shawnmac
Junior Member
Hello,
My name is Shawn and I'm new to the site. Im 31 years old and have installed many systems in the past, mostley consiting of upgraded coaxial speakers, amp and sub. I bought a new Silverado 3 yrs ago (now has 120,000 miles!!) and after putting up with the POS factory setup I have upgraded. I am married with a house & car payments, wife and kids so I don't have $1000+ to invest in a superior system. I imagine there are other people out there like me without a ton of money to invest in a system so I am writing this revue for them.
First off; my intentions were not to have a "hear me coming down the street" loud as hell, boomin' system. My goal was to have a good system that sounded good from my drivers seat. And I can say that I have definitly achieved that goal. My system sounds GREAT! it is CLEAN and BALANCED and I can hear EVERY instrument. Before installing my system I had missed listening to my rap music because I needed the bass. Now that my system is installed Rap sounds good, but I have been astonished at how great rock sounds. The addition of the amplified components is phenomenal! LatleyI have been listening to ancient music and hearing it like never before. Santana's "Black magic woman" ; not only can I hear every single bongo, but I swear I can actually hear the hand slapping it. Pink Floyds "wish you were hear" ; I have never heard the static in the end ebb and flow so amazingly. Bottom line, the more instruments & the more complex a song is, the more I enjoy listening to it. The transition between treble, midrange, midbass, and deep bass is seamless - like silk.
I've got around 25 hours in the install. No wires are exposed and it looks like a professional install. I reused the factory 6" speaker locations, tucked the tweeter pods where the top of the dash meets the door and the A-pillar, ran new 100% speaker wire for the fronts and sub, left the crossovers inside the cab (as oposed to in the door where it can get moist). The truck is a 4 door extended cab w/ rear ******* doors. The back seat still folds up and down like factory. tucked the capacitor out of the way and made a carpeted amp rack that is bolted to the bottom frame of the rear seat so that when I fold it up, I do not lose any floor space. The sub box is the only thing that looks like crap since the autoparts stores no longer carry carpeting and I did not have enough for both the amp rack and the box in my garage. The only panels that rattle are the door panels, and I will fix them by wedging some soft flexiable packing foam in place once I remove the panels again.
Total cost - $400
I will break down the cost and rate each item on a scale of 1 -10 10 being best
JVC KD-APD38 head unit $90; sonic electronics.com-.......rated 8
pros-I am happy with this unit its rated at 50x4 but im only driving the rear door speakers with it. The CDS and MP3s sound fantastic. It has a both IPOD input and Controls, and a front Aux input. dual Rca outputs, one with adjustable low pass crossover . The EQ is very good, has sub level, the "bass enhancer" does a good job at bringing out the midbass, but turn it up too much and it just distorts. I am very happy with it for 90 bucks.
Cons- FM radio is a bit staticy. In hind-sight, I should have spent the extra $40 for an Alpine.
Alpine SPR 17LS Type R 6" components; $130 clearance Best Buy..... rated 9 1/2
Pros- Fantastic, sound like silk, nothing more needs to be said. I installed them on the door where the "vent windows" should be. excellent crossovers
Cons- only handle 70 watts, Im pushing 100, they begin to distort near 80% max volume
Boss GT 780 Amp. 1000 watt, 4 channel $90 Sonic Electonics.......... rated 10
Pros- Clean power, 90 bux, does not heat up, does not cause headlight to dim (due to capacitor?), does not distort..2 ohm stable, bridgable....90 dollars. 5 year warrenty. I would have still been happy with this amp if I had paid $300 for it, but I got it for 90 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cons- 1000 watts max, but only 100x 4 RMS, the wired remote amplifer volume level controler does not work... it seemed useless / silly to me anyways
Im currently running 100 X 2 (4ohms) to the front components, and running about 230 (bridged 3 ohm) to the sub
I know that Boss amps have a terrible reputation; I don't know why. Of course a higher priced amp will sound better. Back in the day Punch amps were the shit. My buddy had a punch 200 and it sounded better than my old Boss 700 (which I never had problems with). The Boss amps are a Good Buy In my opion, but if you want to spend more then go ahead.
And if I really wanted to, it would now require minimal effort to change out the Boss to another amp; like 20 minutes.
1 JL W6 Dual 6 ohm voice coil 10" sub $60 local stereo shop ...........rated 4
I bought this sub 6-7 years ago on the cheap when it was discontunied
Pros- clean sounding, accurate reproduction of music, good price
Cons- I have used this sub in 2 systems this time it is ported, last time it was sealed. It is NOT loud at all. I am very disappointed with this sub. I have the VC wired together to produce a 3 ohm load. If I were to change anything. I would either take out the back seat and add 2 12s for serious bass (not likely), or go with 2 8's or maber 2 JL 6". Now I know why this sub was DC
I don't know whats up with that sub?!?!?!
Its a single 10 running at 3 ohms. My box is .94cuft and I have a 3" x 16" port which should tune me to 37 hz....
With my stereo turned up to 42 out of 50 (max before distortion) I can have the doors open and stand 100ft away and everything still sounds good and clear, (just like you would be if you were sitting in the truck) the bass, treble and mids are all still there
Don't get me wrong, it Bumps!!! but I think I might be expecting more.?????
American Accessories 8gauge wire kit $13............. rated 1
This kit sucks, complete garbage I have bought schocsh (sp?) in the past and was very happy with it, I should have bought it again
1 Farad capacitor Free from neighbor...................... rated 10
My neighbor gave me this for free, but he paid $15 for it at a swap meet. one of the studs was broken off so I just tapped in a large sheet metal bolt. I works as its supposed to. a capacitor is a capacitor is a capacitor. IMHO the name on it is meaningless
My name is Shawn and I'm new to the site. Im 31 years old and have installed many systems in the past, mostley consiting of upgraded coaxial speakers, amp and sub. I bought a new Silverado 3 yrs ago (now has 120,000 miles!!) and after putting up with the POS factory setup I have upgraded. I am married with a house & car payments, wife and kids so I don't have $1000+ to invest in a superior system. I imagine there are other people out there like me without a ton of money to invest in a system so I am writing this revue for them.
First off; my intentions were not to have a "hear me coming down the street" loud as hell, boomin' system. My goal was to have a good system that sounded good from my drivers seat. And I can say that I have definitly achieved that goal. My system sounds GREAT! it is CLEAN and BALANCED and I can hear EVERY instrument. Before installing my system I had missed listening to my rap music because I needed the bass. Now that my system is installed Rap sounds good, but I have been astonished at how great rock sounds. The addition of the amplified components is phenomenal! LatleyI have been listening to ancient music and hearing it like never before. Santana's "Black magic woman" ; not only can I hear every single bongo, but I swear I can actually hear the hand slapping it. Pink Floyds "wish you were hear" ; I have never heard the static in the end ebb and flow so amazingly. Bottom line, the more instruments & the more complex a song is, the more I enjoy listening to it. The transition between treble, midrange, midbass, and deep bass is seamless - like silk.
I've got around 25 hours in the install. No wires are exposed and it looks like a professional install. I reused the factory 6" speaker locations, tucked the tweeter pods where the top of the dash meets the door and the A-pillar, ran new 100% speaker wire for the fronts and sub, left the crossovers inside the cab (as oposed to in the door where it can get moist). The truck is a 4 door extended cab w/ rear ******* doors. The back seat still folds up and down like factory. tucked the capacitor out of the way and made a carpeted amp rack that is bolted to the bottom frame of the rear seat so that when I fold it up, I do not lose any floor space. The sub box is the only thing that looks like crap since the autoparts stores no longer carry carpeting and I did not have enough for both the amp rack and the box in my garage. The only panels that rattle are the door panels, and I will fix them by wedging some soft flexiable packing foam in place once I remove the panels again.
Total cost - $400
I will break down the cost and rate each item on a scale of 1 -10 10 being best
JVC KD-APD38 head unit $90; sonic electronics.com-.......rated 8
pros-I am happy with this unit its rated at 50x4 but im only driving the rear door speakers with it. The CDS and MP3s sound fantastic. It has a both IPOD input and Controls, and a front Aux input. dual Rca outputs, one with adjustable low pass crossover . The EQ is very good, has sub level, the "bass enhancer" does a good job at bringing out the midbass, but turn it up too much and it just distorts. I am very happy with it for 90 bucks.
Cons- FM radio is a bit staticy. In hind-sight, I should have spent the extra $40 for an Alpine.
Alpine SPR 17LS Type R 6" components; $130 clearance Best Buy..... rated 9 1/2
Pros- Fantastic, sound like silk, nothing more needs to be said. I installed them on the door where the "vent windows" should be. excellent crossovers
Cons- only handle 70 watts, Im pushing 100, they begin to distort near 80% max volume
Boss GT 780 Amp. 1000 watt, 4 channel $90 Sonic Electonics.......... rated 10
Pros- Clean power, 90 bux, does not heat up, does not cause headlight to dim (due to capacitor?), does not distort..2 ohm stable, bridgable....90 dollars. 5 year warrenty. I would have still been happy with this amp if I had paid $300 for it, but I got it for 90 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cons- 1000 watts max, but only 100x 4 RMS, the wired remote amplifer volume level controler does not work... it seemed useless / silly to me anyways
Im currently running 100 X 2 (4ohms) to the front components, and running about 230 (bridged 3 ohm) to the sub
I know that Boss amps have a terrible reputation; I don't know why. Of course a higher priced amp will sound better. Back in the day Punch amps were the shit. My buddy had a punch 200 and it sounded better than my old Boss 700 (which I never had problems with). The Boss amps are a Good Buy In my opion, but if you want to spend more then go ahead.
And if I really wanted to, it would now require minimal effort to change out the Boss to another amp; like 20 minutes.
1 JL W6 Dual 6 ohm voice coil 10" sub $60 local stereo shop ...........rated 4
I bought this sub 6-7 years ago on the cheap when it was discontunied
Pros- clean sounding, accurate reproduction of music, good price
Cons- I have used this sub in 2 systems this time it is ported, last time it was sealed. It is NOT loud at all. I am very disappointed with this sub. I have the VC wired together to produce a 3 ohm load. If I were to change anything. I would either take out the back seat and add 2 12s for serious bass (not likely), or go with 2 8's or maber 2 JL 6". Now I know why this sub was DC
I don't know whats up with that sub?!?!?!
Its a single 10 running at 3 ohms. My box is .94cuft and I have a 3" x 16" port which should tune me to 37 hz....
With my stereo turned up to 42 out of 50 (max before distortion) I can have the doors open and stand 100ft away and everything still sounds good and clear, (just like you would be if you were sitting in the truck) the bass, treble and mids are all still there
Don't get me wrong, it Bumps!!! but I think I might be expecting more.?????
American Accessories 8gauge wire kit $13............. rated 1
This kit sucks, complete garbage I have bought schocsh (sp?) in the past and was very happy with it, I should have bought it again
1 Farad capacitor Free from neighbor...................... rated 10
My neighbor gave me this for free, but he paid $15 for it at a swap meet. one of the studs was broken off so I just tapped in a large sheet metal bolt. I works as its supposed to. a capacitor is a capacitor is a capacitor. IMHO the name on it is meaningless
