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08-25-2014
#1
07 Yukon XL Metal Fab Center Console Build
I will start with, this is way harder than I expected...
Vehicle:
2007 GMC Yukon XL 2500
Bought with:
Custom rims, tint, leveling kit, 4-Concept head rest DVD/monitors(I added these)
Goals:
2 things were immediately clear when I got this truck in January. It is noisier driving down the road than my 03 Denali XL was, and the stereo is much worse. My expectations started from the idea that I could quiet road noise and make the stereo sound better at the same time. I found a few car audio forums that I became immersed in, acquainting myself with products and ideas surrounding SQ in vehicles while silently lurking. Ultimately a few goals came about while learning how I wanted to approach the build:
- Reduce road noise and kill as many rattles as I can locate(there are a lot!)
- Achieve the best possible SQ within the limitation of factory front speaker locations, aiming and budget. Factory Bose rears for kiddie movies while traveling only
- Full factory appearance/Stealth installation (possible exception for tweeter grills)
- Smiling with pride driving down the road listening to excellent sound without so much road/wind noise.
Design Concept:
The design concept revolves around the goal of a fully stealth install, with no visual cues anything is in there, 2-way active with no usable rear fill and a single 5 channel amp. I had come to terms that I would have to put an amp under the middle row seat until I took out the console and stared at it for a few days on and off. I dismantled the console completely and was left with a flimsy shell, but a ton of space. After doing some measuring, I felt confident that not only would the sub box fit in there, but also the amp and dsp. The key is building a strong console skeleton to replace the frame that I am discarding. Granted I am losing a huge cubby in the console, but all I put in there is stuff that I don't need or use, so for me, the space removed just removes clutter from the truck. So all that to say, the plan is all XBL2 Drivers w/Amp, DSP and Sub located in the center console.
Budget:
I will document all encompassing costs and hours worked on the build as they come along for reference.
$2000 + my "free" labor time
5-10% Sound Control
5-10% Installation, Sub Box, and Accessories
10-15% Source and Processing
35-40% Amplification
30-35% Speakers
For 12+ weeks prior to the start of the build I spent about 75 hours, by my best guess, researching and analyzing information, mostly at the "other" place to create some goals, a budget, design concept and gear selections. Now I am about ~12 weeks into the build with quite possibly 12 more to go...
The following posts are my build log/journal of the process...
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08-25-2014
#2
Re: 07 Yukon XL Metal Fab Center Console Build
That looks like a nice platform to work from. Have you ever worked with fiberglass? I was thinking that you could glass an enclosure on the inside of the console shell.
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08-25-2014
#3
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08-26-2014
#4
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08-26-2014
#5
Re: 07 Yukon XL Metal Fab Center Console Build
Week 2 continued
June 4th – 3 hours – Spent time finalizing the box design dimensions to insure that it fits in the console without touching anything. I am shooting for 1/4 inch from any interior surface of the console. I have a couple areas that are really close that I might just creatively sand/router some edges on the finished box. My final estimated volume is 0.52 cu ft empty. Since the sub is 0.05 cu ft, that leaves me with a final box area of 0.48cu ft. I am pretty excited about this. I was worried that I would only end up with 0.45 or 0.42 from some of my earlier dimensions.
Audison Voce AV5.1k arrived. Wow…UPS tried their best to break this thing. I am soooo thankful that jknight and BumpinJetta packed this thing so well, it very well could have been much worse. They mounted the amp to ¾ inch birch base with 2 screws and used egg crate foam on all sides. The box was banged up pretty bad, but what had me concerned is the box had so much jarring that one of screws used to mount the amp to the birch base was sheared off and the other was bent as I took it off the birch base.
I setup a little redneck amp bench test to make sure I was getting sound out of every channel and…all is right with the world! Yeah! Thanks BumpinJetta and jknight for your diligence in packaging this amp for me.
I pulled the trigger and ordered 2 - 2x4 miniDSPs($160), mini Isolator($12), 2.1 plugin($10) and a umik-1($70) for measuring for $272 shipped. One 2x4 for the front stage and one for the sub channel. I figured that the second one might be able to be used for rear fill(or 3 way) later on. Since shipping is flat rate $20, I figured another $80 for the second 2x4 was worth it, I don’t think you can get 8 channels of DSP with this kind of functionality for ~$200 shipped anywhere else.
Pondering and Building time to Date 14 Hours
Total Gear Spend to Date $1283.75
June 5th – 1 hour – cut sides to sub box and spent some time trying to figure out how to setup the skil saw to cut the angle cuts I needed…ended up giving up early for the day. Mosquito season has started already out in the garage…
Pondering and Building time to Date 15 Hours
June 6th – Stereo Integrity BM mkIV subwoofer arrived. It really is just as good looking in person as it is in the pictures, probably better.
The only down side to this is that I missed the memo on the cutout with the gasket is 12.6inches. I cut my hole 12.5 based on the drawing, so I wont be using the gasket. I am planning on using oring material to seal it.
Ordered up some 2awg welding cable and copper ring terminals for $41.50 shipped, also ordered 50 feet of cadence 14awg(yeah right...) speaker cable from Amazon for $13 shipped.
Total Gear Spend to Date $1338.25
June 7th – 9 hours
I finally cut the rest of the pieces for the box this morning. It took about 3 hours.
I had to figure out how to cut the angles, which took a little while.
Also installed T-nuts for Sub installation, just in case I need to take it in and out a few times.
The 11.125 inch cut out doesn’t seem to be big enough for the sub without the gasket, I think it will just take a round bit on the router to get it to drop in. I clamped the box together and did a test fit. It is tight in a couple spots in the console, but I think if I sand or router down the edges in a few spots, It will have the space necessary to decouple it from the console and cut down on vibrations.
The rest of the day was spent pondering and starting the steel skeleton for the console to mount rigidly to. Bending 5/16 steel bar is a tedious task.
I started with a coat hanger to get the basic shape, then started bending…after breaking my vice and getting a new one, things started going faster and the second side took only about 1.5 hours to bend up the way I wanted it.
Bought some T-nuts and SS screws to mount the sub and got some oring gasket material to seal the sub $8.75
Pondering and Building time to Date 24 Hours
Total Gear Spend to Date $1347
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08-26-2014
#6
Re: 07 Yukon XL Metal Fab Center Console Build
What size/impedance is the stock sub? I'm curious because the one in the GF's Avalanche will see a good bit more than rated power in the near future. And
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08-26-2014
#7
Re: 07 Yukon XL Metal Fab Center Console Build
Looking good ( like the dual 4 ohm sub , looks nice ). Bending metal that thick is an undertaking.
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08-26-2014
#8
Re: 07 Yukon XL Metal Fab Center Console Build
Love the way yer keepin up with time and money.......lol.......As you get deeper and deeper into this madness, you'll have running proof of the insanity!
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08-26-2014
#9
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08-26-2014
#10
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