reedal's '03 Tahoe build

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reedal

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Hello, been a follower since i bought my Tahoe a year ago. I love Car Audio systems, and while i don't do the best work, i don't stop or give up just because it isn't perfect. Every mistake is just a learning experience. so this will be a recap of everything I've done since i bought the Tahoe. I'm also a forum member on www.stevemeadedesigns.com and have a running build log over there (http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/bo...starts-pg11-hybrid-audio-sqaq-singer-xs-shca/) so what I'll do is copy and paste every post I've made with build updates from there to here, sharing my work and experience with you guys too. Thanks for looking!!
 
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reedal

reedal

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So I happened upon this clean blue beauty and for a price of almost half of all the others of similar year and mileage, I snatched it up.

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My build plans with it are to move my current system from the explorer into this since i will no longer own the explorer in a short time. The equipment being:

HU- Pioneer DEH-80PRS
Subs- Two SoundQubed HDS312D2's
Amps- SoundQubed Q1-3500.1; AudioQue 90.4
Mids & Highs- CDT CL61A
Wires- All Sky High 1/0, RCA's, 12ga speaker wire
Power- Haven't decided on an alt yet, gotta contact singer, see what he's got. I don't think I'll go with anything over 300A on the alt. I'll have a D3400 under the hood, and I've got a D4700 i had bought for a cruze that I'll keep by the amps.


Hopefully I can get started on transferring it all this weekend. I've got duty saturday so i'll have all day sunday to knock it out. The only things that need bought are the D3400 and the alt. I'll post pictures as i go through the install.
 
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reedal

reedal

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My update for the day:

Went to a local shop to get the metra dash install kit for my 80PRS, so thank you Sound Wave Customs of Virginia Beach, VA.

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Sunday I'll get that put in. But I'm thinking of buying additional speakers to fill in everything that the Bose setup is in besides just the front doors. The time alignment isn't important to me. In my explorer, the backseat only hears the subs, not the components in the front doors very well, so I want to fix that issue this go around. I'm thinking coaxials, but may go with pro audio. SoundQubed of course to stick with the theme. I may replace the CDT components for the front doors with the AudioQue set I have. I haven't figured out which has a better sound to it yet. Well, that's my thought process as of right now. Suggestions, thoughts, questions, or whatever else is always welcome.
 
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reedal

reedal

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So this is my amp rack I made a couple weeks back, needs a little work, like putting a couple pieces down to hold the battery in place. It gets the job done though

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The enclosure is just a prefab I've had for a few years, just don't have the right tools to make clean cuts for the design I made to make a new one.

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These are all pictures in the explorer. Just giving the you guys an idea of what is going into the Tahoe this weekend
 
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reedal

reedal

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Ok. Here's the update. I'm done temporarily. Ran into a wall I didn't think of before having owned chevy's before. Side post battery. But I did get a little done. Ran my front to back wire from battery to battery (not hooked up to front batt, fuse pulled by back batt), which was a pain in the ass getting the floor trim pieces back in place with the wire there.
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So it's just kind of tucked away for now until I get a D3400 for the front.

Finished pulling the 80prs from the explorer, put my new 1/0 inputs into my 3500. I got them in the mail a couple weeks ago just never got around to it.
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Decided to open up my AQ 4X90, here's its innards if you've never seen them before
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And here's the amp/batt rack in the Tahoe waiting to be put to use again.
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I threw the subs in there too, didn't grab a pic or wire them up. For now, I'm leaving the factory Bose setup in there, until I get my battery for the front, and once I can squeeze that purchase into my budget and it arrives, it will be time to swap in my 80prs, do big three, swap front speakers/tweets, run wire and RCAs, DD-1 it to see if gains change between vehicles, and then hopefully by summer I'll have a new enclosure, another component set and 4 channel, and an alternator. And this won't be just a purely audio build log. There will be eye candy upgrades to go with the ear candy.
 
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reedal

reedal

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Got the 80PRS installed last night. Used the PAC OS-2X to retain GM's stupid idea of having the stock radio as part of the data bus. Also have the stock Bose hooked up to it for now until I get my ibar side post adapters for the battery so I can use my components. 9BEAFF59-AA2D-4A59-9CE0-25906908838F_zpsqjqr3zdj.jpg
I'm terrible at remembering to take pictures so I'll try to get more of the component install once that happens.

The only issue I had with the PAC harness was it seems cheaply made, and I was getting a lot of static at first until I switched the stock speaker harness from "amplified radio" to "non-amplified radio", but music is louder on the non-amplifier side than the amplified connection. The 80PRS distorts via DD-1 track 2 at 48 out of 62 at the speaker outs, but I get to right around 40-45 before it starts sounding distorted to me. And a whole lot louder than my components on my 90X4. Any thoughts?

I'll also be going to the TDH 3rd annual Jeff Lockhart show next weekend, probably won't compete, but first time going to a show/comp, so it ought to be fun.

More updates coming soon hopefully.
 
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reedal

reedal

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Time for a little update.

I sent my order for a VM-1 and D3400 in to SHCA, just waiting for a reply, and once that's taken care of and arrives, I'll be able to have some boom again. I also got a b&d 20v cordless drill and 16 ton hydraulic crimper for my birthday, so all of my soldered 1/0 lugs will be crimped as well now. I want to get all of the extra attachments for the drill as well and then I'll be on my way to making my own cuts for a custom enclosure soon hopefully. My PAC OS-2X started that static again this morning, and it increases frequency with the alternator so I think having the HU ground going through that to the stock radio ground is causing a loop, so I'm going to try and ground the 80prs to a new ground and hope that takes care of it. If that doesn't work, I don't know what to do. I'll update again with the results once that's taken care of, and if the problem is still there, maybe one of you guys with the same adapter can throw some help my way if you had the same issue. Thanks
 
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reedal

reedal

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So here's the hydraulic crimper. Didn't get around to using it before the sunset, so no crimps today.
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I fixed my grounding/alt whine issue. Turns out I had some insulation crimped into the wire. All fixed now. But I decided that while the dash is apart, I'd run my RCA's.

Getting them zip tied and tidy looking
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Ready to be run
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Hidden run in the floor trim
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And out to the amps
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Better picture of the head unit in the dash.
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Also got some blue LED's to replace all of the interior lights with (doors, dome, maps, glove box) and white LED's for the license plate. I didn't snap any pictures of the little things before the install, but I'll try to get some of the lighting in the morning on my way to work. Perks of leaving your house at 5:30 blum.gif having blue interior lighting is something I always wanted to try out so I did it. If I end up not liking it, I still have all of the stock bulbs.

Got the email back from Jon with the invoice for my order, hopefully it'll be shipped out tomorrow and maybe be here by Friday smile.gif

Other upgrades I'm in the plans of making sooner than others: smoked headlight/tail lights, ** alt, and getting better at remembering to take pictures.
 
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reedal

reedal

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So here's the interior lighting. It looks brighter in the pictures than it is in person.

From the outside
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Doors
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Map lights
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And dome lighting in the rear seats
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It's just replaced OEM lighting, so they only light when the doors open or the buttons are pressed.
 
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reedal

reedal

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Oh, and the D3400 and VM-1 should arrive tomorrow afternoon, so I just might have everything set up in time for the TDH show this weekend, depending on the time I get off work tomorrow and Friday.
 

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