Finally bit the bullet......

[Titano24's]

I'm a mega procrastinator and I finally bit the bullet and bought the rest of the audio junk for the titan....the following is now purchased and going in once I can set up an appointment with the audio shop.........there doing a 15,000 dollar install and it is a huge priority........after that gets done the entire speaker box is getting glass in place under the crew cab seats.......


Headunit - Kenwood DDX-7015 (Installed already)
Sound Processor - Audio Control 6XS
Front stage - JL XR 6.5 components
Rear stage - JL XR 6.5 components
Subs - 2 x JL w7 8's
High amp - JL 450/4
Sub amp - JL 1000/1
Power supplement - Kinetik Power 800

I know the audio guys warned me against the JL components and I was set on getting something else.............until I sat in the owners car.......he had the same components on the same amp with the same sound processor and man there were so crystal clear I couldn't help myself.......no where near what others said like "muddy"

Can't wait till I get my appointment date.

[grunge311]

Cool sounds like a great system.

I don't care for the JL components, but my taste in sound differs from most peoples. When it comes to audio stuff, its helpful to ask around but the only really way to find out if you'll like them is by listening to them.

I went thru 9 sets of components in my truck before I found the ones I like.

[Headred15]

Whats the RMS and ohm rating on those W7 8's?

[Titano24's]

Originally Posted by Headred15

Whats the RMS and ohm rating on those W7 8's?

300rms..........ummm......3ohm coil

the 300rms is being very very very conservative hehehe

[Titano24's]

well guys i'm offically high 24/7, they took a fiberglass mold of the rear where the box is going to go and now i feel like bob marley while driving

[lizardking]

Nice setup, I like everything but the comps.....JL's lack midbass. One other thing running comps front and rear with be a nightmare with imaging. For SQ you will only want rear fill which can be achieved running the rears off the deck. You want all the sound to come from up front like watching a band on stage. Don't think I'm trying to be a prick, I'm not just giving you some useful info. How the guys car sounded had only about 10% to do with the equipment everything else is about the install. You can make cheap speakers sound nice with the right install. JL speakers are not known for good midbass with detailed highs.

What I recommend is dynamat the piss out of the doors and seal them up good. Put at least two layers of dynamat inside the door and cover every inch as best as you can. Remember dynamat the inside of the door not the outer shell so much. It's more important to have the inner part of the door dynamatted. I would also seal up any holes besides the drain hole. Mount the midbass drive so that its closer to the door panel. You may have to make two speaker mounts out of 3/4" and double them up to achieve this. The better you seal and dynamat the door the better the midbass will be!!! Your limited with the tweeters, facing the windshield stinks in my book. Your tweeters are going to be so far away from the midbass that its going to be very important you focus on the getting the door sealed.

[Titano24's]

Originally Posted by lizardking

Nice setup, I like everything but the comps.....JL's lack midbass. One other thing running comps front and rear with be a nightmare with imaging. For SQ you will only want rear fill which can be achieved running the rears off the deck. You want all the sound to come from up front like watching a band on stage. Don't think I'm trying to be a prick, I'm not just giving you some useful info. How the guys car sounded had only about 10% to do with the equipment everything else is about the install. You can make cheap speakers sound nice with the right install. JL speakers are not known for good midbass with detailed highs.

What I recommend is dynamat the piss out of the doors and seal them up good. Put at least two layers of dynamat inside the door and cover every inch as best as you can. Remember dynamat the inside of the door not the outer shell so much. It's more important to have the inner part of the door dynamatted. I would also seal up any holes besides the drain hole. Mount the midbass drive so that its closer to the door panel. You may have to make two speaker mounts out of 3/4" and double them up to achieve this. The better you seal and dynamat the door the better the midbass will be!!! Your limited with the tweeters, facing the windshield stinks in my book. Your tweeters are going to be so far away from the midbass that its going to be very important you focus on the getting the door sealed.

thx for the opinions and i will be dynomating the hell outta everything, the reason i picked the 450/4 was specifically because the power levels are different from front to back to help with staging (150 x2 up front, 75 x 2 rear)
I'll post pics once done and give my impressions on the system

[lizardking]

Originally Posted by Titano24's

thx for the opinions and i will be dynomating the hell outta everything, the reason i picked the 450/4 was specifically because the power levels are different from front to back to help with staging (150 x2 up front, 75 x 2 rear)
I'll post pics once done and give my impressions on the system

I had that amp once before....It's not a bad amp. I kept my gains low on the rear speakers so I didn't get any sound from the back. Generally know one runs comps front and rear. Those subs will be killer for rock music with fast drum beats such as Metallica.

Just think if you bought the DC1000.4 amp from Zapco you would have a 10 BAND PARAMETRIC EQ PER CHANNEL AND TIME ALIGNMENT. It already has a built in processor and the SQ on Zapco would have really really impressed you. Oh, and you would have the simbilink which is far superior then RCA's. I think that amp is priced at $800 from a dealer.

[Titano24's]

Originally Posted by lizardking

I had that amp once before....It's not a bad amp. I kept my gains low on the rear speakers so I didn't get any sound from the back. Generally know one runs comps front and rear. Those subs will be killer for rock music with fast drum beats such as Metallica.

Just think if you bought the DC1000.4 amp from Zapco you would have a 10 BAND PARAMETRIC EQ PER CHANNEL AND TIME ALIGNMENT. It already has a built in processor and the SQ on Zapco would have really really impressed you. Oh, and you would have the simbilink which is far superior then RCA's. I think that amp is priced at $800 from a dealer.

nice i will have to look into it when i upgrade, also I was just thinking how do you think adding some kick panels up front would work out, would that help me with staging? The only reason i used components in the back was because there was the space for them haha maybe i shouldn't have haha

[Tx_flip]

Kick panels may work, I will be playing with that concept as well when I do my install. The one problem with doing kicks in a truck is...no matter how you slice it...you're literraly sitting on your front soundstage so the design of the kick is crucial along with tweeter placement to get that soundstage on the dash (or on the hood). It can be achieved, I have helped tune two Chevy trucks that are both USACi World Champions. As for rearfill, I somewhat agree with Lizard about rear fill but I don't think it's a "nightmare" simply because it's not difficult to attenuate the rear drivers. Rear fill tuned right can sometimes really help the overall ambience....usually cars though where speakers are on the rear deck or quarter panels on the vehicle. The door locations do make it tricky in the Titan but there's no harm in giving the rear passengers something to listen to as long as you can turn them down when you needed.

I don't think the center console is quite high enough to be a deterrent on kick panels but keep that in mind on design. Are they charging 15,000 for just the install? They better be rebuilding the dash or glassing almost the whole interior for that much... j/k

I'm excited for you, I like to see Titan owners go nuts on their sound system and least achieve a better soundstage and not just get louder. On that note...no harm with just getting louder if that's your cup of tea.

Good luck Titano24.

[lizardking]

Building pods or kick panels is always a good idea if you have room and the staging will be better. Having the driver and tweeter closer together will most definitely help. He's right, staging in a truck is hard to do correctly. As for running rear speakers, you already bought them you may as well throw them in. Just remember to use your fader and reduce the gain on the rears. YOU don't want the music to sound as if its coming from the rear. It will throw off the overall sound stage... I keep mine turned off unless someone rides in the back then I turn them on. But I have all my time alignment and delays set for me and the front passenger.

As for the amp....When I had my JL 450/4 I thought it did a nice job amplifying my music. However when I went to the Zapco it was like coming from the dark to the light.. It truly does an excellent job keeping the sound so clean and pure. When I first through it in I thought it was more powerful just by how much clearer it seemed. The fact was its not any more powerful then the JL.

[chunko]

Zapco amps are really nice but....

for the price those things better take over when my gf jaw gets sore!

[lizardking]

Originally Posted by adavis99

Zapco amps are really nice but....

for the price those things better take over when my gf jaw gets sore!

They are expensive...but look at what JL sells there stuff for.....my god!! Bend me over and put it in dry. JL is not even close to being in the same league as Zapco. JL is way way way overpriced. To me the best thing they make is the W7 which is STILL top dog but NOT worth the money.

[Tx_flip]

I'm in agreement with Lizard, I do like the JL amps but wow at retail they are quite pricey. Zapco, Audison, and Tru Technology are handful of amplifiers that are not quite in the "bang for the buck" category but more of the "elegance for expense" realm. Now...that does not mean you can't get the best sound with out the better amps. My last vehicle I competed in I used all Phoenix Gold XS (not ZX series) amplifiers (one of the last few amplifiers designed by the same engineers of the original MTX Thunder amps). In several shows I beat competitors who were using Audison, Monitor, Mark Antony (tube amps), and Zapco studio amps. Not saying my amps were better, they were not, it just took a lot of work and time to install and tune to get my system better.

All I'm getting at is...there are some bad *** products out there and they are pricey. I won't ever dog at that...the more power to you if you can buy it. A lot of those products are worth the cheddar. But for the "budgeted" folk don't think that if you can't buy an Audison/Zapco/etc. amp you're not going to achieve great SQ...it's also all about the application.

Lizard, I really do like those new Zapco amps. The Zap components aren't that bad either, not bad at all.

[Tx_flip]

Originally Posted by adavis99

Zapco amps are really nice but....

for the price those things better take over when my gf jaw gets sore!

That's hilarious.