Audio build

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

OP
OP
Whitd5

Whitd5

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Posts
161
Reaction score
124
Location
Oklahoma USA
Ram Year
2016
Engine
5.7
I would think that should be fine for your signal. I’ve heard more than one person comment on an improved sound quality with the lc2i. Just remember that your eq, loc, amp... etc are not all sources for potential boost in volume/bass. Set your levels correctly to avoid distortion/clipping and if at that point it’s not loud enough then you didn’t build enough system.

Multimeters are great due to their availability to the average joe but there are much better tools. At the end of the day... use your ears and pay attention to what you are hearing.
 
OP
OP
Whitd5

Whitd5

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Posts
161
Reaction score
124
Location
Oklahoma USA
Ram Year
2016
Engine
5.7
Went ahead and used distribution blocks for power and ground. I like the look and it just makes sense to me. 0 gauge in, dual 4 gauge out.

Might seem silly to some but I like the extra insurance and I use zip ties to tether my wires together at all points. Sometimes I feel like depending on one set screw is asking for failure at some point. Vehicles cause enough vibration as it is and now we are intentionally shaking things as much as possible with a sub... and who doesn’t like finding new uses for zip ties.

This was most important to me at the fuse block. At least a short by the amps will blow the fuse. The main power comes loose between the fuse block and the battery and you have a live wire dangling around. I zip tie as many points as I can to prevent it from reaching a point to short to

CC4BBD9D-4656-4CB0-9C66-F0DE0C001C53.jpeg

BA816F97-D96F-420F-B2D5-A89A26588264.jpeg
 

rotwiler

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Posts
999
Reaction score
493
Location
Washington
Ram Year
2013 QC Outdoorsman
Engine
5.7
I have the alpine, used a pac loc, hated it, then used the audio control with rolloff adjustments, hated it. Now have a Metra ax-dsp, but has android issues with the RAM with oem Amp setting. So now I just bought a pac Amp pro ch41. Installing the Amp pro this week. Love the sound quality of the ax dsp, it sums the front and rear channels, but not playing well with the OEM Amp. But using the ax dsp bass is excellent, eq is very nice and built in clipping level and has the plug and play harness. I need to start selling all this stuff I built up, 2 locs, ax dsp, fold flat floor a 8.4a radio etc.
 
OP
OP
Whitd5

Whitd5

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Posts
161
Reaction score
124
Location
Oklahoma USA
Ram Year
2016
Engine
5.7
I’m hoping for quality without spending more than I have in my sub and amps lol.
 

FF1899

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2018
Posts
535
Reaction score
312
Location
Syracuse NY
Ram Year
2018
Engine
5.7
I have the alpine, used a pac loc, hated it, then used the audio control with rolloff adjustments, hated it. Now have a Metra ax-dsp, but has android issues with the RAM with oem Amp setting. So now I just bought a pac Amp pro ch41. Installing the Amp pro this week. Love the sound quality of the ax dsp, it sums the front and rear channels, but not playing well with the OEM Amp. But using the ax dsp bass is excellent, eq is very nice and built in clipping level and has the plug and play harness. I need to start selling all this stuff I built up, 2 locs, ax dsp, fold flat floor a 8.4a radio etc.
Let me know about that dsp
 
OP
OP
Whitd5

Whitd5

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Posts
161
Reaction score
124
Location
Oklahoma USA
Ram Year
2016
Engine
5.7
Can’t believe how time gets away and money gets put on hold... anywho UPDATES!

So I finally have my sub. The 12” vvx-v3 d2 is installed. Great fit in the Fox box.
C411ADFA-C546-45A2-A645-BCDDD1AEE8CA.jpeg
3043D967-0985-43EC-8895-0FE31EEA6836.jpeg

Still don’t have my lc2i hooked up but I played some low frequencies through it from my phone and it has a nice deep full sound. Can’t wait to see how actual music sounds when I can get to that point.

Some changes to the front. I decided I wanted to stick with the Skar audio. Picked up a set of Spx components. The have good, better, best and insane... if you have to ask which one this is then idk what to tell you.
13D3113E-A3C2-4B04-B56D-2F1F791D228D.jpeg
These will get 230watts to each door from the amp.

Got through some of the install. Took the door panel off and removed the factory speakers. Obviously needed an adapter for the 6.5. Wanted to use something that would hold up to a little exposure so wood was out. Decided a good plastic was best. Thank you Walmart for the $10 cutting board. Got to work cutting out the adapters and a bit later this is what I have.
1407B237-3BB8-412F-8360-38532D769BE0.jpeg
Not a great pic but hey... it’s 3am. You can see the crossover mounted as well. Plenty of room behind the door panel in that location.
A89BC5D4-7725-4D09-9F48-794128BFB04E.jpeg

You can see I went with the sail panel for the tweeter. Thought about playing the game of listening to it in multiple locations before I installed it but seems like this is predominately the place people end up suggesting so I just pulled the trigger. Super easy with a hole saw and plenty of room behind there.

So now I’m left with running the input wires and maybe some little things like painting the adapter plate... installing an entire bag of zip ties... the usual.
 

TomT

Senior Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2015
Posts
1,259
Reaction score
543
Location
SoCal/OC
Ram Year
2015
Engine
Hemi 5.7
One thing to be aware of with tweeters in the sail panels, you may want to lower the level to them if possible. Many passive crossovers have a -10db or similar setting on them. Just in case they overpower the door speakers.

The good part about it is if you want to go three way active you just need to drop midranges into the dash.
 

Darth

Senior Member
Military
Joined
Sep 28, 2018
Posts
182
Reaction score
220
Location
Chicago
Ram Year
2017
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Great looking install!
 
OP
OP
Whitd5

Whitd5

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Posts
161
Reaction score
124
Location
Oklahoma USA
Ram Year
2016
Engine
5.7
One thing to be aware of with tweeters in the sail panels, you may want to lower the level to them if possible. Many passive crossovers have a -10db or similar setting on them. Just in case they overpower the door speakers.

The good part about it is if you want to go three way active you just need to drop midranges into the dash.


Finished the drivers side today and was able to run them off of my phone since still no LOC. I have the tweeter on the -3db setting and to me it sounds great. I can go back to 0 or down more to -6db if I need to. Gonna leave them here until I get the sub running with it all and see if the rear fill causes anything undesirable as well. Best sounding front stage I have ever had by far!
 
OP
OP
Whitd5

Whitd5

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Posts
161
Reaction score
124
Location
Oklahoma USA
Ram Year
2016
Engine
5.7
One thing interesting I noticed was when driving today with only the passenger door finished, the 3.5 still played in the dash on that side. I was under the impression that if the door speaker was not connected that the dash speaker would not function. Even read about people trying to add resistors to trick it into working so they could run the 3.5 in the dash. I’m going to need to address that if they do in fact work without the door speakers. I don’t want the factory junk up there messing with my sound.
 

Witch

Senior Member
Joined
May 6, 2016
Posts
1,295
Reaction score
629
Ram Year
2015
Engine
Hemi 5.7 liter
Looks nice, might want to install some sound deadening while you have the door panel off
 
OP
OP
Whitd5

Whitd5

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Posts
161
Reaction score
124
Location
Oklahoma USA
Ram Year
2016
Engine
5.7
Door panels are so easy to remove I’m not gonna stress about it right now. It will sound so much better I’m just going to enjoy it. Maybe when my ears acclimate to the improved sound I will feel justified in the extra money for deadening.
 

michael harpe

U.S. Army 2001-2014
Military
Joined
May 19, 2019
Posts
768
Reaction score
677
Location
quitman, ga
Ram Year
2018 Power Wagon
Engine
6.4 hemi
Here is what I did to the 2018 alpine system in my power wagon.

Alpine pxe850s dsp (also a 12 channel amp @ 25watts @ 4 ohm)

Kicker kx series speakers. 3.5” dash and 6x9 3 way front and rear doors. Metra 1/2” spacer for front doors

Crossfire 800.4 4 channel amp 100 watts rms @ 4 ohms

Crossfire 1000d 1k watt @1 ohm rms

2 12” crossfire c3 dvc subs wired in 1 ohm.

513bf9cc53058d432d846c3bac472ce7.jpg

Glad your enjoying you setup. Mine is loud enough that when I have the windows down doing 75mph I don’t hear wind or road noise lol.


Sent from an undisclosed location in Iraq
 
Top