# ejschultz Build Log



## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Okay, I've been on here for quite some time now and I figured I'd throw my builds into a thread for you guys to critique. These are my two vehicles. The Caprice is hopefully going to be more of a "show car" while the Jeep is my daily driver. The thread is going to be copied and pasted from other threads I've created on other forums.

On to the build...

The build starts with my Focal 136V Polyglass components I used to have in the Caprice then continues to my current status on both my vehicles.

Here we go...

passenger door with Focal 136V installed









driver's door before install









inner door deadening, passenger, Dynamat Xtreme









inner door deadening, driver, Dynamat Xtreme









passenger door all wired up and ready to go w/full deadener









driver door all wired up and ready to go w/full deadener









a shot of the crossover (driver's side crossover is way up in the dash)









passenger door reassembled with tweeter in sail panel









driver door reassembled with tweeter in sail panel









and for fun, a shot of the HU with my black lights on


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

I got a new box for my subs. The specs are 4.48 cubes net tuned to 30.6 Hz. It plays a lot lower, cleaner, and louder than the crappy Kicker prefab box I was using. The build pics are from the guy who built the box, not me. The last 3 pics are mine. Two are in my basement and the very last is the box in my trunk, obviously.

































































The Kicker box on top used to house my CVXs. Check out the size difference.


















I got my Alpine MRD-M1005 installed today. I was going to run 4 gauge to both amps, but my 4 channel will not take 4 gauge, only 8 . I've got my 1/0 going back to the trunk, going into a fused Rockford disto block that accepts 1/0 or 4 gauge for an input and outputs in 4 or 8 gauge. I've got the 1/0 going in obviously and 4 gauge going to my mono with 8 going to my 4 channel. I've got an unfused Rockford distro block collecting the 2 grounds and putting out a 1/0 ground. I figured I'd let everyone know that I did get my new amp and it's in and working great.

All in all, the 1005 is sweet. It's a huge improvement from the MRD-M605 that I have/had, power wise. The 605 put out 648 @ 2 ohms @ 14.4 V and the 1005, like I said does 1035 under the same conditions. 1035 RMS before voltage drops and impedance rise sure beats the hell out of 648 RMS before voltage drops and impedance rise. And to think, I really didn't want anymore power than what I had... I sure am glad I made the upgrade.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Well, I was a little bored before work today so I decided to finish deadening my front doors. The only thing left to deaden was the panels so...without further ado...



















There you have it. My front doors are now completely deadened. My car is almost complete. All I have left is to get my kick ass A pillars completed and deadening some of my trunk. I'll probably have to buy some more deadener though...  I'm almost out now.

A-pillars from Bing @ SimplicityinSound. Don't mind my bed, they're still in my room for now. Tuesday morning is the next time I have free time to work on whatever. I'd like to start on my new build, but I really want to get these in my car first so I'm sure that's what I'll be doing. Here's the pics.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

And here you go. I decided to skip school today and instead do this. I'm extremely happy with the outcome. Oh, and I turned my box around the other way and wow, it made a world of difference. I get a little windshield flex now and more back window flex. 




























and one of my box turned around...


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Okay, the new DD is done. Here's the pics...

The vehicle:

























The 9855:









Hooking up the steering wheel controls for my Alpine 9855:


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Getting the amps, crossovers, and some wiring ready:

















Drilling for the power wire:









Running the power wire, loomed and sealed with silicone:









Door speakers (Pioneer Premier TS-D520C):

















I used the factory tweeter grilles to mount the Pioneer tweeters in the factory locations. This required a bunch of dremel work:


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Finished install:

































Specs on that build:

1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee TSi
Alpine CDA-9855
Kicker ZX-200.2
Alpine MRD-M605
Alpine Amp Link for the 605
Pioneer Premier TS-D520C
Alpine Type X 1043D
1.3 cubes net @ 29 Hz
Rockford Fosgate wiring
Kicker Battery terminals (of which I didn't post any pics)

I spent a total of $440 on this stuff. I'm not counting stuff that I traded that I had sitting around that wasn't getting used or stuff that I had sitting around that I did use in the build. Not too shabby for a budget build.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

And here's a little something for my Caprice when I get around to it...




























If you look closely, you can see that it's rated at 98 amps at idle and 163 amps peak. I'm currently running at approximately 40 amps at idle and 105 amps peak (to be tested before I make the switch). It's really not much in terms of a HO alternator, but it will definitely serve my needs without a problem.

Here's the pics of my new alternator installed. My voltage doesn't drop below 12.8 now at full tilt and idle. Before I'd dip all the way down to 11, sometimes even a little under that. I'm overall happy with it. It's not a crazy HO alt, but it's definitely a great upgrade from a stock alternator.

Stock alternator:


















Stock vs New:










New alternator:



















Showing big 3 alt to batt and ground:









Battery with some big 3 components:


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

NEW BOX!!! I went down in size and it's sealed. Believe it or not, I didn't lose any output. The subs actually like the smaller sealed box. They play very cleanly now and have a pretty flat response curve. I didn't think that was possible from Kickers. Not only do they sound better, I have my trunk back too. I don't, however, have a spare now...

Here's the pics, the first two had the flash from the camera on, the second third didn't. My green lights are not even noticeable in the first two pics.


























Specs on that box:

2.5 cubes net, sealed
Double baffled front
flush mounted subs

Okay, the speakers are in the Jeep. They kick ass. They sound better than the TS-D520C components I ran, and they sound better than the PPIs. I'm extremely impressed with them. The midbass is simply incredible. The only issue I ran into was they require two brackets for me to get them installed. One bracket is just to get something to fit where the Chrysler speaker was. The other bracket is there because the speaker's basket is too wide to fit into the other bracket. This causes one of my clips on each door panel to not properly lock into place. It isn't noticeable at all and it's a small price to pay for the amazing sound these provide. I didn't get any pics of the speaker installed in the passenger door. If you'd like to see what it looks like, make a mirror image of the speaker in the driver door. Here's the pics...


































The tweeters are in the dash in "custom cut" factory brackets. I love my dremel.

Well, the surprise with my Jeep... I'm in the "15 inch club" now. I got a Kicker 10VCVR152. I didn't plan on "upgrading" my sub. I consider this an "upgrade because the Type X was a great sub, I just don't have the power on hand to make it sing. I don't want to match an amp to that sub, I'd rather match a sub to an amp. I'm overall extremely happy with my MRD-M605 so I don't plan on getting something new. The new 15" is actually a pretty decent sub. With the sub turned down on my HU, it blends extremely nicely with my front stage. When I crank it, it really puts out a lot of volume. It's not as clean as the Type X when it's cranked, but it still stays really clean at lower volumes, or high volumes with the sub turned down. For my listening habits, it's a better sub than the Type X. 

Pics:


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Oh, also, my CVXs really like the sealed box they're in. The box is about 2.5 cubes net for both subs. I stuffed the box with polyfill, as Kicker recommends for a sealed box. I'm pretty sure that I said this as well, but I didn't lose any output going from my 4.5 cubes net @ 30.6 Hz to the much smaller sealed box with the CVXs. Not only did I not lose any output, they also cleaned up a ton too. I thought they were clean before, but now they're extremely clean and loud. Whoever said Kickers like only big, ported boxes was wrong. I've heard a ton of people say that too.

Here's some pics of the box from Mike at AMI Creations that I'm going to be putting in my Jeep. It's about 2.55 cubes sealed after the displacement of the sub. It's going to house my 15" CVR. I don't have the box yet, these are pics from Mike. As always, his build quality looks nothing short of incredible!


































There will be install pics up hopefully before Christmas, weather pending. It's 18 degrees here now and there's about 8 or so inches of snow that's drifting with the wind. 

And here it is...


























It likes the sealed box better than the prefab box from Kicker. It still doesn't play as low as I'd like it to, but I think that has a little to do with my power more than the sub. I don't think 600 RMS is enough to get the extreme lows out loudly. I'm happy with it.

Well, I blew the CVR so I ordered a Type R to fill it's place. I figured the Type R was a good choice because it gets pretty good reviews on here and pretty much everywhere else too. Also, according to Alpine, it will work well in my 2.5 cubes sealed. I'll get pics up when I get it and get it installed. 

Well, I though I'd get pics up sooner of the Type R 1542D that I ordered, but I couldn't find my camera. It's still MIA so these are cell phone pics. I think they turned out alright though. The Type R seems to be a pretty decent sub and it does like the 2.5 cubes sealed. I haven't given it the full power of my amp yet, but so far it's a really nice sub.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

And here's one of my "amp rack"








That one's a little dark because of my 5% tint on the rear windows and the 15% tint on the hatch.

New alternators...

Caprice: Delco-Remy 140A CS144 alternator

Jeep: NSA 136A alternator

In the pictures, the Caprice alternator is the one on the right (left in the rear view).


























I already have my 140A Powermaster alternator on the Caprice, but that's a CS130. The CS144 is a more reliable alternator that is capable of putting out more current at lower RPMs. I actually had one on there over the summer but it didn't fit right with the rear bracket so I sold it. I should have kept it. I also obtained a rear bracket for the CS144 alternator so I'll have no trouble getting it to fit on there now. The 136 amp for the Jeep is from a company called NSA. They seem to be a pretty good company for starters and alternators, from what I've read. It's a larger case than the stock 90 amp that's on there now, but it's a direct bolt on application. Both alternators were both factory options from the manufactures for my vehicles years. I was going to put the alternator on the Caprice today, but I'm getting ready to go to the Chicago Autoshow right now! 

One last thing, I just won an Alpine MRV-F345 4 channel amp. I'm going to be using that to replace the MRP-F450 in the Caprice. It's a perfect match to the MRD-M1005, which is why I really wanted it. It'll make my install more symmetric, if that makes sense. Not only that, but it's built much better. The power is like 5 more watts RMS per channel. I don't care at all about the power. Hopefully it all checks out fine when it arrives. 

Okay, my MRV-F345 came in 2 days ago and I got it in the car today. It's mounted on the opposite side of the box from my MRD-M1005. I didn't mess up my MRP-F450, I just wanted something a little higher quality and something that matched my other amp. So far, I like it, but I have some tuning to do. Because the gain is set with a digital display rather than a pot, I have to mess with both the gain on the amp and the levels on the HU. I have my work cut out for me now with that but for now, it does sound slightly better than the MRP-F450 and I'm happy with the "symmetry" now. On to the pics..










and the MRD-M1005 on the other side...









Alright, here we go. I finally got out and got a couple new pics of the alternator installed on the Jeep and my tinted signals too.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Well, I made some progress yesterday and today. I decided to re-wire my car and get rid of that huge fuse under my hood. I picked up a fused battery terminal from Phoenix Gold and some StreetWires UF OFC 1/0 to accomplish everything. While I was at it, I decided to mount my box from the rear. I went and picked up a couple of heavy duty hinges and some sheet metal screws for that. I also decided I was going to run 4 gauge to my 4 channel like I wanted to since I put in the MRV-F345. The pictures you see in the trunk are from inside the car. The back seat does not fold down; I had to remove the back seat to mount the box. I also accomplished my "big 6" project. I ran 1/0 from the battery + to alternator, battery + to starter, battery - to body, and battery - to my block. I ran 2 gauge from the battery + to the main fuse box and from the battery - to my chassis. The new wiring completely replaced my factory wiring and it all connects to the side post of my battery. I'd like to thank Gary at Innovative Wiring for making this kit for my car. Lastly, I added my CS144 alternator. Voltage drops to about 12.8 volts now at full tilt. Not too bad. Pics...

Some shots of Gary's wiring:

























new alternator:









new battert terminal, don't mind the other Kicker terminal. That's going to come off as soon as I can get a little black cap...

















New wire, techflexed and securely mounted:









Box mounted:









And finished shot of the engine bay:


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

That about sums up my builds for now...

I've got some Audiowrap for the front doors of my Jeep and I'm going to be running one more ground wire in my car from the body to the chassis near the back to help with my amp grounds because my car is body on frame. Gotta love old school technology and designs...

Oh, and I almost forgot, that Kicker terminal is off of my battery now. I got that little black cap that comes on new batteries. to take it's place.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

ejschultz said:


> Okay, I've been on here for quite some time now and I figured I'd throw my builds into a thread for you guys to critique. These are my two vehicles. The Caprice is hopefully going to be more of a "show car" while the Jeep is my daily driver. The thread is going to be copied and pasted from other threads I've created on other forums.
> 
> On to the build...
> 
> ...


Is that panel you have the speaker mounted to SERIOUSLY mounted with zip ties?!!? smh.

Jay


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## eviling (Apr 14, 2010)

HMM make up your mind on your subs. 

how do you like those speakers>? i'm gonna put some of em in my buddys system, their very affordible and they look really good, i'm curiouse how good they are, ive heard decent things but idk. they look pretty sweet though. 

do they sound better off axis like that? i would think a soft dome tweeter like that would suond great on axis.


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## decibelle (Feb 17, 2011)

Two cars at once? You made of money or something?

Anyway, I'm a fan of the 15" sub, but I would have called you crazy for putting it in the jeep, with no actual 'trunk' to really seal it from the cabin. I have a 15" in a sealed encl. also but it's in the trunk and even then it has tendencies to make my ears bleed even at low volumes. If it's not too much bass for you however, then right on. Aesthetically your sub looks great, I might add.

Subbing to this thread, very thorough build, looking forward to see more.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

JayinMI said:


> Is that panel you have the speaker mounted to SERIOUSLY mounted with zip ties?!!? smh.
> 
> Jay


Yes, they're zip tied in. They've been like that for over a year now with no issues.



eviling said:


> HMM make up your mind on your subs.
> 
> how do you like those speakers>? i'm gonna put some of em in my buddys system, their very affordible and they look really good, i'm curiouse how good they are, ive heard decent things but idk. they look pretty sweet though.
> 
> do they sound better off axis like that? i would think a soft dome tweeter like that would suond great on axis.


I like them off axis because of how wide and flat my dash is. I talked to a lot of people and that was the general consensus. Bing, from SimplicityinSound, made the A-pillars for me. He got one of his customers to come back with an Impala (the build is on here) and he aimed my tweeters based on that car, which has an identical dash to mine. As far as the sound goes, I love these speakers. I'm actually running the mids with no high pass and the lowpass at 2.5 kHz. The tweeters pick up at 2.5 kHz and play on up from there. Surprisingly, the mids play everything I feed them, and they play it all very clean.



millerlyte said:


> Two cars at once? You made of money or something?
> 
> Anyway, I'm a fan of the 15" sub, but I would have called you crazy for putting it in the jeep, with no actual 'trunk' to really seal it from the cabin. I have a 15" in a sealed encl. also but it's in the trunk and even then it has tendencies to make my ears bleed even at low volumes. If it's not too much bass for you however, then right on. Aesthetically your sub looks great, I might add.
> 
> Subbing to this thread, very thorough build, looking forward to see more.


It wasn't two cars at once. It was a Jeep and a car at the same time.  Actually, the build in the Caprice took place over the last few years and the build in the Jeep was pretty much over the last year. I had all these pics up in threads on a couple of other forums and I decided to throw them up on here, too. The Jeep was supposed to be a budget build... yeah... Anyway, as far as that sub goes in the Jeep, I love that thing. It blends well with my front stage and plays fairly cleanly. The next thing you'll probably see in this thread is going to be a box built to Alpine's optimal spec for that Type R. I'm actually going to have that in the works shortly. After that, I honestly don't plan on doing much. I'm supposed to be saving for a wedding right now. I'll probably do something about my "zip tied speakers" since it was pointed out, although I really don't see the problem with it. I also will eventually swap out my CVXs for something else. I'm looking at the SA-12s or possibly the SD-12s when Jacob releases them. I honestly won't be upgrading that for a little while though.


A little history on the Caprice:

My grandparents bought the car brand new in 1995. The car is a 1994 model year. When my grandfather passed, my grandmother gave me the car with only 16xxx on it. I used the car for a daily driver in high school and when I was home for the summer my first couple of years of college. When I transferred to a local university, I decided to buy a beater and keep the Caprice nice. At that point, the Caprice became my "show car" with only 39xxx or so miles. The car now sits with 41504 miles on it.

My first "system" in the Caprice was my Alpine 9853 HU teamed up with some Alpine 4x6 Type S speakers up front and some 6x9 Type Rs in the rear deck on HU power. I ran that for about a year then picked up an Alpine MRP-F450 4 channel. This was before I knew how to install an amp so I had Best Buy install it. Well, they told me that everything was set, including the crossovers, and I was good to go. Needless to say, on the way home, I blew a front speaker because the crossovers were not set. Not only were they not where I left them, but they were turned completely off. I probably should have checked that before I cranked it, but I was pretty pumped. I replaced the fronts with some Infinity Reference 4x6 plate speakers. Because I was running Infinitys up front, I had to have them in the back too. I put some Kappa 6x9 3 ways (693.7i I think) in the back. I thought my system rocked. Then, I picked up some 12" CVRs (2005 model) and my Alpine MRD-M605. At that point, I learned how to wire my own amps and vowed to never pay someone to do an install for me again. While I was working at Circuit City in TV sales, I decided to use my awesome accommodations program with Kicker and I picked up my CVXs for a killer price. I ran those in the pre-fab Kicker box my CVRs came in for a while on the MRD-M605. After "upgrading" my subs, I decided to also "upgrade" my front stage. I picked up a second hand set of Focal Polyglass 136V components. I didn't like them, but I tried to force myself to like them. You see how that turned out. While I was running those up front is when I got that huge box for the CVXs. I was still powering them with the MRD-M605 for a little while in that box before I picked up the MRD-M1005.

Lastly, there is an alarm that I installed in the Caprice. It's an Avital 2300. I practiced on my Jimmy that I used to have when I installed my Python 460 in there. Like I said before, I vowed to never pay for someone to install anything in my vehicles again. The alarm install turned out really well. I loomed all the wire under the dash and I soldered every connection. The doors, hood, and trunk are all protected. I installed the LED in the "factory" location in the defroster vent in the dash.

I think that about sums up what I didn't cover about the Caprice in the actual build log. A lot of that stuff was before I was on any forums or took pics as I was working but I figured I'd mention it so you can see how I've evolved.


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## decibelle (Feb 17, 2011)

Congrats on the wedding. I like the "supposed to be" saving. We can all see where your priorities really lie... 

I digress. One doesn't see too many Caprices on the roads anymore, and when they do, they're, uhm... pimped the &^$# out to all hell. Good move on keeping it nice.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Thanks. Everyone keeps asking me about when I'm putting rims on it. I'm not. I got my system, my tint, and my alarm. That's all I ever wanted to do to the car. Gotta keep it clean and classy, sadly something no one really does anymore. The system has consumed a lot more time, money, blood, sweat, and tears than I ever dreamed possible though. I'm sure that will continue as well.


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## decibelle (Feb 17, 2011)

Systems tend to destroy your soul. 

As for the 'clean and classy' - I hear you. That's great. With all the fancy new things auto stores keep churning out every month, everybody's all, "oooh shiny" and go bumpin round the hood looking like a rolling disco ball.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

I can't help but think you're referring to those very tasteful fender vents that pretty much work on every car.


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## decibelle (Feb 17, 2011)

I'm not a fan of those, but they don't single handedly mock a car's aesthetics. I was mostly referring to the big, flashy mods such as those 'no spoke' rims where the entire thing is chrome. And the like.

For (extreme) example.



















A little bit of chrome and pizazz here and there can be a good thing, if you do it right. But when you go bat **** crazy with your ADD and do things like this to your car, then it might be a problem.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

You can tell that guy lives at AutoZone...lol.


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## stills (Apr 13, 2008)

how much of a difference did you notice w/ the tweets in the a-pillars?

what kinda birds ya got?


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Going from the sails to the pillars was more aesthetic than anything. I had pretty good staging where they were, but I thought it looked like crap, which it really did. It did bring the overall stage height a little higher, but not by much. Like I mentioned before, my dash is perfect for having the tweeters off axis. I'm not a fan of super bright tweeters and putting them off axis helps with that a little. For tweeters, the Pioneers are pretty omnidirectional, if that word can be used to describe tweeters.

The birds in the cages you see are both cockatiels. One's about 16 years old and the other is about 14. I also have an Indian ringneck parakeet. She never shuts up...lol. She's about 5 and always wants to know what you're doing. Her favorite thing to say is, "What are you doing?" I had an Amazon for a while but I had to give her up for adoption because I could not provide the proper attention to her between full time work and full time school. When the guy came to my house to get her, she instantly liked him and wanted to be held and played with. I didn't feel too bad because she really liked the guy. I also had a jenday conure. He was an awesome bird. We woke up one morning to find the he had an accident with one of his toys that ended up being fatal, unfortunately.


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## PottersField (Mar 18, 2011)

ejschultz said:


> You can tell that guy lives at AutoZone...lol.


And shops at Walmart. Everytime I see a car done up like that it's sitting in a Walmart parking lot. Every time. And there's usually mariachi music coming from inside. Just sayin'.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Lol, I was thinking that... Check out the plate on that car too. You're 100% right about that one.


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## decibelle (Feb 17, 2011)

lol, that's the glamorous side of Wally World motor vehicles. It gets even worse, at least down here.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Alright, I went ahead and put my Type R in a box built to the recommended specs by Alpine in the manual for the sub for what Alpine calls "optimum" performance. The box is 19.5" wide x 16.5" tall x 20" deep. The port is 22.5" squared. It's 27" long inside the box. The box grosses at 2.9 cubes and nets at 2.25 cubes after the port and sub. Fb is 30 Hz. So far I'm liking the box, but I still can't pick up on the extreme lows for some reason. They're at least audible now, but they drop off pretty severely. I may need a little more power for the Type R. Hmm... Kicker 750.1? Anyway, on to the pics...


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

I had a little bit of time today before work so I decided to finally deaden the front doors of the Jeep. I had/still have a ton of Audio Wrap deadener. This stuff is super sticky. The backing on it isn't paper like other deadeners, it's plastic. That kinda sucked because it was tearing and stretching while I was attempting to pull it off. Other than that, I don't have any complaints about the product. I did my best to seal off the doors using the deadener. The only holes left were holes the door panels inserted to. I haven't listened to anything yet so I'll have to update you all when I actually sit down to listen to something in the Jeep to let you know what kind of difference it made. On to the pics...










































I did slip my mind to get a pic of the passenger door before I started deadening. I guess you can imagine a mirror image of the driver door for what that looked like before I started.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

The deadener made a world of difference. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that I had a new set of mids in the doors. They shine now more than ever before. This is the first time I was able to "A B" test deadener. When I did my car, I deadened as I installed the 720PRS components; I've never heard them in my doors without the deadener. I've been running these speakers for quite some time now with no deadener. The couple of hours I spent doing this today was well worth it.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

I installed another MRV-F345 today. This time it was in the Jeep. I decided it was time to run my front stage in there active as well. I like it better already because I'm not able to attenuate the tweeters from the crossover without adjusting the EQ. Aside from that, I was able to give my mids a little more power and the tweeters a little less power. I didn't start messing with any TA yet, but that's on my list of stuff to do now that I've gone active. All in all, the actual labor wasn't too bad. It took me all of an hour and a half to completely rip apart my dash, run another set of RCAs back, hide the RCAs, install the amp, and do a little bit of tuning. Not only did I install the amp, but I also managed to locate a KWE-061M Amplink Y cable for my Amplink. Now I can control both my mono and 4 channel from the HU. I don't have any pics of the install because it's not clean right now. I need to finish up my amp rack that I've had in the planning stage since who knows when. When I get that completed, there'll be pics of everything.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Alright, I bit the bullet and built my amp rack today. Surprisingly, it was rather easy. It's nothing special; I didn't think I had it in me to build anything quite honestly. I'm proud of it and it allowed me to mount my amps to my seat. I did my best to clean up the wiring. I needed to leave a little slack for when the seat is folded down. The little white thing that's in there is a fuse that's inline with my remote turn on for my mono amp. I have that in there so I can pull the fuse, then disconnect my box and pull the box out of the Jeep, should I need to carry anything large. I've had that in there for a while but it really never did me any good because I still had my amps sitting in the way. Anyway, on to the couple of pics I took...


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

I just picked up a set of Tidal Audio TM12.4 subs for the Caprice. It turns out my box is perfectly matched to their specs. I'm dumping the CVXs in favor of a little more SQ. I'll post some pics when I get them.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Well, here they are... Tidal Audio REF-TM12.4 OEMed by Image Dynamics (ID12D4V3)










































So far I like them. They're a lot more musical than my CVXs. They play just as low, if not lower, they're a lot smoother, they blend extremely well with my front stage, and, I didn't turn them up too much yet, but they still get decently loud. I've got them wired for a 4 ohm total load. I'll eventually be giving them about 700 RMS for the pair. These were definitely worth the upgrade.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Well, I traded my Type R 15 to my brother in law for his, my old, Type X 10 back. I decided to put it into a sealed box rather than the large ported box it was originally in. It's nice having some cargo space, and when I need to take it out, it'll be a lot quicker, too. I'm running it in .7 cubes gross sealed which is .05 cubes larger than the Alpine recommended specs. Also, don't mind my crooked "amp rack." That'll get fixed in the spring time. I don't feel like freezing my ass off just to make that straight.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Picked this up today to replace the MRV-F345 in the Caprice to give the PRS components some real power. 

MRV-F545


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## nickpequignot (Feb 3, 2013)

hey hey another zj!! haha the car and the jeep look good man keep it up.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Thanks man.

I got the 545 installed in my Caprice, but it's just more or less in there right now. I don't have any pics yet because I want to make it all "pretty" first. So far my impressions of it are "wow" and "these PRS comps really sing now!" Hopefully, between traveling a ton for work, spending time with my family, buying a new home, and working on my Jeep, I'll have some time soon to get my car all finished up.


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## douggiestyle (Apr 29, 2008)

Good work, only thing I'd add is to secure the sub box in your Jeep


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

douggiestyle said:


> Good work, only thing I'd add is to secure the sub box in your Jeep


Thanks. I definitely would, but it comes out when I take the Jeep wheeling. I have a small inline fuse with my remote turn on for my mono amp and I disconnect the speaker wire from the box and just keep it in the garage while I'm out. I haven't been able to come up with a quick release way to secure the box. If you have any ideas, I'm open to them.


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## Griffith (Jul 10, 2008)

Hey, so how do you like the MRD-M1005 amp? There's a guy selling one and I've had my eye on it today. Read some positive reviews, just not totally convinced yet. 

I think, ultimately, if I do buy that amp, I would get the matching MRV-F545 just like your setup.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

I really like it. I'm running it at 4 ohms. My subs are more than happy with the power they get. They play really clean in the sealed enclosure I have them in. I'd recommend these V12 amps to anyone. I have all of the 2005 lineup of the V12 amps in use between my two toys.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Alright guys, it's been about a year since I've done anything car audio related. I've been focused too much on my Jeep lately in terms of armor, lockers, accessories, etc to worry about car audio or my Caprice at all. I decided it was time to change that and picked these up. Fi X 12, dual 2 ohm, with a hard dust cap. It took almost a month for them to be built and shipped but they look worth the wait. They should be right at home in the sealed box I have in my car already, which is one of the reasons I chose them.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Installed...




First sticker I've put on my car... I've had the car almost 10 years...


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Little video... Sorry about the crappy cell phone sound. 

My Caprice - 2 Fi X 12s - YouTube


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## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Very nice choice of subwoofers!


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

Thanks!

More to come once I get a feel for them. They're definitely relatively loud to what I had. They seem to blend fairly well with my front stage as well. I have a little tuning to do, I think. I kind of just threw them in there quickly while I had about an hour of free time last weekend.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

A couple things...

The Fi's are definitely great subs that I'd recommend to anyone looking to get a decent daily sub without spending an arm and a leg. They're loud, they're clean, they blend well... I'm more than happy with them. They gave me that bump in volume I was missing with the Tidal Audio (IDs) I was running previously. In all honesty, I can't tell a difference in SQ between them either, although I didn't do any A-B tests before I threw the TAs in the attic.

The other thing is my Jeep. The system is coming out. I've already sold the sub. I'm keeping the 9855 in there as well as the TS-D1720Cs. I'm going to run them active right off the head unit and get rid of the amps. I mostly wheel the Jeep now and would like to have some room for recovery equipment and spare parts in the back. The amps aren't going to be sold, nor is my amp link. Those are going to go into storage for the time being. My OCD won't let me get rid of the complete collection of the 2005 V12 series amps and the amp link stuff is just too hard to come by to get rid of it.


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## ejschultz (Oct 30, 2009)

I finished up pulling the system out of the Jeep yesterday and ran the speaker wire directly to the back of the HU. As I previously said, I'm now running my 1720Cs actively from the head unit. Surprisingly, it worked. I had my doubts. Equally as surprisingly, it actually sounds pretty decent like that. I think the internal amp on the head unit amplifying a more narrow frequency band lets the amp channels provide more power to those frequencies than spreading it out. There was a big debate on this power distribution when using passive crossovers before with amps. I don't know if anyone ever tested it out using a low power amp where the differences could clearly be audible. Regardless, I'm happy with it. It's done. No more system. My cargo space is freed up for recovery equipment and camping.


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