[The ///Man]

2007 Jeep SRT8 ever changing build. Helix, Image Dynamics, what else?

So I'm relatively new here, but I thought it might be fun to keep track of what I've been working on all in one place. I've been playing around with car audio since before I could drive, I would say it's probably one of my favorite hobbies. I own an auto glass and tinting business, and through some help and reassurance of a couple friends, I decided to add in some audio stuff. I wanted to build a vehicle that I could show off a little bit and would be a better platform than my current vehicle, which at the time was a pretty well modified 2011 Wrangler Rubicon 2 door. I was determined to get an Avalanche or Tahoe, and I was going to make it loud. Maybe not SPL competitive loud, but at least something I could put people in and make them saw WHOA! So I looked at a bunch of those trucks and couldn't find any I liked. I stumbled on this Jeep, and owning previous SRT vehicles, I figured it might be fun to test drive. I drove it and liked it a lot more than the GMs, the wife loved it, so home it went.

It needed a lot of cleaning up, bad swirls, holograms, just pretty rugged, but it cleaned up nice.

 

[The ///Man]

I had a friend who was needing a replacement for his failed Navigation HU in his Magnum, and there happened to be a closeout on these Clarion NX603. I didn't have a lot of time, but I decided what the heck, it had decent features, pretty good reviews on the sound, and it was made in Japan, not China which has to be good for something.

I didn't terribly like the way the dash kit fit, but I am saving that for later days.





I also knew that I was going to be adding amps down the road and didn't want to spring for the PAC adapter for the BA audio, and it turned out I had a JL 6ch laying around. I figured it would be a good enough time to run my RCAs and 1/0 wire, along with "upgrading" some of the factory wire. I wanted to keep things sort of stealth in the bay.





A custom ABS plate let me put this amp in the factory location.

 

[The ///Man]

I knew the BA speakers probably wouldn't sound that great on the new amp, so I decided to swap out for Image Dynamics CTX components up front and coax rears. I made some ABS plates to adapt and space them. I also put some sound dampening in and on the doors. The chrome door trim also rattled quite a bit with road vibrations, so I took them off and used some moulding tame to secure them to the door.

 

[The ///Man]

Previously, I had run a single 12 IDMAX v2 in a vented enclosure, 2.5cu'ft @ 32hz. I was in love with that setup and wanted to build on that. After a lot of research, I decided that subs up, port back was going to be the way to go. Since it was over my head to design, and I wanted to have it done right the first time, I hit up Mark from C.A.F. to design it for me. 5cu/ft @ 30hz. Here is some build pictures.









The box was constructed out of 3/4" baltic birch with a double baffle. I got crafty with some push terminals and put them inside and outside of the box so it would be easy to disconnect if needed.

I got impatient and didn't have an amp yet, so I ran some wires from a friends truck to my jeep. This was the result.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVX9lf8RxTQ

and outside.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uurdPExywo

It was apparent I needed some sound dampening on the roof.

Headliner came out, and I covered everything I could. There was a lot of crap up there. I also did the rear hatch.

 

[The ///Man]

A few weeks later I got my amps. Image Dynamics q1200.1 for the subs and 700.2 for the fronts. I didn't take any pictures as I never really got them installed the way I wanted them so they were on a board between the back seats and the box.

 

[The ///Man]

Now we get to the good stuff. This build started out as wanting good clean and loud music. I started playing with a couple bit processors for some customers and decided I really wanted a processor. I also, even though it's the whole reason I got an SUV, decided the big box that too up the entire rear was just too big and too heavy. I had to put my groceries in the back seat and there wasn't room for us to do family things. I decided I was going to do an active 3 way, and sealed enclosure and it would all be centered around the Helix DSP.

So I got to work on the amp rack first. Everything was going to be under a false floor so that I had some usable grocery space.

I made mounts for all of the amps, and here was a few ideas for layouts.












I settled on a layout and welded it all up.



Everything test fit.



I drilled for some rivnuts to bolt the rack to the floor and the factory sound dampening was falling off all over. I chipped it all out and covered in a couple layers of sound dampening, then bolted it all down and ran the wiring. I didn't have my final 4 channel yet, so an i4500 from a precious car filled it's spot for temporary.

 

[The ///Man]

From there I made a nice false floor to cover it out of some 3/16" MDF and 3/4 on the sides to space it up flush with the rest of the floor. I didn't get any pictures. Some body filler on the sides made it line up perfect with the quarter panels.

Fast forward a bit and I was dying with no bass. I had a temporary box with the 2 IDMAX in a pre-fab "SUV box". Definitely not ideal, they were down firing, and just not right.



So it was time to build a sealed enclosure for a single 12" IDMAX. I went to work.

1.7cu/ft was what I decided on. It modeled well in software.







I got it all together, tested it out, that is where the funky cut out in my floor came from, and in the end, it was just way louder than what I wanted, and still took up too much room. I wasn't happy so out it came.

 

[The ///Man]

Somewhere along the line I was playing with tuning on the Helix, doing a lot of reading on EQing and such. I was now active 2 way up front and I think I sort of passed the SQ threshold of the CTX speakers. I had some Helix Esprit components I had been wanting to try out so I swapped them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSJCs8hAlEw

I was impressed even without changing the tuning, the Helix speakers were a lot more detailed and real sounding.

So I did more tuning, some videos. Bear with me, I was still learning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUUUv7M31-s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQt5YVEwcyI

 

[The ///Man]

It was finally time to get what I wanted for subs. I scratched my head and decided IDMAX was just going to be way more than I wanted. I had 2 IDQ 10s that seemed like they might fit the bill alright. Making all sorts of boxes on paper I decided I wanted it as tight up against the seat as I could and also as shallow as I could. I decided to use every square inch I could which required some fancy angles. They were going to be in separate .75cu/ft enclosures. Here's what I came up with.















I didn't like the blankness of the middle, so I put some black plexi to look like a 3rd sub, also I figured I could put a logo of some sort here, maybe my company logo.

Now I was getting somewhere. I was amazed that the IDQs still were able to crank out the bass, but they sounded so nice doing it. I had to turn the subs way down so blend well with the fronts. I played around and got them pretty good, I was getting closer to happy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=417xoQT1GJA

 

[The ///Man]

So we are almost up to date. This week I received some subs that I think were sent by mistake as I'm pretty sure I ordered e10w but the p10w showed up. After some reading I was somewhat intrigued by what I read and really wanted to give them a try. They looked like they would play really low. So back to work again. The ID speakers have huge baskets and I couldn't just screw in the Helix speakers, so I had to make some spacers which got wrapped in matching vinyl. I wasn't terribly happy to do this, but I didn't want to rebuild the box. They are a little flashy, but I think I can live with it. The sound was perfect, just what I was looking for. There is some low notes that come out now that the IDQ just couldn't play. The speakers blend nicely with the front. If I told you I didn't have a sub in the Jeep, you might believe me as all of the sound is coming from the music, not a box in the back. They lost a little punch and output from the IDQ, but they are just so nice and musical. I also got my MTK1 tuning kit for the Helix DSP in. It was interesting to listen through the mic and see how different tuning by ear was VS mic. In the end I was very happy with the tuning results, it's just very pleasant to listen to.

 

[The ///Man]

This is the most recent video, I shot it this evening. I was listening to this song and it sounded so nice I wanted to share. I know it's hard to get the sound from a phone, but man, it was great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtzdhGMgcDY


So where do I go now? Well, as I stated much further up I really planned on an active 3 way. I am broke until spring time so it will be research time for a while. I will likely ultimately end up with the C63c 3 way set unless something else comes my way before then. Audio Frog has definitely caught my attention. In the beginning I wanted to maybe try XS69 set with a mid of some sort added in. I'm also trying to decided on positioning and such. I will keep things updated as they come along.

 

[capea4]

Nice evolution summary. I like the welded rack idea.

 

[ndm]

I would highly suggest that you isolate the amp rack from the chassis metal. I had some serious noise issues when I had a welded amp rack in my Mercedes.

Its good to see a fellow SRTJEEP builder out there. I had a good time with my 2006. Now I am enjoying my 2013 even more!!

 

[The ///Man]

No noise. Maybe I'm lucky.

 

[expedition]

Very nice. I also have a GC SRT8. I did something very similar last year. I built a custom amp rack out of wood but what I discovered was that the exhaust produced an incredible amount of heat. My amps never shut down partly because I had installed a fan but you could definitely feel it through the wood. I ended up applying heat shield mat underneath. It is kind of a pain because you need to remove part of the exhaust but it make a big difference. These pictures are from last year and I no longer have the MS-8 or the factory head unit. I installed an Alpine INE-S920 but you get the idea. Good luck.

 

[The ///Man]

Good thinking. I was going to press a grill for that hole and have it to let the heat out but I wasn't sure if it would be enough. So far so good but I might look into the heat shield.

 

[The ///Man]

Idle hands are the devil's playground. Had a 4" component set laying around. I really didn't like trying to play the tweeters much below 3500hz, I might be crazy but I swear I could hear a little crackle in them. I also didn't like playing the door speakers up to 3500hz. It never really sounded bad, but it just seems like a very broad range 80-3500. I pulled the 4" speakers form the component set and lo and behold, they almost fit. It was a slow day at work, so I poked around in between customers. This is what I came up with. Not quite sure how I will finish them though. I would love a grill cloth a similar gray, I have some vinyl and maybe make a mesh grill, or maybe paint and mesh grill. We'll see.

I still don't know where I am going to put my tweeters now though.

 

[casey]

nice. put any power on them yet to see how it sounds?

 

[The ///Man]

Nah. I need to finish some detail work on them tomorrow. Then start on moving the tweeters.