Chevy Suburban

NJPOLKER

I just picked up a real nice 1999 Chevy Suburban . It will be used for going to the beach, camping and other outdoor activities. Now I want to put a stereo system together for it. Being a home audio two channel guy my first thought is to mount a pair of Polk Monitor 5jr+ speakers. I have plenty of room for them, not that they are big but do not have to have the speakers internally mounted. As you can tell I know little about car audio
I'd rather use the existing dash mounted system but will change it out if needed or add to it.
LMAO I have a Carver M1.5t amp in storage maybe I can use :biggrin::cheesygrin::razz:

Oh well Suggestions will be welcome. Thanks

Vital

What's your budget for this project?
and what it is exactl you are looking for as far as "suggestions"?

NJPOLKER

Vital wrote: »

What's your budget for this project?
and what it is exactl you are looking for as far as "suggestions"?

Fair questions

Budget? I guess a few hundred dollars. I do not want to put much labor into this project is one thing I do know.

Simplicity is always a good thing. I do kind of like the idea of using "home'' speakers for this project. While out camping or whatever I can use them as a make shift home away from home stereo.
Maybe this makes no sense at all so thats why I am asking you fine folks for help. If I have to spend more than a few hundred, which I expect, then like everything else I'll follow the rabbit further down the holes.

Polkersince85

If you use home speakers for this, make sure they are secured properly. Nothing like a M5jr missle flying at the back of your head when you slam on brakes to avoid a jay-walking granny.

NJPOLKER

Polkersince85 wrote: »

If you use home speakers for this, make sure they are secured properly. Nothing like a M5jr missle flying at the back of your head when you slam on brakes to avoid a jay-walking granny.

I hear ya loud and clear. Once upon a time I got hit in the shoulder by a car battery when my friend, the driver, hit a tree. Luckly it only hit the very top of my shoulder!!!!! Damn close call.

MacLeod

So youre just wanting to put the speaker boxes in the back of your Suburban? I guess that could work but it would sound completely horrible. If youre a home audio guy, youre going to be spoiled by good sound and dropping some boxes in the back aint gonna get the job done.

What exactly are you wanting this system to do? We could give you some better suggestions if we knew exactly what goals you were after.

NJPOLKER

Why will it sound horrible? Forgive me for being such a dope when it coms to car audio. If a pair of bookshelf speakers sound great inside my home then why not in a big vehicle?

I am only looking for a good sounding system with minimal labor on my part. Hopefully that is an option.

I am sure there is good reason the home monitors won't be a good choice so my next question is what do I do next. I'd guess I need to know whats is in the suburban for existing speakers so I can drop better ones in with little fabrication. I'd perfer to use the existing radio/cd player if possible.

The system sounds like **** right now so any upgrade will be awesome.

Thanks always and Happy New Year

NJPOLKER

OK

I did some research here on the web site and here is what I have found.

DXi6500 for the front door

DXi650s for the rear door

MM6501 for the kick plate

Am I on the right track?

What else will I need to purchase?

Will I have to do any major fabrication?

Dynamat?

What wire should I use to make the connections?

Buy new or used?

Can I use the existing radio/cd player and replace it maybe later?

So many questions

Thanks

arun1963

I'm curious about the website you did your research on :biggrin:. You want to install 3 pairs of speakers, two upfront and one at the back? The MM6501 is all you need for the front. A sub in a sealed box would be a nice add on. Try it without rears, before you think of adding them. As a 2ch guy, do you like the speakers in front of you or behind you?

You can stay with the stock hu, but add an amp for the speakers. You can also look at an LOC to clean and bump up the signal a bit.

NJPOLKER

There are speakers all over the vehicle!!!!! I looked at http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/fitguide.php?carid=29428

Please help me understand what I read :sad:

arun1963 wrote: »

I'm curious about the website you did your research on :biggrin:. You want to install 3 pairs of speakers, two upfront and one at the back? The MM6501 is all you need for the front. A sub in a sealed box would be a nice add on. Try it without rears, before you think of adding them. As a 2ch guy, do you like the speakers in front of you or behind you?

You can stay with the stock hu, but add an amp for the speakers. You can also look at an LOC to clean and bump up the signal a bit.

arun1963

OMG dude, those are the three possible install locations for your vehicle. Doesn't mean that you have to install speakers in all three.

NJPOLKER

arun1963 wrote: »

OMG dude, those are the three possible install locations for your vehicle. Doesn't mean that you have to install speakers in all three.

I will install speakers in the steering wheel if I find room :cool:

arun1963

good luck with your quest

NJPOLKER

Am I on the correct path by looking at replacing all the speakers with new Polks listed above?

domflane

If I understand your intentions correctly, your burb is going to be a family adventure bus, right? So you're probably looking for a moderate increase in SQ and a pretty decent increase in SPL so everyone can rock out on the way to the beach. Replacing speakers is a must, but arun is right, there's no need to replace them all. I would definitely do the front doors, and the rear doors if there will be passengers in the rear seats pretty often. Crutchfield recommends both 5.25's and 6.5's for your doors, which is strange, but you can pull the panel off pretty easily to see what you'll need to buy. Does your rear hatch open up or are there two doors that open sideways? Either way, I wouldn't bother with the "pillar" speakers. They're 4x10's I think and they won't add anything to your finished product. And sonicelectronix.com has some of the best deals going in car audio online, so check them out.
Either a new HU or an amp is also a must. You wouldn't power SDA SRS' with a HTIB receiver, and that's pretty much what the stock HU equates to. You can use the stock HU with a line out to an amp, but as you know from HT, a new HU with three pairs of preouts is your best bet. I'm a kenwood excelon fan personally. Best bang for the buck, IMO. A 5 channel amp is the easiest, Polk makes a nice one, as does Kicker/JL etc. It'll fit under your rear seat really well too which is nice.
Dynamat is nice, but its pretty expensive, so that one is up to you. There are a lot more sound deadening options out there now too. I have some inexpensive vinyl tiles that stick to the inside of my door panels that make the enclosure almost completely inert. They work great.
Subs are easy to add in big SUVs and yeild impressive returns. I say get a MM10 in a sealed box. Your truck is probably the easist vehicle ever to add an audio system to, so go for it and enjoy

NJPOLKER

Now we are making progress :biggrin:

I will want to replace all speakers once I start this project.

Thanks for your input and after I do a little more looking around I will have more questions.

Whats HU by the way? I bet its the radio/cd player but HU head unit?? LOL

The back hatch is just that Hatch not two doors.

Thanks

NJPOLKER

If in fact the speakers are 6.5'' how about these for the front and rear doors?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-2-PAIRS-Polk-Audio-DB651S-Slim-Mount-6-5-NEW-/190558383579?pt=Car_Speakers&hash=item2c5e2a2ddb

domflane

yeah, HU = head unit, lol. That's a pretty good deal on DB 6.5's. I would still only replace the front and rear doors and unhook the others. It'll save you some money for other upgrades and you won't miss them.

NJPOLKER

What Polk amplifier should I look at to run the two pair of DB 6.51s ? New or used would be fine for me. What wire should I use to hook'em up?

domflane

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Polk-Audio-PA-D5000-5-PAD5000-5-900W-5-Channel-PA-Class-D-Car-Amplifier-Amp-/290644129311?pt=Car_Amplifiers&vxp=mtr&hash=item43abbd761f

This would be a nice choice for a do it all amp. Then you wouldn't have to buy a sub amp in the future. I would run some decent 18AWG wire from the amp to each door speaker and then solder it to the speaker posts. Any decent IC's will work between the head unit and the amp, and depending where you want to mount the amp, plan on about 5m runs. You're also going to need a power cable, a ground and a remote wire to trigger the amp on. 4AWG will be fine for the power and the ground and 18 will work for the remote.

If you want to save a little money now and have a separate amp for your sub later, this is a nice 4 channel amp from polkdirect . .

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PA500-4-Car-Amplifier-Polk-Audio-800W-/230635159541?pt=Car_Amplifiers&hash=item35b2ed3ff5

NJPOLKER

I highly doubt I will need/want a subwoofer so that amp will be good.

How did I know this was going to cost me about a grand when I am finished?

domflane

It always costs a grand anytime you're starting from scratch in this hobby, home or car, haha. There are some cheaper amps out there BTW if you keep your eyes open. And CL is usually flooded with car audio gear

- Dom

NJPOLKER

Dom, thanks for all your help.

I'll keep an eye out for a amp over the next month or so.

domflane wrote: »

It always costs a grand anytime you're starting from scratch in this hobby, home or car, haha. There are some cheaper amps out there BTW if you keep your eyes open. And CL is usually flooded with car audio gear

- Dom

domflane

Anytime pal, gotta love CP. It seems that the car guys on here have even less of a sense of humor than the home audio guys, I was having a good time with this thread reading their responses. They know car audio really well, no doubt, and they take it very seriously, lol.

arun1963

domflane wrote: »

Anytime pal, gotta love CP. It seems that the car guys on here have even less of a sense of humor than the home audio guys, I was having a good time with this thread reading their responses. They know car audio really well, no doubt, and they take it very seriously, lol.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?24317-Random-stuff

89 pages of proof that the car audio guys have a waaaay better sense of humor than the home audio crowd. Oh and we don't fight over cables either:cool:.

I just stepped back cause you'll obviously know each other and you were doing fine. That said, yes I spend way more time listening to and tweaking my car audio, than my home 2ch. Five hours a day driving to and from work :biggrin:. I hardly get to spend time with my 2ch and almost never get to really crank it.

domflane

You have me on the cable argument, haha, and Emotiva amps really get the old timers fired up. I was just having fun with you guys, no insults intended, obviously. This really is the best speaker forum on the net, no matter what brand you're the most fond of. I've learned a ton here and have come in contact with lots of really good people

evhudsons

This might not work in your situation, but it may be good for some ideas:

car-stereo-boom-box-02.jpg

arun1963

The two tweeters on that 'thing', look like an after thought:biggrin:.

NJPOLKER

So if I use some Monster cables to hook up my Emotiva amp in my car system I may hear about it?

domflane

Nah . . like arun said, these guys are all pretty laid back

NJPOLKER

Well I am back on the quest to have good sound from my Suburban. I popped open the passenger side panel at the bottom and tried to measure the speaker and it looks like 5 1/2" inside dimension, and the outside is about 6 1/2".

I should have asked this question before popping the pins/plugs on the door panel. How do I go about removing the panel and replacing the speakers? I think I F'ed up the whatevers that hold the panel in place but will fix whatever I F up with your help. I love Club Polk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can I trust the schematics that state a .................... uses this size speaker in this door and this size in this door and this size in my ****???

I am thinking about purchasing a couple of speakers for the front and rear doors as recommended and a amplifier for now. Then maybe buying a head unit down the road.