MoparMike's 2015 Dodge Durango R/T SQ Build

Juice75 · Jul 11, 2016

Hey Mike - Here are some shots of what I've done so far. I hesitate to call it an 'install' after seeing what you guys did. I might put the sub down firing in the back like you did. The box was quick and dirty to see if I liked having it under the seat. It works, but I think I feel it more than hear it. And the box is a tad small for the sub. The second pic is the sub knob. It's the first time I've used one, and I will never go without one again!

Next step is to figure out the sub box, and install the MS-8 that's sitting in my house.

MoparMike · Jul 11, 2016

Juice75 said:
Hey Mike - Here are some shots of what I've done so far. I hesitate to call it an 'install' after seeing what you guys did. I might put the sub down firing in the back like you did. The box was quick and dirty to see if I liked having it under the seat. It works, but I think I feel it more than hear it. And the box is a tad small for the sub. The second pic is the sub knob. It's the first time I've used one, and I will never go without one again!

Next step is to figure out the sub box, and install the MS-8 that's sitting in my house.

View attachment 32313 View attachment 32321 View attachment 32329

You probably do feel that sub more than you hear it. The tactile effect from having that under your seat is going to be there, especially with that sub, but placing it in the middle of the vehicle can introduce cancellation. Subs tend to sound much better when they are in one end of the vehicle and are playing across the cabin. Output also increases when they have something to load off of like the floor, roof or back of the vehicle. In some circles you see people installing subs up front in the passenger foot well or under a center console. Something to try, if your curious, is to pull that box and set it in the foot well. To make it look right you'd need to use fiberglass to make a mold of the floor but the nice thing about a box that size is you can move it around and listen to how different placements affect the sound.

I like the location of that knob though. Its out of the way and in an area where it blends in well. Is it easy to reach when you are in a driving position?

Thanks for sharing the pics!

Lanson · Jul 12, 2016

Love the use of a Sundown 8 here. I think you should consider (maybe just try it) a sub up front, in the passenger footwell. Like Mike's saying, there are possible cancellation effects. You can immediately prove whether or not cancellation is occurring by doing a measurement (even a basic one with a phone) with the sub in the area you have it, and also in the front or in other places. Easy to hear (or not hear) the difference.

Juice75 said:
Hey Mike - Here are some shots of what I've done so far. I hesitate to call it an 'install' after seeing what you guys did. I might put the sub down firing in the back like you did. The box was quick and dirty to see if I liked having it under the seat. It works, but I think I feel it more than hear it. And the box is a tad small for the sub. The second pic is the sub knob. It's the first time I've used one, and I will never go without one again!

Next step is to figure out the sub box, and install the MS-8 that's sitting in my house.

View attachment 32313 View attachment 32321 View attachment 32329

Juice75 · Jul 12, 2016

I'll try moving the sub around. Not sure my wife would go for having it in the footwell. Have to keep her happy. And the sub knob is very easy to reach. I don't even have to think about it.

Lanson · Jul 12, 2016

Juice75 said:
I'll try moving the sub around. Not sure my wife would go for having it in the footwell. Have to keep her happy. And the sub knob is very easy to reach. I don't even have to think about it.

Try placing it in the trunk and that will also tell you a lot.

MoparMike · Jul 12, 2016

Juice75 said:
I'll try moving the sub around. Not sure my wife would go for having it in the footwell. Have to keep her happy. And the sub knob is very easy to reach. I don't even have to think about it.

I have two knobs to mount and was thinking about that spot. Its either there or I have to drill a hole near the traction control button. Haven't made my mind up yet. And yes, keeping the wife happy is quite important. Haha.

MoparMike · Jul 12, 2016

Made a short little video to show the lighting inside the box now that I have it all wired up. Progress pics to follow in a later post.

Lanson · Jul 12, 2016

Sexy!

MoparMike · Jul 17, 2016

Back to work on the box with mounting the subs. Used 1/4-20 allen head socket screws.

Blue LED lighting run around the underside of the shelf that the plexi glass windows will mount to.

The subs were wired with 12 gauge Knu Koncepts Kord cable.

Ring terminals for Dayton Audio binding posts soldered.

Wiring held against the back wall to block from view when looking though the windows on the top of the box.

MoparMike · Jul 17, 2016

Last weekend I tried to run the power wire to the battery along with the 3 runs of 16 gauge wiring for the passenger side speakers. Unfortunately things were not going my way and I reached out to another forum member, Lanson, for advice since he had an easy time running wiring in his Durango. His advice was a big help, I was trying to run front-to-back where the reverse was much easier. Took me less than 20 minutes to have wires peeking out of both sides of the interior.

Wiring exiting the passenger side rear quarter panel and into the second row seating area.

Getting wire into the battery compartment under the front passenger seat is rather easy. 1/0 Knu Koncepts cable wrapped in tech flex attached to the positive battery terminal.

I had bought a 250 amp maxi fuse but was second guessing that decision due to how difficult it would be to remove the fuse if I needed to cut power to the back of the car so I went with a 300 amp Stinger circuit breaker which was mounted to the top side of the battery compartment cover. Its it accessible by reaching under the front seat.

The power wire enters the cargo area near the 3rd row seats and runs to the distro block that was mounted in between the seat brackets for the passenger-side seat. A piece of 3/4" MDF was cut, sprayed with bedliner, and bolted into the threaded mounting points from the stock subwoofer.

0 gauge ground run to the bolt for the 3rd row, passenger-side seatbelt.

4 gauge runs head to the back of the car where the amp rack will mount. There is also a small gauge power and ground that head to the driver's side to supply power to the processors and lighting.

Because the wires will run right underneath one of the subs, and the clearance is very tight at the font of the box, I made some slits into the factory carpeting and threaded some zip-ties into them to bind the wiring snug against the floor. I'm really happy with how this came out.

The feet of the box were lined with 1/2" thick foam weatherstipping to seal up the seam between box and floor as best possible. It also helps cushion where the power and ground wires run underneath.

On the driver's side I ran the 3 sets of 16 gauge wire for the speakers up front along with the data cables for the JL Fix 82's volume knob and the 1000.1's bass knob. I also ran a single 18 gauge single wire for the valet switch that the Fix processor offers. No pictures of that side, not much to see anyway.

I did partially wire up the barrier strip for the component speakers up front. This will allow me to remove the amp rack without pulling on those wires because there is not a lot of slack in them from where they exit the rear quarter panels. I used different lengths of heat shrink to designate which wires were which: Short = Tweet, Medium = Mid and Long = Mid-bass

That is where I stopped for the day. Getting back at it tomorrow to run the wiring into the front doors and connect the amps and processors.

silverunicorn · Jul 17, 2016

Your wiring is very clean. Very nice work!

Chris

Juice75 · Jul 17, 2016

I'm totally going to steal the heat shrink length idea. Genius!

MoparMike · Jul 17, 2016

silverunicorn said:
Your wiring is very clean. Very nice work!

Chris

Thank you!

Juice75 said:
I'm totally going to steal the heat shrink length idea. Genius!

Ha ha. Yeah, I've used this method before because it is simple and I don't have a label maker.

RangoLimited · Jul 17, 2016

That's gonna be pretty sweet when it's done!

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MoparMike · Jul 18, 2016

RangoLimited said:
That's gonna be pretty sweet when it's done!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G800A using Tapatalk

Thanks!! I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and it's motivating. This weekend was very productive.

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Lanson · Jul 18, 2016

Amazing work, man. I love how similar and different our builds have become. I've still got to rebuild for downfire, but I was hoping to "hear" how yours fares with that setup, and if there's any unstoppable resonance, etc. I also need to tear into my doors and double my efforts as well, they just keep rattling even with the higher crossover point. That's the problem with powerful drivers, the very quickly find the weaknesses of a setup and all of the sudden, certain frequencies are rattling the car apart.

MoparMike · Jul 18, 2016

Lanson said:
Amazing work, man. I love how similar and different our builds have become. I've still got to rebuild for downfire, but I was hoping to "hear" how yours fares with that setup, and if there's any unstoppable resonance, etc. I also need to tear into my doors and double my efforts as well, they just keep rattling even with the higher crossover point. That's the problem with powerful drivers, the very quickly find the weaknesses of a setup and all of the sudden, certain frequencies are rattling the car apart.

Thanks!! I like what you said about the similarities and differences. There are certain things that just work well for the vehicle, the mounting position for the distribution blocks for instance, so it's not surprising that we both ended up with that. The rest is just two different peoples ideas of what to do with the same platform. I wish you were closer, it would be awesome to put these two next to one another and compare. Especially the differences in the sub orientations.

I've got more pics to upload from the weekend. Got the plexi glass installed last night. Box is done and in the vehicle. I need to connect amps and door speakers. I have been working to have this thing done by next weekend which is Texas Heat Wave. It's the biggest show in the state and id love to have music when I head up there.

Last thing I did was build some temporary pods to audition the mids in a couple of places before hard mounting them.

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Juice75 · Jul 18, 2016

Let me know if you head to Heat Wave. I'm in Austin, and would love to checkout your truck. I moved my SD-8 back to the trunk with a temp downfire setup. I'm liking it, so should have the permanent box built soon. Then just need to wire up the MS-8, and decide where to go from there.

RangoLimited · Jul 18, 2016

Not sure if this has already been answered, but is the plan to not use the rear compartment lid? I (now) know it attaches to the cargo box or whatever you want to call it. If I do something more, I'd like to keep that lid personally. I like hearing a nice system but don't want it visible

MoparMike · Jul 18, 2016

RangoLimited said:
Not sure if this has already been answered, but is the plan to not use the rear compartment lid? I (now) know it attaches to the cargo box or whatever you want to call it. If I do something more, I'd like to keep that lid personally. I like hearing a nice system but don't want it visible

No, I won't be using the compartment lid. My plan is to place a cargo mat over the trunk area for day to day use. Check out Lanson's build thread regarding the stock lid. He is having a heck of a time with resonances from the sub woofers. It would also be easy to build a custom cover to give a stock appearance.

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