As long as it is a butyl based deadener, you should be fine, make sure it is not asphalt. Second Skin is probably some of the best stuff you can get, and it really isn't that much more expensive than Dynamat and other crappy products.

 

Check out elementaldesign.com Their deadening is the cheapest I've found & its not asphalt. I plan to use their liguid edead v3 on the floor & roof of my Ranger. Their sheet deadener is $1 a sq ft for 40 mil & $2 a sq ft for 80 mil. It gets great reviews. I just bought my first product from them. I have the e3.12 sub. Its taking 500 watts from a JL Audio D500x1 amp & hits hard as hell for $125 shipped to my door. Its the lowest priced 12 inch sub they have

 

All you guys are giving great advice! I love it when people know their stuff. FYI the excursion actually has three sets of speakers and it is nice to have them all working. You can run the third set from your head unit if you wanna go the cheap route, or bust up to the six channel JL amps.

I'm running the G6600 for three sets of coaxials and two GMAX amps for subs...stealthbox and my 13w6v2 that I'm having a spare tire box built for....I can't wait for the box to be done! The cool thing about JL amps is the bass **** so that you can dial up or down bass as you like. So when my kiddos are in the car I wont rattle them to much.

 

My Phoenix Gold amps have the bass ***** too. I haven't hooked it up yet because & plan to add my Phoenix Gold 215 iX eg & run it from it. It will give my amps a 8 volt input voltage. Plus I can adjust the frequencies that need it. I seldom boost a frequency with my eg. I tend to cut the ones that seem to harsh instead. I do like my JL Audio sub amp. I drove 250 miles Friday with my system slamming most of the time. When I got home the sub amp was barely warm. It doesn't draw a lot of power & gives me a honest 500 watts of power.

 

If it is a decent amp, it SHOULD have a bass know. Also, never use bass boost or any of those garbage features, and do not turn your gain all the way up. If you know how to correctly set your gain, do it, if you don't, look it up. It really is an easy process.

 

Thanks for all the info!
I am hoping to pull all the interior this weekend and run wires and install the rear camera and sub.

Has anyone installed amps in an excursion? What would be the best place to install them?
They have to be out of the way. I was thinking either under front seats or possible the 2nd row. Only problem I use the truck for hauling our boats and trailers and times load up the inside so I would need them conselled with the 2nd row folded down, I would want anything to get damaged loading and unloading things. Any suggestion on where to mount them would be greatly appreciated!

 

This may sound a little odd, but think about it. Have you thought about the ceiling? You could even put it in the trunk, because the amount of room it would take up is virtually nothing, unless you have something really tall in the back.

 

I had the amps in my F250 under the back seat with subs behind the seat. I plan to build a 2 cu ft box to replace the console & put a Ed 13av2 under it ported at 30hz.It will hit hard enough for me. I'll push it with a Ed Nine 1 amp giving it 1200 watts. Amps under a seat will take up the least space in your truck

 

You just have to make sure you don't get a hot amp that will then fry in your truck and its only purpose then will be a crappy seat warmer that is also a fire hazard.

You can definitely go under the seats, just make sure there is some extra room for air to keep the amp cool. Amps can get really hot, especially in tight spaces.

 

Most modern amps do not get very hot. The second row is the best place to mount the amps. Many put the amps under second or third row. Be creative, you can really put them anywhere!

 

I'll chime in as I have done more then a few systems in my excursion.

first of all, you best gains in sound damping will come from 2 places. 1st being vinyl tubing inserted into the door seals of the jams and a deadner on the inside of the outside skin of the doors. Then the floor, then lastly the roof. Do not use cheap products as you will regret it later. trust me on this. Ant over at SS will take care of you for sure. The products speak for themselves.

You will have no problem running a 4ch and a mono block amp under the 2nd row. Since your are talking mostly towing and not so much drown out the world, I would look into small chassis amps to save space. Something like the Alpine PDX series will do fine.

I have personally heard the stealth sub box and for adding a little low end, they will work great. The will not take your breath away but sound good.

I don't recommend glassing into the rear doors as they are fiberglass and will sag. I have seen this in another install and it was a pain to fix their work.

For the 6 speakers issue, run your speaker wires back up to the deck and have them tie into the stock wiring at that point. The rear speaker/ headphone selector in the back on the center console must stay hooked up for the rear speakers to work. Your not running a ton of power to your door speakers so don't bother replacing them with direct runs.

If you have any questions, hit me up and I can answer anything ya got on the X

Bill

 

+1 I've been running a 14 year old PPI amp (6 channel AX606.2) behind the rear seat in my F250 supercab for about 7 years now. 3-4 of those years were spent in AZ. If the AZ heat won't fry an amp in an isolated/insulated area like the rear seat, I would say it's safe to say you can mount 'em anywhere.

 

Thanks for all the replies.
The system is fairly basic but I will have the excursion more or less stripped down with replacing the carpets as well as the seats. I figured when it is in the condition if there are things I can do to help it I might as well!

Bgalaxy, so doing the door seals, what size and what material do you use?
Can you also post a link of where to get materials to do the outside doors and floor for sound deadining?
Lastly can you advise me the best way to do the wiring for the speakers? I will be running a 4 channel amp and a mono amp just to the sub. It is an 2000 excursion without DVD. I originally planned on running all new wire direct to the speakers, but if there is a better way would you please advise me! Power wise is not much I believe 100 watts per channel x4. Once again this will never be a compition vehicle, I would just like a nice sounding vehicle to tow when I am towing things.

 

For the vinyl tubing around the doors I used 1/2 rod. It is way easier to do a 1/2 vinyl tubing. When you take off the seal, you will see exactly how it will go.

For the Deadner you can check out www second skin dot com The Product I used was the Damplifier Pro. If you really want quiet, then you can do a layer of Luxury Liner pro or LLP That stuff will help your truck be a sound tomb. if your crackhead crazy about noise, then you could always do a layer of Spectrum Sludge. It is a spray of product and helps even more.

For the wiring, I suggest running your speaker leads back up into the dash to the factory wiring. running through the boot for new wiring is a waste of time and money IMO for what you are looking to do. When you tie into at the dash, you won't have to worry about converting from 4 speakers to the 6 the truck has.

Another side note, for your power wiring, I suggest running a 1.0 wire size for your power and ground both. This allows for plenty of juice to your amps without worry and the added ground will make for the most complete circuit. Most people don't go the extra step and it will affect the system in the end.

Last thing to remember. Fuse Fuse Fuse. Forgetting this is not an option. I Like to have mine under 18" of the battery as well as at a distribution block at the amps.

The greatest sound systems are not the gear you buy but rather the way everything is installed

 

I set my amps on a rack to help them cool. Setting them on carpet isn't a good idea. The ones in my Ranger barely get warm after long,loud listening sessions. The PG is fan cooled & the JL 500 must be well built cause it doesn't get any warmer than the fan cooled one. The Nine 1. is fan cooled too. Just run big enough wire & you will be good. I have 0 ga run to mine