The Arctic Rock

Clean sound is a must !!
The sound upgrade has begun

During all the other projects I have in the works, there have been many pieces put together for the stereo upgrade. Keeping the stock head unit was the goal up front. Here is a condensed list of the equipment that will be included

JL Audio HD 900/5 amp, driving the front components and sub

JL audio XD 400/4 amp, driving the rear components

JL Audio Fix 86

JL Audio TwK 88

Hertz Mille, 3 component for the front

Hertz Mille, 2 component for the back

Jl Audio 13TW5v2, sub

Second Skin Audio Damplifier Pro Sound deadening, on the inner and outer panels of the doors and back wall.
http://store.secondskinaudio.com/

I took more of a minor roll on the installation . Stereo systems have become so complex, so I wanted it installed correctly and tuned. On recommendation from James, from http://kartunesaz.com/, who is doing the install, designed the entire system, with some of the equipment I already had and he will be supplying the rest. It will take them 2 full days, to get everything in and tuned.

I will update as it goes

 

Why are you going to run a 5ch AND a 4-ch?

 

This is going to sound nice!!

 

The 4 channel will just work the rear components. The separation of where the 3 components are would not provide the balanced sound, so the fronts will work off the 4 channels of the 900/5 So every speaker will get a a separate channel to tune. My stereo guy can explain it better.. That's why he's doing the install. His systems are always killer sounding

 

how about head unit?

 

I kept the stock nav head unit and added the Fix86 and Twk 88 to correct the delays and clean up the signal . At some point, I may change to a Kenwood unit, then I could loose the fix 86 and keep the Twk 88

 

Personal preference here, but I would def go Pioneer for HU. Way more configuration and the choice of most pros. I have had all of them in my '07 from Sony to Kenwood and now my favorite, the Pioneer Avic 8100. LOVE!!! My next addition for the stereo is a Mosconi processor.

Beautiful truck you got...! Love the bumpers

 

I haven't shopped head units in a few years. I will definitely check out the Pioneer. I know why I chose the kenwood for my last change. it was because the Nav unit was Garmin. With the why the new head units interface, with phone navigation now,. the Garmin may not be as important . Thanks for the tip and the props

 

Honestly, that was one of my main reasons for purchasing the Kenwood too. Plus the fact that the idiotic shopped I purchased it from pushed KW's. I call them idiotic, because their installs were atrocious! Me and a buddy basically went behind them and cleaned it all up ie. wiring etc. I am working with the owner now to help fix the problem and Lizard Skin my floor. My doors are already complete...That in itself makes a HUGE difference....

 

Sound deadening is the very best thing you can do for cabin quiet and better sound. it even makes a crappy stock system sound better One thing I did was pulled the metal panel off the back wall and threw sound sound deadening back there to. It was tight , where the window mechanism was, but I pressed it well , so it should be fine

 

does it help cut out some wind noise?

 

How was getting to that back window? Any pics? Once the weather warms a bit, I may just do that myself. I only wrapped the doors. I could see how that would be great, especially since my sub sits right against that and rattles it...

 

yes it does. Funny thing is, unless you do the entire cabin, you will chase noise. I think you become more sensitive to it, with all the work that it is, but noise comes mainly from vibrating metal panels. If you were to meter it, I bet it would definitely show improvement

 

I think you would be please what it can do for your cabin. try window deflectors too. that would prob help even more with actual wind noise. It all helps though.. Window deflectors will help with wind big time though especially when open

 

You know, I didnt take any pics. I was under the gun and it was one of the last things I had to complete before dropping it off, but its not hard to get to. Pull seats, pull back stock sound wall its just panel puller plastic tabs, Then you can either just do the entire exposed wall or you can pull the panel , which is just 10 mm bolts and it comes off, then you can put some on the outer wall,, then put the panel on and do the inner wall Pretty easy actually

 

What else helps with wind noise is to open the back window an inch or so. it takes away the waffling you get with the side windows open. Try it, you will see a huge difference it even helps when you have the sun roof open. The noise lessens a lot with the back window open

 

I haven't ever really looked at it. Crazy! I didn't think it would be too hard, but again, I always tried tackling the hard stuff and never gave it too much thought. lol... weird how that goes... Can't wait to do that.

 

Don,
now I don't know if it was you with Artica that did the whole floor, but I remember talking to someone that did it.
Anyways would this be overkill? as far as cutting sound, and adding a few lbs to our very light trucks with economical mpgs..

 

I did do the entire tub. It’s hard to say how much more it helped, but it did seems solid. It takes lots of time and effort to gut the cabin for this project. I’m not sure its worth it, unless you have another reason to gut the cabin and then you could add it. There is an expense involved too. I bet I had over $1000.00 into that project in just material. Doing the entire cabin, could add a bit of weight too. My suggestion is to do the doors, inside and outer panels pretty good and do the back wall, even if its just the inner back wall. That will give you a substantial difference. You can do the “knock test” on each panel as you are doing them, to see how the progress is coming on the results.

 

Yeah very pricey for material, period. Even the bootleg stuff on Amazon is pricey.. I'll start off with the doors first.. I've seen people go as far as doing firewall.

 

A few more update pics
It's almost down to wiring up the amps and contro; stuff. I decided to add a remote start/alarm while they were in there.

 

One more that James just sent me

 

Where are the pics of this thing in the dirt?

Truck is looking good! Can't wait to see what is next, Don.

 

Any pictures of the sunroof?

 

I tried to upload the video, but it wouldn't allow it. There was a little gas pedal involved

 

Looks clean like the rest of the truck!

In for future progress.

 

Don, you built one hell of a badass truck there. Sound proofing the cab is a great idea. I bet it makes for a nice quiet cab. Thought about getting rock sliders but going with Amp Research steps. Killer truck can't wait to see more pics.

 

Thanks. It is substantially more quiet than it was, until I hit the volume knob

 

Pretty Wikid...