Amarok sound system upgrade

[meeso]

I posted pics in another thread about my sub boxes, and because someone asked, i figure id share what ive done here:

The guts of the system is;

Alpine X308AU Amarok deck, comes with specific amarok facia and all interface cables, including for steering wheel controls
mod cable for late model reverse camera made by Jay Standerwick (wicks wires on facebook and youtube)
stinger RCA cables
Helix S62C front splits - front
Helix S6X coaxials - rear
Hybrid Unity U10SW- S slimline subs
Amarok custom sub boxes from basser - Basser - FBvw23 VW Amarok L Fit-Box subwoofer enclosure (both left and right)
Helix M4 DSP amp - speakers
Helix M1 X amp - subs
Stinger roadkill sound deadening on all 4 doors and rear firewall

NB to use the basser cabinets, the drivers side requires the middle rear seatbelt buckle to be moved to the far left bolt on the seat mounting point for clearance.









Tweeter required the factory tweeter mesh to be cut out. could possibly do it with the tweets inside this fitting but i didnt want to remove the tweeters protective grille.

Fitting these boxes did require custom cutting of the rear firewall vanity covering. Measure twice, cut once, only get one go at it if you go too big



spacing in between the sub boxes



I used a small right angle brackt to hold them against the firewall, otherwise they are simply sitting on the floor. Tools and Jack ive relocated to a secure lockable poly tub in the tray that swings over the wheel tub.



drivers door - for sound deadening, i did all 4, and the rear firewall, but only took pics of the drivers door. i made rain covers to go where the factory foam is from 3mm mdf, with plastic sheet glued to it, then roadkill over the top.



Roadkilled the entire interior of the door panel. getting to the frotn part of the door is difficult and you will likely cut your hands.




Double sided tape to seal against the door





Finished door. I used 19MM MDF for the speaker rings, Drilled the factory rivets out iand installed M6 Nutserts



Insider thedoor trim, i used 6mm foam, and cloth tape around all the inserts (window controls etc). I had to replace most of the plastic door panel clips, they are terrible to get off without breaking.







The M1X is a long amp, i installed mine under the rear passenger site seat front







The M4 DSP is under the passenger front seat. The seat has to be on max height to allow this, otherwise the seat storage bin will hit the amp


So thats my system. Still havent tuned the DSP properly, but with nearly 1500 Watts available, it hits hard, the Helix speakers go down to nearly 40 hz, so tuning is relatively simple, with loads of mid bass, and the twin 10s probably would like a larger enclosure each, but even with the measly 12lt each they have, they dig relatively deep and are crisp and hit like hammers in the back..

When i get time form this covid madness, ill head down to see Jay at phatt Audio, and get him to tune if for me properly..

Hope this helps people wanting to upgrade thier system. happy to answer questions too.

[Troy77]

Hi meeso,

I know you've replaced you front speakers/tweeters entirely, but I have a question I was hoping you might be able to help with anyway.

I've replaced the factory head unit with a new Pioneer unit. I've still got the factory tweeters installed, but have replaced the door speakers (left all the original wiring in place but removed the plug for the door speakers to connect the wires directly to the replacements.

The issue I'm having is that the door speakers seem to be getting only the high frequencies, and the tweeters are getting the full range. Almost as though they were connected incorrectly to a crossover.... however I can't find a crossover anywhere, and the cabling hasn't been changed at all either??

Any ideas? Would really appreciate some help on this one..

- Troy

[meeso]

Hi meeso,


Any ideas? Would really appreciate some help on this one..

- Troy

Hi Troy, thats very odd.

if you replace the speakers with the OEM woofers does it change? is there a wierd capacitor crossover on the replaced speakers that you connected the factory wires to?

I used the factory wiring all the way from the plug (the OEM plug into the OEM deck) and with an alpine supplied quadlock in between module, i spliced my amp outout wiring into.



Initially, i ran the new speakers from the OEM headunit, and they worked fine.
On the tweeter, i simply connected the factory wires to the new tweeter crossover, and on the main woofer, connected the factory wires to the new woofer crossover. If there is a factory crossover, i dont know of it. You could try using a meter and checking the resistance between the woofer wiring, and deck, and tweeter wiring and deck, either measuring more than an ohm or less would indicate a device in between. how did you check polarity? i used a 1.5v battery and made sure the speaker cone moved outwards and then marked the positive at both ends prior to cutting.

Actually, im not sure if other versions of the rok have a OEM amplifier in the system? Does yours ??

[Troy77]

Hi Meeso,

No OEM amplifier in this system..
Talking to the audio guy at the local Autobarn, he suspects the issue is that the new speakers I've put in which are 100wRMS simply need more power than head unit is providing to drive them properly, whereas the factory tweeters that are still in place and factory wired in parallel are being somewhat overpowered...
So to fix the issue I probably need to put in an amplifier and maybe replace the factory tweeters...
In which case I may just be better off taking these new speakers out of the front doors, and putting them in the rear doors and getting some new splits for the front?

[meeso]

hey Troy..

EDIT: BTW, that autobarn guy shouldnt be giving advice, he has NFI. Doesnt matter what wattage the speaker or the deck are..

good to chat. as mentione din my message, its likely the issue is in the pioneer to quadlock cable, and the pinouts are not assigned properly. shouldnt be too hard to correct with a pin removal tool.. if you really get stuck, i can put my deck out and make a diagram of the pins in the quadlock cable, which do what. Not sure if you have the factory reverse cam, but theres a coaxial cable you can get to connect into the factory quadlock, i had mine made but its relatively simple. to use it, i had to drop the modules out of the quad lock ad insert seperately. if need help, as said, ill remove, and take pics..