Just bought a '94 Ranger - time to upgrade!

[ChrisTW]

Hey all, new to the forum but not to car audio. I just bought this '94 Ranger. It has a broken tape deck, stock 6x8's, and some Pioneer TS-X35's behind the seats. I'm not sure what's hooked up where yet. I'm looking to do something low key-it's a work truck that also needs to fit my 75 lb shepherd-greyhound mix behind the seats.

Budget $500

Door - Faital 6FE200 crossed to a Vifa BC25SC55-04 in adapter - $88 + $28

Rear kick - Tang Band 6x9's plates - $134

HU - Faital 3FE22 - $64

Amp - TDA7498 Class-D (6x100w @4 ohm) - $60

Head - Pioneer DEH-150MP - $70

HPF's - $40

Speaker to line converter - $15

Inverter - Install 500w+ inverter under seats. It's a work truck! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Total: $500

I'll run a HPF on the door and dash and LPF on subs, both between 80 and 120 Hz. The 3's will be mounted in PVC pipe chambers mounted down by the shifter.

I use Faitals in my bass guitar cabs for an extremely clean full range response and they certainly deliver with enough juice. I'm afraid I'll be lean on low end power but it's worth a shot with a $500 budget for a fully hidden upgrade.

Click to read more...

 

[ChrisTW]

As normal, my budget disappeared while I was in the planning stages. With $100 to spend and SQL in mind, I did the following:

I pulled out these things. Quality.

I assessed what I had to work with. Those "40 watts" can't be more than 5w RMS per channel. I'm running it into a speaker to RCA converter for the amps. No speakers are hooked to this. I don't want a distorted signal going to my amps if it overdrives, which it does quickly.

Aside - I did stick an inverter in place of the shorting cigarette lighter circuit! It's barely pictured here.

I had a "250 watt" amp from eBay that really does 25w RMS/channel into 4 ohms. That's a lot better than five! Plus it has an onboard HPF and basic tone adjustments.

I hooked it up to these speakers. I've been using them for nearly eight years at home. They sound great above 100 Hz, have a pretty good sensitivity, and take 40w RMS / 80w max. They're behind the seats and out of the way. I know, I said SQL but that was a bit hopeful.

I bought a $22 8" ebay sub and $24 ebay box yay!

Since it was barely in the teens this morning I started doing some pre-wiring on the amps. I added an ebay'd Boss R3002 and "8 gauge" wiring kit. It was 10 gauge. Go ebay!

I also realized my choice was a good one. Space and protecting that awkward woofer were a big concern for me. I keep a lot of stuff in the truck including tools. (It's my beater and I take no chances.) I went for a low slung sealed downfiring setup. Here it is pictured next to a 15" and box.

It took three separate sessions to get things done this morning. I hate steel toe boots. I got everything tuned in as well as I could with the sub behind the drivers seat. The input sensitivity of the two amps is a bit different so that made really honing things tough. Still, it'll get loud and sounds pretty good for as ghetto as it is. No mad bass here, just good, appropriate bass.

I'll try to get a pic of it in the truck but it's hard to see anything in there.

 

[akadj 10+ year member]

Well I think it looks pretty decent for what it is, What did you pick up the ranger for?

 

[ChrisTW]

$500. Can't complain, right? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

The woofer's breaking in nicely finally. I get more plenty of volume out of it now but it all poops out about the same point. Sounds like the amps need more juice on the transients at high volume. It's fine with radio music because of its obnoxious compression. I blame the ground that I knew I needed to upgrade and the fact I spent next to no money on this. Good news is I found some Infinity 6012i's from my high school days and I'll stick those in the doors once I cut the adapter plates to fit. That sounds a lot nicer than having those two little cubes flying around behind me all the time.

 

[akadj 10+ year member]

Ya 500.00 for something that runs decent is a win in my books.

If I didn't already have so many project vehicles on the go a ranger ext cab would be on my list!

 

[butterMilk 10+ year member]

hahaha, this thread made me laugh //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Sounds like you know what you're doing, but working with house speakers and a tape deck //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

and 5w rms per channel to boot!

 

[ChrisTW]

Ya 500.00 for something that runs decent is a win in my books.
If I didn't already have so many project vehicles on the go a ranger ext cab would be on my list!

Agreed completely! I sold my El Camino so this was the new beater. I did have to replace a cracked head and a few things like the IAC but it's still kickin everyday, even when at -10 F.

hahaha, this thread made me laugh //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
Sounds like you know what you're doing, but working with house speakers and a tape deck //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

and 5w rms per channel to boot!

Thanks! It's a crapshoot but I always enjoy a budget challenge. As of an hour ago I'm now working with some olddd Infinity 6012i's in the doors. That's upgrading, right? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

But seriously they sound amazing on female vocals and harmonies. They really get that wispy, airy top end with really good stereo imaging. Kinda lackluster under about 300 Hz but still very crisp. Exactly as I remember them! At least it doesn't ever get boomy. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Here's the little woofer inbetween the seats. It's holding down the fort until the 860w gets here.

Six speakers in the truck and none of them had any surround!

Oh, and the truck. Well, it's still a looker. It's also also god-awful to drive in anything but snow with those tires.

Next up! I realized how much I can get out of next to nothing if I'm clever about it. I added another $150 to the budget and spent it accordingly.

Infinity 860W - $50

some 400w SSL amp for doors/rear - $20 on CL

4 ga to blocks, 8 ga to amps - ~$30 more

Infinity 6832cf rears - $55

Should be here around Wednesday. Keep in mind I'm still using this garbage head into a $8 hi/lo converter and it's working great!

 

[ChrisTW]

Cool speaker chambers, bro!

Think I'll just try starting by forming/cutting some foam baffles and go from there. (Bonus: These speakers actually retained their surround!)

I pulled out the lower portion of the panel below the back window while running rear speaker wire. Turns out it has close to has between 1/2"-1" of free space filled with insulation. Perfect!

Update: I eBayed a Boss CX350 for $40 'cause what the hell. Fronts are 4 ohms, backs are 2 ohms. That's a no go with an unimpressive 2 channel. I had everything else taken care of to do this properly besides the cabin amp.

Seriously though, now I'm excited. I haven't done any cheap sleeper builds in a while.