I posted this in the audio forum and didn't get much feedback so I figured I would try it here.

This is for all those who have the JL Audio Stealthbox for the Excursion. First, my dilema. Although, I do not have the privelege of owning my own "X" yet. It has been decided, between my wife and I, that it will be our next vehicle. PSD powered, of course. Excitement about this has lead me to plot stereo upgrade options. Because, as we all know, stock stereos suck! Right now, my Ranger has a good chunk of stereo equipment in it already. All of it would swap right into an Excursion.

I don't want to continue on with Bazooka tubes with in the Excursion. They will take up some cargo space and be exposed to beating and banging from cargo. Keeping them out-of-sight would be a little harder too. I would rather go with a JL Audio Stealthbox up front. This would save alot of wiring cost too. Stealth is priority one for each component except the deck.

Now, my problem comes in not with the installing Stealthbox itself but where to mount the amplifiers to power it and the rest of the speakers in the system. Where did you guys mount your amps? My concern is for the life of the amps. I have read that a few folks have mounted them under the second row seats. Is there enough room under there for air to circulate and allow the amps to be properly cooled? If not, is there enough room under the second row seats one could build an enclosure around the amps with small fans for air circulation? These won't be ultra powerful amps (25Wx4 and a 300Wx1 RMS[continuous]). Likewise, neither amp will see higher than a four ohm load. So how did you guys solve these problems?

Thanks,

Paul


Bonus Points to whoever can figure out where to mount a Phoenix Gold EQ232ix out-of-sight!

 

I have all my amps under the back seat and I do not have any cooling problems. I have two JL amps under the seat, a 7 channel amp for the front, mids, rears, and center channel. Then I have one for the subs. All my door speakers are Focal Utopia Be and the subs are JL. Then head unit is an alpine IVA-D901 and then I have the dvd changer, cd changer, dvd navigation, dolby digital processor, four independent screens, xm traffic, and xm weather, python gps alarm with remote start. All of it is alpine except for the speakers, alarm, and xm stuff. We are going to install our speed ray sat and broadband before the end of the year. With all the amps under the seat I have never had them get too hot. You do have to remove a bar that spans between the rails under the seat but I have not had any problems with that. I hope that helps. A good place to mount things is in the foot area of the third row. It is tall enough to make a good ventillated cover without sacrificing too much leg room (who cares about the thrid row anyway... just kidding)


Bryan

 

Thanks Bryan. Do you know how much room there is under the front passenger seat?

 

There is no room under the front seats, I am assuming that you have power seats that is. I have my two changers custom mounted in the center console.

Bryan

 

The Stealthbox also ruins any storage space in the console. (If it's the one I am thinking of) I used a pair of 8" Bazookas, one powered and one slave that were in my last vehicle. They are behind the 2nd row seat in the 3rd seat footwell...no one sits there anyway. The rest of my system is stock.

I work in the TV-Radio production biz so I appreciate good sound and this step has worked fine for me. Plus, I did not loose any of the dual-play features that the head unit has.

 

I have the Stealthbox.... great tight bass and not obnoxiously boomy. There still is some storage under the center console lid (about 3"-4" deep). It's out of the way and I can still fully use the rear cargo area, which is why it appealed to me in the first place. Amp is under the second row seat without any fit or heat issues.

 

Thank you sturz. That is exactly the info I was looking for.

Bryan
Thanks again, Bryan. I thought that might be the case. Two changers! Good god! You actually listen to that much music?

I have exactly the same Bazooka tubes set-up in my Ranger that you have in your Excursion. My requirement of stealth and no loss of cargo or people space doesn't quite work using the Bazookas. That is why I am aiming towards the JL Stealthbox.