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The door speakers in my 2006 Tahoe were toast, I knew they were bad, but then the driver's door speaker stopped working entirely. So, time to replace the speakers. Like most 12 year old trucks, water is getting past the window seals and into the door. Not good on speakers of course.
I already had a pair of 6.5" Polk Audio coaxial marine waterproof speakers that I had bought to install in the wife's car, but we ended up selling the car. So, since the Polk speakers have excellent sensitivity, meaning it'll work well with low powered stock head units, I proceeded to install the speakers.
The new Polk speakers sounded great. But, my new found happiness didn't last too long. Soon after, the stock head unit started giving me error messages when I tried to play a CD. I also began lusting after one of the new head units with USB ports to play MP3 and FLAC files. This is where things snowballed and became a full audio system upgrade.
I liked the simple look of the Pioneer FH-X730BS CD player/receiver/head unit. No nav, no video, and no touchscreen (I hate touchscreens). My Tahoe has no OnStar, no steering wheel controls, and no nav/rear DVD, so installation is a little easier than some. I got the following adapter kits to make installation easier: Metra double DIN dash mounting kit, Metra LC-GMRC-01 wiring harness with chime unit (retains warning chimes), and Metra antenna adapter.
I managed to get it installed myself (some modding required). I had to trim the rear support in the dash to allow the new unit to fit flush. The wiring harness also needs to be connected to the head unit connector, so there is some wiring that needs done. Mainly, the wire colors match with one exception (illumination wire is orange on the Tahoe and orange with a white stripe on the head unit).
Ok, now I'm happy again, right? Sounds good... but... ummm… it seems to be lacking bass. Looks like I need a sub and amp. I have have a couple that I pulled from previously owned cars. Maybe I can get something to work. I don't want to lose any cargo space, so that 12 incher in a big box won't fit the bill. Looking for something to fit under the rear seat and be out of sight and in the groove.
Many of the GM trucks of this era has the Bose stereo, but My Tahoe just had the basic audio option. I knew there was no tweeter in the A pillar. What I didn't know until I got the front door inner panels off--there are tweeters in the door above the 6.5 woofers. One was completely blown and the other was tinny. Since I had coaxial speakers already in, I could have just unconnected the stock tweeter. But, the tweeter in the 6.5 woofer is too low for a good sound stage. So, I added Polk DB series tweeters. I removed the stock tweeter, pried the old tweeter off, dremeled a hole to fit the new tweeters, and tada. Once back into the door panel, it looks like it was made for the truck.
You younger guys will probably be unimpressed with my sub setup, since they are 8 inchers and don't wake up the neighbors or rattle the windows. I don't need the subsonic thump, I just want some bottom end for my classic rock. I also wanted to keep everything out of sight under the rear seat. So, that's quite a limitation. I found that Pioneer shallow 8 inch subs to be a good bang for the buck (only $80 installed in a small down firing box). I found a small Kicker mono D class amp on sale, so for $200 I had a good sounding setup. I liked it so well, I added another sub and amp. Remember, the seats go back into place and all this is hidden. I did not give up any cargo space.
As far as 8's go, they can put in some work and surprise some people. I had two Sundown SA8's at one point (running 850 RMS to each one, max about 1500 each) that would put a lot of 15's to shame. I pulled up to the local gas station once and rattled the ceiling panels inside the store, dude came out and asked if it was 4 15's lol.
I really like the polk db series speakers, a lot of bang for buck there and killer efficiency too.
If you haven't done it already, pop some rings on the front of the speakers to fill the gap between the speaker and the door panel, it made a big difference in my mid bass when I did it on my 04 Sierra. It was very noticeable and really cleaned up some areas I was struggling with, seemed like I could never get it tuned quite right until I did that.
Hey Pooter, I've seen photos of people having installed those foam rings and I assumed it was to fill the gap. Is it strictly DIY or is there a place that sells them? If DIY, what do you use? I'll have to do some googling.
Yeah, I'm loving these DB series Polk 6.5 speakers. I forgot to mention, I put a square of Dynamat behind the door speakers onto the inner door skin. I also made a gasket from Dynamat for the door speakers mounting lip.
These Pioneer 8" subs rock for being a small shallow sub. They're rated 150 watts RMS and that is what each Kicker amp puts out. It's like I stumbled across a near perfect combo of subs and amps.
Mad, I'm old, but I still like cranking my tunes. I'm like you, I want to hear crystal clear music. Obviously, I do like a little bass, or else I wouldn't have put a second 8 incher in. If I was doing it over, I should have got one higher power mono amp that was good to 2 Ohm. Then wire up two 8 inchers. I also heard if you put in a layer of poly fill in those boxes, it helps considerably.
[PLEASE NOTE] I forgot to tell people this in the initial posts. When I only had one sub and box, I had some weird noises or rattles which I figures out the sub was hitting the floor during high volumes in a bass heavy song. Glad I noticed it right away. If you look closely, you'll see I mounted little wooden blocks on the front of the down-firing box. This gives lots of clearance and the rear seat just barely touches the top of the box when in place. It's pretty cool how it worked out.
That said, I'm going camping with friends this weekend, so to show off, I might throw in an extra 12 Inch Cerwin-Vega sub with an older Rockford Fosgate Punch mono amp (leftovers from a car I traded in a while back). I know that I have plenty of 4 gauge wire and connectors. It won't cost me a penny and I can remove them easily if I want later.
Hey Pooter, I've seen photos of people having installed those foam rings and I assumed it was to fill the gap. Is it strictly DIY or is there a place that sells them? If DIY, what do you use? I'll have to do some googling.
Yeah, I'm loving these DB series Polk 6.5 speakers. I forgot to mention, I put a square of Dynamat behind the door speakers onto the inner door skin. I also made a gasket from Dynamat for the door speakers mounting lip.
These Pioneer 8" subs rock for being a small shallow sub. They're rated 150 watts RMS and that is what each Kicker amp puts out. It's like I stumbled across a near perfect combo of subs and amps.
Mad, I'm old, but I still like cranking my tunes. I'm like you, I want to hear crystal clear music. Obviously, I do like a little bass, or else I wouldn't have put a second 8 incher in. If I was doing it over, I should have got one higher power mono amp that was good to 2 Ohm. Then wire up two 8 inchers. I also heard if you put in a layer of poly fill in those boxes, it helps considerably.
That said, I'm going camping with friends this weekend, so to show off, I might throw in an extra 12 Inch Cerwin-Vega sub with an older Rockford Fosgate Punch mono amp (leftovers from a car I traded in a while back). I know that I have plenty of 4 gauge wire and connectors. It won't cost me a penny and I can remove them easily if I want later.
Hey Pooter, I've seen photos of people having installed those foam rings and I assumed it was to fill the gap. Is it strictly DIY or is there a place that sells them? If DIY, what do you use? I'll have to do some googling.
Yeah, I'm loving these DB series Polk 6.5 speakers. I forgot to mention, I put a square of Dynamat behind the door speakers onto the inner door skin. I also made a gasket from Dynamat for the door speakers mounting lip.
These Pioneer 8" subs rock for being a small shallow sub. They're rated 150 watts RMS and that is what each Kicker amp puts out. It's like I stumbled across a near perfect combo of subs and amps.
Mad, I'm old, but I still like cranking my tunes. I'm like you, I want to hear crystal clear music. Obviously, I do like a little bass, or else I wouldn't have put a second 8 incher in. If I was doing it over, I should have got one higher power mono amp that was good to 2 Ohm. Then wire up two 8 inchers. I also heard if you put in a layer of poly fill in those boxes, it helps considerably.
[PLEASE NOTE] I forgot to tell people this in the initial posts. When I only had one sub and box, I had some weird noises or rattles which I figures out the sub was hitting the floor during high volumes in a bass heavy song. Glad I noticed it right away. If you look closely, you'll see I mounted little wooden blocks on the front of the down-firing box. This gives lots of clearance and the rear seat just barely touches the top of the box when in place. It's pretty cool how it worked out.
That said, I'm going camping with friends this weekend, so to show off, I might throw in an extra 12 Inch Cerwin-Vega sub with an older Rockford Fosgate Punch mono amp (leftovers from a car I traded in a while back). I know that I have plenty of 4 gauge wire and connectors. It won't cost me a penny and I can remove them easily if I want later.
A company named Fast Rings makes them but I made my own with window seal foam from walmart, cost me $5. Maybe it was $6. I used 3/4" wide by 1/2" tall and it worked perfect. I just wrapped it around the outer edge of the speaker. All the other stuff you did is great too (dynamat the doors and seal the speaker frame to the door panel). Don't do those baffle things, the foam enclosures that go behind the speaker. Door speakers are infinite baffle and not meant to be in those, some have said they help mid bass but the best sounding systems I've heard didn't have them and high end OEM's don't use them, however they do use the rings and that's why I gave them a shot. We experimented with it in my sons car too, again big difference.
I'm big on SQ systems too myself, even when I was throwing 3k at those 8's and breaking **** my front stage was crystal clear and loud. I'd rather hit my dick with a sledge hammer than hear a distorting or all bassed out system. Even when I was a teen I didn't do bass only builds. Can't stand that ****.
But now that I'm older I'm also over the heavy bass stage, but I do miss it sometimes. It was always fun to see people's reactions and watch them freak out when it was hard to breathe from the bass lol.
Polyfill helps if the boxes are on the small side of the speakers spec, and it's a sealed box. I got some at walmart and stuffed it in my large sealed box last year and it didn't help at all, it actually started to suffocate the subs and they struggled to hit low frequencies. The box was actually built 100% to spec for the 12's I was using, I did it as an experiment and took it back out.
Edit: it depends on which door panels you have if you need the rings. If your speakers mount to the door frame and there is a gap between the speaker and the panel you need to fill the gap, if you don't a lot of the sound goes into the panel rather than all directly into the cabin of the vehicle. Some of the 00s trucks had different door panels. Do the rears also while you're doing this, I did all speakers that needed it.
After hearing what Pooter had posted about the foam rings, I was all for making some out of door and window sealer. Then, when I was ordering speaker wire for a different project, I saw the Fast Rings on Amazon. Dang ole Amazon makes it too easy to buy stuff. I ordered the Fast Rings and polyfill.
The 8 inch subs and boxes were pre-assembled by Pioneer. Seems odd that Pioneer recommends adding polyfill to their own box. Cheap blankity-blanks should have included it as part of the package. They suggest just gluing an half inch layer of fill to top, bottom, and sides of your box (inside surfaces). Most people use too much polyfill.
Here is my old sub and amp that I wired up in the cargo area (sub faces backwards). I set the crossover lower than the 8 inchers. It's definitely noticeable. I know, I know, I committed a cardinal sin by mounting the amp onto the sub box. I added support on the sides of the box and the amp is mounted onto big thick rubber washers to help dampen the vibration. If it don't last, no biggie, that's an old amp and was just collecting duct in the closet anyway.
The Stanley tool box is a new addition. My Tahoe is 4X4 and used in bad weather, so I usually have the following scattered about: a tow strap, jumper cables, extra blanket, extra tools, folding shovel, tire inflator, bottle of engine oil, tire plugging kit, first aid kit, etc., etc. I was able to fit most of my emergency stuff into the tool box. For now I bungeed down, but if the sub ends up staying, I'll need to figure out how to strap the box down better and secure the sub box too. In case anyone wonders why the rear head rests are down. I put them up if I have a back seat rider, but otherwise they create blind spots when I glance over my shoulder when changing lanes in traffic, so I like them down.
05-25-2018, 08:54 AM
stereo upgrade
