3rdgenfan
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #1
I can't really leave things alone for too long, and I quickly grew tired of the non amplified stereo in the XLT so opted to do something about it.
Went with the "stealth" behind-the-seat Gladen Audio 5 channel kit which was just one notch above their entry level package; originally I was going to just do their subwoofer enclosure but figured I'd just take care of everything all at once.
While it's considered a "plug and play" setup, the longest part of it all was the sound deadening install in all the nooks and crannies of the inner door skin. I think the total time to do the work was around 14 hours...and I am sure some of it was just from taking the time not to break things.
Started with taking the door panel off which was six 7mm bolts and it popped right off.
Final product:
The block off plate replaces the vapor barrier and seals up with the butyl/foam sound deadening. Inside of the door is also a few Blackhole tiles in addition to more sound deadening on the inner skin of the door. I also put some sound deadening on the door panel but forgot to take a pic of the drivers side, but I'll have a pic of the rear doors as an example.
Moved to the rear doors, here is what the door looked like (after I removed the speaker/vapor barrier), but after I did the internal sound deadening.
Here is the back of the door panel with the sound deadening on a few different areas. The factory door panel had some jute padding hooked into a few areas that covered the bottom pocket.
The weekend before was filled with running the power wires from the 12v battery in the middle of the firewall area down the frame rail and up into the rear of the truck. I then had to run a pair of wires that covered the left and right tweeters as well as the supplied T-Harness that would intercept the signal for the audio from the factory radio control module.
I also went and installed sound deadening on the rear panel after removing the carpeting from the truck, which needed some trimming for the sub enclosure.
The final install looks pretty good and stealthy which is what I was going for, and the only thing that needed to be moved was the jack which is able to fit in the little storage cubby under the rear seats. I also did have to take the step bit to open up their mounting hole on the amp rack that goes into the seat latch since it didn't line up initially, almost like it was about 1/2" short to line up perfectly.
The itty bitty speakers that came out of the truck looked a bit under powered, and claim to be 25w speakers but I'm sure that's max and they are likely a grand total of 60w rms for all four lol.
Haven't given it a full test just yet since I'm beat, but from the quick few minutes I spent sitting in the truck after cleaning everything up I am pretty impressed; crisp sound and the sub works to fill in the other part of the sound stage that was previously lacking.
Additionally all of the sound deadening on the doors helped to make them sound and feel solid.
Went with the "stealth" behind-the-seat Gladen Audio 5 channel kit which was just one notch above their entry level package; originally I was going to just do their subwoofer enclosure but figured I'd just take care of everything all at once.
While it's considered a "plug and play" setup, the longest part of it all was the sound deadening install in all the nooks and crannies of the inner door skin. I think the total time to do the work was around 14 hours...and I am sure some of it was just from taking the time not to break things.
Started with taking the door panel off which was six 7mm bolts and it popped right off.
Final product:
The block off plate replaces the vapor barrier and seals up with the butyl/foam sound deadening. Inside of the door is also a few Blackhole tiles in addition to more sound deadening on the inner skin of the door. I also put some sound deadening on the door panel but forgot to take a pic of the drivers side, but I'll have a pic of the rear doors as an example.
Moved to the rear doors, here is what the door looked like (after I removed the speaker/vapor barrier), but after I did the internal sound deadening.
Here is the back of the door panel with the sound deadening on a few different areas. The factory door panel had some jute padding hooked into a few areas that covered the bottom pocket.
The weekend before was filled with running the power wires from the 12v battery in the middle of the firewall area down the frame rail and up into the rear of the truck. I then had to run a pair of wires that covered the left and right tweeters as well as the supplied T-Harness that would intercept the signal for the audio from the factory radio control module.
I also went and installed sound deadening on the rear panel after removing the carpeting from the truck, which needed some trimming for the sub enclosure.
The final install looks pretty good and stealthy which is what I was going for, and the only thing that needed to be moved was the jack which is able to fit in the little storage cubby under the rear seats. I also did have to take the step bit to open up their mounting hole on the amp rack that goes into the seat latch since it didn't line up initially, almost like it was about 1/2" short to line up perfectly.
The itty bitty speakers that came out of the truck looked a bit under powered, and claim to be 25w speakers but I'm sure that's max and they are likely a grand total of 60w rms for all four lol.
Haven't given it a full test just yet since I'm beat, but from the quick few minutes I spent sitting in the truck after cleaning everything up I am pretty impressed; crisp sound and the sub works to fill in the other part of the sound stage that was previously lacking.
Additionally all of the sound deadening on the doors helped to make them sound and feel solid.
