Upgraded Audio Project (non B&O)

[CRAIGC540]

The door speakers were 4 Ohm. Not sure why they made the center 8 Ohm

Thanks.

I bought these because of the mounting tabs and I didn't check the Ohms.
Dayton Audio PS95-8 3-1/2"

These are my door speakers..
I will be installing them next week.

Polk Audio DB652 DB+ Series 6.5"

Polk Audio DB692 DB+ Series 6" x 9"

Sponsored

 

[Tweeker]

very nice thread, I did basically the same stuff, same speakers, but no sound deadening. Same sub, but I didnt use a LOC since the T-Harness has speaker wire outputs and the sub took speaker wire inputs. I agree, it sounds great!

Thank you everyone for sharing your information. I have a quick question regarding connecting the sub directly to the speaker wires. Which T-Harness are you reffering to and where did you splice the speaker wires?

 

[asianman35]

Thank you everyone for sharing your information. I have a quick question regarding connecting the sub directly to the speaker wires. Which T-Harness are you reffering to and where did you splice the speaker wires?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C4VBMPTK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Tweeker]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C4VBMPTK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is very helpful. Thank you for the link.

 

[MTBAZ]

anyone do a sound check of with and without the blocker plates? Wondering if they are worth it?

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

anyone do a sound check of with and without the blocker plates? Wondering if they are worth it?

I put the same speakers in my Pro and my XLT, different amp. The Pro had no block off plates, I installed them on the XLT. I, also, used sound dampening material on the XLT and not the Pro. On the XLT, after installing the plates (and with the dampening material), road noise is quieter and it seems as though the mids and lows are tighter and a little more distinct. I noticed the road noise attenuation more than the audio enhancement (but the audio enhancement maybe due to less road noise).

I would buy and install them again.

 

[MTBAZ]

thanks. Great feedback.

 

[I <3 My Lightning]

anyone do a sound check of with and without the blocker plates? Wondering if they are worth it?

I had completed my little audio upgrade in stages based on time. For decades I would strip my new vehicles and complete full sound deading, add a programmable DSP, build custom subs ect. I thought I was out of that game till I got the lighting. The basic system is not as bad as I thought it would be because of how quiet the truck is to begin with. But yes the speakers are trash. Based on reading and viewing images on the various audio upgrade threads across various forums, the basic B&O and the unleashed is using essentially all the same speakers as the basic setup.

With my personal experience I have always said if you know the fundamentals of sound dampening and tuning you can take crap and fool pretty much most listeners.

On my first day of the build I actually only sound dampened the back doors and used the sounds plates till I figured out what I was going to do about rear speakers. I also wanted to see if the plates were worthy of the price and my time before I would go and order the front set.

When I tested the sound plates on its own, it marginally at best make the standard system a tad better with midrange. You are basically taking a door that's set up with speakers in free air and trying to turn it into a sealed cabinet. After the sound plate, mid-range output is tighter with the the stock speakers to the point where you will/can readjust the mids on the system and hear a bigger difference than with out the plates.

Now the plates with the sound dampening on all three layers of the door, that will quiet the back of the cab so much so that you will get annoyed by the void of sound behind you as it makes the road noise up front more prevalent. Which is kind of funny because the lightening is very quiet in comparison to pretty much everything else...

After driving around for a couple of weeks just with back doors treated I went ahead and completed the front doors. Even without playing any music the lightning becomes super quiet to the point you might not hear a vehicle in your blind spot. And with music you might not hear pretty much anything from outside the vehicle.

 

[I <3 My Lightning]

Here are the front doors. When it comes to sound dampening I kind of over do it. I'm old school and knock test with my hand to figure out the best places to dampen. I try to follow the 25% coverage rule.

I was a hertz/audison speaker and bit 10 user for many years. I didn't want to go crazy with adding amps and messing with the electrical system. But if I add a sub I would just get a small enough amp and build a box and simply use the 12V socket in the back for power.

For front speakers I searched for the best bang for the specs to be driven off the factory system. I purposely went with a coax design so that the woofer wasn't outputting the full range, which helps with the mids and also help brighten up middle of the massive cabs sound stage. Also the bass gets a bit richer, not sub richer but definitely a huge upgrade. Remember it's all about technique. I went with these pioneers and was shocked how good they did, being so inexpensive.

 

[I <3 My Lightning]

Now this is what I did to the back and the A pillars. I had a set of audison voce components sitting around. We are talking about 11 years old sitting around that back then cost 550 and now go for about 800, no less they still manufacture the same model speaker... The back doors has the woofer. I let the natural speaker roll off and system be the crossover. I once again purposely did this because its function is for the mids to support the massive cabin space. Being the woofers are a higher quality speaker, it is more precise in sound reproduction and doesn't have to be super loud to effectively support the sound stage.

The A pillars received the voce tweeters with a basic cap that I found in Amazon since the factory tweeters receive a full signal. I also used the hoel tweeter harness so that I didn't have to cut anything. The voce tweeters are massive in compassion to the factory tweeters and the sound quality even on the factory system is amazing with clarity beyond what I was expecting. The factory system has enough power to wake them up. To mount I used the cup mounts that came with the tweeters the that are use to span in dash or in door mounting. I glued some plastic sticks and drilled holes so I could screw into the A pillar mounting points. Now don't judge, I used some gorilla tape to form a little sound barrier around the tweeter. What I found interesting was the passenger tweeter had a foam pad around it but not the drivers door. Not sure if this was on purpose from the factory or someone left it out during the build.

With the volume set at 15 you cannot hear anything from the outside and the sound stage is perfect...

 

[I <3 My Lightning]

Added the t harness to add a sub. Had a heck of a time getting the new harness into the back of the head unit. I had to remove the cable tape and product ID sticker to coax the wires.

Had no issue simply fishing the extension to the harness I added down into the glove box area.

I also ran the power down if I decide to add a hi to low level RCA adapter.

Right now I'm using a small 4 channel amp bridged with a dvc 4ohm 8in in a box that I had built. But it's to big to go under the back seats.

Power for this little Kenwood amp is the 12v outlet. Since that's a 20 amp fuse and max this unit is 15 amps, it works for now.

But I might just for giggles add a hi low converter and throw in a powered KRK sub I have sitting here collecting dust and use the outlet in the back for power.