My stereo install

benjdow · June 23, 2015

Hi all, got my new stereo installed, figured I'd share. I bought my 2014 Silverado lightly used (9k miles) from a private seller. The previous owner had a custom stereo installed....in total he paid $4700 (have receipts) to a local stereo shop. I was astounded by the price and extremely underwhelmed with the performance. The midbass was nonexistent and the highs were piercing, to the point of being unbearable to listen to. Being somewhat of a DIY audio enthusiast, I had plans to redo the stereo. My truck got broken into, and the subs and head unit were stolen, which jump started my install.

My goal was sound quality. I'm not trying to set off car alarms, I just wanted the most realistic reproduction of music that I could get within a reasonable budget. I got exactly what I wanted, and couldn't be any happier. Really goes to show that name brand and $$$ invested have no correlation to performance....wish you guys could hear it. Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of pics during the install.

What it had:

Head unit: Kenwood DDX771
Front Speakers: Alpine SPS-610c, components
Rear Speakers: Alpine SPS-610, coaxials
Subwoofers: (2) JL CP108LG-W3V3, 8" sub in ported JL box
Amp for speakers: Rockford Fosgate Prime R250X4
Amp for subs: Rockford Fosgate

What I replaced it with:

-Pioneer AVH X5700bhs, $360
-Silver Flute 6.5 mids, $60/pair
-NVX XSPTW tweets $100/pair
-Sundown SD-3 10" sub $200

-Subthump box $120
-Autotek SX-475 on mids $60
-Boss C655 on tweets $80
-PPI ION 650.1 on Sub $108

-Power wire/Sound dampener, misc $200

$1300

The head unit is a crucial part of this stereo. It's one of the very few double dins that offer active crossovers. This is a 2 way active setup, meaning I don't have passive crossovers and I control the crossover points through the head unit. I installed a bypass so I can have full features without the parking brake engaged.

I applied sound dampener on the outer and inner part of the door. I also sealed off the door with thin sheet metal covered with sound dampener. Closed cell foam was also applied. Sealing the door really gave me the midbass I was after.

Here are the silver flutes. I made my own speaker adapter out of birch, and used sound dampener and modeling clay to reduce resonance in the door. You really don't even need a sub with these drivers. They will make the mirrors vibrate when you turn it up. Unfortunately I didn't get a pic of the tweeters. I'm in love with these NVX tweeters...they're actually rebranded SB acoustics tweeters.

Here's a pic of the sub. I don't have a pic of the box. This is my first time ever purchasing a sub box. I've always built my own, but I didn't want to deal with all the angles I crap it needed to fit under the seat. I requested subthump redesign a box to accommodate the Sundown SD-3. The box was .9^ft and the Sundown calls for .5^ft (sealed), so I added some bracing to the inside of the box to reduce the internal volume. I love this sub...it's very tight and articulate...excellent sound quality sub IMO.

This is where I installed the remote bass knob

Here are the amps. I could've easily used one small footprint 4 channel amp for mids and highs, it was personal preference. I'm sure some of you will baulk at the Boss amp and maybe the Autotek. Both of these amps are 90's model amps, made in the US by Zed Audio, really good amps. I also installed mass loaded vinyl on the backwall. I have flowmasters, and I can barely hear them. This truck is like a coffin.

I intentionally do not have speakers installed in the rear doors. Speakers in the rear ruin the sound stage unless properly applied...which is quite difficult to do. The head unit has an auto time alignment and eq function which is wonderful. All you have to do is plug in the mic and let it do it's thing....it works surprisingly well. Next on my agenda is to install a backup camera and possibly a front view camera. The head unit has 2 camera inputs, which is a nice feature.

Roader · June 23, 2015

Sundown subs are nice subs. Dont know much about the rest

benjdow · June 24, 2015

Yeah, always been a fan of Sundown subs.

A lot of sound quality oriented installs use hardware and raw driver brands that most consumers are unfamiliar with. Take the Silver Flutes for example, if someone offered to give me the Silver Flute 6.5 ($60/pair) or JL Audio's most expensive 6.5, I'd take the Silver Flutes. The same Silver Flute drivers are used in some very high end boutique loudspeakers, e.g., the $6k Gemme Tanto's

blownZ71 · July 2, 2015

Did you use a harness to maintain steering wheel controls? If so which one?

Chadwilliam1 · July 16, 2015

With an aftermarket head unit how do you control the trucks settings?

JRaschke11 · July 16, 2015

I'm not being condescending, this is a genuine question.

People put CD players and subs in new vehicles? I thought that was for ricers and high school kids.

No offense. I'm certainly not an audiophile and the stock Bose is good enough for me. I just don't know people that care that much about audio. Is there a way to do it tastefully in a truck like ours?

surebuttercringe · July 16, 2015

I'm not being condescending, this is a genuine question.

People put CD players and subs in new vehicles? I thought that was for ricers and high school kids.

No offense. I'm certainly not an audiophile and the stock Bose is good enough for me. I just don't know people that care that much about audio. Is there a way to do it tastefully in a truck like ours?

Well, when you spend $40,000 and up for a truck that can't even play FM stations without static, yeah people are going to change out the units. Seriously though, there are some people that never really grow out of enjoying music loudly. I am one of them. Even at 38 years old, I love to crank up the volume and jam out. If there was an easy, cost effective way to add a sub to my already Bose setup, I'd do it in a heartbeat just so I can feel the music a little more.

jimlem · July 16, 2015

Nice job on all of it. Thanks for the explanations on why you went with the parts you did. Just shows you don't need to buy the very latest parts to get good sound. My only snag is I would have used quarter-sawed white oak instead of birch for the speaker adapters. JK

Smoothbassman · July 16, 2015

So, how do you control the vehicle functions without the old head unit??

Txmade · July 16, 2015

In for updates

tootall87 · July 16, 2015

What technique did you use to secure your amps and other equipment to the back wall? Self tapping screws or something else?

haider320 · July 16, 2015

So is the Kenwood a direct fit?

mfbearded · July 17, 2015

we ever get an answer about how he controls all the trucks settings and menus ?

Chadwilliam1 · July 21, 2015

Do the USB ports still work?

benjdow · July 30, 2015

Guys, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I had any responses or interest on this thread.

I'm not being condescending, this is a genuine question.

People put CD players and subs in new vehicles? I thought that was for ricers and high school kids.

No offense. I'm certainly not an audiophile and the stock Bose is good enough for me. I just don't know people that care that much about audio. Is there a way to do it tastefully in a truck like ours?

I understand where you're coming from. Most people have never had the opportunity to listen to a well implemented sound quality oriented install. The vast majority of car audio shops do not know enough or care enough to install a high fidelity stereo. Car audio and audio in general is a science. I've always thought if you're smart enough to really understand it and implement it, then the chances are your profession is not car audio installation. Not to say there aren't great shops out there, they're just few and far between.

In my case, my reasons for installing a sub and head unit are not the same as high school kids/ricers. What you're thinking of is people with a very loud sub that shakes things and overpowers all of their stock speakers. My sub is not capable of setting off car alarms, annoying neighbors, etc. What it is capable of, is articulately reproducing frequencies from 20hz to 80hz. The purpose of my head unit is not for flashy lights, but for the control it gives me over the speakers. For example, humans can hear a frequency range from 20hz to 20khz. I can tell my head unit what frequencies to assign the respective speakers. My sub plays 20hz to 80hz, mids 80hz to 2,500hz, and the tweeters from 2,500hz to 20,000hz. Another key feature is time alignment, and it makes a huge difference in sound quality. Music sounds good when you're directly centered between the 2 speakers, which is impossible to do unless you have a McLaren F1 where the drivers seat is in the center of the vehicle. Time alignment delays when a speakers plays which makes it as if you're sitting in the center of the vehicle. That turned out to be a longer than expected justification/explanation. Sorry.