2015 Chevrolet Silverado Regular Cab

[mikeyt]

That's the kind of stuff I mean

[Navy Chief]

And the foam rubber (surround) formulations have improved quite a bit in the last 8 years. Especially where UV protection is concerned.

I agree that there is probably some new stuff that is better, however I had to justify keeping all this stuff on the shelf for years. Maybe after I get done that will be my first "upgrade". I have been eyeing the 6.5s from Steven's Audio

[Navy Chief]

Finally got a chance to get started on the doors today. I ordered some stuff off of Crutchfield for this build and as a result I got the Master Sheet for my truck, it was nice actually having instructions on how to disassemble the door.


Here is what the factory door looks like underneath the door panel, I was pretty impressed that GM finally got some decent engineering on how to eliminate sound and rattles.



Up close shot of the factory 6x9.



I gently removed the factory vapor barrier, this is much heavier than vapor barriers of the past.



I was surprised to see a strip of factory sound deadener on the outside door skin.



Here are some comparison photos of the factory 6 x 9 vs. the Daytons in the Metra adapter. Finished product has a nearly identical height and depth as the factory 6 x 9 which was nice and guaranteed no interference with the new speakers.

[Navy Chief]

Before I mounted the Metra adapter I took a block of non-hardening clay that i had sitting on the shelf and packed about 1/2 pound into each side. I am hoping this gives the mount more mass.





After doing some trial mock-ups I decided to use the front fast ring on the back and the back on the front. The font did not want to sit perfectly on the frame of the driver, however it tucked in nicely along the back of the adapter.



I ran the back ring on the front and it was just outside the surround.



Placed the center pad as close to directly behind the magnet as I could get, unfortunately this placed it right on the crash bar. I hope it stays but there wasn't a lot of contact with the pad and the door.



Here is some inside shots after everything was mounted. You can see here the contact isnt great with the door panel.



Pretty large gap between the back of the magnet and the foam. Out of all the GM trucks I have owned this is by far the most supportive of getting a big midbass in the doors.



I did lay some Dynamat Pro on the inner and outer skin, significant change in sound after I was done without a ton of coverage.



Finally I had some self adhesive closed cell foam still on the shelf from my last install (about 8 years ago). I did put the factory vapor barrier back on first. I know this CCF looks rough, you can see where it was folded and which section was on top. Adhesive was still good and tacky and it went on just fine. I imagine if I ever go back in the door I will buy some new CCF and replace this, for now its better than nothing.



Sadly as I posted this picture I just had the realization that I left the door cable pull behind the CCF layer and I never connected the inside door latch. I guess I am opening the door back up tomorrow, o well.

[mikeyt]

Looking good, can't wait to hear it.

[Navy Chief]

So I realized in the last picture that I posted in my previous update that I had screwed up when I put the door panel back on the passenger side and that I would have to go back in. I also realized that I had trimmed the outer foam fast ring too much and it was not touching the door panel, so I ordered a second set of fast rings for the doors. Here are some updated pics of the redone passenger side door and the drivers door.

Driver door with Dynamat installed and factory vapor barrier restored.



Dayton midbass ready to go in for the final time. I am using the factory wiring for the door speakers to avoid dealing with the door boots, I picked up a set of connectors to plug into the factory wiring and wrapped them in Tessa tape.



I put the window down just to make sure I didn't have any conflicts between the foam center of the fast ring and the glass, glass goes right in front of it.



Midbass installed for the final time using the Metra adapters, between the clay and the Dynamat these feel very solid.



I decided to install both sets of fast rings on the front since I already had one on the back.

[Navy Chief]

So sadly when I did the original install 3 years ago I was in a rush and I made some mistakes, one of the big mistakes was that I broke both B pillar trim pieces. The worst part is that I probably didn't really need to remove either of them. The driver one was bad enough that I had to break done a buy a replacement panel ($150 at the dealership), the seatbely due to misalignment on the panel had cut a slot into the plastic over that last few years. I didnt really know how bad the passenger one was until I got it out and realized that i had broken 2 of the 4 mounting tabs off.


Broken tabs that i found behind the B pillar.



They broke off very cleanly, however I roughed up the panel to help the glue grab hold



It was nice seeing the outline of where to glue them back on.



I picked up some JB weld for plastic panels



After they set up I put some tape on them to make sure they didn't move while they cured.



New driver side B pillar, I added Dynamat to both side especially the smaller pieces that tend to rattle.



I also took the time to deaden the back wall of the cab and the long trim panel that goes above the box.

[Navy Chief]

So when I did the original install, becuase I was short on time I paid a freind of mine at a local shop do some of the wiring for me. This has been the first chance I have had to actually go in and see his work, I was pleasantly surprised at what I found. I had provided them with both ends of the factory radio harness and asked them not to cut any of the factory wires. They did exactly as I requested and did a tidy job of running the factory speaker output wires out in one bundle as well as extended the factory speaker connecting wires in a separate bundle. Both groups were routed to the storage compartment under the factory jump seat. I used the original speaker outputs to feed into a JL Cleansweep and by extending the factory wiring feeding the original speaker locations I was able to tap into the door speaker wiring to feed the midbass.


Here is the factory radio harness plug and factory radio harness socket.



Here you can see the extension harnesses that tap into either end of the factory harnesses, Everything can be returned to stock if needed.



Here is everything plugged in and tucked away.



I did run some fresh knu koncepts speaker wire to the dask and tweeter



Infinity dome midrange installed using the factory screws, I did have to slot the bracket on the midrange to get these to drop in but it wasn't much effort.



Here is a good image of the tweeter and midrange in relationship to each other.

[Navy Chief]

So I made a small (or big depending how you look at it) equipment change today. I have been wondering since I received the original amps if the MR2 mono block was going to be enough power. It was not so much that I was worried it wouldnt perform to the published specs, it is that i dont think the published specs were good enough for what i needed. The MR2 puts out its maximum power of 500 watts at 1ohm, however my two JL 10W1V3s will only provide a 2 ohm load which the MR2 is rated at only 320 watts. I frankly just dont think that 320 watts is enough power (165 watts per sub) for these subs, BigDWiz saw actually power output for the MR2 at 2 ohm at 332 watts but either way I was afraid I would want more power. Additionally, when I laid out the 3 micro blocks in the provided amp recess in the enclosure it looked a bit empty, so I knew I had plenty of room for more power. My initial thought was just to add a second MR2 and run one per sub for a total of 460 watts (230 watts per sub), however instead I decided to step out of Toro's micro amp line and step up to the smallest mono block in the compact line, the R3 mono block. Here are the spec differences.


MR2 mono block

$79.99 on Amazon

4ohm - 230W X 1

2ohm - 320W x 1

1ohm - 500W x 1


R3 mono block

$119.99 on Amazon

4ohm - 280W X 1

2ohm - 480W X 1

1ohm - 750W X 1


In addition to the extra power the R3 has more crossover options and nicely fills out the space I have for amp mounting. I will say that these are good looking amps, they have a nice brushed black aluminum look to them and all the amps regardless of size feel well built. I thought the $40 difference was worth it and I am still within my return window for the MR2 so I will likely be sending it back.



Comparison of size, this really gives some perspective on just how small the MR2 is. The R3 measures approximately 7"x8".



Crossover comparison



Here is the comparison of the connections, the R3 will accept 4 ga where the MR2 would only accept 8 ga. The speaker terminals were the biggest difference with the MR2 using a harness with only 18 ga and the R3 using standard connections that look like they will support 8 ga speaker wire.



Finally here is the layout in the amp recess of the enclosure, I think this looks balanced and maximizes the space better. Its crazy to think that I have approximately 1200 watts and 7 channels in this small space.

[mikeyt]

What is the "Q" function, I was looking at that when I saw them? Are you concerned with mounting your amps to your sub box, I was thinking about doing the same thing also.