2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee Build Log

UCF52
10+ year member

CarAudio.com Elite
Well, I just picked up a new vehicle and she is desperate for a new stereo. This will likely be a fairly slow process and updates will probably come in chunks as school is very cyclical for me; plus this is my first “real” install with intent to finish (

2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 5.7 HEMI 4x2

Equipment

• Processing: Pioneer DEH-P880PRS

• Amplification: Kicker 700.5

• Tweeters: PG RSd

• Mid-Bass: Image Dynamics OEM 6.5

• Sub-Bass: ?

• Other: Pioneer CD-IB100II / Garmin Nuvi 200w Navigation

Driver Location

• Tweeters: Factory Dash Location

• Mid-Bass: Factory Door Location

• Sub-Bass: Cargo Area

Installation Goals:

Keep everything as stealth and as factory looking as possible. From the looks of it the only visible feature will be the receiver and the sub woofer enclosure (which can be covered via the cargo cover thingy). I made sure to leave plenty of slack with my power wire, RCA’s, speaker wire harnesses, etc. leaving room for potential changes.

Order of Operations:

• Run foundation wiring (power, L&R speaker wire harnesses, remote turn-on, and RCA’s)

• Fabricate mid-bass baffles

• Fabricate tweeter baffles

• Deaden and seal front doors

• Run front driver wiring

• Install receiver and iPod connection

• Install tweeters/mids

• Install/connect amplifier

To come soon after:

• Fabricate false floor cover with ventilation integration

• Fabricate sub woofer enclosure

• Integrate navigation arm/holder into empty dash pocket

• Integrate fan switches into empty dash pocket (false floor ventilation)

• Possibly fabricate an iPod dock (most likely will just keep it located in my center console though)

• More deadener

• Take another shot at using threaded inserts with ABS

The victim

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Under hood power wire run

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Tried using threaded inserts, but the mounting holes/flange on the OEM's proved to be to pesky. I think I am going to try this again with ABS when I get some free time... probably after the semester ends.

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This is what I ended up with. 1/2" birch - texture painted, hex bolt/wing nut hardware assembly. I was able to salvage the factory speaker magnet covers, so that was cool.

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Tweeter/mid speaker wire harness. This was my first time working with expandable sleeving and heat shrink. Needless to say I am obsessed with the combo

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Outer four are for harness->amplifier runs. Inner two are for harness->mid runs. I need to pick up some more red heat shrink and finish the outer harnesses.

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PG RSd tweeter with pigtails

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This is the factory false floor/storage location. The amp will not fit with the amp cover on. To start, I will utilize the factory removable cover, but I will eventually fabricate my own with fans/ventilation.

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That's it for now. Like I said this will be a little slower than I would prefer, plus I am still waiting on my RCA's, but I should have some time to get a little more done this weekend.

Oh, I would really appreciate any tips, tricks, help, suggestions, criticism, ideas, and opinions that you have to offer.

 
Just from what I see so far... this is gonna be good!
Can't wait for more!
I hope so. I am definitely getting the itch to get everything done.

dude u got some hella nice wiring skills!
lol, honestly this was my first time working with expandable sleeving, heat shrink, labeling, etc. I found some really nice installs over on DIYMA that gave me the inspiration to make everything "pretty." I appreciate the compliment.

 
looks reall good so far
Thanks!

looks like and sounds like its going to be 19023013920 times better than the other guy that did the Cherokee build with the hdc18... nice job man.. congrats
I'll have to search for it... I really couldn't find anything with the newer WK's (05-current), so I am guessing this was a previous model.

had a 07 last year...pretty easy vehicle to work on. Shoot me a pm if you have any questions.
I agree, this has been a pleasantly easy vehicle to work on so far. I think the only part that is still up in the air is tweeter location. I really don't want to bring the mids up any higher than 2khz to avoid beaming issues (as they will be off axis), so I will probably try and hunt down a tweeter that is capable of crossing relatively low. I am liking the Peerless HDS, but the mounting flange is pretty big; too big to fit under the factory location. I may just bite the bullet and build them out of that location and angle them slightly so they will fit. I really need to read up more on waveguides (i.e. windshield).

What equipment did you have in yours?

 
I was able to get my front doors sealed and deadened, all wiring run, baffles/drivers installed and deck/iPod controller installed. Cranked the car and the head unit doesn't turn on. I re-checked all of my wiring behind the dash and checked the fuses (although it was dark so it is possible I missed something). So, right now I'm stumped. Anyways, here are some pics...

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I actually had to use the factory door speaker wiring as there is not a whole in the door/car where the molex is just a wire harness.

I wish I could tell you it sounds but I need to figure out what is going on with my deck.

 
Yesterday:

I was able to track down the source of my problem. I am not getting a signal from the Metra side of the harness for continuous power. I cannot figure out why though - when I unplug the Metra harness and put the factory radio in its place - the radio works just fine. Anyways, I just ran a wire from my battery to my deck.

I was able to set my gains, crossover/slope, a very elementary run an time alignment (still need to dial it in), and I did an EQ boost at 12.5khz. Aside from t/a this is very similar to my last vehicle. I still will need to go back and do a level adjustment and play with phase and dial in my t/a, but so far I am quite pleased to say the least. I was shocked at the response from my mids - I felt like they were going to rip my head off. Those door treatments were well worth it.

Tweets: High Pass - 3.15khz @ 18db slope

Mids: Low Pass - 2.5khz @ 12db slope

High Pass - 80hz @ 12 db slope

Now that I have sound I will probably take my time with the sub stage. I still need to pick out driver(s) and fabricate an enclosure.

Today:

I still haven't made any other adjustments other than above (school all day and too tired to do it after), but, so far, I am extremely pleased with stage depth. I was never able to achieve the depth I have now in my previous vehicle, so I am pretty excited about that. Stage width, well it seems too wide. I am going to try and dial in my level setting and phasing as well as time alignment tomorrow- at least an initial run. The tweeters seem very easy to localize, so I am hoping to eliminate that (or at least reduce it) as I think this is why I am feeling like the stage is too wide.

 
looks good so far....what did you use for deadener and where did you get the clay?
I used Second Skin Damplifier Pro (I actually won it here) - really good stuff. I picked up the clay JoAnn's Fabric - I think it was $3.99 and I only used half of the pack.

Looks like it's coming along nicely! If you want any help with the sub design and construction, hit me up. Are you close to UCF?
Thanks. I may take you up on that offer - I've seen your work and I like //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif - yes, I'm about 10 min from campus.

 
Did a little tuning today. I was able to hone in the stage width and get it to "normal." I also hooked up my AA Assassin for now. Anyways, here are my adjustments/settings:

X-Over

Tweeter: HP 3.15khz @ 12db/oct

Mid: LP 2.5khz @ 12db/oct

Mid: HP 80hz @ 12db/oct

Sub: LP 63hz @ 12db/oct

Level

Tweeter: L: -6db R: 0db

Mid: L: -2db R: odb

Sub: -1db

Phase

Tweeter: L/R - Normal

Mid: L/R - Reverse

Sub: Reverse

EQ

Flat

 
Nice fabrication work, man. It looks good. Can't wait to see this thing done.

What are gunna be box specs?

Can't say I like UCF, but you could've picked FSU. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 
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UCF52

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