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My simple audio build...

Crusifix

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I'm slowly upgrading the Alpine system so that it has a bit more scream to it. I appreciate that the system isn't horrible, but sometimes when out camping, it would be nice to have a portable party in the back of Bruce, haha. (I named my Jeep Bruce, after the shark in Finding Nemo...My kids helped..smh). The goal is to do a little bit at a time so that I can experience where the differences come from. I am not going to be amplifying anything other than the sub at first, but I will slowly add two separate amps that will drive the fronts and rears. If it isn't obvious, I like Kicker for everything except for the sub. I am not trying to win any competitions, but I really want to HEAR the audio clearly. Some of these images are stock images. As I get good photos throughout the build I will substitute them out.

The first thing I did was replace the knee panel speakers with some Kicker 46CSC654 6.5 2 ways. Those were installed in the Metra boxes. I applied NICO sound deadening on the inside, as well as poly-fill.
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 46CSC654


I have a set of Kicker 46CSC44, 4" 2-ways ready to go into the sound bar. I will be lining that box the same way as I did the knee boxes. I will be installing them this weekend.

Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... g20646CC44-F


I will be ordering a set of Kicker 47KSC3504 3.5" 2-ways to replace the dash tweeters and the sound bar tweeters, but first I want to get used to how everything sounds and see if it is even necessary. Upgrading the 4" woofers to 2-ways may make that a moot point as far as my ears are concerned, though I do think that the dash speakers definitely need help or the sound stage may fall a little flat. I may even change my mind on those and go with straight up tweeters...who knows?

Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210304_181811


Now for the first of the amplified speakers. The JL Audio 10W1V3-2, is a two ohm woofer that is being fed by a LC2i-pro for signal and a Kicker 46CXA800.1 amplifier. I want plenty of overhead and I think this mono amp is probably the best on the market for the amount of watts I need, which is only half of what it can put out RMS at 2 ohms. It should run well and cool.

Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 1614869383906


Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... g20646CX81-F


Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... g13692080-o_art4


Now to the fun...getting the sub to fit into the stock enclosure. It has been a bit tricky coming up with an adapter, but I was finally able to design something that is ridged and should take any abuse that I throw at it. I printed the adapter ring out of PETG, which is known for being tough and resistant to high and low temperatures. It is printed, but I have not yet take a photo of it. Here is the final cad drawing of it.

Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... Woofer trim-1.PNG
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... Woofer trim-2.PNG


Now on to the enclosure. I am going to be doing a fair amount of cleaning it up and strengthening, as well as also covering the whole inside and rear of it with more sound deadening material. I will know more once I have it remove and can inspect it for any flimsy areas that need reinforcement. That is nothing that some epoxy and custom printed bulkheads can't take care of.

I am feeding everything with a 4-guage homerun power supply cable from the battery, that will be tied to a 100amp waterproof breaker mounted 12 inches off of the battery terminal. From that I will branch to everything else that needs power. The LOC will have a 1-amp inline fuse running to it, and the Amp will have a 80-amp inline feeding into it.

As I get more photos and info, this page will be updated. I am open to any suggestions or moral support..haha!


--------Update #1

I was busy after work this evening. I pulled the enclosure and went to town beefing it up, and laying some sound deadening inside of it. I also laid some NICO matt inside the whole back end of the jeep. That actually went rather quick. Any way, Here are some updated photos of the process. The good news is that the adapter fits like OEM.

Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210304_173931
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210304_173942
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210304_174516
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210304_175311
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210304_175801


I got a little further tonight. Running wire and bolting things down. I'm going to 3d print some wire separators..organizers... Sometime to clean it up.

20210305_202715.jpg
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Gaust

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The adapter for the sub looks awesome and great job. Are you trying to get a good sound stage in front or just have the stereo sound better at louder volumes? Adding a coax 6.5” speaker in the lower dash and a 3.5” coax speaker in the upper dash will probably get very “bright” especially when adding an amp. With your ability to fabricate adapters you could make some to fit the 6.5” coax from the dash into the rear sound bar. Then add a component, a separate woofer and tweeter, set to the front. There’s other options for better sound quality like adding a dsp when you install your amp for the front speakers.
 
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Crusifix

Crusifix

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The adapter for the sub looks awesome and great job. Are you trying to get a good sound stage in front or just have the stereo sound better at louder volumes? Adding a coax 6.5” speaker in the lower dash and a 3.5” coax speaker in the upper dash will probably get very “bright” especially when adding an amp. With your ability to fabricate adapters you could make some to fit the 6.5” coax from the dash into the rear sound bar. Then add a component, a separate woofer and tweeter, set to the front. There’s other options for better sound quality like adding a dsp when you install your amp for the front speakers.
Great points. I guess that's why I'm taking it a step at a time and seeing what's needed and when. If driving the fronts harder isn't necessary, then I won't do it. I'm just going to let my ears tell.me as I go. Thanks for the input!
 

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Ct_Formula

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WOW very impressive, what JL did you go with?
 

acenines3

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I'm slowly upgrading the Alpine system so that it has a bit more scream to it. I appreciate that the system isn't horrible, but sometimes when out camping, it would be nice to have a portable party in the back of Bruce, haha. (I named my Jeep Bruce, after the shark in Finding Nemo...My kids helped..smh). The goal is to do a little bit at a time so that I can experience where the differences come from. I am not going to be amplifying anything other than the sub at first, but I will slowly add two separate amps that will drive the fronts and rears. If it isn't obvious, I like Kicker for everything except for the sub. I am not trying to win any competitions, but I really want to HEAR the audio clearly. Some of these images are stock images. As I get good photos throughout the build I will substitute them out.

The first thing I did was replace the knee panel speakers with some Kicker 46CSC654 6.5 2 ways. Those were installed in the Metra boxes. I applied NICO sound deadening on the inside, as well as poly-fill.
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210305_202715


I have a set of Kicker 46CSC44, 4" 2-ways ready to go into the sound bar. I will be lining that box the same way as I did the knee boxes. I will be installing them this weekend.

Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210305_202715


I will be ordering a set of Kicker 47KSC3504 3.5" 2-ways to replace the dash tweeters and the sound bar tweeters, but first I want to get used to how everything sounds and see if it is even necessary. Upgrading the 4" woofers to 2-ways may make that a moot point as far as my ears are concerned, though I do think that the dash speakers definitely need help or the sound stage may fall a little flat. I may even change my mind on those and go with straight up tweeters...who knows?

Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210305_202715


Now for the first of the amplified speakers. The JL Audio 10W1V3-2, is a two ohm woofer that is being fed by a LC2i-pro for signal and a Kicker 46CXA800.1 amplifier. I want plenty of overhead and I think this mono amp is probably the best on the market for the amount of watts I need, which is only half of what it can put out RMS at 2 ohms. It should run well and cool.

Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210305_202715


Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210305_202715


Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210305_202715


Now to the fun...getting the sub to fit into the stock enclosure. It has been a bit tricky coming up with an adapter, but I was finally able to design something that is ridged and should take any abuse that I throw at it. I printed the adapter ring out of PETG, which is known for being tough and resistant to high and low temperatures. It is printed, but I have not yet take a photo of it. Here is the final cad drawing of it.

Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210305_202715
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210305_202715


Now on to the enclosure. I am going to be doing a fair amount of cleaning it up and strengthening, as well as also covering the whole inside and rear of it with more sound deadening material. I will know more once I have it remove and can inspect it for any flimsy areas that need reinforcement. That is nothing that some epoxy and custom printed bulkheads can't take care of.

I am feeding everything with a 4-guage homerun power supply cable from the battery, that will be tied to a 100amp waterproof breaker mounted 12 inches off of the battery terminal. From that I will branch to everything else that needs power. The LOC will have a 1-amp inline fuse running to it, and the Amp will have a 80-amp inline feeding into it.

As I get more photos and info, this page will be updated. I am open to any suggestions or moral support..haha!


--------Update #1

I was busy after work this evening. I pulled the enclosure and went to town beefing it up, and laying some sound deadening inside of it. I also laid some NICO matt inside the whole back end of the jeep. That actually went rather quick. Any way, Here are some updated photos of the process. The good news is that the adapter fits like OEM.

Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210305_202715
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210305_202715
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210305_202715
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210305_202715
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... 20210305_202715
I like the way you printed the adapter . Would you ever consider making and selling one ? I would be interested in one.
 
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Crusifix

Crusifix

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I like the way you printed the adapter . Would you ever consider making and selling one ? I would be interested in one.


Yes. That has been the end game. It is a wait and see moment now. The thing is, that depending on the sub someone wants to mount, I can make them deeper or shallower. I'm going to put it through a torchure test as soon as I get it hooked up. But the PETG I use to print with the crazy strong. I threw one of the prototypes across my garage to see how it would fare...It just bounced around. It had two small dimples and a couple scratches to show for the effort. If I can get the infill optimized a bit more and bring the print speed up so that I can make one per day, that would be great. Right now, due to the precision I am using to insure strength it is using a full roll of PETG (1kg) and taking over 30 hours to print. I will need to get the price set to cover the material, and figure 1 failure per 5 prints. So, once I get that figured I will know more. And the failure would be noticed before the print is finished, so even a failure would not result in a full roll of PETG being used. They I may look into upgrading to a mount that can hold a 2 or 2.5 kg roll. That will cut the pricing down to being a bulk item. Also, these are thick walled, so they are sandable and paintable. The walls are about 4mm thick before you get to the cubic patterned infill. The Cubic infill is one of the strongest, as it stacks mini cubes at an angle to each other. This makes for a ridged part that is nearly as strong as being solid.

Cubic Infill
cubicinfillslicebunny-jpg.jpg
 

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acenines3

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Yes. That has been the end game. It is a wait and see moment now. The thing is, that depending on the sub someone wants to mount, I can make them deeper or shallower. I'm going to put it through a torchure test as soon as I get it hooked up. But the PETG I use to print with the crazy strong. I threw one of the prototypes across my garage to see how it would fare...It just bounced around. It had two small dimples and a couple scratches to show for the effort. If I can get the infill optimized a bit more and bring the print speed up so that I can make one per day, that would be great. Right now, due to the precision I am using to insure strength it is using a full roll of PETG (1kg) and taking over 30 hours to print. I will need to get the price set to cover the material, and figure 1 failure per 5 prints. So, once I get that figured I will know more. And the failure would be noticed before the print is finished, so even a failure would not result in a full roll of PETG being used. They I may look into upgrading to a mount that can hold a 2 or 2.5 kg roll. That will cut the pricing down to being a bulk item. Also, these are thick walled, so they are sandable and paintable. The walls are about 4mm thick before you get to the cubic patterned infill. The Cubic infill is one of the strongest, as it stacks mini cubes at an angle to each other. This makes for a ridged part that is nearly as strong as being solid.

Cubic Infill
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... cubicinfillslicebunny-
Thanks for your reply ! Please keep me in the loop.
 

Ct_Formula

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Gaust

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Yes. That has been the end game. It is a wait and see moment now. The thing is, that depending on the sub someone wants to mount, I can make them deeper or shallower. I'm going to put it through a torchure test as soon as I get it hooked up. But the PETG I use to print with the crazy strong. I threw one of the prototypes across my garage to see how it would fare...It just bounced around. It had two small dimples and a couple scratches to show for the effort. If I can get the infill optimized a bit more and bring the print speed up so that I can make one per day, that would be great. Right now, due to the precision I am using to insure strength it is using a full roll of PETG (1kg) and taking over 30 hours to print. I will need to get the price set to cover the material, and figure 1 failure per 5 prints. So, once I get that figured I will know more. And the failure would be noticed before the print is finished, so even a failure would not result in a full roll of PETG being used. They I may look into upgrading to a mount that can hold a 2 or 2.5 kg roll. That will cut the pricing down to being a bulk item. Also, these are thick walled, so they are sandable and paintable. The walls are about 4mm thick before you get to the cubic patterned infill. The Cubic infill is one of the strongest, as it stacks mini cubes at an angle to each other. This makes for a ridged part that is nearly as strong as being solid.

Cubic Infill
Jeep Wrangler JL My simple audio build... cubicinfillslicebunny-
Another idea would be making an adapter for speakers in the sound bar.
 
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Crusifix

Crusifix

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It's been an exhausting weekend for me, for many reasons. But a quick update. It works. It's not a perfect seal, so there was a couple tubes of silicone used. But, dang it hits hard! I'm still optimizing, but it hits harder than I would ever want, and that is with the gain on the amp turned all the way down. As soon as I can get in an open area and crank it up all the way and dial it up as high as I can before there is any distortion, I will just leave it where it is. But wow, what a combo!
 

AusJeepNoob

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It's been an exhausting weekend for me, for many reasons. But a quick update. It works. It's not a perfect seal, so there was a couple tubes of silicone used. But, dang it hits hard! I'm still optimizing, but it hits harder than I would ever want, and that is with the gain on the amp turned all the way down. As soon as I can get in an open area and crank it up all the way and dial it up as high as I can before there is any distortion, I will just leave it where it is. But wow, what a combo!
Nice work.

Normally use foam tape instead of silicone for sealing. Makes life easier when you want to pull it apart again and silicone used to cause issues with speaker surrounds but been out of the detail for a long time so may have changed.
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