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Planned SQ build 2015 F-250 with pics. I have questions.

18K views 155 replies 14 participants last post by  Eatmore Bacon 
#1 · (Edited)
The patient in need of an upgrade:
286947


Planned components:
PAC Audio integration module with harness AP4-FD21
Front Doors- Audio Frog GB60 mid-bass
Center Dash Channel- Stock (vehicle chimes only)
Side mirror sails- Hybrid Audio Technologies Legatia X1 tweeters
Dash Pillar Pods- Hybrid Audio Technologies Legatia X3PP midrange
Rear speakers- None
Sub- JL Audio 13TW5v2-D4
Amps (2)- ARC XDi 1200.6
DSP- Helix DSP.3 w/ Conductor
Head Unit- Stock

Front doors have 5X7-6X8 in lower doors and tweeters in the top right corners as shown.
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Rear door panels are a terrible design. Only tweeters in the upper portion.
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They then stuck the rear mid in the pillars behind the rear seat. Look behind the seatbelt. Here you can also see the terrible factory Sony sub.
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According to everything i have found without taking the rear pillar covers off is the largest speaker made for the cutout is 5.25" speakers. The placement is terrible.

So the question is am I better off just letting the rear factory mids stay where they are and not playing? Replace them? Or come up with a viable option for the rear doors for mids?

Also of not, my sub will be in a custom enclosure forward facing behind the seat. I don't want to give up my under seat storage.

Thanks in advance.

Brad
 
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#129 ·
Those look great, can't wait to see them installed...!
 
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#131 ·
The weather here today is rainy and cold. Got the sails completed. All that’s left is the tune. I didn’t take all the finished pics yet but here are the sails installed.
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Vehicle Motor vehicle Hood Automotive tire Fixture

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#134 ·
I pick it up tomorrow. Gonna try and find some vids on using the Helix's auto-eq feature and see how it goes. Down the rabbit hole I go.
 
#140 ·
Looks great man! I’m happy for you finally getting to that light at the end of the tunnel.

One day, one day I’ll go three-way


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks, brother. Feels like Christmas all over again!
 
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#141 ·
Beam me up Scotty ...
 
#143 ·
Well its been a year but heres an update on the worlds longest build. Mid bass frogs had next to zero response. One sounded like it was in constant distortion. Called Steve Cook to schedule a tune and have him go through everything. Something just wasn't right with the mid bass. Remember this pic from the finished install on the mid?
Automotive tire Motor vehicle Automotive design Dishware Automotive wheel system


Well the reason the mid had zero response and sounded like crap is they were hacked in the doors. No proper baffle. See pics below.
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Absolute disaster. So I switched to a set or Morel Elate Carbon Pro's that Steve had. I still have the Frogs. They are actually still good but have the sound barrier rubber on the edges that I need to clean off. May sell them, may keep them. Below are pics of the proper baffle and Morel Elate Carbons.
Tire Hood Automotive tire Motor vehicle Automotive lighting

Automotive tire Automotive lighting Hood Motor vehicle Automotive design


The tune went well according to Steve so I went to pick the truck up. Headed home and the truck absolutely jams. I did experience an intermittent distortion sound from one mid range. I got home and switched amp channels so it cleared up after that. My mid bass HP is set at 64 which I enjoy due to the upfront bass. Problem is the passenger side mid bass distorts at max volume but only on certain songs. I covered this in another thread.


Long and short of it is I moved the HP and it cleared but I don't like it so now I am getting a single JL Audio 8W3V3-4 to be a dedicated mid bass that will cover 50-100 Hz. This is being installed in the passenger footwell. I also ordered another ARC Audio X2 1200.6 amp to replace the one with the bad channel. I will then send the old 1200.6 to ARC for testing and repair. So thats it. I hope to have fiberglass pics in a week or so for the footwell sub.
 
#145 ·
You and me both, brother. In all honesty, I could probably turn the passenger side mid bass down 1-2db and it would be fine. It really does jam. But if you asked me if there was anything about my system I would want to change it would be more bass up front. So, in essence I am using the small mid bass issue as an excuse to try and get this system as perfect to my liking as possible. I moved the HP up till the distortion cleared on the one mid bass and that put the HP at 80. Really a totally different sound with moving that much bass back. I didn't care for it. So hopefully I am one fiberglass enclosure, one 8" sub, and one re-tune away from finally putting a lid on this thing. Good to hear from ya.
 
#146 ·
Ouch on those GB60. Mine are still rocking in the Mazda although I dont get to listen to them much anymore.
 
#147 ·
Yeah a tragedy. When I moved the HP up to 80 on the mid bass and the LP of the sub to 80 I suddenly had the punch I really like and was missing BUT lost the bass up front which really blended well. I have one open channel on my system so I am going to down fire (actually side fire) into the transmission tunnel and run it 50-100 Hz. Also change direction on the driver. Doing a 10" instead of an 8". Should be interesting to see the results.
 
#148 ·
Try 80 HP on the midbass and 60 LP on the subwoofer. As long as the subwoofer is playing about 20 db louder and they are time aligned properly they should blend well and give you good up front bass after tuning with nice midbass. If ypu cross both at the same HP/LP (80 in your case) and the subwoofer is playing 20 db louder then you’ll end up with phase issues or cancellation where they cross. Also try linkwitz riley crossovers if you haven't already.
 
#149 ·
Thanks. Ill give it a shot. I tried a trick with using more time delay on the front stage but it didn't work. The only thing I worry about is taking the sub back down to 60 (it was originally at 64) is going to cause the loss of the nice tight punch it has right now. Its amazing to me how subtle changes can affect sound. Bass is pulled back but punch is created, front stage is now too bright for my liking given that front bass has been removed. It was terrible at first but I initially made it better by actually decreasing the sub output by 3db. The sub was overwhelming after changing the crossover point. What I may do is start at 78Hz on the sub and move backwards till I possibly find a happy medium. At least until the front sub gets here.
 
#150 ·
Probably a phase issue. With the midbass set at 80 HP L-R and sub at 60 LP L-R to start you can run an 80 hz tone while recording db (loudness) with your microphone at the listen position and make slight adjustments to the subwoofers time delay until you get the loudest volume. You can also do that with pink noise. Its one way to dial in the subs time delay over just using a tape measure. If you end up making more than small adjustments one way or the other then something else is wrong. Some people discover they are 180 degrees out of phase that way.

Simple stuff but its not uncommon to find one mid-woofer out of phase, or even the subwoofer itself out of phase. You’ll see a dip at the crossover when recording with your microphone using pink noise at the listening position if there is a phase issue at the crossover. Any rattles or harmonics not part of the recording will also throw you off so make sure wherever your subwoofer is located its not making vehicle trim rattle or buzz.

There are so many things that can throw off a tune but its good to start with the basics first.
 
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#151 ·
Yes it basically needs a re-tune given the crossover changes. And my current tune utilizes underlapping so as much as I would like to see how much improvement can be made as is, with my tuner being 4.5 hrs away I'll probably just wait until my footwell sub is finished and knock it all out at one time. What a rabbit hole. All for the pursuit of audio perfection. Does it actually exist? 😂
 
#155 ·
Sounds good, I got out of the rabbit hole myself by getting into other things that keeps me preoccupied. 😁 now that my kids are older and are into sports I also just don’t have time. 😔

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

Changing the subject but I recently looked at what amplifiers and car audio electronics cost now and it’s insane compared to just three years ago. I have a whole bunch of really nice stuff sitting in my attic of which some of it has never been used and I don’t think I want to sell it now. Equipment that used to be $100 is now $500. 😬

I’m actually hoping to hit up one of the local car audio meats this spring we have here in Massachusetts and maybe I’ll bring my app switcher to make it fun and interesting for the people that attend.
 
#156 ·
LOL. So my situation is the opposite. All of my kids have graduated, gone to college, gotten married, now having grandchildren. Raising 3 kids all 2 years apart leaves little time for hobbies. Their hobbies turn into our hobbies. Now we are empty nesters and its left me with time for home renovation projects and hobbies I wanted to do for a long time. Thanks for all your help and advise!
 
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