[simplicityinsound]

lately, it seems a lot of our friends shops have gotten to work on the brand new 2014 Chevy Silverado, the beautiful example done by Musicar NW posted here is a good example...thankfully, thanks to a very cool customer, we did not have to feel left out

The goals for this pristine NON Bose example was pretty simple:

1. achieve a nice level of sound quality based off the stock headunit on a relatively modest budget

2. maintain a totally stealth and oem appearance on the interior

3. Add a lil cosmetic flair to the underseat subenclosure that looks "custom yet oem"

lets get started:

first up is a custom welded metal fuse holder bracket for a single stinger 0 gauge fuse holder:

here is the holder and the painted bracket close up:

as mentioned before, the stock signal source was maintained, and as it turned out, the oem non bose headunit had a pretty flat output and did not feature much dynamic EQ at all

Otherwise, the only modification upfront was a Mosconi remote bass knob integrated into the left side switch panel:

With the truck running a mosconi 6ot8v8 DSP, all tuning can be done from the front seat via a BT enabled laptop:

The front stage consists of a set of Morel Virtus 602 two way components, the midbass was installed in the stock lower door location.

first, new speaker wires were run into the doors:

then, the outter door panel was sound proofed with some blackhole tile, while STP cld damper went on selective areas on the inner door:

then i made up the adapter spacer baffles for both the door speakers and the dash mounted tweeters by match routering the oem speaker brackets and coated them with several layers of truck bedliner to weather proof them:

the midbass baffles were then mounted to the door using oem hardware:

and the morel virtus 6.5" midbass secured:

a foam FAST ring was then attached to the speaker mounting baffle:

the outter door skin also received some CLD damper to help with resonance:

the same procedure was then repeated on the other side:

then the morel tweeters were mounted to the baffles i had fabricated:

and then bolted to the car using oem hardware:

thus completing the front stage. next are a few pictures of the wiring signal wiring bundle as they are routed from the front to the back of the car, since the amps are located on the driver side back wall, all these cables are run down the driver side. they are ziptied and organized and embedded in the stock wiring channels:

 

[simplicityinsound]

moving on to the showcase portion of the build the original plan was for a single audiomobile GTS10 in a plain carpeted enclosure under the rear seat, later the customer wanted to pay a lil extra to add "the Joey touch"...well...in the end, I think joey gave it quite the heavy touch haha

lets take a look at the enclosure (still housing a single audiomobile GTS10) in all its glory. it consists of a vinyled top half and a carpeted bottom portion, so that any random heel kicking would fall on the carpet rather than vinyl; separated by a band of painted trim. there are mounting trim panels on either side of the box so none of the mounting hardware can be seen.

flipping up the seat reveals two raised bulges that are also surrounded by painted silver trim rings. one side of the bulge is to clearing the downward firing sub, the other side is a pure cosmetic touch to maintain visual balance.

tucked safely behind the enclosure on the driver side is the mosconi 6to8dsp, and you see a lil bit of the two mosconi amplifiers on the back wall. a ONE 120.4 powers the tweeters with 120 watts and the sub with 350 watts, while a 240.2 sends 240 watts to each midbass

this has to be one of my favorite under seat truck enclosures ever, stood around staring at it a lot when i was tuning the truck

 

[simplicityinsound]

now for some build pics, some are blurry since joey took them pretty late at night in low light conditions.

first, the back wall was prepped with 6 rivet nuts:

next joey test fitted the board that will house the amps and distribution blocks:

then the amps and distribution blocks were test fitted:

the board coverd in vinyl and ready to be bolted to the car:

while two rivet nuts were installed into the floor to mount the dsp:

the main power cable was routed under the truck on the passenger side and came up through the floor at the back, and both amps and the dsp was wired up at that point. the system is grounded to a solid point on the driver side of the cab:

here is the contruction of the subbox assembly.

the subox itself is actually quite shallow, and here you see the two bulges, the one allowing the fitment of the GTS10:

the trim around the box is actually started life as a stack of 3/4" mdf, match routered to mimic the shape of the rear seat cushion:

the ends of the mdf panels were cut down to form a rough tapering angle:

and that was eventualy ground down and fillered to become a smooth downward surface, here is that process done halfway:

here are the two trim rings that will surround the bulges and eventually be painted silver:

a top trim panel was added and here you see the assembly taking shape, with the outter edges all blended smooth

the area that will be the silver painted beltline was then marked out, and a few layers of fiberglass was laid down to form it:

when that cured and the belt line was trimmed straight, it was laid back ont he enclosure and the surrounding areas filled back up to form a channel that the belt will recess into:

here is the test fitment of the side covering piece that hides the mounting points for the whole asembly, as well as a final look at the enclosure:

here are the trim pieces primered and sanded down:

at this point joey had gone through a crap load of sanding, so here is a picture of what his hands looks like after all that

here are the main mounting backets that secure the sides of the enclosure, and it best test fitted in the car, it bolts to existing seat bolts:

here is the outter trim shroud, the enclosure is bolted to it and spaced off the floor, and there are a few holes that locating pins in the belt line goes into , and threaded inserts at the ends to secure the belt line. these pictures show all these mounting holes:

then the pieces got upholstered in premium german made vinyl:

here you see the enclosure before the beltline went on:

and here is the beltline being primered:

and the trim rings after they were painted silver:

and finally the audiomobile GTS10 being wired up and secured. the net box size is about .75 cubft:

and here is the entire asembly being dropped into the car, with the beltline now bolted in place and ready to go:

and finally, a shot of the sub, you can see the slots on the front that allows venting into the cabin:

so...i have to say, this maybe one of the most elaborate enclosures housing a 200 dollar sub i have ever seen lol but how does it all sound?

truthfully, i was very impressed and it exceeded my own expectations. the stock signal source was flat and actually pretty low on floor noise. the imaging is quite nice, with good center, good height and width and great depth, midbass impact is very solid and maybe its a combination of the enclosure and the truck, but the single GTS10 really rocks in this car, it can really shake and rattle you but still does a great job at blending in with the front stage. as is typical withe the virtus, the midrange and highs have improved detail while still maintaining that natural morel smoothness.

overall, i am quite happy how this turned out

until next time

Bing

 

[JayinMI]

This is because of the shotgun locker they did at Musicar Northwest, isn't it? lol

Jay

 

[simplicityinsound]

This is because of the shotgun locker they did at Musicar Northwest, isn't it? lol

Jay

only jedi master Joey knows the answer to that one

 

[JayinMI]

Either way, it looks amazing.

Jay

 

[Lunchbox12]

Great build. Love that underseat sub!!

 

[damonryoung]

Beautiful as always!!! I think Joey should wash those hands a little better...


Beware of autocorrect...

 

[VP Electricity]

JOey, I love that enclosure! I'm a little disappointed you didn't whittle the fuseholder out of an ingot of aluminum, but I can let that go, I guess. Wish I got to hear it. I'm going to have to take some day trips.

 

[simplicityinsound]

JOey, I love that enclosure! I'm a little disappointed you didn't whittle the fuseholder out of an ingot of aluminum, but I can let that go, I guess. Wish I got to hear it. I'm going to have to take some day trips.

there could be an opportunity soon for both VPs to visit

 

[colled96]

My Goodness Joey! What's NEXT??? You guys are going no where but UP!!!!. I applaud the quality work you do.. Outstanding once again....

 

[PerformanceAudioLVNV]

I love this enclosure! I thought I get carried away building stuff. The belt line & trim really finishes it off!

 

[sirbOOm]

For your grounding point, is that a bolt or a self tapping screw? I'd have to take a panel off to see that area so can't tell if I can access from both sides in my double cab.

May try that spot for mine as a few I've tried so far may be causing noise in my ZED Leviathan... or it's just toast.

 

[[email protected]]

That's a bolt, I used a ratcheting wrench to reach the nut on the back side. I would NEVER EVER use a self taping screw for a ground (or pretty much anything, except if I was putting on a metal roof or metal siding.. lol)..

IIRC that place was also reenforced metal because the seat belt spool bolts there..

For your grounding point, is that a bolt or a self tapping screw? I'd have to take a panel off to see that area so can't tell if I can access from both sides in my double cab.

May try that spot for mine as a few I've tried so far may be causing noise in my ZED Leviathan... or it's just toast.

 

[SkizeR]

you call those hands dirty? lol. good job on the build

 

[YukonXL04]

Looks great. I love how well you guys document these installations! That under seat box looks awesome! Definitely belongs there! Excellent work!

 

[aholland1198]

Very very nice as always. Did the tactile transfer from the sub pull the bass back at all? In my f150 anything down firing won't blend very well, or not to my expectations anyway.

Either way, the fab work is top notch. Good work guys.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[theksmith]

great looking enclosure

 

[sirbOOm]

That's a bolt, I used a ratcheting wrench to reach the nut on the back side. I would NEVER EVER use a self taping screw for a ground (or pretty much anything, except if I was putting on a metal roof or metal siding.. lol)..

IIRC that place was also reenforced metal because the seat belt spool bolts there..

Thanks for the help.

I'd like to have you guys do my roof... it'd look pretty cool I bet.

 

[Mic10is]

sub enclosure is sick. great attention to detail