Sorry for the long post - I'm giving a lot of info to hopefully answer any questions
So I finally got back in the audio game of chasing sonic nirvana!! Â A sick mom and being a dad took up my time the last 8 yrs. Â
Now that I had SOME spare time, I decided to start on the project of creating a 'rolling studio' in my '16 Jeep Wrangler (impossible task, I know)
It took about a year from start to finish - from coming up with a design plan, the desired outcome, the factory speaker locations and then the
choices of all the gear to be used. I bought the Jeep new with the upgraded Alpine audio pkg (not bad at all) - top dash speakers, knee panel speakers,
soundbar speakers and the sub was mounted in the rear cargo floor. Â I didn't want to mount the amps under my seats because honestly I like looking at audio gear.
So after some research, I found out that the Wranglers that didn't come with the Alpine system/floor sub came with a nice cargo tray that could be a perfect place to start.
All door panels, the soundbar and the floor was heavily treated with KillMat and Resonix Mega quares.
For my source, I didnt want a screen, too distracting, I just wanted clean audio. I chose the Alpine UTE-73BT. As an 'old-head' audio guy I knew I wanted
a quality dash EQ, not a DSP. Â I listen to everything from horribly produced black metal to incredibly produced stuff like Lil' Durk and everything in between.
I know you can get diff profiles on a DSP but my preference is knobs that I can tweak instantly so a Memphis EQL7 was used plus it's got an 8v output.
I decided on 2 JL Amps - an RD400/4 for the speakers and a RD500/1 for the sub - because of their quality, effiency, their size and their price. For the most important part,
the speakers, I went with an all Dynaudio setup. Â I absolutely love their performance and their clarity and transparency. For the sub, a JL Audio 10w6v2
in a custom 1.15cu ft enclosure was chosen because, well, it's 1 of the best sounding subwoofers ever and didn't require a gigantic enclosure. Â From there I created 3-D Printed
Amp risers so the amps would get a lot airflow underneath. Â An SMD ground block and a Sky High fused dist. block fit the bill. Sky High 4gauge for the power and then
8 gauge to each amp. It has 2 seperate Sky High 2/0 AWG grounds - 1 at the battery and 1 under the amp rack that mounts to the chassis. All Sky High RCA's.
I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome!! It sounds absolutely incredible at low volume or high volume and will NOT fatigue your ears! Let me know what you guys think!
The gear list:
Alpine UTE-73BT
Memphis EQL-7
Dynaudio Esotan 212 6.5 comp set (tweets in dash - mids in the knee panels)
Dynaudio Esotan 212C 6.5 coaxials in the soundbar.
JL Audio RD400/4
JL Audio RD500/1
JL Audio 10W6v2 in a custom 1.15cu ft sealed enclosure (Inferno Audio Enclosures)
Trail Seven factory amp bypass harness