My audio build...

Put in 5 more hours today. Installed the front passenger door speaker after deadening. Deadening the doors makes a HUGE difference. Although you still can't eliminate the exterior door handle rattle. Those things sound like they belong on a 1982 Honda Civic. Certainly not on a $70K premier truck. I can say without a doubt, the 8" Dayton driver sounds LIGHT YEARS more precise and amazing than the factory crap called Bose. As a matter of fact, because I ran out of daylight and only got one side done...the passenger side sounds so much better than the drivers side does. I need to fix that ASAP. I was never a believer that just changing a driver would make a "huge" difference...but man...the bose speakers do suck THAT BAD. How on EARTH are they still in business? I've heard better music reproduction on a hardware store parts, home-made transistor radio.

BOSE = GARBAGE!
 

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Well, I decided to go full retard and do an entire active system. This is NOT a cheap way to go. To find an amp that give me the power I need AND a way to undo all the Bose wonkiness, I had to buy a Helix DSP Pro MK2. It gives you the ability to really tune and augment the INPUT signal, as well as tune the output signal. When all is said and done, I'm going to be rocking: (Parts list below)

1) Helix DSP Pro MK2 with "Director"
2) Focal FPX 5.1200 (amplifier)
3) Tang Band W2-852SH (tweeters)
4) Dayton RS225-4 8" woofers (front doors)
5) Focal KX2 6.5" woofers (rear doors)
6) Dayton DC130B-4 5.25" woofer (to replace Bose "subwoofer") Factory subwoofer going into the trash can, unless somebody wants it...
6) JL Audio XD 200/2
7) Dayton RSS265HF-4 10" subwoofers (x2 in a SubThump box under the rear seat)
8) Cascade audio VB2 (doors, headliner, and rear wall) and VB3 on the floor. Also using KnuKoncepts Kollossus and SDS CLD tiles and pieces where needed.
9) We may still have to use the Wavtech bassRESTOR to augment the signal going into the Helix. I'll stand by on that for now.

Hopefully, I can eliminate this terrible factory audio.
 

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Got cracking today...
Making an amp rack for the empty space in my sub box...

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Threw on some black paint...
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Made the first section of the main 4 gauge power cable to the fuse holder.
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Finish mounted the fuse holder to the battery hold down so I wouldn't have to worry about removing (or moving) this every time I needed to pop the cover off.View attachment 915 A quick session with the dremel opened up the channel for the cable. Easy stuff.
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Sorry for the blurry pics...hard to take close-ups in low light...
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Lid closes perfectly.
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Made a quick wiring bundle for the Wavetech. 18 gauge standard wire.
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This is a work in progress and here is where I called it a night. I think this will be how I will finish install the subs. Just need a short RCA from the Wavetech to the amp which I just ordered. I would make my own...but RCA's are so cheap and plentiful...I'll just buy one for now and maybe make a custom fit one later. I'm really excited to get this thing jamming in the truck. The factory stuff is just so depressing. The Wavetech will fix the missing <40Hz information that is so desperately needed as seen below.
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If you have questions about anything I'm doing, feel free to ask away.
Beautiful work!
 

Some more progress.
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Got the VB2 on the front driver door.
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Installed the speaker adapters for the 8" woofers. They fit really great!
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Completely deadened and sealed up. Now she's ready for the driver...
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Buttoned everything back up. Fit and finish is perfect.
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The only way you know anything is done is because I turn it up!

I did have to buy another amp though. I bought a JL Audio XD200/2 V2 because the Focal 5 channel doesn't have enough channels to drive the rears.
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I also designed a "floating mount" for the Helix Director that my good friend printed out on his 3D printer. It came out really nice and with some finishing work, it'll be flawless. This will keep it floating just above the charging pad but below the main console.
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Also, I'm eliminating the center console "subwoofer" completely. It's useless and will create tuning difficulties. Still waiting on a few more bits and pieces to arrive. The main harness to run into the DSP is proving to be a tough nut to crack, but we'll get it sorted.
 

This is going to be the tough part...
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I need to make a "T" harness that takes all of these outputs (after finding out where each of them goes) and gets them into the Helix DSP. Those with a keen eye will notice the next harness down only has ONE wire to it. That is actually where the active noise cancelling (ANC) works. So, how is it working with only one wire? Answer is...IT'S NOT!!! ANC was not installed into my truck. I like that a lot...except for the fact that I purchased a delete harness that I don't need anymore.
 

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Small update. I'm actually beginning to consider the possibility that merely swapping out speakers benefits the factory Bose. With the new drivers installed, it does sound MUCH better than factory. A word of caution though, don't replace the twiddlers until you're able to tune your setup. My only complaint thus far, is that the new tweeters I installed are VERY "bright" but will sound beautiful (when tuned). Subs, deadening, and speakers have made a significant change (for the good) so far. We're going to put the mics on them tomorrow to see if there is a difference noticed visually.
 

So, my hypothesis was right. Here's the comparison between crappy bose speakers (red trace), and new hotness (yellow trace). Notice just how much smoother and less "peaky" or jagged the yellow trace is? There is no trickery here. This is an honest 1/6th Oct display of the two at near identical volume. Every driver plays more efficiently, louder, and flatter with NO tuning. Look at the range from 200 Hz to 2000 Hz! WAY flatter with those Daytons and Focals. And look at those beautiful tweeters sing all the way up to 20K! We'll have 31 bands of EQ PER DRIVER with the Helix. These will flatten out beautifully. I know now that I made EXCELLENT driver choices in this build. Side note: The subs are turned off in this chart.

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This is how it looks with the subs going. Interesting how the subs playing introduces some kind of resonance or distortion from 200-2K Hz. We'll have to isolate that when tuning and try and flatten that region back out. I'm most excited for the sub and tweeters being tuned. We have a LOT of work to do with the subs and low end of the range. Stay tuned...this will get good.
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The heavy lifting has begun...
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Made some small pin crimps to go into the high level inputs on the DSP.
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The little one sticking up is the remote wire turn on.
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Amp rack is about 45% done. Waiting on some more parts. I had a killer idea for my distribution blocks. Stay tuned!
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Easily the most involved build I've ever done.
 

Missed a step. I had to take the DSP off the amp board and open her up to make sure the internal sensitivity of the high level inputs were correct. They weren't. So glad I looked at this now (as per the instructions) and now she's setup correctly.
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Chaos in the kitchen tonight...
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Going to break out the soldering iron tomorrow after I finish flagging wires. I only get one shot to make it right.
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I'm going to tie everything into ONE plug and play harness. Found out I don't need to use the remote lead with the Helix, so I can lose one wire. Any time wires can be removed is a good thing. Anyone know how to de-pin the factory harness'? Those things are kicking my ass.
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The RCA's are looking good though. I like the way they laid out.

Going to be a busy day tomorrow.
 

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