troutspinner’s Budget SQ 2014 Crew Cab Build

[troutspinner]

Got my Fox Box all put together last night. The only thing left to do is put in an amp.....

Naturally, I ordered an amp yesterday morning as their site showed 3 in stock. Today is a different story, blah. I'm kind of patient but it may be time to move onto a new online store. I swear the first amp they sent me (that was then discontinued to never be carried by them again) was the amp someone complained about in a review with the same issue. I questioned if the item had been previously opened when I received it, I should have went with my gut and moved on then.

I am tempted to just cancel the order and go down to the local shop and get an LCQ and Phoenix Gold amp......for more money of course. ;(

 

[Etroze86]

But those PG amps , just a shame if you get one you can't display such a clean looking amp.

 

[ramdude916]

Have you tried amazon? If you have prime, it's 2 day shipping and the return policy is great. I think they have a 2 month return policy for the holidays. They never question a return and they just bailed me out of the hertz unauthorized 3rd party seller debacle. Full refund ! 67 orders for the year for the $60 I paid for the yearly membership. They'll even ship a heavy grill for no extra cost. Can't beat it.

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[BradKnob]

I bought my 2nd msa-1004 from Amazon. Apply for a credit card and get $30 off right away. Totaled less than $200

 

[troutspinner]

Good advice Ramdude and Brad. I spoke with Sonic this morning and they assured me that I would have it Friday so I will leave sleeping dogs lie.

On the bright side, I installed my seat spacers and my Fox Box into the truck just a little bit ago so that is done. The spacers provided that lift I was looking for so that I can pull the rear of my seats down if I want. Now that I can do that, I'm not afraid to mount the amp to the back wall as I have the necessary access to tune and tinker.

I'll have to "figure out" the best location and way to mount the amp yet but I guess I have time.

 

[troutspinner]

I received my amp today. Here is the verification certificate, not too shabby for what was supposed to be 75 Watts RMS Per Channel.

I quickly installed it but no pics yet, tomorrow will be wire "clean up" day but it does sound good. I'll have to do some tweaking as my ears settle in on the crossovers and such but damn is it loud and clear!

One problem though......When I installed it I hooked up my inputs, grabbed my trusty meter and a USB stick with a 50 Hz test tone on it and could not get it below 29.6 volts VAC with the HU set at 33 of 38. I based my math at 100 Watts x 4 Ohms square rooted so it should be 20VAC.

Even though the amp is designed for high inputs, it's a little too high for comfort. While I could be disciplined with the volume knob, if I ever let anyone borrow my truck I could see a problem so it looks like I will need to LOC.

Anyone have any opinions on line out convertors? Is there one brand that is better than the next or can I just run down to Best Buy and grab some?

 

[troutspinner]

Since my last post I realized my math was wrong, my VAC should actually be lower than previously stated. The Certificate is a 2 Ohm rating so it is a 15% increase over rated power. At 4 Ohms it comes out to 86.25 Watts per channel. Multiply that by 4 Ohms equals 345, square rooted equals 18.57 VAC. So at 29.6 Volts, my volume knob is maxed out at 24 of 38. Not desirable!

It does however sounds great! I've tuned it 3 times and I think I've dialed in all of the crossovers quite nicely. I am really impressed with the sound quality of our stock head units. My EQ, while only 3 bands is almost flat with the Bass up 3 notches over the mid and the tweeter 1 notch over the mid.

My choice of placing the tweeters in the dash I think was a good one. The stage height is nice and the width of the music is very pleasing. I do however wonder what a 3.5 mid in the dash and tweeters in the sails would sound like. Disgusting habit this audio thing is!

So if you have a RA3 radio, even if you have an amp that accepts high inputs, you could run into the same problem I am and need a LOC.

 

[ramdude916]

Glad your install went well! I'm taking a break from my own. It's very slow going bit I'm hoping I'll be as happy as you are . I'm at the critical part where I have to drill my sail panels. Haven't even marked them yet. I'm sure I'll be looking at it for another hour before doing so.


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[troutspinner]

Just do it! . They are about $15 to replace. I put the tweeters in the sails of my F150 where the sails are part of the overall door panel. That was difficult making that hole as the panels were $400 to replace. Out of boredom I could see myself moving my tweeters to the sails in my truck.

 

[ramdude916]

Done!



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[Etroze86]

Nice

 

[DavidRam]

Done!
View attachment 39185


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Whoa, looks very nice! But the right one is off center by 100th of a milimeter...

How did you drill the holes?

 

[ramdude916]

Whoa, looks very nice! But the right one is off center by 100th of a milimeter...

How did you drill the holes?

Used vernier calipers from the backside. Drilled a small hole, then an 1/8", then 1/4". Used a 1 3/4" hole saw from the top. It cut nice and clean, I was surprised. I think it literally was in the 100ths of an inch off . Sounds crystal clear. I'm not done yet. Will bridge the amp tomorrow

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[troutspinner]

Nice!

 

[BradKnob]

Awesome!! Everyone stepping their game up. Love it


And I think the 3.5" in the dash will bring your disgusting habit to the next level. Lol

 

[troutspinner]

Damn you Brad! But while I have your attention ..........

What would be your approach if I put some mids in the dash. I would think just a driver and then my tweeters in the sails or would you recommend a two-way 3 1/2"?

Also, I was thinking about the 5 channel amp I have. If I powered my rear doors off of the stock HU, which I think would be good enough for fill then I could power the 3 1/2" off of the newly available channels. But it could be overkill, I would think I would only need to run 40 watts RMS for new 3 1/2" speakers. Maybe leave all of my door speakers powered as is off of the 5 channel and then pick up another 4 channel, say 40 RMS per channel to power the new 3 1/2"'ers and tweeters in the sails. Thoughts?

 

[Etroze86]

I know I'm not brad, but the amount of quality 3.5 two way speakers aren't very high compared to the amount of 3"-4" quality drivers out there. With that said your first option with the driver and tweet in the sail would be the easiest to do and make sound amazing.
My take on the amps is the more clean power the better.

 

[BradKnob]

Haha, not trying to say it would be life changing results but adding a 3" helps take a little stress off the speakers. By stress I mean the tweeter doesn't have to play so low to meet with the mid and mid doesn't have to play too high. Basically your just keeping each speaker well within its designed frequency range, allowing them to handle a little more power and volume.


You have a great set of tweeters now so I would def keep them and just add the 3" into the mix. I would also recommend using amp power for all 3 front speakers and head unit for rear fill. A good set of mids should be able to take well over 40 watts. Main problem you will run into is dividing different frequencies to each speaker. Your current x-overs are designed to spread the whole range to 2 speakers so you will have to get creative to split those up to 3 speakers.

 

[autokraftgt]

I agree with Brad & Etroze...I'd go with a 3-4" driver....not a 2-way speaker.
The more power, the better.
I have been personally looking at the Scan Speak 12m recently for mid range duties...

 

[troutspinner]

Thank you for the replies guys. My amp cannot do band pass so I'm forced into either a 3 way passive crossover or biting the bullet and buying another amp that can band pass or another amp and DSP.

If I were to go passive on a 3 way crossover setup then I could bridge my amp, distributing all power the amp has to offer to the front 3, this seems attractive to me. Any opinions on that?

autokraftgt, that looks like a really nice speaker.....maybe santa will be good to me?