.com/collect...ucts/2-x-8-dodge-crewcab-02-18-with-seat-lift

Or four 900 watt 6.5s

Dodge CrewCab 4 x 6.5” (02-18) Seat Lift Included

Fits all 2002-2018 Dodge crew cab trucks with metal under seat storage compartments. SEAT LIFT NEEDED. Will fit perfect under factory seat. Cut to fit four 6.5” Cutout 5.85" Mounting Depth: 6"Estimated Enclosure Weight: 100 lbs RECOMMENDED SUBWOOFERSGately ShieldGately Alpha V1Gately...

www.gatelyaudio.com

 

[GoldCountryCA]

This is another enclosure I’m considering:

DODGE RAM QUAD & CREW CAB 2-12" OR 2-10" VENTED

RAM QUAD AND CREW CAB DQC-212-V Fits * 3rd & 4th gen "2002-2018" 1500, 2500 & 3500 * 5th gen "2019-up" 2500 & 3500 Does NOT fit 1500s * 2019-UP "CLASSIC" 1500, 2500 & 3500 2-12" VENTED SUB BOX 10" subs can be used with the 12 to 10 adapters in the product options. SUB SIZE: 12"SUB HOLE SIZE...

www.foxacoustics.com

Gets decent reviews, but concerned with the lower portion, which looks to be ABS. Does this seem like a bad design element for 2000w of subs?