Audio upgrades, Beyond the DIY under 500

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Alford78

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Don’t let anyone talk you into a 10” sub. A shallow depth 12” is still not the same as a true 12” so if you like music with sub 35-40hz and actually want to hear/feel it then use as large a driver that will fit and use as strong of a driver as possible too so can really feed it some power. Anything less is a waste of money! Just my two cents from being in the car audio business for 20+ years and being a super high end home theater/home audio enthusiast for over 15 years.


The subs in the first two pics are 21” with 2500 watts going to each. That was my theater before started tearing it apart for a new design working with one of the world’s most renowned acoustical engineers. I’m using Quested custom speakers, custom subs, Trinnov Altitude 32 for a 23.4 system with room to grow.

The third pic has 2 21” subs above and below each main channel (LCR) that are mounted facing each other with the metal baffle. That room has more subs scattered throughout it.

Then the other pics of that room show how it really looks to ones’ eyes when they are in the room as opposed to the other pics that were lit up with work lights which showed some seems in the fabric. The ceiling acoustic treatment is just amazing and it doesn’t stop there it’s behind all the walls around the entire room. That’s probably the best home theater in the USA based on my knoledge from talking with the high profile designers. More money went into the actual acoustic planning and material than many spend on their dream homes.

Just thought would share since if one hasn’t seen something like this it can blow one’s mind.

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smurfslayer

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to heck with it Guy. Fill the bed with Sub woofers, amps, aux power and gut the rear for internal amps, more speakers, signal processor etc.

Sure, you’ll have to wear hiring protection every time you’re in the truck but hey... YOLO
 

gijosh28

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Don’t let anyone talk you into a 10” sub. A shallow depth 12” is still not the same as a true 12” so if you like music with sub 35-40hz and actually want to hear/feel it then use as large a driver that will fit and use as strong of a driver as possible too so can really feed it some power. Anything less is a waste of money! Just my two cents from being in the car audio business for 20+ years and being a super high end home theater/home audio enthusiast for over 15 years.


The subs in the first two pics are 21” with 2500 watts going to each. That was my theater before started tearing it apart for a new design working with one of the world’s most renowned acoustical engineers. I’m using Quested custom speakers, custom subs, Trinnov Altitude 32 for a 23.4 system with room to grow.

The third pic has 2 21” subs above and below each main channel (LCR) that are mounted facing each other with the metal baffle. That room has more subs scattered throughout it.

Then the other pics of that room show how it really looks to ones’ eyes when they are in the room as opposed to the other pics that were lit up with work lights which showed some seems in the fabric. The ceiling acoustic treatment is just amazing and it doesn’t stop there it’s behind all the walls around the entire room. That’s probably the best home theater in the USA based on my knoledge from talking with the high profile designers. More money went into the actual acoustic planning and material than many spend on their dream homes.

Just thought would share since if one hasn’t seen something like this it can blow one’s mind.

Unimpressed...
Come back when you have a star field in the ceiling.
 
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Guy

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So I have roughed in part of the new install.


JL HD1200/1 mono amp.
JL 800 XD 8 channel amp

The maestro dsr1

1/0 gauge pulled to the rear.

It’s fused at 200 amps.

Two distribution blocks with 4 gauge power and ground leads to both amps.

The two 12s are in.

Everything is “hooked up” and working.
The dsr1 appears to be pretty flawless so far with integration.

I haven’t installed the HERTZ components yet. I haven’t tuned it.

Just a few initial impressions. The stock system is very muddy. You’re missing so much musical information... it’s disgusting.

1200 watts going to two 12 inch woofers isn’t too much bass. The bass is so clean and free of distortion that it isn’t dissonant in any way to distract from the music. The Alpine Type R thins are pricy but they are worth it.

Dean Martin never sounded so smooth.


Over the next week I’ll be buttoning everything up, installing the components... and then the tune...

I’m not going to lie... I talked to a local audio shop who has a wonderful reputation... and I think I may let them use their equipment to tune it properly so I can get the most from my labor.

To be continued.
 
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Guy

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A little update.

Everything is installed. I just finished doing my fast rings in the doors.

I still have to get the amp gains dialed in. The voltage method didn’t work as well as I’d like.

I have an SMD DD1 and an SMD CC1 on the way. I’m hoping the DD1 makes it easier than an oscilloscope to set my gain and then the cc1 should help me match my gains across the channels.

I had trouble getting a nice level RTA until I added the fast rings and went over my sound deadening. It made a big difference in warmth and accuracy.

The JL amps are nice and clean thus far and the Idatalink maestro dsr1 works FLAWLESSLY. The stock Sony amp is gone and everything works as intended, every start up without glitches.

A few observations.

In my opinion, the truck needs a pillar 3 inch mids next to the tweeters. Again, this is my opinion, and also partly dependent on my musical choices. Having such a distance between the doors and tweeters makes it difficult to image jazz above the dash without it sounding funny. This may be the Tonal qualities of the Hertz speakers, but the seperation makes things very bright. Bright is great for hip hop. It’s not as great for Nat King Cole.

In the interim I am running a 3 inch Hertz center. Blasphemy! I know... I made this addition yesterday. Its a mono channel that’s bandpassed from 250-3500 and the gain is set just a few decibels below the other front speakers. It doesn’t affect the stereo imaging very much, but what it does do is fill in vocals in the sound stage that are significantly smoother and warmer than the pillars. This was, for me, a quick compromise until I can get some a pillars modded for mids and tweets. With the center I’m able to crossover the tweeters higher without losing the forward stage to the door speakers.

Again... it’s a temporary fix. Its so I can listen to Bobby Darin without holding my ears.

The stock alternator is 220amps. With big bass songs at volume I was getting some nice voltage drops. 1200 watts! Go figure. The voltage dips smoothed out quite a bit by pulling the stock battery and replacing it with a Northstar AGM group 65 battery. The factory battery is also AGM, but it’s not nearly as efficient with deep cycling. The northstar doesn’t dip below 12.9 where the stock battery was hitting 11s.

The northstar is a group 65 battery but it doesn’t fit our box exactly. The terminals are reversed which means fussing with the wires a little and the battery itself just covers the mounting screw for the mounting block that secures the battery. It was a relatively easy fix. I strapped the battery down using 150lb nylon zip straps. It took drilling one hole in the battery box, but it’s not going to rattle
Or bounce or go anywhere now and the straps are probably almost as strong as the mounting block.


I can’t give any final impressions yet because I’m not done all the little fine tuning details. I need to dial in my gains a little better. I need to fine tune my crossovers too.

What I can say is that the Hertz speakers are extremely clear. They have extremely accurate midbass that genuinely sounds like you’re standing in front of a drum set. The tweeters are ridiculously clean and accurate too. What I’m finding though is that the tweeters are very bright. They aren’t the smoothest warmest speakers for jazz. You need 3 inch mids to do Hertz if you want to listen to soulful sound.

More to come
 

evan9r

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Im with you on the truck needing mid bass up higher up front. Maybe its just my setup but it sounds like the entire sound stage is on the dash.

I do love the sound of the Morels tho, very clean and smooth.

I was hoping amplifying the door speakers and having a clean signal to each speaker might fix that issue but it sounds like it doesn't.

Ideally Id like to do away with the factory amp, add a processor and amplifier to power all speakers. The 8" sub is enough bass for me, just wish it was a little cleaner.
 

evan9r

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Guy, care to elaborate on the DSR1 and amp install for the speakers? Does it eliminate the stock amp completely?
 

dhmcfadin

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Guy, care to elaborate on the DSR1 and amp install for the speakers? Does it eliminate the stock amp completely?

Yes, it eliminates the factory amp. Plug and Play. From the dsr1, you run rca's to your amps. DSR1 maintains all factory chimes and chime routing.
 
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