BroncoHound

That eBay auction that lists a strange 6.5" round for the front doors must be inaccurate. The 03-05 trucks have 6x9's in the front doors from the factory, same as the 2nd gens and the later 3rd gens.

Usually, I build my own adapter plate with MDF. I don't really see a problem with using a pre-made adapter plate, though. My only concern would be if that thin plastic was sturdy enough to properly support the midwoofer through it's range of motion or if the plastic would flex. The auction description says they are "tough as nails" though, so it may be a good solution. For $15, I think they would be worth a shot, unless you just happen to have some spare 1/4" MDF laying around and want to build your own. No need to cut the grilles out of your door panels unless you are wanting to show off the Focal woofers with their supplied grilles. Keep in mind that increases the "steal me" factor as well, however.

SPD_FRK

You are definitely going to have a nice sounding system in the truck with that setup. As already suggested I would also recommend running JL amps (at least for the subs) as they will hold up to the power and give best results. I have used a number of different subs and amplifier combinations and honestly the best setups I have heard, or seen results with were those running JL subs with the JL amplifier. A few have done ok with Rockford or USAcoustic amps, the sound qaulity wasn't as crisp, and at times when a low beat hit it would push the amp to cut out...even with a cap added to the line.


Just for kicks here is a buddy's '01 Ram that was put together for High SPL competition;

Enclosed is 4 12" JLs


Custom Amp rack. Each sub has its own amp and the others are run of number 5


Switch panel for controling the power to the amps. Basically able to turn on 2 out of the 4 subs for "normal" listening and then flip of a switch for the competition.

BroncoHound

I think Blake meant to suggest a 500/1 JL monoblock amp; JL Audio doesn't make a 500/2 and only 1 channel is needed to power two subwoofers.

I think where JL Audio really shines with their amplifier design is the fact that JL Audio amps can be mated with a subwoofer of any impedence between 1.5ohms and 4ohms. They have a variable ohm resistance meter (think their proprietary name for it is RIPS or something like that) so it will automatically shift the performance of the amplifier to the lowest resistance that your bass drivers can operate at. I personally love JL Audio slash series amplifiers. For a builder on a budget, however, they can be out of the price range of many. For the money, Alpine makes a solid amplifier that, while they generally aren't competition level, they provide accurate enough sound reproduction so that all but the trained ear won't really tell the difference.

If you aren't opposed to running a single amplifier, look into picking up a leftover (they are discontinued now) JL Audio 500/5. It provides 100w x 2 channels for the front stage, 25w x 2 channels for the rear fill, and 250w x 1 channel for bass drivers. For a well dampened, non-competition level setup, it will do everything you need it to do. I have a brand new one sitting in my closet right now, along with my CDT gold 6.5" components for the front, CDT 6.5" coaxials for the rear (though they may get swapped out for an extra set of CDT gold 6.5" midbass drivers). They are just waiting for subwoofers, sound deadening, and some wiring to show up before they will all be put in the truck.

If you like the idea of a single amplifier running everything but want more than 500w, look into the Elemental Designs (ED) nine.5 amplifier. It is a terrific amp. While it doesn't have the front/rear watt splitting like the JL Audio does, it is more than powerful enough to run a very competant SQ setup.

Blake Clark

Yup Bronc your right, that was a typo 500/1 is the trick. RIPS (Regulated Intelligent Power Supply) is probably the greatest thing about these amps. It its explained in detail in the manual but the jist of it is that once the amp is set to your specific subs ohm rating the amp will not over power the subs and "blow" them while at the same time maintaining maximum power to the subs under a varying voltage load. JL Amps are definitly pricey, but worth every single penny. If one would is not worried about the OEM warranty there are several online venders, www.onlinecarstereo.com is my fav, that offer new in box JL products at really great prices.

The remote bass option is worth its weight in gold.

Best thing about JL Audio, although im not sure bout the amps, but the subs speakers and enclosures are all made right here in the Good Ole U S of A.


SPD thats one sick setup your bud has...

My bro and me and a couple of friends, (same crew that built my box) built a custom box for his 03 1500 single cab for 4 JL W0 12's powered by two 250/1. Ill see if I can get some pics from him and post them up.

Blake Clark

Lil off topic, sorry sctsnpr, but as we are all audiophiles I figured yall might enjoy a few pics of my lil bros setup. 2003 1500 4x4 Reg Cab 4.7 5 spd (used to be mine )


Mid construction, each partion was calculated to JL specs for the W0 12's



Closer view of work



Front view rough completion



The box was designed with a side profile of the JL audio L shape.



Two 250/1 and a pioneer 400/4 with a 1.5 farad cap



Box carpted and subs installed



Box in the truck but install not complete. It is huge but the seats do go full rearward and recline some.



He has it wired up so that he can run just the two inner 12's for normal listening and with a flip of a switch all four kick in for serious boom...

dwl2002navy

I just finished installing the ported 10" box from fox acoustics a couple of weeks ago, and holy crap what a good sounding system. I used two apline 10" type R's with a PDX 1000.1 wired at 2 ohms. By far the cleanest and best sounding system I have ever heard in one of these quad cab trucks. Just figured I would give my .02. FYI That PDX amp is awesome becuase it is so small. It fits under the drivers seat with no problems at all, you can't even see it.

sctsnpr

Sorry I haven't posted back up, I just got out of the field, so no computer time. What I did have waiting for me though is the sound deadening from RAAMat. Opened the box enough to take a look and it looks like some really good material. I will post pics and such when I begin the tear down and re-assembly. The price was not bad at all either!

I will look into the JL amps! I'm still game planning everything on how I want it. I do think i'm going to scale back my wattage on the subwoofer amp to 500. I just know that sealed enclosures need more wattage than ported.

This build will take a little more than two months because i'm going TAD to Hawaii for 3 and a half weeks in a month and do not want to leave my truck parked for that long with everything either half installed or it half a$$ed due to time.

Still waiting on the arrival of the FoxBox, which should be here next week and the kick panels.

What battery did you guys run your wire off of? Drivers or passenger?

For wiring i'm going 0 gauge to a distribution block and going 4 gauge to each amp. Or should I go 0 gauge to each amp? Looking at the battery connections I don't see a battery terminal working so just a o-ring around the positive terminal? Any wire "cleaner" than others?

blake.clark, your brother has one hell of a set-up. Looks real clean as well. A buddy of mine in high school had 6 15's in the back of his ranger.. Was stuuupppiiiddd... Oh the days of Pyle amps and Crunch 10's in my ride..

I decided i'm going to build my own adapter plate using mdf for the drivers in the doors. After going thru all the trouble of sound deadening last thing I want is my speakers to "flex" due to plastic.

Thanks for all the replies guys, and Broncohound sounds like me and you are in a race to see how fast we can gather supplies to install. I just took the reverse route of you, haha.

BroncoHound

Either battery will work. 4 gauge from the distro block to the amplifiers will be fine for the amount of power you are pushing. 500 watts to a couple of JL 10's will be more than plenty to blow you out of the truck.

I think you are going to beat me on the race. I've got tires that will need replacing in the next 15K-20K miles, a new clutch before too long, and a whole gauge setup once the Smarty gets here to replace the PMT. I still need sound damping, subwoofers, and a collection of "amp kit" stuff before I install. Im probably going to end up replacing the CDA-9886 in my truck with a 7" screen so I can integrate navigation and a backup camera at the same time, too. I foresee it being Christmas time this year before I start tearing the truck apart for a full A/V upgrade. Hopefully you will have been enjoying your overhaul for quite some time by then! LOL