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Just checking to see if anyone else on here had done a complete removal of the interior to build an SQL stereo system? I am in the process of doing so and was just checking to see if there were any pointers. I will add some pictures as we take them through the process. BTW...you have to have the key fob detector of the bottom of the tray in the console for your truck to run. Found out the hard way
I gutted the interior to Dynamat the entire truck. Installed a Kenwood amp, Infinity Kappa Perfect 600's, 2 Infinity 10" subs behind the rear seat, and some Polk DB's in the rear doors. It sounds absolutely amazing. I can turn Sync up to 30 with zero distortion, just loud as crap and completely clear! I unfortunately didn't take many photos because I was in "get-sheet-done" mode. I have a couple of the back wall. I also replaced my factory seat skins with Katskinz around the the same time. To be honest, its one of the easiest vehicles I've worked on. Only a couple bolts to take out the seats, all the panels just pop off with minimal force. I didn't break any tabs or loose any push connectors....was a pretty great experience actually.
I'm sure you already have some, but I would highly suggest you get some plastic body panel tools if you don't already. Harbor Freight has a set for cheap and they are invaluable for this endeavor. Let me know if you have any questions along the way!
Custom box. Fiberglassed the bottom humps that traverse the rear seat mounts, maple ply for the top/sides. It sounds amazing, one of the best boxes I've built (not saying much) for the space available. Came out to about 1 cu ft. Cost was nothing really since I had the materials laying around from another wood working project.
Started out taking out the back seat and removing the carpet cover on the back wall.
Then we pulled back the carpet and started laying sound deadening. Went with 3 layers as we are looking for as close to SILENT as we can get.
After we laid the rest of the backseat floor we moved toward taking out the console as it had to be shipped to Dallas as they are designing a custom enclosure out of it.
Right now we are completing the back wall, stuffing all A/B/C pillars with sound deadening insulation and then we will remove all the carpet and finish the front floors. Trying to keep it drivable as we go through the process. When we are done we will have a 3,000+ RMS SQL competition truck. We will have custom A-pillars along with a custom box and amp rack. Stay tuned for more pics!!
TRICON....looks great!! We are loving the back wall now as it has all of those items hanging on it. I also have the back sliding glass so that makes it even more of a challenge. We have a body panel kit I got off Amazon and it does help tremendously.
Can you share the dimensions and/or plans for the sub box? Where'd you mount the amp? It normally sits on that back wall.
Originally Posted by Tricon
Custom box. Fiberglassed the bottom humps that traverse the rear seat mounts, maple ply for the top/sides. It sounds amazing, one of the best boxes I've built (not saying much) for the space available. Came out to about 1 cu ft. Cost was nothing really since I had the materials laying around from another wood working project.
My 12" sub will sit in the console hidden below what would be the cup holders. My amps will all be below the backseat. The factory amp will still live behind the backseat. We are only using it to run the factory deck. All factory audio will be gone. My backseat will still be 100% usable.
I installed my Sub amp under the rear seat, and my front Class D amp in the dash, under the Sync system. Its such a small amp and puts out 191w x2 RMS....crazy how efficient amps have gotten over the years. I also designed the box so I can still raise the seats.
For box dimensions. I'll have to see if I still have my drawings on my work bench somewhere. The box basically spans the entire back width, is about 5-6" ID deep at the bottom and 3.5-4" deep at the top, IIRC. The sounds is just amazing. I have plans to install a MiniDSP C-DSP6x8 this summer to play with the time alignment and eq for each speaker....but I might actually forego that as it sounds pretty perfect to me as is.
RubyRed, the three layers of vibration dampener will really help bring out the sound in your system! If you are looking to quiet road noise you really need to be using a MLV (mass loaded vinyl) product though. Most guys will put a layer of Sound Deadener like Dynamat, FatMat, Noico, etc. Then layer a MLV on top of that. MLV has lots of sealed air pockets that trap sound, so nothing passes through. Dynamat adds mass and rigidity to the body panels so power robbing vibrations are taken out of the equation. I'm sure you probably know this already, but might help some guys reading this down the line. Dynamat = more volume and output from your speakers, but no real difference in road noise. Mass Loaded Vinyl = lower outside noises, lowering your sound floor and giving you that BMW level of quietness going down the highway. Together....its next level quiet and stereo output.
Yeah we are going with 1/8 foam MLV mat on the entirety of the cab. It will also go on the back of all plastic panels along with our Roadkill. my real challenge is killing sound on my moon roof. Were looking into all kinds of ideas there.
Did you do any sound modeling on the box dimensions to optimize the box or did you just go with whatever fit the available space?
I agree with the Dynamat and MLV. However it gets to be really a lot of work to line the entire cab with that stuff. Nice work!
Originally Posted by Tricon
I installed my Sub amp under the rear seat, and my front Class D amp in the dash, under the Sync system. Its such a small amp and puts out 191w x2 RMS....crazy how efficient amps have gotten over the years. I also designed the box so I can still raise the seats.
For box dimensions. I'll have to see if I still have my drawings on my work bench somewhere. The box basically spans the entire back width, is about 5-6" ID deep at the bottom and 3.5-4" deep at the top, IIRC. The sounds is just amazing. I have plans to install a MiniDSP C-DSP6x8 this summer to play with the time alignment and eq for each speaker....but I might actually forego that as it sounds pretty perfect to me as is.
RubyRed, the three layers of vibration dampener will really help bring out the sound in your system! If you are looking to quiet road noise you really need to be using a MLV (mass loaded vinyl) product though. Most guys will put a layer of Sound Deadener like Dynamat, FatMat, Noico, etc. Then layer a MLV on top of that. MLV has lots of sealed air pockets that trap sound, so nothing passes through. Dynamat adds mass and rigidity to the body panels so power robbing vibrations are taken out of the equation. I'm sure you probably know this already, but might help some guys reading this down the line. Dynamat = more volume and output from your speakers, but no real difference in road noise. Mass Loaded Vinyl = lower outside noises, lowering your sound floor and giving you that BMW level of quietness going down the highway. Together....its next level quiet and stereo output.
Did you do any sound modeling on the box dimensions to optimize the box or did you just go with whatever fit the available space?
I agree with the Dynamat and MLV. However it gets to be really a lot of work to line the entire cab with that stuff. Nice work!
Since I knew I had to go with a sealed enclosure because of space constraints, I just tried to get as close to 1 cu ft. as possible since my Infinity 10's recommended 0.5 cu ft as the optimal sealed enclosure. Once I had measurements that would work, I plugged my dimensions and sub specs into WinISD and figured out that the response curve was pretty dang good. These slim subs are designed with this type of enclosure in mind, so it wasn't that mind blowing that it turned out so well, but I was super happy that I got 2 x 10's back there and the seats could still be pushed up to access the storage area. The fact that the response curve, SPL, etc. were all optimal was just a happy coincidence after the fact!
OK that sounds great. I think I'm going to try and cheat and copy your set up. I guess I need to mock it up first and make sure it all fits with the layers of Dynamat (or clone stuff) and maybe some MLV. Did you apply Dynamat and MLV to your doors as well?
Originally Posted by Tricon
Since I knew I had to go with a sealed enclosure because of space constraints, I just tried to get as close to 1 cu ft. as possible since my Infinity 10's recommended 0.5 cu ft as the optimal sealed enclosure. Once I had measurements that would work, I plugged my dimensions and sub specs into WinISD and figured out that the response curve was pretty dang good. These slim subs are designed with this type of enclosure in mind, so it wasn't that mind blowing that it turned out so well, but I was super happy that I got 2 x 10's back there and the seats could still be pushed up to access the storage area. The fact that the response curve, SPL, etc. were all optimal was just a happy coincidence after the fact!
