2020 Ram Crew Cab - Focal Utopia M, JL Audio VXi

Time to start the new build thread. I’ve been looking forward to this upgrade, and equipment is starting to trickle in. I’m not an installer, far from it. I can certainly do basic things, but the knowledge needed to pull off a quality build surpasses my skill set. I’m not the least bit ashamed to admit this…this is why we have great professionals like the many that post here on DIY regularly. That being said, I’m taking vacation and will be at the shop from open to close throughout the build, and helping as much as possible. I’m most interested in learning more about quality electrical layout and tuning. My local shop is excellent (average tenure of installer is about 20 years). I’ve known the owner for about 25 years and he’s a close friend. This will be at least the 8th full build he’s done for me. This will be the best “vacation” of my life. 😊

Vehicle: 2016 Ram Crew Cab 1500 4x4 Big Horn. There’s nothing fancy about the truck, but I love her. Exterior is basically stock. I added a leveling kit and slightly taller tires. Interior is stock, except the stereo. Windows are tinted dark. Along with this upgrade, I’m having the windshield tinted with see through UV tint and ceramic coated. I’m also adding a nice dash pad (would like suggestions on brands if you’ve used these before). The UV tint is primarily to protect my midranges and the dash pad is for SQ enhancement. The truck has 77,000 miles on her and I’ll never part with her. She’s all mine and a part of the family at this point. She’s my daily driver but may one day be retired to just competition use. I’ll let her be a “trailer queen”. Seriously though, I love my truck. 😂 Here’s a pic:




Current Build: I currently have Hertz ML 165.3 components in the front (tweets in dash and mids in door), ran passively, Hertz MP 6.5 coaxials in the rear doors, an Alpine Series R 12 under the rear seat (passenger side) in a Fox Box (ported). I’m using a RF T400X4ad running front and rear speakers and a RF T750X1bd on the sub. I used a JL Audio Fix 82 to integrate with the factory non-alpine uConnect 8.4 HU. Signal is sent optically to a JL TWK D8 for processing. The truck is sound deadened nicely throughout.

This has been an enjoyable system and my tuner knocked the tune out of the park. He was able to work magic, even with the SQ limitations. I’ve really enjoyed the Hertz components and the sub has performed well, again, given the limitations. I could not be happier with these small RF amps…never an issue, clean sound quality, and very impressive power from such a small footprint.

All of this will be going in my sons truck now. I used this fact to help talk myself into the upgrade.

Here’s a few pics of the current build:








I won a few of these competing MECA SQL competitions in the Street class with this very simple system. The magic is in the tuning! I made some new friends and had fun dipping my toe into the “competition scene”.