2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Subs and OEM CD Player?

[Diesel Freak]

I am thinking of putting a set of JL 8W0's in sealed boxes below the rear seat of my truck to fatten up the bottom end of the factory stereo (I have the RBR indash CD player)



Who has done something similar to this?



Where did you tap to give the AMP line level input?



Did you use a High level input instead of line level?



What AMP are you running?



How does it sound?



What is your SPL?



What is your crossover frequency?



Should I just trash the OE Stereo, and go with something better along with some MB Quart seperates replacing the OE stuff and with the 8W0's?

 

[mikel]

I did something similar

I have done something real similar to what you are talking about. It wasn't too hard all in all, but there are several gotcha's.



1) The factory radio (CD or Cassette, and even just the AM/FM) has a switched power lead that you can use to turn the amps on or off.



2) If not cutting into the factory wires is important to you then the job gets a little harder but still not too bad. I went to dodge and got a replacement for the plug at the back of the radio so I could get to all the wires right there w/o cutting into the factory wires.



3) if you have the factory Infinity system and intend to add any amp power to the factory door speakers then you are going to have to remove the amps mounted to the backs of the speakers. I would just replace the door speakers though, they aren't that good.



4) the wiring for the rear speakers goes into the front doors to that amp first, so you'll have to deal with that (I can't remember if this is only on the infinity system, or all trucks)





I started out with an alpine 5 ch amp that had speaker level inputs, but I wanted more power to the subs so I got a line level adapter from Crutchfield. My system now consists of the Alpine 5-ch running just the front door speakers, an AudioControl 2XS set at about 60 hz if I remember correctly and an Orion 280gx driving a pair of 6 1/2 Bazooka bass tubes under the rear seat.



I have no idea what the SPL of the system is, but I can hear and feel it at 80mph on the freeway with the windows down.



To me is sounds good. I like deep low frequency bass, this boom boom crap that some of the kids call good sound just sucks. If I had to guess I'd say I can probably get pretty good sound down to about 40hz or so. Enough to make the rearview mirror jump all around, and much more than would be expected from two 6 1/2 inch subs.



I wanted to keep the OEM head unit so that the truck would look stock. It's bad enough that I've got guages hanging all over the place screaming "Please steal me!!!" to any lowlife walking by, I don't need the stereo helping. I don't feel like I need any other features that my stock radio doesn't have and I didn't have to spend any extra money on it, so I kept it and have been happy so far.



I hope I've answered your questions and that this helps. If you need anything else drop me an email and I'll do what I can.



Mike

 

[Diesel Freak]

Thanks Mike!



I do not think I have the Infinity sound system. I do have the door and 'a' pillar separates up front

 

[mikel]

If you have speakers on the windshield pillars than you have the Infinity system.



Good luck,

Mike

 

[Diesel Freak]

yep, just looked it up... . so can I just tap the line level wires to the speaker amps to supply the sub amp?

 

[JHansen]

cold Diesel has the factory Infinity stereo and some aftermarket upgrades Cliff-if he doesn't jump in here drop him a PM and he can tell you how he/the stereo shop did it.



HTH

Jason

 

[mikel]

Originally posted by Diesel Freak

yep, just looked it up... . so can I just tap the line level wires to the speaker amps to supply the sub amp?

As long as the sub amp has a speaker level input you can do this. The feed coming out of the factory unit is *NOT* line level. It is speaker level and apparently gets dropped to line level by the amps on the door speakers before getting amped back up. If your amp does not have a speaker level input then you will have to get a line level adapter. The one I have came from Crutchfield and I must say I am very impressed with it. Back in the day all the speaker level adapters that I saw were real junky things that introduced alot of noise to the music, but I haven't heard anything like that from the one I have. If you're interested I'll look at it this afternoon and post the name/model number of it.



Mike