I need help with my first sound system build

[Duramax3500]

I'm going to start by saying that I am no rookie when it comes to the mechanical and electrical side of vehicles. I have been working with them my whole life. But, I know almost nothing about how to build a sound system. The only experience I have with it is I put a cheap wal-mart head unit in an early 80's pick-up so I could have AM and FM radio.

I own a 08 Chevy 3500 crewcab with the Duramax in it. The sound system is stock except for a cheap 7" touch screen head unit that was in the truck when I bought it. I don't want anything crazy. But I would like a little bit of bass and it to be loud enough the exhaust and the turbo don't drowned it out when I pull a hill loaded.

I have talked to a guy I work with. He said you have to build the system for the type of music you and to the volume you will normally have playing. He also said that I would want to run 2 amps. 1 for the subs and 1 for mid range and the tweeters.

I don't want to upgrade the power supply. I'm already running two 1000CCA batteries and dual alternators with 210 continuous amps at idle 300 peak. I have a small amount of electrical load from lights on the flat bed and on my trailer. But on the front of the trailer there is a 16,500# winch that is powered from the truck. Warns website says it will pull 507 amps at full power. I don't want to, but I can turn the radio off when I use it though. And some time in the near future I may end up going back to a single 160 amp alternator so I can run a belt driven hydraulic pump.

I have found boxes for two 10" and two 12" subs most of witch have somewhere around 5" to 5 1/2" depth. Some ported and some sealed. What are the sound characteristics of both? I know of the brands that all the chain stores sell. But, surely better stuff that is the same price or cheaper. Right now my budget is around 1500. The head unit is getting replaced no matter what. Then I would like to get as much of the stock stuff replaced as possible.

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[moparnut]

Sealed boxes will sound more punchy (kick drum), ported will sound boomier, generally. Yes there is better stuff.

You should easily be able to stay on budget with what you are wanting to do. You should not need to run two amps. Look into the Pioneer GM-D9605, Precision Power 900.5, or Kenwood Excelon X801-5. All three of them will make above rated power, easily power a whole system on your current setup and won't break the bank. As far as the head unit, you can find one for less than $150 that will have everything you could want. I would find one that has 4 volt pre-outs (at a minimum) and has 6 RCA outputs (Pioneer DEH-6010bs would be my choice). You can then control the sub and front/rear channels from the deck. I would go with a decent set of component 6.5 speakers for the front and coaxials in the rear if you are going to keep the rear. Some people dont use rear fill. As for the sub, there are a plethora of shallow mount subs that will fit in the space you mention. JL Audio has a shallow mount (10TW3-D4) that would allow you to run the sub channel at 2 ohms and make full use of the power. I am currently putting 2 Sundown SD-2 8" subs behind the rear seat of a customers Tacoma. They only require .25 to .4 cubic feet each.

Hopefully that gives you a starting point.

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

ported is louder but good ported box is twice the size of a sealed box so keep that in mind.

 

[Duramax3500]

Alright, thanks for using model numbers of the stuff. That made it way easier to figure out what you were talking about.

On the head unit I know they are more expensive by I would like to go back to a large touch screen. I got used to it in the last two years. I also pull gooseneck and bumper pull trailers a few time a week so I want something that I could have dual cameras. It probably overkill for what I'm going to do but I was looking at a Kenwood Excelon DDX795. Its is about the cheapest I've seen that can run two cameras

 

[moparnut]

Happy to assist.

That deck has everything the Pioneer I listed does and a lot more. You should get good sound from it based on the specs I see.

 

[Duramax3500]

I'm planning on buying the head unit, subs, amp, and the box tomorrow. Cruthfield has everthing. Who do you normally buy your stuff from?

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

Sealed boxes will sound more punchy (kick drum), ported will sound boomier, generally. Yes there is better stuff.
You should easily be able to stay on budget with what you are wanting to do. You should not need to run two amps. Look into the Pioneer GM-D9605, Precision Power 900.5, or Kenwood Excelon X801-5. All three of them will make above rated power, easily power a whole system on your current setup and won't break the bank. As far as the head unit, you can find one for less than $150 that will have everything you could want. I would find one that has 4 volt pre-outs (at a minimum) and has 6 RCA outputs (Pioneer DEH-6010bs would be my choice). You can then control the sub and front/rear channels from the deck. I would go with a decent set of component 6.5 speakers for the front and coaxials in the rear if you are going to keep the rear. Some people dont use rear fill. As for the sub, there are a plethora of shallow mount subs that will fit in the space you mention. JL Audio has a shallow mount (10TW3-D4) that would allow you to run the sub channel at 2 ohms and make full use of the power. I am currently putting 2 Sundown SD-2 8" subs behind the rear seat of a customers Tacoma. They only require .25 to .4 cubic feet each.

Hopefully that gives you a starting point.

Only poorly designed ported boxes sound boomy